Charging Model Y

[federico90]

Hello everyone!

I just got a Model Y. I’ve been reading a lot about State of Charge. I learned that the general recommendation is to keep the battery charge between 30%-80% as much as you can. I only drive around 40/50 miles per day (sometimes even less) so I set my charge limit to 75%.
My question is about the lower end, when I come back home my battery level is usually between 55% and 65%. So should I let the battery level go a little lower (30% or 40%) and charge every other night? Or is it better to keep the state of charge as tight as possible and charge every night? (Even if it’s 60% to 75% every day)

Thank you so much!

 

[Eric33432]

I use 10 to 30 % of my battery for daily driving, so I charge to 50%. I get home with from 20 to 40%. Why charge higher when not needed?

If I am going out of town I adjust my charging to account for that. For example, if I am going to Miami I might charge to 80%.

If I am going on a road trip, I charge to 90% the night before, then whilst I am getting ready in the morning I bump it up to 100% and leave with 95 to 100%.

 

[jcanoe]

If possible plug in and charge once a day. Nothing bad will happen if you skip a day. It appears from your daily driving/commute that you could lower the daily charging limit of your Model Y to 60% and the SOC would then range from 60% after charging down to 40% when you would plug in. Be sure to research time of use (TOU) rate plans, i.e. "TOU 5" in your area of CA. A TOU rate plan can save $. You would set Scheduled Charging in the Tesla vehicle and only charge during the off-peak period.

 

[federico90]

Thank you both for your answers!
I already changed my charging limit to 60%.
About the different plans, I just changed to one called “E-Elec”. I checked the different options that Pg&E has available, and that seems to be the one that would save me more money, we’ll see how it goes. Thanks you!

 

[David99]

According to battery experts, it is better to top off when you have a chance than waiting for it to drop more and then charge. Basically smaller, more 'shallow' charge cycles are better than deeper ones.

Waiting for the battery to be close to empty and then charging it up close to full is a behavior carried over from gas cars. Going to a gas station is annoying so we learnt to wait until the tank is empty and fill all the way yup. It was about minimizing gas stations trips. When you have a charger at home, use it every day.

 

[federico90]

Thanks for answering Dave, and thanks for the explanation.

I already set the charging limit to 60% and I’m going to charge the car every night. This way I’ll probably keep the battery charge between 40% and 60%. After a couple weeks, if I notice that I never go lower than 40% and I feel comfortable, I’ll adjust the charging limit to 50% or 55%. I never drive really far from home so it should be more than enough, and I wouldn’t be running a risk. Thanks.

 

[E90alex]

Also there is no harm in going low in the battery as long as you don’t run it completely dead and leave it there. 20%, 10%, even single digits will not be harmful.

Just be aware the car will disable certain functions like sentry mode, keep climate on, dog mode, etc if below 20%.