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Charging Program (New to EV)
- Thread starter 20854
- Start date
No overwhelming need to charge every night. But... You just never know what tomorrow will bring. If you are at home and parked in your normal spot, why not? OTOH, not really a big deal if you forget, or it is not convenient for some reason, such as traveling somewhere.
1) If you plug in every day, it becomes something you do automatically, so you'll be much less likely to forget to plug when you really need it.*,**
2) You could be wrong about how much you'll need tomorrow.
3) Vampire drain (use of energy by the car while you're not there) cannot always be predicted accurately.
* We have a Volt. It's my wife's commuter so she drives it much more than I do:
- If I drive it, I sometimes forget to plug in when I get home (especially if I have a distraction, like takeout)
- If my wife drives it, she sometimes forgets _not_ to plug in when she gets home.
** See also, use of turn signals.
2) You could be wrong about how much you'll need tomorrow.
3) Vampire drain (use of energy by the car while you're not there) cannot always be predicted accurately.
* We have a Volt. It's my wife's commuter so she drives it much more than I do:
- If I drive it, I sometimes forget to plug in when I get home (especially if I have a distraction, like takeout)
- If my wife drives it, she sometimes forgets _not_ to plug in when she gets home.
** See also, use of turn signals.
I don't. For 4 years on my 88 mile Leaf and a year om the Model 3, I charge when I need it. With the model 3, it's once or twice a week.
But, do make sure that you take it to 100% every few months to balance the batteries. Preferably, that's as part of a longer trip.
You'll probably soon see the folks quoting the manual and saying that a "Plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla" But honestly, It's hard to keep it plugged in while travelling down the road.
Tesla built the car so that you don't have to worry about the battery, so don't. Look for all of the guidance from Tesla (not rumors or third hand knowledge), there really isn't any. Just enjoy the car.
But, do make sure that you take it to 100% every few months to balance the batteries. Preferably, that's as part of a longer trip.
You'll probably soon see the folks quoting the manual and saying that a "Plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla" But honestly, It's hard to keep it plugged in while travelling down the road.
Tesla built the car so that you don't have to worry about the battery, so don't. Look for all of the guidance from Tesla (not rumors or third hand knowledge), there really isn't any. Just enjoy the car.
...Me personally it’s just automatic when I park my car in garage I plug in ..habit I have after 3 Tesla’s ..now if one were using a mobile connector and had to unpack and pack every morning I probably would charge as needed ...that’s one advantage of perm wall connector
You should get less degradation (more charge cycle equivalents) by having several small charges rather than one large charge. Based mainly on generic lithium battery behavior.
There should be a link in here somewhere:
Battery Charging Best Practices
But in general I don't think you'd notice a problem unless you kept the car a long time.
There should be a link in here somewhere:
Battery Charging Best Practices
But in general I don't think you'd notice a problem unless you kept the car a long time.
Electric700
Active Member
Noting that battery degradation curves are usually plotted vs number of charge/discharge cycles and despite the fact that I realize these are often equivalent full charge to full discharge values I have it in my head that minimizing the number of charge cycles may help. Thus I usually charge to 75% and then don't charge again until the battery is well below 50%. But as the manufacturer says it's OK to set if for 90% and plug it in whenever you get home I don't think you'll go too far wrong by doing just that.
dblankenbaker
Member
dblankenbaker
Member
The car decides when it needs to charge. It can't charge if it isn't plugged in. I don't want to forget to plug it in and then wake up the next morning needing a 90% charge and not have it.
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