Charging on 110 line in cold weather?

[debaser19]

Hey all, I have my MYLR being delivery via carrier direct delivery. Should be dropped off either late this week or sometime next week.

I will be moving in mid-december, so I don’t want to pay to have a 220 line installed at my current house. I live just south of Buffalo and we just got 7 feet of snow dumped on us, and it gets quite cold here. I work from home Mondays and Fridays, and have a 60 mile round trip commute 3 days per week to the office. Will I be able to get by for about a month on the 110 charger? There’s a super charger about 10 miles from my work but is out of my way, so I can top up there if need be.

Curious how this is going to work out. I’ve never so much as taken a test drive so not sure how it’s going to go.

 

[Chisale]

You could definitely get by though I'd guess you're going to have to use the supercharger occasionally. Are the 3 days you have to drive to work weekends or a Tu-Th thing? Overnight at home L1 charging depending on arrival time, departure time and temperature, plus other factors you are likely only going to be able to add approx 40-60 miles of range overnight. Perhaps even way less than that if it's bitterly cold. Further, your 60 mile commute could easily consume 90-100 miles of range. So if the conditions weren't too bad, it's possible that you could do three days in a row without supercharging. But more reasonably, my guess if you'll have to hit the supercharger at least once. If the days are not consective then you could probably do it. But overall, if it was me, I'd just tough it out for a month and not mess around with an electrician in this weather.

 

[Art84]

If you have a clothes dryer, you can plug it into this outlet for charging as a temporary solution.
You will need to buy 14-30 Tesla adapter: Gen 2 NEMA Adapters
Pretty often, the washer and dryer are located in the hallway to the garage, in this case the length of the charger cable should be enough. Otherwise, you ll need to invest in the extension cord as well..
It will fully charge your car overnight

 

[uicandrew]

i would anticipate going to the supercharger more often than not. anticipate getting about 3-4 miles of range per hour charged. this number could go down if it is cold, because the car also uses energy to keep the battery pack maintained.

I tried charging at a relative's house during the holiday 4 years ago and the wiring/electrical box was unable to support charging over 110, and i used tesla's adapter's etc. It was a 2400sq ft house built in the 1980's. So it wasn't an ancient house, but on the older side. i ended up having to go to the local nissan dealership (on "fumes") to charge for a whole 5-6 hrs at their single level 2 station.

my experience was with a model 3 (without the heat pump) and while the heat pump helps improve range, it doesn't change how slow a 110 outlet charges, especially in the cold.

good luck and congratulations on your new model Y!!!

 

[ATPMSD]

Make sure Sentry is turned off when you are at home. Sentry will consume 5-6 kWh / day.

 

[Mex1]

Depending on the other driving you do outside of work commute it could work.
I have only used 110 and have not installed a higher output wall charger. I have made it through the winter just fine.

Just see how it goes, plug in when you get home, turn off sentry mode at home like suggested.
Top off at the super charger if needed.

 

[Tam]

...Curious how this is going to work out....

A 120V tryout shouldn't be a problem because you can get to a Supercharger if it fails.

120V is slow but it works fine in a normal temperature. That means you could get enough charge daily if you don't drive too far.

However, when the weather is freezing, there might not be enough energy from your 120V to do 2 jobs at a time: heating the battery pack and charging. It would heat your battery pack first and you might think that something is wrong because the car seems not to be charging but it is, just very imperceptibly slow.

That means, in freezing weather, the charging on 120V might be too slow to get any sufficient charge for your daily driving needs.

 

[GtiMart]

If the car is charging, sentry won't change a thing since the car is already awake. Having it on or off will not influence consumption.

Plug your car all the time when you're home, you'll get what you can from the 120V. At some point if charging doesn't maintain enough and you fall below and certain threshold (you decide), go to the supercharger. You'll see how often you end up there.

 

[bradtem]

Don't know about the charge rate in the winter, it might be less and will be a bit less efficient -- are you garaging?

