Charging habit

[D.Jeon]

Currently charging to 85% by the time I get to work i used 17-22% depending on how I drive. I plug at work to 85%. Should I go below or is this a good charging habit? Also considering just charging at work all the time therefore I would be leaving home with 85%, charge to 85% at work, get home with 65% (don't charge at home), drive to work with 45% remaining and charge to 85% at work. I wouldn't need to charge at home at all.

Also does the way I drive, I have a pretty heavy foot and still not over the tesla acceleration, drain the overall degradation of battery cells or does it matter at all how slow or fast i drive?

 

[holmgang]

Things that degrade battery:

High state of charge
Low state of charge
High discharge rate
Many charging cycles

(In addition to temp and all sorts of other things)

Stomping it full throttle for long time is high discharge. That also means higher consumption and leads to more cycles.

It's not easy to precisely quantify the degradation. It's like...doctors can't tell you if you reduce lifespan by 4.3 minutes for every beer you drink.

So my personal philosophy is ... Enjoy it , in moderation.

I charge to 85% when I need to charge. I charge when it drop to around the 40s, simply because I don't feel like plugging in the cable each and every day.

Obviously this changes for big trips and etc.

 

[FurryOne]

Things that degrade battery:

Many charging cycles

I think this depends on how discharged the batteries are. I normally only may put 20-40 miles on during the day, and set it to charge
to just over 80% at night. I seriously doubt this counts towards "charging cycles" the same way charging from 20% to 80% does.

 

[Occar]

Tesla says leave it plugged in at 90% limit or lower all the time when you are able.

You can choose to listen to the designers of your car, or you can choose to listen to random people on the internet who tell you something else. I know who I would trust more.

My two Teslas since 2015 have had no battery problems following the Tesla guidelines. However, a lot of posts on here complaining about really low estimates have come from people who follow the habits described by the first person you were replied to by.

There is no secret. Just do what they suggest. Leave it plugged in all the time you are able to, and save the trip range (91-100%) for when you absolutely need it. My 2018 LR RWD charges to 323 or 324 miles remaining depending on temp in my garage. Before that my 2015 Model S (90D) was treated exactly the same and lost 5 or 6 rated miles in the 3 years I owned it. I have family members who have had multiple Teslas with the same experience. Stop over-thinking it, and posts on here asking will just bring out weird suggestions like you have already received.

 

[DDHEverything]

Things that degrade battery:

High state of charge
Low state of charge
High discharge rate
Many charging cycles

(In addition to temp and all sorts of other things)

Stomping it full throttle for long time is high discharge. That also means higher consumption and leads to more cycles.

It's not easy to precisely quantify the degradation. It's like...doctors can't tell you if you reduce lifespan by 4.3 minutes for every beer you drink.

So my personal philosophy is ... Enjoy it , in moderation.

I charge to 85% when I need to charge. I charge when it drop to around the 40s, simply because I don't feel like plugging in the cable each and every day.

Obviously this changes for big trips and etc.

You say “many charge cycles” will cause battery degradation but the car’s manual says to always plug the car in at home. Wouldn’t that lead to many charge cycles?

 

[RayK]

I think a "charge cycle", when referencing a Tesla battery, is discharging to somewhere around 20% (maybe lower) and then fully charging to 100%, or very near it. If you drive around and end up with 50% capacity, then charge to 80-90%, that's somewhat "less" than a complete cycle.

 

[holmgang]

I think this depends on how discharged the batteries are. I normally only may put 20-40 miles on during the day, and set it to charge
to just over 80% at night. I seriously doubt this counts towards "charging cycles" the same way charging from 20% to 80% does.

You say “many charge cycles” will cause battery degradation but the car’s manual says to always plug the car in at home. Wouldn’t that lead to many charge cycles?

That would be getting into semantics of what constitutes a cycle -- a full discharge, a deep discharge, or any singular charging event.

No matter which, the inescapable fact is higher consumption rate means more consumption per distance driven, more ions flowing across the battery, and higher wear (electrode cracking/damage).

