Getting by with only supercharging

[srs5694]

I suggest you try to track down precisely what's causing the excessive battery drain. You can do this by keeping track of your battery SoC at various times, beginning with before and after each drive. If you drive ten miles and the rated range goes down 100 miles, then the excessive drain comes from driving, or at least something happening when you're driving (like the heat running full blast), so you should focus your troubleshooting on those issues. The Tesla's energy-use graph may help you figure out where excessive driving use is occurring, too. If the rated range goes down 100 miles in ten hours while the car is parked, then the range loss is vampire drain, and you can look into the vampire drain issues I noted in my first post. (Of course, the problem could be a mixture of these two things.)

You might also be able to glean some information from a Tesla data-tracking tool like TeslaFi or various third-party Tesla apps. At a minimum, these will help you collect the data described above. They can also help by providing more detailed data, such as identifying the power consumed by cabin pre-conditioning. OTOH, there are security implications to using these services (your data, often including your Tesla password, end up in the hands of a third party); the data may seem more reliable than they are; and such tools can sometimes keep the car awake unnecessarily, which can increase vampire drain. Still, it's worth considering using such a tool, at least for a week or two to help you debug the problem. (TeslaFi is a paid service with a two-week free trial, but you can boost the free trial to a month with a referral code in this YouTube video. Note that I'm unaffiliated with that video, except having viewed it.)

 

[postersw]

1. I second the recommendation to sign up for TeslaFi, and have it monitor your usage. After a week or so TeslaFi will tell you exactly where that energy is going! Then you will be able to do something about it.

2. As others have said, short trips (like your commute) will use a lot of power. Over several days and multiple trips, our car typically uses 30% MORE power than is reported in the wH/mile calculation. If you are driving 40 miles a day and maybe doing a few other short trips, it would not be unheard of in the winter to consume 80-100 miles on the battery meter (especially if you are sitting in traffic).

 

[postersw]

To all folks contemplating using a supercharger for all their charging: remember that Tesla sets that supercharger rate, and it is usually about 3x the prevailing 'at home' electric rate. So by opting to rely completely on superchargers, you are increasing your cost of 'fuel' by about 3x, and approaching the cost of gas.

 

[JulienW]

To all folks contemplating using a supercharger for all their charging: remember that Tesla sets that supercharger rate, and it is usually about 3x the prevailing 'at home' electric rate. So by opting to rely completely on superchargers, you are increasing your cost of 'fuel' by about 3x, and approaching the cost of gas.

People like me that live in a high-rise condo are NOT opting to use a Supercharger BUT don't have a choice if we want to drive a Tesla.

 

[Snow Drift]

We did this for about 3 months when we first got the car as we parked outside an apartment building. We would charge once a week or two, depending on usage...but then in the winter, it was every week. We eventually caved and rented a garage with a 120V outlet and just getting 5 miles/hour charge was enough to cover my wife's 10 mile commute per day and we've only been to a supercharger for trips.

You can do it, but I'd recommend at least trying to find a normal outlet for daily charging, it's a game changer vs. supercharger only.

 

[srs5694]

People like me that live in a high-rise condo are NOT opting to use a Supercharger BUT don't have a choice if we want to drive a Tesla.

There might be other options. At the very least, you should investigate the possibilities, which include:

• Installing an EVSE in your parking area -- Granted, many landlords and condo associations won't be receptive to this suggestion; and it will be prohibitively expensive in other cases. It's worth asking about the possibility, though. If there are other EV owners in your building, try getting together with them; that will give you more negotiating leverage, and an individually-expensive option might become much more affordable if it's split across several EV owners.
  
• Charging at work -- Your workplace may be more receptive to allowing you to charge there. Certainly, there are no guarantees, but it's worth asking about it.
• Public Level 2 charging -- Check PlugShare for public Level 2 (J1772 and Tesla) charging options near your home, work, and other places where you spend time (movie theaters, parks, malls, etc.). In my area, there are lots of options, and many of them are free. I'd be hard-pressed to rely on such options for all my charging, but they could put a significant dent in my Supercharging needs, if that was my only other option.
• CHAdeMO charging -- While you have PlugShare open, go to the filters tab and enable CHAdeMO. This will show you CHAdeMO DC fast chargers, which Teslas can use via a $450 adapter. Granted, that's a lot to pay for a charging adapter, but if it significantly increases your range of charging options, it may be worth the price.

 

[Matsayz]

With a 20-mile (round trip) commute, you shouldn't need to charge every day. That said, cold weather will degrade range, especially on short trips -- with a 10-mile drive, you'll probably use almost twice as much electricity as you would in warmer weather, so you might use 40 miles of rated range rather than the 20 miles you were expecting. That alone won't account for what you're seeing, though, unless you're getting nervous and charging when your range hits 150 miles or so. It's probably best to keep the battery's state of charge (SoC) between 20% and 80% (so, 50-200 rated miles, given the SR+'s official 250-mile rating) as much as possible, but that's 150 miles of practical range, which should get you to and from work three times, even with massive losses because of cold weather.

