Charging questions...

[demotrek]

I've been charging our cars to 90% since 2013. I charge whenever the car is at home, even for few minutes; my wife mostly at night because she doesn't like to unplug the car on multiple trips hauling the kids around through the day. My MS is the older one from 2015, it might have lost a mile or two at 90% (charges to 225/226 at 90%, IIRC when new it was 227). The 2018MS is less than a year old, no noticable degradation. We never set the charge level to under 90%. Occasionally for trips I charge to 95, mostly to warm up the battery just before the trip. Only charged to 100% a few times. Oh, both cars have 24/7 2ch dashcams, and vampire drain seems about 3 miles per day, unless really cold and parked in windy outdoors. While in the garage, 2015 car cycles between 226-220.

Thank you. Did you install the dash cams and if so how was the process? Definitely an upgrade I’d like to have as long as it looks like it was made for it.

 

[demotrek]

Sorry I’m a newb here but how can I “like” a comment. I’m thankful for a lot the responses but don’t want to flood the post with a bunch of thank you replies.

 

[demotrek]

@demotrek , congratulations on your new car! Tesla has great batteries and battery thermal management system. This means that, for the most part you are worrying and thinking way too much about charging. That being said, I understand that some people are more engineering minded than others and want to geek out on the topic. From my informal research over the years and my own personal experience, do whatever makes you feel comfortable and peaceful between 60% and 90%. Never be afraid to charge to 100%, but don't leave it that way too long (12hrs or more?) and try to schedule it so that's it's ready comfortably before you depart.

In other words, just remember to enjoy one of the supreme conveniences of an electric car compared to ICE: Easy refueling at home w/o range anxiety. Don't stress yourself out over the minutia. I was in your shoes and it was wasted effort

Thank you for the kind words stranger! I’m one of the most analytical people you will meet so it will be tough, ha, but I am certainly in love with this car. I feel like I walk out to the garage every few hours to look at it and I’m always asking the wife if we need anything from the store.

 

[whitex]

Thank you. Did you install the dash cams and if so how was the process? Definitely an upgrade I’d like to have as long as it looks like it was made for it.

Yes, I installed them myself. 2CH Blackvue 650's. Plenty of posts here on TMC how to do it. I tapped the power from the microphone grill. The first install took the longest while learning how to pull panels and roof lining. Subsequent ones about an hour an half including running the wire to the back and through the boot to the hatch. You may need a few of the blue plastic clips as some usually break when pulling on them - you can get them from Tesla or on online (search TMC for non-Tesla equivalent). The cams already paid for themselves as my wife got hit by a DUI and one of our MS was totaled - the dashcam footage was a slam dunk proving fault - so saved $900 in deductible and no collision claim raising rates. I treat dashcams like aribags, hope to never have to use them, but install them first thing on all cars. About to upgrade one car to the 900 model (4K version) to see how well it works (since I've seen some people complain about reliability, so one car for now).

PS> I have a number of gripes with Tesla, but will say one thing - they do make safe cars. My wife walked away from a totaled car after being PIT'ed at 60mph (I posted the dashcam video in this post))

 

[Mike Robinson]

I just made the (possibly invalid) assumption that the delivery specialist was providing that charging advice based on Tesla’s extensive research.

 

[Rocky_H]

I just made the (possibly invalid) assumption that the delivery specialist was providing that charging advice based on Tesla’s extensive research.

They do not want to have to train thousands of employees to have to do extensive questioning of each buyer's driving patterns and charging scenarios and give unique tailored advice that may be wrong. They just can't train that many people to be that knowledgeable about batteries to give the best advice for each person. What they can do is to train all of them on one number: 90%. They all consistently say that. They can train them to say it consistently because it's...OK advice that will work reasonably well for everyone. It's not necessarily ideal for some people's uses, but it can't really be too wrong either, no matter what people do with their cars.

 

[shred86]

I just made the (possibly invalid) assumption that the delivery specialist was providing that charging advice based on Tesla’s extensive research.

I think they did, which is charge to 90% for all the reasons I mentioned in my previous post. I was just clarifying that there actually is benefits to charging to a state less than 90% (in terms of battery degradation), albeit a small one for the majority of owners.

 

[AwlBidnz]

I just made the (possibly invalid) assumption that the delivery specialist was providing that charging advice based on Tesla’s extensive research.

Unfortunately my delivery "assistant" was no specialist. Access in ANY form of Tesla's research would help these many blogs answer many of the same questions on all things mobile. If only there was a source for this sort of thing??

 

[jbcarioca]

I always have kept my P85DL Tesla between 30-80% mostly, but often went to 100% for long trips, and as low as 20% similarly. Always plugged in when any electricity was available. However, for six months I had my car without charging at home and I am frequently out of the US. During the six months I charged to 90% and let it it for as much as six weeks. After four years and 35,000 miles my range as 100% remained ~265, as it was when I took delivery.

An acquaintance of mine with more usage than mine on his S85 routinely goes as low as, he says <5 miles range remaining, and claims no discernible battery degradation. That and many others convince me of the durability of Tesla batteries.

I still remain very conservative in my P3D+.

 

[David99]

I always have kept my P85DL Tesla between 30-80% mostly, but often went to 100% for long trips, and as low as 20% similarly. Always plugged in when any electricity was available. However, for six months I had my car without charging at home and I am frequently out of the US. During the six months I charged to 90% and let it it for as much as six weeks. After four years and 35,000 miles my range as 100% remained ~265, as it was when I took delivery.

An acquaintance of mine with more usage than mine on his S85 routinely goes as low as, he says <5 miles range remaining, and claims no discernible battery degradation. That and many others convince me of the durability of Tesla batteries.

I still remain very conservative in my P3D+.

I think you summed it up well. Tesla's batteries are very robust and the car takes care of the battery very well no matter what. But it definitely helps to treat the battery in a way that is know to make it last long.

 

[Lasttoy]

Tesla HQ told me when i bought mine to have 2 settings
1, home area about 70%
2. Getting ready for long trip 95%.
3. Read the page from owners manual.
NOTE, since v9, my car has NOT been able to charge at any old chargers, i can only charge at gen 5 new chargers. Im stuck at home.

 

[David99]

NOTE, since v9, my car has NOT been able to charge at any old chargers, i can only charge at gen 5 new chargers. I'm stuck at home.

I'm confused what old and gen 5 chargers are. Can you explain?