And of course, manuals espouse general good guidance with a margin safety. Manuals aren't meant to be utterly meticulous and concise at the expense of convenience. Like manual would say your tires has to be xx size and yy pressure, but in practice you do as appropriate for your usage and conditions.

 

[r1200gs4ok]

Tesla says leave it plugged in at 90% limit or lower all the time when you are able.

You can choose to listen to the designers of your car, or you can choose to listen to random people on the internet who tell you something else. I know who I would trust more.

My two Teslas since 2015 have had no battery problems following the Tesla guidelines. However, a lot of posts on here complaining about really low estimates have come from people who follow the habits described by the first person you were replied to by.

There is no secret. Just do what they suggest. Leave it plugged in all the time you are able to, and save the trip range (91-100%) for when you absolutely need it. My 2018 LR RWD charges to 323 or 324 miles remaining depending on temp in my garage. Before that my 2015 Model S (90D) was treated exactly the same and lost 5 or 6 rated miles in the 3 years I owned it. I have family members who have had multiple Teslas with the same experience. Stop over-thinking it, and posts on here asking will just bring out weird suggestions like you have already received.

so leaving car charging is no problem? I charge to 90%.....maybe drive 20 miles a day....is that still ok?

 

[Resist]

I keep mine at 80% and try not to go lower than 20%. For trips I charge to 100% if I can leave right away after it finishes the charge. If I weren't going to drive it for weeks at a time, I'd probably keep it at 50%.

 

[sightman]

Just
Drive
It

and your plan to charge only at work is fine

 

[smartypnz]

I like your charge at work option. I would go with that but still plug in at home. Teslas use a little power for housekeeping and when plugged in - gets that power from the plug source instead of wasting battery miles. Not a big amount - but over time - adds up.

 

[dmurphy]

so leaving car charging is no problem? I charge to 90%.....maybe drive 20 miles a day....is that still ok?

In a word: yes. You’ve got it down to a science. Just keep doing what you’re doing. All is great!

 

[Kevin-rf]

Which is cheaper? Work or home?

For me with a TOU plan, it makes no financial sense to charge anywhere but home. Unless its free or I don't have enough electrons to get home.

 

[Occar]

so leaving car charging is no problem? I charge to 90%.....maybe drive 20 miles a day....is that still ok?

That’s totally fine. Even if you weren’t driving it at all you’d want to leave it plugged in to let the car decide when to top off.

 

[camalaio]

For your current charging habits vs. your proposed one, just do whatever is more convenient for you. If getting to work with only 45% makes you nervous for example, charge at home instead. There's really nothing wrong with your current setup, I would just be annoyed plugging in twice per day if it were me

A heavy foot does many damages lightly (battery, tires, shafts). Death by a thousand paper cuts, but you're doing very few paper cuts. Within the legal-ish confines of traffic, a "heavy foot" likely isn't making a noticeable difference to your battery longevity. If you were flooring it on the Autobahn or cruising at 200km/h, that's a different story. But little bursts around town are probably damaging your tires more than your battery.

 

[DaveRZ]

I agree with everyone pretty much saying don't worry about it. The difference between charging at work only vs work AND home is probably so negligible anyhow that you'd never notice the difference in battery longevity. Personally I'd charge at work during the week if they're ok with paying for it. Why charge at home too?

A "charge cycle" typically refers to using the rated capacity of the battery and charging it back up. So 0% to 100% is a charge cycle. 50% to 100% twice is a charge cycle. 30% to 50% five times is a charge cycle. So if you only use 5% of the battery each day and charge it back up each night, it would take you 20 days to complete a charge cycle.

Fast forward your life 5-6 years from now... Our cars have a few battle scars, the batteries show ~90% of original rated capacity. The Tesla Model 3 v2.0 is out and makes ours look like Fisher-Price toys. At that point, are you going to care that you stressed over the little things? Use the car, enjoy the car. Its there to serve YOU. Your job is to feed it electrons and drive.