Have any owners used a 110v outlet to charge your Model S?

[ChrisMV]

I am a Model 3 reservation holder, very excited to use this car as my commuter car. I commute 175 miles to work at a fire station for 48 hour shifts. My plan is to buy the longer range version, cruise to work at 65mph to maximize my range, arrive at work with 50+ miles range left over. My station is quite remote, no supercharger close by. It has plenty of 110v outdoor outlets that I plan to connect to, charging for 48 hours. Tesla removed the calculator, but when it was still on the website, it showed this will get me 150 miles of charge (3 an hour). There is also a 240 volt indoor outlet which I could use with an extension cord, but this would require unplugging appliances.

Does anyone have any tips or thoughts about flaws with this plan? does trickle charging like this have any detrimental effects to the battery life?

Thanks for the help.

 

[ORB]

Long term 110V charging is fine. See if any of those outlets you are planning to use are 20A (one of the receptacle slots in the pair will be rotated 90 degrees), this will get you about 4 mi/hr, a significant improvement. Tesla sells the adapter for this.

Hope that works out for you.

 

[ChrisMV]

Long term 110V charging is fine. See if any of those outlets you are planning to use are 20A (one of the receptacle slots in the pair will be rotated 90 degrees), this will get you about 4 mi/hr, a significant improvement. Tesla sells the adapter for this.

Hope that works out for you.

Thanks

 

[ReddyLeaf]

... and you'll be paying for this I hope. Since this is a fire station, I would expect that all services are paid for by tax dollars, so you cannot use the electricity for your personal use. There have been situations where an EV owner has even been hauled off to jail for such an offense (Video: Nissan LEAF Owner Arrested For Stealing 5 Cents Worth Of Electricity - Inside EVs). Probably a bit extreme, but get written permission and pay for the electricity and you should be fine. Also, remember that not everyone is excited about EV just yet, and may think you are getting special treatment, complain, and the next thing you know the boss says NO. This has happened as well, so the key is information, knowledge, and permission. Good luck. Oh, and by the way, I charge exclusively on a 120V plug, sometimes as low as 6 amps, just because my driving needs are low. I bicycle and use the Leaf for all in town driving. Most of my Tesla miles are on the road and supercharged.

 

[Boourns]

Since you'll be there for so long it will probably work. The only downside is if for some reason you need to leave soon after you got to work. Definitely get a 240V at home though.

 

[techmaven]

I think you should budget with needing to charge 50-55 kWh. Off a 12 amp 110 volt circuit, expect more charging losses... that's a solid 45 to 50 hours of charging. It would be far better if you had 20 amp charging, which is 16 amps. That gives you a lot more room to deal with higher energy usage or accidental interruption with charging. Is there any charging along the commute in case of problems with charging at work?

 

[valkeriefire]

I'm a firefighter also. Just bought our model S a few days ago. One of my coworkers owns a used 60kw S and he charges at work via 110v. Coworkers joke about it but they don't realize in 24 hours he's only siphoning maybe $2 worth of electricity; plus at city hall they have dedicated 220v chargers that employees are allowed to use for free. Still that doesn't stop people from being hostile to it. It went through the chain of command as a complaint against him and ironically came back as being ok (city's green initiative or something). I'd recommend you do as others recommended and ask for permission first. It's not worth loosing your job over. It's super cheap to charge an EV so it isn't a big deal (although it may be in a few more years when adoption rates are higher).

The point about charging time is valid too. If you have a family emergency during shift, you won't have enough charge to drive home.

 

[e-FTW]

To illustrate what folks are talking about, with an S, you would need to get this adapter, which does not come with the car: Tesla — NEMA 5-20
I did not know anything about those outlets. Those outlets are pretty common anywhere some cleaning equipment will be used. You see them in hotel rooms, bathrooms, hallways, parking garages, and it is likely they are outside your fire station. Fingers-crossed!

 

[MorrisonHiker]

You could easily use the 240 outlet if you had something such as the Dryer Buddy.

 

[jerry33]

The only problems with 110V charging are speed and efficiency. At best you can get about 4 mph but often it's 2 mph.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I would look at getting an extension cord and plugging into a dryer outlet or stove outlet. Thats what I do when I go outside the supercharger range into the "frontier".

Interesting that two firefighters have Tesla's - i guess after cutting people out of some the tin cans going down the road - you understand the value of a solid vehicle with great structural integrity.

 

[valkeriefire]

My wife and I are tree huggers. I've been hearing firefighters make fun of my Prius since I bought it in 2005. They don't make fun of the Tesla. I believe how you spend your money is more important than how you vote (in this country). I'd rather vote for Elon Musk and clean energy by supporting Tesla with my money than keep funding big oil and car companies who had a chance to change the world but decided their profits come first. You are correct also in saying that I want my family in the safest car I can afford to put them in.

 

[Owner]

I did for a short period of time. I'm a long term Tesla blogger and my post on it from 2013 seems to always be in the top 5 of hits.