The real question is, how many hours a week do you think you will be plugged in? (If you have Time of Use payment and expensive daytime power you might not want to include the peak hours, typically 3pm to 9pm but it varies and can be different in winter.)

Almost everybody is at home 10 hours a day for sleep, evening and morning. Many get far more hours. But if you will do 70 hours in a week, that's going to get you around 300 miles range/week. That's not bad -- 15,000 miles/year which is more than most people drive, certainly around their home.

Your commute is only going to get you 200 miles/week, so you have 100 spare. The trick is you won't fill up every night, particularly the nights after your commute. But you have a long range, so that's not a problem. (Strangely, cars with smaller batteries need more charging power than cars with big batteries because they can't afford to go low. If you had an old 80 mile LEAF you would be in trouble after one day of commute.)

However, there will be potential days where you do bunches of extra driving and the level dips lower than you would like. It won't be very often -- for me it was twice a year but I have a M3 mid-range and not a commute likeyours -- you will visit the supercharger.

If that's not good enough until you move, there are other options like dryer plugs, or rewiring one of your circuits (if you have a dedicated one) for 240v, using the same wire which is much cheaper than installing a whole new circuit.

If your winter charging reduces your rate down to 3mph, you start getting close to the wire and may need that SC once every 1-2 weeks. The other times you might need the SC would be if you take long drives -- but if you take long drives, there is often an SC along the way.

While most people with charging at home don't make use of local public level 2 chargers, if you are on the edge, it can make sense to look into them. Check out plugshare, see if there are chargers in places you already go, like grocery stores, malls etc. Take a small effort to use them. Even an hour will get you 22 to 30 miles depending on the station, which if it happens once a week will mean the difference. And of course if there is one near the office you are golden.

Note you do need to make sure the car is asleep (no sentry.) Contrary to what somebody wrote above, the car is not awake during charging normally, so waking it up will slow your charging down in a way you will notice on Level 1.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Park in your garage.

Note: If your move is delayed, consider a low cost upgrade, such as adding a 6-20 outlet.

 

[GtiMart]

The car runs the pumps while the car is charging so it is awake. The high voltage contactor is on, otherwise there is no way to input electricity in the battery. All will shut off once charging is complete.

 

[ATPMSD]

If the car is charging, sentry won't change a thing since the car is already awake. Having it on or off will not influence consumption.

Good point!

 

[jcanoe]

With 120V charging in winter temperatures plug in as soon as you arrive home from your evening commute. The battery will be warm from the drive and the Tesla Model Y will not need to warm the battery before beginning to charge. If you wait more than a few hours the battery will have cooled down, perhaps to where the Tesla Model Y will have to warm the battery before charging can initiate. Waiting to charge will use more energy and lengthen the time needed to charge.

 

[bradtem]

With 120V charging in winter temperatures plug in as soon as you arrive home from your evening commute. The battery will be warm from the drive and the Tesla Model Y will not need to warm the battery before beginning to charge. If you wait more than a few hours the battery will have cooled down, perhaps to where the Tesla Model Y will have to warm the battery before charging can initiate. Waiting to charge will use more energy and lengthen the time needed to charge.

This is wise, though that usually means doing it during peak electricity times, which will cost you more if you have ToU metering. However, the cost may be worth it. Now, if you are plugging in at 6pm and don't leave until 8am, you are getting 14 hours which actually will get you a lot of charge. Anyway, if you care about the cost you may have some math to do on this. In the winter, though, it's not usually as bad in the summer, where peak electricity can be 3 times the price of night electricity. In winter it may not be that much different.

 

[Midnightsun]

Cold weather really impedes charging on 110v. Last year we went over to a friends house and overnighted there. We plugged into 110v around supper time and left the next morning around 8AM. I did preheat the car for about 30 mins before we left and was rather surprised we had only gained about 20 miles since we plugged in. Charging in cold weather on 110v is really slow and may not be sufficient for your needs. By the way, it was only about -10c so not that cold and when we left it was jut below freezing.

