Charge to 100% on Road Trip

[Graffi]

On a road trip with multiple supercharger stops you really only need enough to get you to the next supercharger plus a little extra "just in case." For me, I leave it set to 90% but only go that high if I am staying longer for eating or other reasons. Since the speed of charge starts to drop at 50% I will go that much no matter what I need. Even to 60% or 70% it is still pretty fast.

We leave on our two week cross-country trip tomorrow morning. Our first stop is 112 miles, so I am charging to 60% tonight.

 

[Festerfeet]

I did this once too. I just remembered at 1am that I still had it set to 100% and when I checked the app, it had just finished charging to 100%. Duh! So, I did what any Tesla nut would do. Got out of my PJs at 1am and drove the Tesla for 20-30 minutes to get the charge back close to 90% before heading back to bed.

You too?
Good, my wife thought I was crazy going for a drive round the city ring road in the early hours of the morning.

 

[IdaX]

I did this once too. I just remembered at 1am that I still had it set to 100% and when I checked the app, it had just finished charging to 100%. Duh! So, I did what any Tesla nut would do. Got out of my PJs at 1am and drove the Tesla for 20-30 minutes to get the charge back close to 90% before heading back to bed.

Hmmmm -- 10 launch mode 0-60s should bring you down in about 10 minutes I'd think -- what'd ja do the rest of the time?

 

[SMSMD]

Dashboard for Tesla - SG57 Productions

Thanks @David99 ..great app..did not know it existed..

 

[Shock-On-T]

One place I'm hoping Tesla gives up some help in future firmware - they could easily put in geotagged "home" and "away" default charge limit settings in for us, so you can have it automatically set the limit back to 80% when it detects that you're charging at home again.

Or maybe generic geotagged - you set the limit as you're charging, and it prompts always charge to this limit at this location like the suspension changes or the door opening - helpful for folks who charge at work daily too.

Good idea, and in fact it already remembers to do that for scheduled charging.
So if I plug in at home it won't start charging until 10pm, but if I plug in somewhere else it starts charging right away.

 

[TexasEV]

On a road trip with multiple supercharger stops you really only need enough to get you to the next supercharger plus a little extra "just in case." For me, I leave it set to 90% but only go that high if I am staying longer for eating or other reasons. Since the speed of charge starts to drop at 50% I will go that much no matter what I need. Even to 60% or 70% it is still pretty fast.

We leave on our two week cross-country trip tomorrow morning. Our first stop is 112 miles, so I am charging to 60% tonight.

That just doesn't make any sense. If you charge to 100% before you leave you will need less time supercharging. Yes charge only what you need when you are waiting for a charge to complete, but when the car is just sitting there anyway such as at home or an overnight stop, you might as well be charging.

 

[HankLloydRight]

That just doesn't make any sense. If you charge to 100% before you leave you will need less time supercharging. Yes charge only what you need when you are waiting for a charge to complete, but when the car is just sitting there anyway such as at home or an overnight stop, you might as well be charging.

This. If you can charge to 100% before a long trip, do it. It might not make a huge difference in the long run, but every charged electron helps. You never know what traffic, weather, rain, or detour you might end up hitting, and having extra charge, even if you don't "need" it is really nice to have. One off-highway detour in stop-and-go traffic could kill your expected range.

 

[Graffi]

For all of you who think this way, I recommend that you leave the settings for 100%, then stay at every supercharger until you are fully charged, even if the next supercharger stop is only 60 miles away, then plug in to get that extra 60 miles replaced.

The reason that I believe you only charge what is needed, with a little extra for safety, is that up to 50% the charge speed is at maximum, then slows down the closer to 100% it gets. In my case, I only need 112 miles, plus safety. Anything over that just leaves the car at a higher charge percent when I arrive at the Supercharger. Once we are at the first station, every station after that will not be a benefit from charging to 100% at home.

I start out at 60%, 150 miles. I drive 112 miles, then recharge to 50%, 125 miles, to get to the next SC which is 68 miles away. Charge to 60%, 150 miles, to go the 113 miles to the next SC, Repeat and Rinse, etc. JMHO

 

[HankLloydRight]

For all of you who think this way, I recommend that you leave the settings for 100%, then stay at every supercharger until you are fully charged, even if the next supercharger stop is only 60 miles away, then plug in to get that extra 60 miles replaced.

