charging, how often do you plug in at home?

[drtimhill]

If one is retired and only travels to grocery store Costco Home Depot etc. all within less than 10 miles and occasional longer trips in the city how often do you plug in at home? after every trip? Is it a PITA plug in when you arrive home? do you plug in like once a week? If not plugging in every time and developing that habit I could envision a problem of forgetting. does the car warn you that you need to charge when you get home if low?

I get home and plug it in always. Nothing else for me to worry about. Takes about 10 seconds to plug it in (Tesla wall charger), and peace of mind knowing it will be charged (to 70%, unless I'm planning on a long trip) whenever I need it.

 

[Feathermerchan]

We have two Teslas. We charge once a week on Sundays. More often if we need to.

 

[MrWattson]

I plug in each evening. Coming and going during the day, I leave it unplugged. I usually charge to 70 percent, unless I have a further destination the following day. Then I increase SOC accordingly.

It is not a hassle to charge. I have the connector outside my garage and easy to access. . I could charge every few days but life can be sporadic and impulsive at times. If, on a whim, I wish to go somewhere further, I don't want to have to worry about charging on the road. If your life is more predictable and steady, charge every few days.

I will add many folks say for best battery life, maintain a charge. I keep my motorcycles on Battery Tenders whenever parked more than a few days. I presume that is a good thing for the MY too.

 

[KenC]

If one is retired and only travels to grocery store Costco Home Depot etc. all within less than 10 miles and occasional longer trips in the city how often do you plug in at home? after every trip? Is it a PITA plug in when you arrive home? do you plug in like once a week? If not plugging in every time and developing that habit I could envision a problem of forgetting. does the car warn you that you need to charge when you get home if low?

As you say, plugging in develops a habit, so you won't forget. There's no real downside. I always plug in, even if it's just 10miles to the muni dump and back. My plug hangs just over the rear of the car, so it takes 5 secs to plug, 5 secs to unplug. Since I walk right by the plug, I never forget. Most 3rd party apps can warn you if the car isn't plugged in, below a set SOC, and by a certain time at night.

 

[Srad600Volt]

I plug in about once a week normally. I could actually go longer, but I like to have a reserve on weekends just in case I decide to go somewhere on a whim. With everything happening I work from home, so most trips for me are short (<10 miles) and no more than one or two trips a day. I normally charge up to 85% and at the end of the week it's usually still around 35-40%.

 

[kayak1]

We leave the charge set to 80% and charging happens just about every time we return home. Pull into the garage, get of out the car and plug in. It takes 10 seconds to plug in.

With my leaf I have to plugin each time. That takes longer has you have doors and flaps, I have to figure what I pulled in with and then use the juicebox app to limit how much power the leaf will be provided as the car doesn't have a way to limit the charging.

With the Tesla it is just so very easy to always had a 80% (you pick the amount) charge when you leave the house. 44 MPH charging is great.

 

[BrianBigNFun]

Plugged in every day and set to finish the charge at 5:15am for when I leave for work

 

[damonbrodie]

We've had our car for 10 days - we tend to charge when it gets below 50% and we limit the charging to about 80%. That works out to every 2-3 days with the amount of driving we do now.

 

[Gadget63]

I read somewhere in the manual that it is recommended that you charge it to 80 - 90% nightly. So I plug it in every evening. Did that for two years with my M3 and never had a problem

 

[jbcarioca]

When plugged in the Tesla vehicle does not warm the battery pack unless you initiate preconditioning via the Tesla app. The exception is when you have set up Scheduled Departure in the Charging Settings inside the Tesla vehicle. When you set up Scheduled Departure the Tesla vehicle will automatically start preconditioning about 20 minutes (sometimes longer) before the scheduled departure time.

This is an important one. I do initiate heating or cooling prior to setting off on very cold/hot days. When on trips I do that whenever weather is uncomfortable. Mostly when I do that on trips the car is not plugged in. By the way, when driving in very cold weather I find that range degradation on longer trips is much less than it is on short ones so the trip range penalty for me has never been more than 30% in very cold weather (i.e. <10 F). However, as we probably all know rain, snow and/or winds have dramatic negative effects. of course tailwinds are beneficial.
For trip planning in snowy conditions (I am usually in a Model X then) I count on a 50% penalty for trip planning. In my experience it has never been worse than that, partly because lower speeds mitigate the negatives for the bad weather. (FWIW my snowy weather Tesla experience is mostly the Alps and Eastern Canada).

Always, whenever possible I plug in overnight. If with good a/c power I usually charge overnight on trips to about 70% and top off a couple of hours before departure. Based on original Tesla advice I never, ever leave charge rates higher than 80%. Higher levels as soon as possible to departure.

 

[damonbrodie]

I read somewhere in the manual that it is recommended that you charge it to 80 - 90% nightly. So I plug it in every evening. Did that for two years with my M3 and never had a problem

Hmmm. I've read that you should not go below 20% or above 80-90%, but not that you should stay charged.... Do you have an article you can link for this?

The BMS needs to have a variety of SoC data points at all charge states in order to properly balance the pack - so there is some value to allow the battery to going a few days between charges so that you get down to 30-40% charge.

 

[tonyb99]

Every week or two, depending on use. (cycle from 80% to 20%) Probably best to cycle a battery rather than staying in a narrow range of charge, and less wear on the charging components, physical and electrical. Downside - car is not always ready for an emergency long trip if that is a possibility in your world.