EV's are meant to be in a heated garage during winter for best battery performance.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

Keep in mind that 110v hardware is not built/rated for constant load/usage like that of an EV. You'll need to manually set the amps to less than the max available. For example, perhaps 8amp or so. However, this will depend on what else is on the 110v circuit in the house.

Consider that just preheating alone in the morning can consume 15+amps (this is with heat pump MY).

You'll likely be making weekly trips to the supercharger. When doing so, plan for your battery to be at a low state of charge and warm. This will help for faster supercharging.

 

[bradtem]

Keep in mind that 110v hardware is not built/rated for constant load/usage like that of an EV. You'll need to manually set the amps to less than the max available. For example, perhaps 8amp or so. However, this will depend on what else is on the 110v circuit in the house.

Consider that just preheating alone in the morning can consume 15+amps (this is with heat pump MY).

You'll likely be making weekly trips to the supercharger. When doing so, plan for your battery to be at a low state of charge and warm. This will help for faster supercharging.

Sorry, he's not making weekly trips to the supercharger. I mean the car has a range of over 300 miles. Most people average less than 300/week, and so a weekly trip to the supercharger would suffice with no charging at home at all -- other than, again, the losses of the cold climate.

His level 1 circuit can probably put over 250 miles/week into his car. A properly installed 120v (not 110, that's ancient) circuit can run at 12a continuous.

If you can get 250 miles/week into your car from level 1, your supercharger visits would be rare for your regular driving. (The national average is 230 miles/week driving.) That includes road trips -- and of course you supercharge on road trips. For your weeks when you are not leaving town, you will be below average.

The big unanswered question is what his real charge rate is in the cold. That's easy for him to answer. Do some experiments:

1. Plug a cold car in and charge overnight, note miles/hour
2. Plug a warm car in and charge overnight, note miles/hour

A model Y gets 4-5 m/h when warm from 120v 12a. Closer to 4 probably. See what you get in the cold. Then figure how many hours you will typically plug in during the week when the electricity is not crazy expensive. That's probably 70 to 100 hours. Work out the math.

 

[rwiegand]

There may be other fast DC chargers in your area other than Tesla superchargers. Perhaps there is one that is not out of your way.

 

[VT_EE]

Hey all, I have my MYLR being delivery via carrier direct delivery. Should be dropped off either late this week or sometime next week.

I will be moving in mid-december, so I don’t want to pay to have a 220 line installed at my current house. I live just south of Buffalo and we just got 7 feet of snow dumped on us, and it gets quite cold here. I work from home Mondays and Fridays, and have a 60 mile round trip commute 3 days per week to the office. Will I be able to get by for about a month on the 110 charger? There’s a super charger about 10 miles from my work but is out of my way, so I can top up there if need be.

Curious how this is going to work out. I’ve never so much as taken a test drive so not sure how it’s going to go.

Hopefully you have a garage to park in. 110V charging stops working when the pack gets too cold.

 

[jcanoe]

110V AC has been gradually increasing since the 1950s, raised to 120V AC in 1967. In 1984 120V AC became the official US standard. Common 120V circuits found in the home are rated for 15 amps or 20 amps. EV charging is a continuous load, the national electrical code limits continuous loads to 80% of the circuit rating; 12 amps for a 15 amp circuit and 16 amps for a 20 amp circuit. Unless old, worn or damaged the 120V receptacle should be able to handle continuous charging at the 80% load limit. If the circuit is shared with other appliances that are drawing power from the circuit then you should reduce the maximum charging rate below the 80% maximum.

Whether charging at 120V or 240V does not make a difference when preconditioning. The Tesla Model Y heat pump operates at 300V and draws power from the high voltage battery system, not from the power grid. The heat pump can consume power at up to 8kW while 120V charging at 12A is under 1.5kW, 120V charging at 16 amps is under 2kW, (not nearly enough to fully power the Model Y's heat pump system.)