When I was in Atlanta two years ago, a service guy said a ton of his customers just use 110. Many older sections of Atlanta seem to have older wiring or something (don't remember the details). He said it worked fine for everyone until the power went out due to some storm for a long period of time.

 

[Chopr147]

... and you'll be paying for this I hope. Since this is a fire station, I would expect that all services are paid for by tax dollars, so you cannot use the electricity for your personal use. There have been situations where an EV owner has even been hauled off to jail for such an offense (Video: Nissan LEAF Owner Arrested For Stealing 5 Cents Worth Of Electricity - Inside EVs). Probably a bit extreme, but get written permission and pay for the electricity and you should be fine. Also, remember that not everyone is excited about EV just yet, and may think you are getting special treatment, complain, and the next thing you know the boss says NO. This has happened as well, so the key is information, knowledge, and permission. Good luck. Oh, and by the way, I charge exclusively on a 120V plug, sometimes as low as 6 amps, just because my driving needs are low. I bicycle and use the Leaf for all in town driving. Most of my Tesla miles are on the road and supercharged.

This just shows what complete idiots people can be! I suspect he had an enemy in his camp Every town has that asshole loudmouth complaining about things like $2 worth of "tax payer electricity" . That same moron is probably unemployed and sucking off the government teet.

 

[Ashkenaz]

Chris,
I may be asking a dumb question, but looking at your profile it looks like you're in Santa Barbara and driving to mill valley. Have you considered using a super charger on way?

 

[ecarfan]

Chris,
I may be asking a dumb question, but looking at your profile it looks like you're in Santa Barbara and driving to mill valley. Have you considered using a super charger on way?

If he lives in Santa Barbara and "commutes" to work in Mill Valley, that is much farther than the 175 miles he says his commute is: it is 344 miles one way.

 

[ChrisMV]

I think you should budget with needing to charge 50-55 kWh. Off a 12 amp 110 volt circuit, expect more charging losses... that's a solid 45 to 50 hours of charging. It would be far better if you had 20 amp charging, which is 16 amps. That gives you a lot more room to deal with higher energy usage or accidental interruption with charging. Is there any charging along the commute in case of problems with charging at work?

Yes, there are superchargers on the route to other stations which I plan on using instead of charging at work when I work there. But the station I am at currently runs through a dead area of the state. There is a truck stop with DC fast chargers at it a few miles away. Leaf owners say they get about 30-50mph there. This would be my last resort if leaving earlier from work than expected.

 

[ChrisMV]

Chris,
I may be asking a dumb question, but looking at your profile it looks like you're in Santa Barbara and driving to mill valley. Have you considered using a super charger on way?

No, live in SB and commute to Kern county. Specifically Pine Mountain Club. On this route, the only Supercharger is in Oxnard, too close to be needed. Kern County is very large and we have 46 stations spread out throughout it. It is littered with Superchargers. If I am moved to a different station I will use Tejon or Mojave superchargers. I have been to a Tesla store and used the S software to calculate every route to every station with 200 miles of charge. There are only 8 stations that would require me to charge more than 10 minutes, and those are far enough off the path that I would be forced to charge at the station. Otherwise I can rely solely on the supercharger network.

Instead of replying individually to the other posts I'll clear things up here. I hope everyone here can believe that I am not trying to get additional benefits or free charging. Like Valkeriefire I believe in living as carbon free as possible and am proud to be able to use my money to effect change. There is Huge resistance to anything progressive in Kern County and I know I will create a storm when I begin charging at the station. Getting your opinions is my first step in figuring all this out. Of course I will go through the proper chain of command, and ideally get a policy written that addresses EV charging. My fear is getting shot down completely. Offering some solution like metering charge use and paying back the department every quarter would work. I see EVs becoming the standard, and my situation seems like such an obvious one for EV ownership if the hurdles of ignorance can be overcome.

Also, my station does have the 20amp outlets outside. the 240v outlets are about 40 feet away and in the apparatus bay. These would be an option if I was in a pinch and had to increase my charge rate for a 24 or 12 hour shift.

Super happy for all the feedback, thanks to all of you.

 

[linkster]

The UMC 5-20 adapter is a wonderful adapter that you should achieve ~5mph charge rate. I would attempt to find an outlet that is close to the firehouses' load center and possibly one that is the sole receptacle on that particular branch circuit to minimize voltage drop to an acceptable level (your S doesn't like too much voltage drop). On your initial charging session take note of the initial voltage and then again the reduced voltage upon the S pulling the full 16A (as displayed on your touchscreen) to insure your S will continue to charge at 16A and then monitor periodically.

I often use the 5-20 adapter along with the below linked 12AWG 5-20 terminated extension cord for both 120 and 240v charging (but that's a topic for another day). You may also consider having the folks over at QCP stretch your UMC up to 50' to help you reach additional desirable receptacles.

Amazon.com: Conntek NEMA 5-20 20-Amp T-Blade Outdoor SJTOW 12/3 Extension Cord with power indicator light End: Sports & Outdoors

Good-Luck!

 

[cpa]

As long as your post of duty is not near Midway and all the roughnecks who frequent Taft, you should be OK.