Best to charge to 60%?

[spokey]

My only complaint about Recurrent is it keeps waking up the car several times a day. If I’m not using it I prefer the car to sleep.

Personally I keep my battery at 80%, and my commute is 39 miles a day on average.

I've never left mine at an airport etc. We went on a week cruise back in September. So I figured that was a good opportunity to test its 'sitting' behavior. I don't normally have sentry on so nothing there. I just charged the night before to I think 75% thinking that is about what it would have been had I taken the MY to the cruise terminal. Left it unplugged for 8* days. I think I dropped 2% in that time. Weather was warm but not hot. It was in the garage which would be a bit hotter. I have cabin overheat set to air only.

I also have teslafi which polls too. I did ask recurrent about it and can't find that email, but I think it was 3 or 4 times a day. But all in all I'd say the impact is pretty negligible.

 

[STS-134]

If we only use the Model Y for 30-40 miles a day, is it best to set the overnight charge maximum to 60%?

I ask because I read several times if the car isn’t being used (vacation) for weeks or months, best to set the max to 50-60% for battery life.

I keep my Model 3 at 50% for daily use and rarely go more than 30-40 miles in a day. Unless I expect it to go below 15-20%, I keep it at 50%. If I expect to need more than 35-40% in a day, then I'll raise the charge level such that I expect to arrive back with 10-20%. It is always best to charge to the lowest SoC possible for your trip, as late as possible (finishing just before you leave). Ask @AAKEE

 

[spokey]

I plan to average around 50%. So if I think I'll use 20% in a day then I'll charge to 60. If I did lots of miles per day I'd probably skew upwards to ward off range anxiety.

 

[jcanoe]

I have a 15 mile commute, so 30-50 miles a day...not too much. I charge to 75% currently but I think the best thing I do is schedule charging at 2am vs right when I get home from work. That way my car spends the majority of the day around 55-65% before charging.

Depending on your home charging setup (charging speed, rate plan) it might be better to use Scheduled Departure instead of Scheduled Charging. With Scheduled Departure, i.e. 7 A.M. the Tesla Model Y will always complete charging just prior to the set departure time. The battery will already be partially warmed from charging. (This saves energy during the winter months.) You can also set Preconditioning to warm up the Tesla Model Y for the departure time either Monday through Friday or all week.

 

[STS-134]

I plan to average around 50%. So if I think I'll use 20% in a day then I'll charge to 60. If I did lots of miles per day I'd probably skew upwards to ward off range anxiety.

I used to do that, until I saw this post from AAKEE: Range Loss Over Time, What Can Be Expected, Efficiency, How to Maintain Battery Health

Lower SoC is better, full stop. Cycling from 30% to 50% is better than cycling from 40% to 60%. If you don't need the range, use the lower SoC value.

 

[TSLY]

Tesla recommends charging to 90%. What am I missing? Do you people know something that Tesla, and I, do not? I drive my MY like an Uber -- 6 miles here, 3 miles there -- but still charge to 90% per the user manual. What am I missing? I'm so confused!

What percentage should I charge the battery to?
For regular use, we recommend keeping your car set within the 'Daily' range bracket, up to approximately 90%. Charging up to 100% is best saved for when you are preparing for a longer trip. You can adjust how full the battery charges from the charge settings menu.

Should I wait for the battery to fully deplete before charging?
Tesla uses lithium ion batteries so there is no memory effect, this means there is no need to deplete the battery before charging. We recommend plugging in as often as possible.

 

[STS-134]

Tesla recommends charging to 90%. What am I missing? Do you people know something that Tesla, and I, do not? I drive my MY like an Uber -- 6 miles here, 3 miles there -- but still charge to 90% per the user manual. What am I missing? I'm so confused!

