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So I’ve been noticing a fair amount of capacity loss. Not bad, not good, going by charts I’ve seen around. I’d like to get some thoughts. I charge every night no matter the charge level at the end of my day. I go to 90%, most often starting from 50%. I schedule it to start at 2am and it usually wraps up around 7-8am. I’m out the door around 8:30am. Here’s the question:

Is it best to charge early and let the car sit for 6 hours at a 90% SOC until I leave or charge late at night (like I do) and let it sit for 6-8 hours (earlier in the night) at a lower state of charge before charging starts at 2am?

Thanks in advance!
Antony
 
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Battery is supposed to be happiest around 50% so charging to hit complete just before you leave would be best given your described situation
Only tweak you might make would be lowering your daily max but the range estimate tends to be less accurate when not going to 90% often. So you might be a tiny bit easier on the pack and make yourself worry more.
 
In general, the less time sitting at a higher state of charge the better. If you park indoors, then year round set the charge to finish just before you leave. If you park outdoors in the winter, charge as soon as you get home while the battery is still warm. You can still preheat for 20-30 minutes before you leave to warm the battery. Charging a frozen battery is not ideal, better to sit at 90% than charge a cold battery.

Although charging to 90% is very slightly worse for the battery, it keeps the range calculations more accurate. Charging to 90% just before you leave means little time spent at 90%.
 
Charge later just like you are.

Even if I were not taking advantage of off peak rates I still would schedule charging to complete near my daily departure time. It’s a even bigger advantage doing that in winter. It’s part of why we don’t see the large winter range losses some complain about either. We also reduce the charge rate so charging continues longer.
 
Phenomenal! I love that the responses are not mixed. I do in fact have time-of-day rates where off-peak is 9pm - 9am. Sounds like I’m doing ok. And frankly, after a year of ownership, I don’t really care much for range accuracy. I just care about battery capacity preservation so effective immediately, I’m dropping my max to 85%. It’ll get me home at just about 50% SOC. Good info on the winter routine as well. Thanks everyone, really appreciate it.
 
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I feel you are overthinking it. Charge to 90%. Be happy.
I hear ya. Honestly, I can take or leave the added range, but the thing I like most about 90% SOC is the added power. I don’t often accelerate hard, but knowing that it’s there for a slight distance longer makes me feel happier. I find that power tapers off a little bit below 70%. But it’s still a Tesla and it’s still fast no matter the SOC.
 
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I have a model 3 performance I picked up 12/04/18. It has been to a supercharger only twice, when I first got it, before my home charger was installed.

I have a tesla wall connector, and have a 60 amp circuit, so my model 3 chargers at 48amps, the max it is able to charge on home charging.

My commuite is 37 miles each way to work and back. I used to split time driving my car and my wifes car to work to "share the miles" but I enjoy driving my model 3P so much more than her X3 M40 that I really cant bring myself to drive her car to work anymore. I have 11k miles on my model 3 as of yesterday,

I have my charge set to 90%, I plug in every single time my car hits the garage (whether I run an errand on the weekend, or I commute to work). I have solar with Net meetering 1.0 and I do NOT have a time of use plan. Its actually better for me to charge when my solar is producing if I can, so I just charge when I get home. There is never a time my car is in the garage and its not plugged in, and its set to 90% and has been set to 100% a few of times as I had trips to LA or down to san diego to get on a plane and wanted as much charge as possible.

Sometimes (kind of frequently actually) My car hits my garage on friday, and does not get driven again till I go to work on monday, because we use my wifes car to run errands around town. It sits at 90% all weekend in my garage, plugged in.

I say all that to say, the TL ; DR version is, I plug in all the time, charge to 90% and dont even think about "charging routine" other than "plug it in".

after 11k miles, my 90% charge is still 279, just like the day I brought it home. I charged to 100% for a longer drive the other day, and my 100% charge is 309 miles, which is actually HIGHER than it was when I first got the car. When I first got it max charge was 306. I ran it down, charged it back up, etc and was sure there was something wrong with my battery because the rated range would not charge to 310 like It was "supposed to".

I took it in, tesla told me "its fine it takes some time etc etc". I didnt believe them but they would not do anything, and the car was fine otherwise, so I just chalked it up to "computer stuff" and hoped it would not effect me long term. Fast forward to now, and the car charges 100% to 309 instead of 306 back then, so not only have I not "lost range" I gained back a couple miles that were "missing" in the beginning.

Like I said, I do zero thinking about "charging routine", plug in every single time I get to my garage, even if I do run errands in my car, and it frequently sits at 90% all weekend in my garage. I have experienced zero battery apparent battery degredation (I dont use third party apps, so have no idea what teslafi or stats app would say about it, and dont really care what they would say at this point). No BMS reporting issues, etc. Part of it could be how much I drive, but OP you drive a similar amount.

I think you are fine plugging it in, charging when your time of use plan dictates, and not thinking about it further than that.
 