Vampire drain can be another issue. This is when the battery's state of charge (SoC) drops even when you're not driving. There are many settings in the Tesla's UI, and things you can do even when you're not in the Tesla, that can increase vampire drain. Some that spring to mind include:

• Cabin overheat protection -- This feature is supposed to keep the cabin temperature from rising too high in the summer. I don't recall offhand if it does anything in the winter; if it does, it might be sucking power at this time of year.
• Sentry Mode -- This feature consumes power to keep the computer and cameras running whenever it's in use. Most users report that it costs the equivalent of about one mile of range per hour of use, so if you leave it running 24/7, it'll cause significant range loss.
• Smart Summon standby -- I don't recall the exact name of this feature, but if you have a car with FSD, the Smart Summon feature has an option that leaves the car in a state that's supposed to make Smart Summon work more quickly. The trouble is that it does this by leaving the computer and cameras operating, which causes the same sort of vampire drain as Sentry Mode. Unfortunately, this option is enabled by default, so you may be seeing range loss because of it.
  
• Temperature preconditioning -- If you keep the heat/AC on unnecessarily, it can drain a lot of power. This shouldn't be a big deal if you simply turn on the heat five minutes before getting into the car, since if you didn't do this, the heat would still be blasting on high for the first few minutes of your drive, and you'd effectively be wasting whatever heat the car would produce in the last five minutes of the drive. OTOH, if you use Dog Mode for extended periods or turn on the heat long before you depart, you can consume a lot of electricity.
• High cabin temperatures -- If you set the cabin temperature high (say, 75 degrees F), you'll consume a lot more power than you would with a lower cabin temperature (say, 68 degrees F). (The opposite would be true in the summer, of course.) Using the seat heaters can help you feel comfortable even with a relatively low cabin temperature; the seat heaters use much less electricity than the cabin heater.
  
• Remote checks -- Whenever you check the car's status with its app, the car will "wake up" and go into a relatively high-power state. It then takes anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours to go to "sleep" again. Thus, to preserve battery life, you should open the Tesla app infrequently at most.
• High speeds and high acceleration -- These consume more power than driving more sedately. If you've been having fun by stomping on the accelerator, you may improve your range by being more restrained.
• Bad weather -- You have little control over this, but driving through rain, snow, and slush takes more power than it does to drive on dry roads. Likewise, extreme cold or heat increases the need for heating or AC. You might be able to plan some trips for times when the weather will be better, though -- if it's clear in the morning but the forecast is for rain in the afternoon, you could do your grocery shopping trip in the morning rather than wait.

There are probably other settings and practices that can help you, but these are the ones that spring immediately to mind.

Another point is that Superchargers are likely not your only charging option. Check PlugShare to find Level 2 (J1772 and Tesla) charging options near you. These will be slow, but can help a little even if you'll be somewhere for a short time, and can add significant range if you'll be parked for a while (like if you go to see a movie). You might also want to look for CHAdeMO DC fast chargers; you can use these if you buy a $450 adapter from Tesla. This adapter isn't worthwhile for most Tesla owners, but if you don't have at-home charging and if there are convenient CHAdeMO stations, it might be worth getting. Note that there's a PlugShare app, as well as a Web site, so you can load it on your phone and use it to locate charging near wherever you happen to be. The big charging networks also have their own apps, so you can get the apps for whatever networks are common in your area; but PlugShare will give you the "big picture."

This is the kind of stuff that needs to be in a FAQ for the forum. Not the 7 threads about software with people complaining they haven’t received it it or “I just got it” posts. Thank you for posting this

 

[Matsayz]

To all folks contemplating using a supercharger for all their charging: remember that Tesla sets that supercharger rate, and it is usually about 3x the prevailing 'at home' electric rate. So by opting to rely completely on superchargers, you are increasing your cost of 'fuel' by about 3x, and approaching the cost of gas.

I would disagree with approaching the cost of gas. Most of the country is paying close to $3/gal for regular and closer to $4/gal for premium (4cylinder turbo engines). Even at $0.25/kW that Tesla averages for a supercharger the car is more efficient at using it (except for winter). When I was selling my home and in an Airbnb all I had was the local SC and it was running me about $5-8 twice time a week and 20mins of downtime to watch Netflix in the car. Obviously it adds up but it’s not like filling up a Jeep Wrangler.

If Supercharging is your only option for the time being then so be it. At least you’re charged quickly and on the go again. The early days of Tesla ownership can be interesting to say the least while you change your habits and learn your new car. Just know that you have ALL the torque so nothing else matters

 

[joebruin77]

In addition to PlugShare,check out the app EVMatch. EV Match is different in that it hooks you up with private EV chargers, usually at private homes. Someone referred to it as the AirBnb of home EV chargers.

When I first got my P3D, I used EV Match and found 3 14-50 Nema outlets available in my neighborhood. These did NOT appear on PlugShare.