That's not what we're saying at all. Charging at home, overnight before a trip take ZERO extra time. Charging to 100% at every supercharger would take an extra hour at each stop, so that's just a silly statement to make.

If it takes zero extra time before you leave, it's a bit of additional insurance between home and your first stop. When you get there, you might only have to charge for 5 or 10 minutes to get to your second stop, instead of 30 minutes if you're fully depleted. If you're charging to X miles to get to the next SC, it's always going to be quicker to go from Y to X than zero to X.

edit: You might even be able to skip the first SC stop altogether and arrive at the second near full depletion -- and then resume your regular charging schedule. That would save significant time.

 

[TexasEV]

For all of you who think this way, I recommend that you leave the settings for 100%, then stay at every supercharger until you are fully charged, even if the next supercharger stop is only 60 miles away, then plug in to get that extra 60 miles replaced.

You've missed our point entirely. HankLloydRight explained it well. Please read his post. Leaving home or the hotel after charging to 100% has nothing to do with how much you supercharge. It's not even apples and oranges-- the situations are so different it's more like apples and toasters. Another way of looking at it is this-- suppose you want to leave your first supercharger at 70% charge and it takes 50% of your car's range to get there. Would you charge faster going from 50% to 70% (having left home with 100% charge) or from 10% to 70% (having left home with 60% charge)? Plug in any numbers you want to, the principle is the same.

Please think about this harder before you post something that ridicules people who have been driving Teslas for a lot longer than you have.

 

[Doug_G]

Don't overthink this. You will get slightly more long term degradation if you leave the car at high SOC and high temperatures for a long time.

Tesla regulates the pack temperature so this is less of an issue than it would otherwise be. In the winter it's even less of an issue.

The thing is, given the battery is never allowed to get hot, the car would have to sit for months at high SOC to have a noticeable effect.

So use 100% liberally when you're on a road trip, and never use it otherwise, and you will have no measurable impact on your battery capacity.

 

[David99]

Good idea, and in fact it already remembers to do that for scheduled charging.
So if I plug in at home it won't start charging until 10pm, but if I plug in somewhere else it starts charging right away.

The app I mentioned does that. The 'smart charge' feature can set the charge limit and it is also linked to a certain GPS position. If you've set it for home, it will only kick in when you're home. In fact you can have different sessions and save them and then switch between them.

 

[Cowby]

Don't overthink this. You will get slightly more long term degradation if you leave the car at high SOC and high temperatures for a long time.

Tesla regulates the pack temperature so this is less of an issue than it would otherwise be. In the winter it's even less of an issue.

The thing is, given the battery is never allowed to get hot, the car would have to sit for months at high SOC to have a noticeable effect.

So use 100% liberally when you're on a road trip, and never use it otherwise, and you will have no measurable impact on your battery capacity.

This. I'll also reiterate to just let it supercharge to 100% when going on trips; but only if you have the extra time, i.e., eating lunch and the lunch takes an extra 30-40 minutes, AND there are no other Teslas waiting for a charge or if the station is more than half full when you arrive at that station.

 

[David99]

I start out at 60%, 150 miles. I drive 112 miles, then recharge to 50%, 125 miles, to get to the next SC which is 68 miles away. Charge to 60%, 150 miles, to go the 113 miles to the next SC, Repeat and Rinse, etc. JMHO

Two different situations:

• waiting for just enough charge to drive to the next SuC.
• taking a break while the car is waiting for you

In the first case, you want to charge just enough to make it to the next one. In the second case, you want to keep charging until you return. In this case you are not waiting for the charge. The car is waiting for you so keep adding electrons.

Let's say you are on a trip from Supercharger A to B to C. You are now charging at A and you are going to a restaurant and eat there for a good hour.
The advantage is not on the next leg. Let's say you are at Supercharger A and only need to charge to 50% to make it to B. There is no advantage if you leave with 50% or 100%. So why charge more? The advantage is on the charge time at Supercharger B! At Supercharger B you now need to charge to 60% to make it to C. If you arrive with at B with 0% you now need to charge from 0% to 60% to make it to C which takes say 35 min. Had you charged to 100% at A, you would have arrived with 50% battery at B and now you would only have to charge from 50% to 60% which only takes say 7 min. That's where you get the benefit! Since you were out eating it did no cost you any time to charge to 100%. You were sitting there eating.