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I agree with @SSedan. I am one who enjoys overthinking charging strategies to reduce stress and increase the pack service life since I keep my cars and equipment nearly forever. I have lost 8 miles of range in 6.5 years with ~ 85,000 miles on Veronica. I have been deploying the same extreme battery care for 1.5 year old Lil' Sis' LR RWD. Yup, the time your pack lives closer to 50% and the less time towards the top and bottom the happier it is. Back in the day when one could rely on Mr. Twitter's posts, an owner stated that they used 50% of their pack daily and asked if it was better to go 90 -> 40 or 80 -> 30 SOC. Mr. No Steering Wheel in 2021 responded 80 -> 30. I screen shot that tweet and can dig it out. Yes, I know he was referring to the current 18650s at the time, however, other than the different form factor of the 2170s, the battery chem is similar enough for this discussion.
 
I have a model 3 performance I picked up 12/04/18. It has been to a supercharger only twice, when I first got it, before my home charger was installed.

I have a tesla wall connector, and have a 60 amp circuit, so my model 3 chargers at 48amps, the max it is able to charge on home charging.

My commuite is 37 miles each way to work and back. I used to split time driving my car and my wifes car to work to "share the miles" but I enjoy driving my model 3P so much more than her X3 M40 that I really cant bring myself to drive her car to work anymore. I have 11k miles on my model 3 as of yesterday,

I have my charge set to 90%, I plug in every single time my car hits the garage (whether I run an errand on the weekend, or I commute to work). I have solar with Net meetering 1.0 and I do NOT have a time of use plan. Its actually better for me to charge when my solar is producing if I can, so I just charge when I get home. There is never a time my car is in the garage and its not plugged in, and its set to 90% and has been set to 100% a few of times as I had trips to LA or down to san diego to get on a plane and wanted as much charge as possible.

Sometimes (kind of frequently actually) My car hits my garage on friday, and does not get driven again till I go to work on monday, because we use my wifes car to run errands around town. It sits at 90% all weekend in my garage, plugged in.

I say all that to say, the TL ; DR version is, I plug in all the time, charge to 90% and dont even think about "charging routine" other than "plug it in".

after 11k miles, my 90% charge is still 279, just like the day I brought it home. I charged to 100% for a longer drive the other day, and my 100% charge is 309 miles, which is actually HIGHER than it was when I first got the car. When I first got it max charge was 306. I ran it down, charged it back up, etc and was sure there was something wrong with my battery because the rated range would not charge to 310 like It was "supposed to".

I took it in, tesla told me "its fine it takes some time etc etc". I didnt believe them but they would not do anything, and the car was fine otherwise, so I just chalked it up to "computer stuff" and hoped it would not effect me long term. Fast forward to now, and the car charges 100% to 309 instead of 306 back then, so not only have I not "lost range" I gained back a couple miles that were "missing" in the beginning.

Like I said, I do zero thinking about "charging routine", plug in every single time I get to my garage, even if I do run errands in my car, and it frequently sits at 90% all weekend in my garage. I have experienced zero battery apparent battery degredation (I dont use third party apps, so have no idea what teslafi or stats app would say about it, and dont really care what they would say at this point). No BMS reporting issues, etc. Part of it could be how much I drive, but OP you drive a similar amount.

I think you are fine plugging it in, charging when your time of use plan dictates, and not thinking about it further than that.
Awesome! Sounds like you’re doing well with it. As for me, I have the LR RWD with the upgraded 325 mile range. My commute is 100 miles round trip. Plus, my family and I drive it absolutely everywhere. Next week it turns 1 year old with 27k miles. At 90% charge, I top out at 281miles. If all was perfect, it should be at 292. I also rarely hit superchargers (maybe 7-8 times ever and only go to 90% at most).

Naturally, I’ll a little concerned about the 3.5% loss after one year, but the way I understand it is that the first year (relatively speaking) takes the biggest dip and tails off to a slower loss thereafter. So that’s why I’m not too concerned. I might ask about it at my next visit.

Thanks for the detailed response.
 
Awesome! Sounds like you’re doing well with it. As for me, I have the LR RWD with the upgraded 325 mile range. My commute is 100 miles round trip. Plus, my family and I drive it absolutely everywhere. Next week it turns 1 year old with 27k miles. At 90% charge, I top out at 281miles. If all was perfect, it should be at 292. I also rarely hit superchargers (maybe 7-8 times ever and only go to 90% at most).

Naturally, I’ll a little concerned about the 3.5% loss after one year, but the way I understand it is that the first year (relatively speaking) takes the biggest dip and tails off to a slower loss thereafter. So that’s why I’m not too concerned. I might ask about it at my next visit.

Thanks for the detailed response.

Did you ever see the 325 stated range? Lots of people that post here with LR RWD cars either never saw that range, or, saw their stated range go up and then quickly back down. So the question is, did you ever see 325 regularly on a full charge?


To answer your other question, for 8 days it likely doesnt matter but I would move my percentage down if I was taking a trip and leaving it plugged in. I would likely set it to 80% myself just so I didnt have to remember to turn it back up when I got home before my commute, but setting it to 50% wont hurt you at all either. Not sure it will help anything, but wont hurt.
 
