Charging 101 question

[JustJenn]

Hi, I pick up my Model 3 LR on Friday so I am completely new to this. I have read to always plug the car in for the night even if it's not needed. Also, keep the max charge programmed to 80-85% to save the battery. Is this info correct? And also, do I unplug in the morning? Or just leave plugged in until I use it? What if I don't use it for 2 days etc? Please let me know or if there is another thread or instruction link I can read. Thanks for your help!

 

[RedTesY]

Read the manual. We charge daily to 90% and plug in the car whenever it's in the garage, and leave it plugged in until we drive it.

 

[GtiMart]

It's a balance between usability of the car versus durability of the battery. There is no perfect answer. The manual favors usability by having your battery almost full every morning, yet stops at 90% because going over that is harder on the battery for longer storage. It suggests plugging every day so you don't forget to plug.
The research papers on battery storage will indicate that the best (for storage) is around 50%, in cool temperatures. They also indicate that shorter charges (e.g. 15% SOC every day) is better than waiting 4 days and adding 60% SOC in one shot.

Make your own mind about what SOC is best for you every day, between 50 and 90. Plug as often as is practical for you, every day if it works for you. The important thing is: you won't break your car either way, we're talking about a few percent degradation over a few years, not half the battery.

 

[JustJenn]

It's a balance between usability of the car versus durability of the battery. There is no perfect answer. The manual favors usability by having your battery almost full every morning, yet stops at 90% because going over that is harder on the battery for longer storage. It suggests plugging every day so you don't forget to plug.
The research papers on battery storage will indicate that the best (for storage) is around 50%, in cool temperatures. They also indicate that shorter charges (e.g. 15% SOC every day) is better than waiting 4 days and adding 60% SOC in one shot.

Make your own mind about what SOC is best for you every day, between 50 and 90. Plug as often as is practical for you, every day if it works for you. The important thing is: you won't break your car either way, we're talking about a few percent degradation over a few years, not half the battery.

Perfect! Thanks so much!

 

[Rocky_H]

There's no need to have to go unplug it. If it's done charging, it just sits there; it's not "force feeding" electricity into the car if it doesn't need it.

And the plugging in all the time is more about building good habits, so you don't forget too many times and discover you don't have enough range to do what you need. But if you skip a day or three, and it's still not getting very low, that doesn't matter either.

 

[davewill]

One nice thing about leaving it plugged in is that if you use the mobile app to remotely cool or heat the car, it will use wall power to do it. Also, if you decide to bump up the charge limit because you need the extra range, it's already plugged in.

 

[OliverM3]

I agree what's was stated but keeping things in the middle is really the best for the health of the battery. No need to charge to 90% daily if you only drive 100 miles per day. I do drive 100 miles per day and I charge to 70% it gets me 250miles and I don't go to low and I don't charge the battery to high.
no need to stress it on either end if you don't need too. I could turn around and go back to work and still be fine or run around town with the wife at the 70% charge. So just find the sweet spot for the daily commute and then run it lower and charge it higher on trips. A storage charge for a battery is pretty much right in the middle so that's where the least degradation happens.
Other than that don't worry to much just drive it and have fun don't stress if you have to run it low or charge to 100% to make some trip.