So the rule is, when you are waiting for the Supercharger and want to leave as soon as you have enough, yes do not charge any more than you need (plus buffer). If you are taking a break that takes longer than the minimum charge time, keep charging until you return and take the extra energy with you. It will cut down your charge time on the following Supercharger.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[cybergates]

I charged my car to 100% for two days in a row, the first day i took a big road trip the second day plans cancelled and the car is at 100% sitting like that for 1-2 days is this ok?

Ive charged my 75D to 100% a total of prob 10 times since my purchase 3 months ago otherwise i dont exceed 90% the car has 5500 miles


Am i okay w my practice or should i change what im doing?

 

[David99]

Ive charged my 75D to 100% a total of prob 10 times since my purchase 3 months ago otherwise i dont exceed 90% the car has 5500 miles
Am i okay w my practice or should i change what im doing?

That's fine. Even if it sits 100 for a day, nothing to worry about. Any condition that is just short term and limited isn't really anything to worry about. What makes a difference is the daily routine. The every day use is what counts.

 

[Remital55]

We have 25,000 miles in 11 months on our 90X. Have charged consistently to 90% nightly with about 8-10 episodes to 100% for travel. We are still getting 232 miles at 90%, UNCHANGED since purchase. Charging to 100% occasionally seems to rebalance the batteries well. Very happy so far!

 

[Saghost]

I charged my car to 100% for two days in a row, the first day i took a big road trip the second day plans cancelled and the car is at 100% sitting like that for 1-2 days is this ok?

Ive charged my 75D to 100% a total of prob 10 times since my purchase 3 months ago otherwise i dont exceed 90% the car has 5500 miles


Am i okay w my practice or should i change what im doing?

Personally, I would go drive the car down to below 90% instead of leaving it sitting at 100 for a couple days, but it's your choice.

Nothing catastrophic will happen if it sits, but it will presumably degrade the battery a little bit for no gain.

 

[jerry33]

Having made a few road trips, I've settled on this procedure:

1. Charge to 100% before leaving, trying to time the charging end with the departure time.
2. At each SC I charge enough to get to the next one plus a little extra. Using the trip graph, when the line is all green, it's good.
3. At lunch stop I still have the charge level set to 100%, even though it's not likely to reach 100%.
4. Overnight I will set the level to 90% so that it won't sit at 100%. When I wake up, set the charge level to 100% and start charging. Typically this will be a destination charger, not an SC (and perhaps not an official destination charger as listed on the Tesla website). Then shower and check out.
5. When the trip is done, I set the charge back to 90%.

Note: When the slider first came out I set it to 80%, but I found that the range estimate for a 100% charge decreased. Now at 90% it's where it should be (~3% down at 92K miles). When I first received the car, there were only two settings 92% and 100%. This changed due to the way the EPA estimates range, and so the slider was created so the EPA range estimate wouldn't be lowered.

 

[mspohr]

For all of you who think this way, I recommend that you leave the settings for 100%, then stay at every supercharger until you are fully charged, even if the next supercharger stop is only 60 miles away, then plug in to get that extra 60 miles replaced.

The reason that I believe you only charge what is needed, with a little extra for safety, is that up to 50% the charge speed is at maximum, then slows down the closer to 100% it gets. In my case, I only need 112 miles, plus safety. Anything over that just leaves the car at a higher charge percent when I arrive at the Supercharger. Once we are at the first station, every station after that will not be a benefit from charging to 100% at home.

I start out at 60%, 150 miles. I drive 112 miles, then recharge to 50%, 125 miles, to get to the next SC which is 68 miles away. Charge to 60%, 150 miles, to go the 113 miles to the next SC, Repeat and Rinse, etc. JMHO

This is the best strategy. If you are interested in shortest charging stops and fastest travel time, it's best to keep the battery at the low end of its charge state. If you need, for instance, 30 kWh to get to the next charge stop, it will charge much faster from 0% than from 50%. Leave yourself a reasonable cushion to allow for weather, traffic, etc. but your trip will be faster if you keep the battery at low charge.