While I have all of y’alls attention, here’s one more for you. I have a trip coming up where I’ll be gone for 8 days. Should I reduce the max to 50% while it sits plugged in?

That's what I typically do. But I have two Tesla's and a single WC in the garage. So one gets charged to 70-90% (depending on how log I'm gone) and is left unplugged.

Also, if we have severe weather predicted I typically just leave them unplugged. I know 3 people who have had near direct lightning strikes in our area. One lost house totally - so in that case it clearly wouldn't have mattered either way.
 
Did you ever see the 325 stated range? Lots of people that post here with LR RWD cars either never saw that range, or, saw their stated range go up and then quickly back down. So the question is, did you ever see 325 regularly on a full charge?

To answer your other question, for 8 days it likely doesnt matter but I would move my percentage down if I was taking a trip and leaving it plugged in. I would likely set it to 80% myself just so I didnt have to remember to turn it back up when I got home before my commute, but setting it to 50% wont hurt you at all either. Not sure it will help anything, but wont hurt.

Thanks for the advice. Regarding 325 miles: I had already been at a slight range loss before the upgrade. I never saw 325. The day after the increase, I charged to 100% to witness it for myself and only hit 321 miles indicated. It was consistent (by division) with what I expected because I had already been down about ~4 miles.

There was one day, I’ll never forget it, when I experienced the sharpest drop from one day to the next. I had a thought concerning the high charge rate of super chargers having a detrimental effect on capacity. So my logic told me that if I drop the charge rate on my home charger (to 16 amps), calculated to finish at the time I leave, it should help preserve the battery. The day before, I was topping at 287 miles at 90% SOC. The day after my experiment, it topped at 279 miles. I immediately flipped it back to 32 amps. It has since recovered slightly getting anywhere from 280 to 285 miles at 90% SOC. So odd!

One thing I noticed is that if I leave Sentry Mode on, it will finish at around 279 miles. Sentry Mode off, it sometimes hits 285 but most often 281 or 282. Also odd.
 
Don’t bother. Long term storage means months, not days.

Lol, that’s like saying, “but my DS told me to charge to 90% everyday” or my buddy said, “touchless car washes won’t give my car micro-scratches”, or “Ford recommenced a certain tire pressure on my Firestone’s for my Explorer” (ok, that analogy was a little extreme, lol) or “I need to follow Tesla's alignment specs for my 21s even though I eat rear tires every 10-12K miles”. What I am saying is that over the long term it will indeed make difference, but then again, the time it takes to move the charging SOC slide bar may too difficult or time consuming for some, and I get that.
 
Thanks for the advice. Regarding 325 miles: I had already been at a slight range loss before the upgrade. I never saw 325. The day after the increase, I charged to 100% to witness it for myself and only hit 321 miles indicated. It was consistent (by division) with what I expected because I had already been down about ~4 miles.

There was one day, I’ll never forget it, when I experienced the sharpest drop from one day to the next. I had a thought concerning the high charge rate of super chargers having a detrimental effect on capacity. So my logic told me that if I drop the charge rate on my home charger (to 16 amps), calculated to finish at the time I leave, it should help preserve the battery. The day before, I was topping at 287 miles at 90% SOC. The day after my experiment, it topped at 279 miles. I immediately flipped it back to 32 amps. It has since recovered slightly getting anywhere from 280 to 285 miles at 90% SOC. So odd!

One thing I noticed is that if I leave Sentry Mode on, it will finish at around 279 miles. Sentry Mode off, it sometimes hits 285 but most often 281 or 282. Also odd.

ImI pretty sure that you don't have any loss. I'm pretty sure you are worrying way to much about the battery.
Don't set max to anything besides 80-90%. Charge to 100% every few months.
That's it, you will have great battery life.
 
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Thanks for the advice. Regarding 325 miles: I had already been at a slight range loss before the upgrade. I never saw 325. The day after the increase, I charged to 100% to witness it for myself and only hit 321 miles indicated. It was consistent (by division) with what I expected because I had already been down about ~4 miles.

There was one day, I’ll never forget it, when I experienced the sharpest drop from one day to the next. I had a thought concerning the high charge rate of super chargers having a detrimental effect on capacity. So my logic told me that if I drop the charge rate on my home charger (to 16 amps), calculated to finish at the time I leave, it should help preserve the battery. The day before, I was topping at 287 miles at 90% SOC. The day after my experiment, it topped at 279 miles. I immediately flipped it back to 32 amps. It has since recovered slightly getting anywhere from 280 to 285 miles at 90% SOC. So odd!

One thing I noticed is that if I leave Sentry Mode on, it will finish at around 279 miles. Sentry Mode off, it sometimes hits 285 but most often 281 or 282. Also odd.
You’re paying way too much attention to a couple of miles one way or the other of estimated state of charge.
 
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Battery is supposed to be happiest around 50% so charging to hit complete just before you leave would be best given your described situation.
This, in general... but in this thread Battery Degradation Scientifically Explained somewhere around page 5 or 6-ish, the point was made that if it the temperature is cold, it could be better to charge right away when everything is warm rather than letting the battery get cold, then have to warm up again to charge later when scheduled.