You're missing the motivation Tesla has in giving this advice to the end user. Their motivation is to not have to replace batteries under warranty. They have determined, through the data they've gathered, that charging to 90% for daily use is unlikely to result in >= 30% degradation within 8 years/120,000 miles. If your goal is to have up to, but not exceeding, 30% degradation in 8 years/120,000 miles, then go ahead and charge to 90%. If your goal is to have substantially less or as little as possible degradation, then it would be prudent to lower your charge limit if you do not need the range every day. But Tesla does not care if you have 2% or 5% or 25% degradation after 8 years/120,000 miles. It's all the same to them because after that point, it's not their problem.

 

[OxBrew]

I forgot to mention: I charge at 32A also, not the full 48 from the wall charger (more for charger life, not battery. Keep things as cool as possible.)

And when I say 70%, I mean randomly 50-70%, long stretches at 50%, only a bit more if needed.

 

[Billmister]

I used to charge to 80% everyday. I work about 10 miles away and drive home for lunch. So in a day I use about 40 miles. Only recently have I lowered it to 70%, 60%, and now use 50%. I find that it gives me more than enough at that low percentage charge. It crazy because this weekend, I charged it to 90% because I was expecting a lot of driving with the family. At night when we finally got home, I was at around 57%. Feels good that I have zero range anxiety and now made changes to adapt to my needs.

 

[dusty22]

During the first months after purchasing my car, I charged to the recommended 80%. Later, I decided to change that to 60% and then figured 55% would be even better. It was a bit of a pain to hit that 55% mark after charging higher for a trip. I was always going a little over or under trying to set it at 55% so I chose the 50% setting because it is easy to move the slider all the way down and bottom out at 50% mark. So far, so good.

 

[OmbreCake]

50% is the least “stressful” state of charge for a lithium based battery, but there are some opinions out there about how the battery management system may respond to seeing such a narrow range in SOC.

 

[SageBrush]

Tesla recommends charging to 90%. What am I missing?

What percentage should I charge the battery to?
For regular use, we recommend keeping your car set within the 'Daily' range bracket, up to approximately 90%

You are not being told to charge to 90% every day, but to not exceed 90% without a good reason. Put another way, Tesla is not saying that any value within the 'daily range bracket' has the same effect on the car. Less is better, but that if you need to charge up to 90% for your daily driving routine, you will still get a reasonable life from the battery pack.

Of course, what Tesla calls 'reasonable' may not be the same as you, so use what you need and not more.

 

[spokey]

During the first months after purchasing my car, I charged to the recommended 80%. Later, I decided to change that to 60% and then figured 55% would be even better. It was a bit of a pain to hit that 55% mark after charging higher for a trip. I was always going a little over or under trying to set it at 55% so I chose the 50% setting because it is easy to move the slider all the way down and bottom out at 50% mark. So far, so good.

I usually set the limit with teslafi
Sometimes I'll use the app to roughly set it.
I almost never set it in the car

 

[jankratochvil]

I usually set the limit with teslafi
Sometimes I'll use the app to roughly set it.
I almost never set it in the car

I use my commandline app, "c 50"+enter is done in 1 sec.

 

[nate704]

wow... You guys are supposed to drive and enjoy driving it, not hyper focus on the health of the battery or micro details of every aspect of battery. No matter what you do, you will have enough to drive and go anywhere you want.

 

[spokey]

To each his own. Maybe obsessing on this is part of the fun. I also off and on try to do the EV version of hypermiling. Even with AB<g>

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Or what about the environmental types? Maybe they obsess to save the planet. As for fun, while I wouldn't trade my MY for a number of reasons, my 260Z and 300ZX convertible were more fun. Sort of depends on your definition of fun.

 

[nate704]

I want to see some Youtube videos charging to their Teslas to 100% all the time and compare that to the "babied" Tesla cars on this forum.

 

[SageBrush]

I use my commandline app, "c 50"+enter is done in 1 sec.

Waste of time futzing around with an app and phone. It is simple arithmetic

Answer = 50 -c/2
Where c is your daily SoC use

 

[bobbyjae]

In the end, I don't think it will matter that much. Not in any real-world sense.

I charge mine to 85% once a week and that's it. By the time there's any real degradation, it will be sold to another owner.

 

[nate704]