Hello all, I'm about to take ownership of an S85D (hopefully at the end of this month) and I want to get opinions on how best to charge the car in order to best avoid battery degradation. My job is such that I typically know when I need to travel (usually the prior day, so I can charge overnight) and there are long periods of time (weeks sometimes) when I don't have to drive more than 10-15 miles a day. There are days when I don't drive at all (but with a Tesla in the garage, that scenario is pretty much out of the window!) Does it make sense to charge to 80-85%, and then run the battery to about 20-30% before plugging back in (to reduce the # of charging cycles that frankly, might not be needed in order to avoid excessive degradation "activity"). Is that being overprotective of the battery pack and should I just plug it in every day regardless? Thanks!
The way I do it is: - Set my charge target to 50% + whatever miles I need the following day until I come back to charge (basically when I come back home, it should be @ 50%). - Plug it in every night. - Don't worry about it. I was told that's the best for the battery life. -- Greg
I think in general, fears about battery degradation are over blown. Charging it to 90 percent everyday isn't gonna do much harm. Just do whatever is easier for you!
Tesla says "A connected Model S is a happy Model S." Plug it in every night and let the battery management system manage the battery.
Small cycles are better so you're better off charging more often. Short depth-of-charge is good. Going from 100% to 0% and back to 100 is one full charging cycle. The Model S can handle 1,000 of those.
I plug in most evenings*, and charge to about 85%. I have no idea whether this is the best thing or not. But certainly the degradation is minimal. * sometimes I don't plug in because I expect to go out again, but then don't. And sometimes I just forget. Thanks for reminding me.