(I do wonder about the effect on the 12v battery of a 2-week absence of external charge)

 

[damonbrodie]

(I do wonder about the effect on the 12v battery of a 2-week absence of external charge)

Why does the car need to be charging to charge the 12v battery? It isn't as though there is an alternator that needs to be spinning

 

[CapsEngineer]

I plug in each night even with similar errand running <20m per day I would say. I take the Dog out each night last thing so is super easy routine for me, but certainly isn't needed. I have also read many times it is 'better' to be plugged in, but no real deficit if you only plug in when (before) you need it or as you remember to do so. Once you get into ownership you're soon realize how charging and range anxiety is a non issue for probably 95% of owners if you have home charging capability.

Plug in every night to keep to 80%. Nightly routine is to take the dog out one last time and on the way back I tell her "we have to plug the car in". She walks over to the side of the house instead of to the door.

 

[LeeStafford11]

I have 60+ mile R/T every day so I plug in every other day. It will usually have about 80-90 miles left after 2 days of driving. I suppose if I drove more conservatively I might be able to go 3 days on one charge but that's no fun! ;-O

 

[alexcue]

I drive at least 40 miles a day so my car is plugged in at the office every day. Why? cause it's free. I set it to 80% and don't worry about it.

At home I only set it to a couple of % points above what I arrived at, otherwise if it's the weekend and I'm know I am going out and about, same 80%.

I agree a Plugged in Tesla, is a happy Tesla. Weather has a lot to do with that sentiment. During the winter, and I'm pre-conditioning I just like it to come from the wall. Now that it's getting warmer, I like to do a Pre-Cool before I leave, since the car gets the sun most of the late afternoon and I hate the hot car seats when I get in. When it's pre-cooled, the air isn't blasting and my seats are usually much more comfy. Since it's plugged in the car is right where I want it 80%.

YMMV

 

[Peace1946]

After six months of ownership I have developed a pattern of charging every night to around 80%. That assuming I don’t forget to plug in. That seems to happen about once a month. Charging is scheduled to start at 11:00pm.

About once a month I need a full charge. For those days I schedule a departure time based upon when I plan to leave. Most of those trips require a Supercharger stop on the way home so I charge to the point I have about 20% remaining upon arrival. Plug back in……repeat as necessary.

 

[Thp3]

I plug in every time I get home.

I live in VERY rural Wisconsin. I'm 39 miles away from the closest supercharging station. I work 48 miles away (one way), outside of Saint Paul. I bought my LR Model Y two months ago, so it hasn't seen the bitter cold of winter up here yet, but even in March, driving only to and from work, I would use over 50% of the battery round trip. Needless to say, I charge it every night. In the couple weeks a year that it is stupidly cold here (-40 degrees actual temp), I'm not even sure if I'll be able to make it round trip to work and back because of the ~40% range loss in really cold weather.

So, to sum up, our Tesla gets plugged in every time it returns home, but that is usually only once a day, and just on the days I actually go into the office or after we've gone somewhere on the weekend.

You will find in the winter you can reduce your energy loss by heating the car up before you unplug and leave for work. I’m not sure if simply setting a departure time activates the climate heating 20-30 minutes before departure. Then the use of seat warmer versus heating the car saves energy as well. Of course finding a charger where you park at work would also help.

 

[Fidalgo]

I'm retired and only plug in about once a week, charging to 85 or 90 percent and then plugging in again when it gets down to 20 percent so. More if we're making longer trips, of course. The car seems to be doing fine; after ten months of this it shows a range of 311 if charged to 100 percent.

 

[Danzel]

About the Battery
Model Y has one of the most sophisticated battery
systems in the world. The most important way to
preserve the Battery is to LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE
PLUGGED IN when you are not using it. This is
particularly important if you are not planning to drive
Model Y for several weeks. When plugged in, Model Y
wakes up when needed to automatically maintain a
charge level that maximizes the lifetime of the Battery.

NOTE: When left idle and unplugged, your vehicle
periodically uses energy from the Battery for system
tests and recharging the 12V battery when necessary.
There is no advantage to waiting until the Battery’s
level is low before charging. In fact, the Battery
performs best when charged regularly.

NOTE: If you allow the Battery to discharge to 0%,
other components may become damaged or require
replacement (for example, the 12V battery). In these
cases, you are responsible for repair and/or
transporting expenses. Discharge-related expenses are
not covered by the warranty or under the Roadside
Assistance policy.
The peak charging rate of the Battery may decrease
slightly after a large number of DC Fast Charging
sessions, such as those at Superchargers. To ensure
maximum driving range and Battery safety, the Battery
charge rate is decreased when the Battery is too cold,
when the Battery’s charge is nearly full, and when the
Battery conditions change with usage and age. These
changes in the condition of the Battery are driven by
battery physics and may increase the total
Supercharging duration by a few minutes over time.
Battery Care
Never allow the Battery to fully discharge. Even when
Model Y is not being driven, its Battery discharges very
slowly to power the onboard electronics. The Battery
can discharge at a rate of approximately 1% per day,
though the discharge rate may vary depending on
environmental factors (such as cold weather), vehicle
configuration, and your selected settings on the
touchscreen. Situations can arise in which you must
leave Model Y unplugged for an extended period of
time (for example, at an airport when traveling). In
these situations, keep the 1% in mind to ensure that you
leave the Battery with a sufficient charge level. For
example, over a two week period (14 days), the Battery
may discharge by approximately 14%.
Discharging the Battery to 0% may result in damage to
vehicle components. To protect against a complete
discharge, Model Y enters a low-power consumption
mode when the displayed charge level drops to
approximately 0%. In this mode, the Battery stops
supporting the onboard electronics and auxiliary 12V
battery. Once this low-power consumption mode is
active, immediately plug in Model Y to prevent a jump-
start and 12V battery replacement.

NOTE: If the vehicle is unresponsive and will not unlock,
open, or charge, then the 12V battery may have become
discharged. In this situation, contact Tesla.