 

[srs5694]

In addition to PlugShare,check out the app EVMatch. EV Match is different in that it hooks you up with private EV chargers, usually at private homes. Someone referred to it as the AirBnb of home EV chargers.

When I first got my P3D, I used EV Match and found 3 14-50 Nema outlets available in my neighborhood. These did NOT appear on PlugShare.

PlugShare has an option to show private EVSEs, too; but of course both it and EV Match (with which I'm not very familiar) rely on volunteer registrations, so a homeowner who wants to share an EVSE might register with one service but not the other. This makes it worth checking both. I don't know if there are any other similar services that might be worth checking.

 

[postersw]

I would disagree with approaching the cost of gas. Most of the country is paying close to $3/gal for regular and closer to $4/gal for premium (4cylinder turbo engines). Even at $0.25/kW that Tesla averages for a supercharger the car is more efficient at using it (except for winter).

Here is my simple rational for the statement that supercharging approaches the cost of gas at this time of year.
Summary: Our Subaru costs 12 cents/mile; charging our Tesla at a supercharger would cost 11 cents/mile:

Details:
1. An ICE car (like our 4 cyl Subaru Outback) averages about 25 mpg in winter (as reported by the car), so that is $3/25 = 12 cents/mile.
2. Our model 3 in winter averages close to 350 wH/m as reported by the car.
3. We also have a daily 'vampire loss' of at least 1 kwH.
4. If we drive 20 m/day, that is 7 kwH (20m*350wH/m), + 1 kwH loss = 8 kw for 20 m, or 400 wH/m.
5. At the supercharger rate of 26c/kW, that is 10.4 cents/mile, only a penny or so less than the Subaru.
6. If you add in the 5% efficiency loss on charging (the difference between what leaves the wall and what gets into the battery), you up to around 11 cents/mile for the Tesla at a Supercharger, vs. 12 cents/mile for the ICE car..

Fortunately we charge at home, so that cost is just 4+ cents/mile.

 

[JWSM3Owner]

Speaking of, I spent 4.5 hours yesterday parked at a ChargePoint terminal to get 68 miles of range and it cost me $6.50. That's more expensive than gas, at least compared to the mpg of my former Mazda3! Admittedly the charger was pretty slow; I was expecting to pay about $3 for 3 hours of charging and roll out with 75 miles, but had to stay longer and the rate went up to $2.50/hour after 3 hours. Didn't realize that.

Hunting for L2 chargers has me rethinking supercharging as a routine option. The problem is, most L2s are in garages that you have pay sometimes insane rates to access ($18/hour, c'mon!). There were a few I found on plugshare that are free to park at, but when I went to check them out, I discovered they are in fact reserved during daytime hours. There are some that are free, for sure, but they aren't someplace I frequent, and they aren't near coffee shops or someplace where I could get work done. So, I figure if I'm going someplace just to charge the car, I may as well supercharge, spend 20 mins watching Netflix, and be done.

Hopefully I can get my condo association to budge on installing a charging option. Already got a couple queries from fellow residents about Tesla-life. There's interest in EV's, but everyone wants a charger first. Hopefully that'll help!

 

[Matsayz]

PlugShare is a great way to find “other” chargers and by that I mean some fellow Tesla owners. Within about 5miles of my house some fellow owners offer their 240V up for charging. Something I’d be open to doing if it’s a weekend or I’m home.

 

[electricjib]

Damn you’re brave. I wouldn’t be able to buy a Tesla without home charging!

It really depends where you work I think. I work in a place where I can charge all day. I can trickle at home if needed.

 

[srs5694]

Hunting for L2 chargers has me rethinking supercharging as a routine option. The problem is, most L2s are in garages that you have pay sometimes insane rates to access ($18/hour, c'mon!). There were a few I found on plugshare that are free to park at, but when I went to check them out, I discovered they are in fact reserved during daytime hours. There are some that are free, for sure, but they aren't someplace I frequent, and they aren't near coffee shops or someplace where I could get work done. So, I figure if I'm going someplace just to charge the car, I may as well supercharge, spend 20 mins watching Netflix, and be done.

This must vary a lot regionally. Near where I live (northern Rhode Island), most Level 2 locations listed on PlugShare are both free of charge and in places where it's free to park. Most are at malls, parks, or restaurants.

FWIW, it looks like EVgo will soon be an additional resource for Tesla owners wanting to DC fast charge, even if you don't want to shell out $450 for the CHAdeMO adapter; EVgo has announced that they're beginning to add Tesla plugs to their DC fast charging stations. It sounds like they're rolling this out starting in San Francisco this month, with nationwide deployments beginning next year. It's not clear how soon this will be complete or if it will apply to all their stations or just some of them. My impression is that most existing EVgo stations max out at 50kW or less, so most Superchargers will be faster than the EVgo stations, but you could still get a lot of charge in half an hour or so. I seem to recall hearing that some of the newer EVgo stations can charge at up to 100kW.