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Brand New Car & Batteries - Tips and Hints Needed

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Getting my P100D Model S in 2 weeks

Question on "maintaining" the Batteries:

#1 - Is it like the old "cell" phone approach to charging? Meaning, charge it 100% right away, then let it run down close to ZERO "before" charging again?

Then, RINSE and REPEAT that at least 4-5 times?

Do the Tesla batteries need this type of "exercise" in order to last longer and maintain LONGER charge times?

Any ADVICE is greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks,

Reg
 
First Advice: start reading. If you’d like the crib notes, see below.

Second Advce: set a daily charge limit of 90% or less. Only charge to 100% when you need the range. Plug the car in when you can. A connected Tesla is a happy Tesla. Then stop worrying and drive. Those are all the tips and hints you need.
 
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First is the overall "don't worry", but your intended thing you're thinking of is not the best thing for lithium ion batteries. The thing that is best and healthiest for them is spending most of their time around a middle state of charge, not running them to the top and bottom ends a lot on purpose. Spending more time near 0% and near 100% is what is bad for them.

But the car will give you notices or warnings if you're doing something that's not very good, like if you do charge it to 100% for a few days, it will show you a warning that it's not a very good idea to do that repeatedly.
 
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Don’t worry too much.

Keep charge usage range away from extremes. Avoid 100-0% type usage. 80-30% for normal use is good. An occasional 100% charge if you need the range is fine.

More shallow cycles is better than a few large ones, so plug it in often and set max charge to say 80%
 
If you plan on keeping the car forever, that is more than the 8 years warranty, then maybe you should be extremely careful. Set your normal daily charge to 70% and plug it in every single night. Only bring it to 100% when you're on trips. As the guys above said as long as you don't leave it sitting at 100% or 0, or places close there to, you're going to be fine anyway. And, if you're going to sell it before the 8 years is up, I wouldn't worry at all! Tesla's BMS, battery management system, is the best in the business. It'll protect the batteries quite well.
 
And, if you're going to sell it before the 8 years is up, I wouldn't worry at all!
Even if you are planning to sell it soon, it is still good to be respectful to the battery. Use it as you need to, but don’t abuse it.

With increasing awareness of EV, the number 1 factor in resale value would likely be battery condition. I won’t be surprised to see battery charging logs or 100% charge range be as important as carfax when selling in a few years.
 
What everyone above is saying, live by the 80-20 rule. Li-ion batteries will last the longest when charged and used between 80% and 20%. Further, the more they live at or near 50%, the better. Long term storage (think vacation parked) at 50% is best.

On top of that, Tesla actually caps the true 100% of the battery so you never really can charge to the battery’s real 100%, nor discharge to the true 0%... both of which are extremely hard on the battery / shortening the life rather quickly.

So while you can charge to 100%, knowing you still have some protection thanks to Tesla’s Battery Management System (BMS), just don’t let it sit there for long before you start driving. And avoid discharging below 5-10% too many times if you can. But don’t loose too much sleep if you do.

Finally, what your question alludes too, is that the battery has a memory and that full discharge and charge up cycling helps erase that. While the individual cells might get out of balance, Tesla’s BMS does over time handle that issue, Li-Ion batteries do not suffer from usage and a memory that needs to be erased from full cycling.

There are lengthy/exhaustive/scientific discussions on this topic here on the forums if you want to dig deeper on the why’s and how’s of it all.

Enjoy!
 
Just drive it normal and then plug it in at the end of the day. No special break in period needed, also you won't notice anything (ie milage drop) on the battery until you hit about 6k miles then you will all of a sudden see a 4 ot 5 mile drop in Rated range.
 
Food for thought.....

On my FIRST " discharge "

Would you recommend taking the battery down to around 10 / 20 % just to "exercise" it at least ONE time?

Or is that ALWAYS a "bad" idea?
There are two different things.

(1) The physical properties of the battery.
(2) The calculated number of the range estimation that the computer comes up with.

For (1), which is really about the health of the battery that you are asking about, "exercising" it doesn't help it at all. Staying near the middle state of charge is always best for it physically.

For (2), this is just for people's warm fuzzy feelings. If the battery stays in a very small usage range, the computer just isn't getting a wide enough set of data points to make a very good estimation, and it can start to show some numbers for stored energy and range that are a little off, so it may show 5 to 10 rated miles lower than what is really there. That "exercising", to run the battery through a bigger range of use can help it see more clearly what the battery really has and improves the estimation. So if some people are freaking out because their full or 90% charge numbers don't look as high as they think they are, that's just a feel good thing if exercising it makes that number look better.
 
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