Charging Range More Limited Than I thought - Am I Wrong?

[lencap]

Greetings! This forum is amazingly helpful - thanks to all.

My M3LR arrives in 2 weeks (being optimistic), and I’ve just finished reading the manual for the second time. Between the Owner’s manual and comments on this forum it seems as if keeping the battery charged in a range of 30 - 80, as per Elon Musk’s tweet, is the “sweet spot” for long term battery health.

If that’s the goal, then my 310 mile range car will typically be charged to provide a recommend driving range starting with 240 mile upper range (80% of 310 full capacity) and 90 miles (the lower end recommended 30% charge). (Figures rounded for simplicity). So, again if I’m following the recommended charging ranges correctly, I have about 150 miles daily driving range (240-90=150). In effect my 310 mile M3LR is really a 150 mile range car, charging within the optimal recommend state of charge.

Am I doing this correctly, or am I being overly restrictive?

 

[CUBldr97]

no that's not correct... you can drive below the 30% charge range anytime you want.

So if you drive 150 miles a day on average, then I would charge 200miles... 70% or so...

I set my model s to roughly 60-70% every day.. some days i only do 30 miles, some days i do 140miles...

 

[brkaus]

I don't think anyone has shown a significant statistically proven difference between charging to 70, 80, or 90%.

I'd charge to 80% and be happy. If that isn't enough for your trip, charge to 90%.

 

[Tam]

...second time...

Since you like reading, the below is a must-read for your charging questions even though it is old:

The Rules of Model S Road Tripping

 

[nvx1977]

battery chemistry dictates that high charge and high temps are stressors for battery longevity. Tesla has gone out of its way to ensure these factors are minimized, so the difference between charging to 70 and 80 and even 90 are pretty small when it comes to stressing the battery. So don't worry too much about it.

I personally place my charge limit at 60% because my daily use is around 100mi. that is more than enough. Now that it's getting colder and I have less efficiency, I've raised it to 70%. If I'm doing a long trip that requires supercharging, I'll charge to 100% overnight.

 

[jeffro01]

Always kept my Tesla(s) at 90% and it's always worked out well.. If I know I have a trip coming up I charge to 100% when I wake up that morning (assuming I'm leaving after I get ready for the day) and that's also always been fine.

Jeff

 

[TexasEV]

To answer your question directly, yes, you are being overly restrictive. Charge daily to 90%, and 100% for trips. Just don’t leave it sitting for days at 100%. Arrive at superchargers on trips at 10-15% to give a safety margin. Enjoy the car and stop thinking about the battery. If a percent or two difference in range after many years is of great concern to someone, perhaps the car isn’t for them.

Tens of thousands of long time Model S owners are puzzled and amused by this battery obsession of new Model 3 owners. We just drove the car by the above rules and had a blast over the past five years, with no ill effect on the battery.

 

[Tam]

...restrictive?

I agree that you worry too much.

For a real-life example, there were not many Superchargers around when I got my 2012 Model S so I charged 100% and frequently depleted to a few miles left and even arrived at 0 miles about 6 times for the past 6 years and about 100,000 miles.

It first got 265 miles as a full charge in 2012 and by 2018 when I sold it, it got 252.54 miles for 100% charge.

The absolute principle that I abide by is: Not leaving the car 100% for a long time. Got to recharge the car immediately if the state of charge is low (if I leave the car at 0 miles for a long time without recharging, it might never recover and I might need a new battery.)

 

[ewoodrick]

The answer is easy. If you need more than that, use it. If you don't need it, keep it in the middle.

If you know that you are going on a long trip, charge to 100%. If you find that you need to come home at<10%, then do it.

 

[lencap]

Thank you for the helpful comments. Part of my concern is based on leasing a 2014 Nissan Leaf with an advertised range of 72 miles and realizing that in colder weather I’d be lucky to get 60 miles. Range anxiety was a constant companion. I then leased a BMW i3, advertised range of 82 miles, and found that figure was never possible, even in perfect EV conditions. I complained and BMW agreed to cancel my lease and move me into the i3Rex, the EV with the onboard 2 cylinder motor scooter engine that charged the battery while driving and supposedly allowed you to drive without range anxiety. That didn’t work either as the Rex engine didn’t like running for prolonged periods and often went into “limp Mode” limiting speed drastically. Range anxiety is bad enough, but being limited to 40 MPH up hills On the interstate was even worse.

So although I have high expectations for my new M3LR, you can understand why I’m so obsessed by the battery. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed both EVs recognizing that the Nissan Lef had a repurposed Versa as the donor car base - an inexpensive car and everything about it reminded you that it was built to “a price point”.

The BMW i3 was vastly better, and I drank the “Kool-Aid” on their focus on carbon fiber construction, and “green build” design, but the driving experience wasn’t all that great. I also think that Tesla is an amazing value. My i3 Rex had a list price of nearly $54,000 list price, pre tax-credit. There is no comparison to the Tesla value. You “Tesla people” should have shred the pain of owning a Leaf and an i3 to fully appreciate the amazing car that Tesla provides.

Thanks again for the comments, and keep them coming!

 

[Kermee]

Thanks again for the comments, and keep them coming!

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Secondly, the added context you gave with your experiences with the 2014 Nissan Leaf and BMW i3's makes a lot more sense why you might have some concerns. As for the 30-80 tweet that Elon posted, I treat it as guidelines. As several other existing Tesla owners have pointed out with their much older vehicles, battery degradation isn't that big of a deal. As many as suggested, just charge as much as you think you need and don't worry if you need to charge up to over 90% or 100% on longer trips and worrying when you drop below 30%, or even down to 10% or 5% before recharging every once in a while. The BMS in Tesla vehicles will take care of the rest.

Lastly, just noticed you're form Raleigh, NC. I just flew back from there yesterday. You guys had gorgeous weather and now I'm back to cold rainy Seattle weather.

 

[bedoig]

I feel your Nissan Leaf pain. I had lease of a 2013 Leaf and rolled that over to a 2016 30 KWh when the lease was up. The 2013 wasn't bad for what it was. The 2016 is down 42% in capacity with two years and 30k miles. Haven't done the BMS update yet fyi, if anyone is into that whole conversation...

Anyway, decided to break my current lease early and get the full tax credit (hopefully). LRAWD 3 should be getting delivered next Thursday. They actually offered to do it this Saturday but I'm going to be out of town unfortunately. The really crazy part is I'm not a reservation holder and I just placed my order on 10/24. It could have been as little as 10 days from order to delivery. I'm hoping I just lucked out with the options I ordered and it's not a car someone else rejected or something. It did sound like it was shipping from California and not just sitting around Houston. Who knows. Fingers crossed.