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Home Charging vs Supercharging
- Thread starter Jkaufm32
- Start date
Buschik
Member
Someone at the top of the thread said best points for SC, not at home .. Quiet time, shopping, chatting with other owners .. best points IMO .. some forget, home charging is not an option, apt dwellers, renters, travelers. just isn't possible . some people's solitude or camaraderie, gregariousness, is someone else's inconvenience, all point-of-view. my gf is in an apt. I own a house, but just bought a mobile charger and 14-50 plug to keep the car happy during the times she's over.. SC is located btwn our places. 20-40 mins, time for coffee, or lunch and we're happy. just 12 SC bays that have been at max, half full.. almost see more other type EVs try to park/plug in (Fords, etc) ..
just a long way of saying, pick your own spot, SC or home.
Paula
just a long way of saying, pick your own spot, SC or home.
Paula
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
Lots of interesting variations above as to what people do. As for me, I don't think about it. My 3 years of charging history is about 70% supercharging and the rest at home. About 60% of that supercharging is because of driving to various places all over the USA on vacation and consulting. So, my local supercharging is only about 10% and even that is when it is convenient.
Home charging is not expensive up here. I have free lifetime supercharging, but our home electricity rates are among the lowest in the nation, and a full X100 charge only cost about $7. HOWEVER, at the home in San Diego, the prices are so ridiculously high at San Diego Gas & Electric that the same 300 mile charge cost me $20 if I do it. Thus, I understand people in expensive electricity areas that might want to take advantage of their free supercharging.
Just so happens that my wife's favorite buffet is at the Atlantis casino. Right outside is an SC in the parking lot, so sometimes I will charge there, but I try to not hog one of the 6 spots. If it is a busy time and only a couple spots open, I leave them for other people and I drive across the street to the free Atlantis destination charger. By the time the wife consumes about a thousand crab legs at the buffet (yeah they lose money on her), we've still gained about 70 miles on the MX by the time we leave.
Home charging is not expensive up here. I have free lifetime supercharging, but our home electricity rates are among the lowest in the nation, and a full X100 charge only cost about $7. HOWEVER, at the home in San Diego, the prices are so ridiculously high at San Diego Gas & Electric that the same 300 mile charge cost me $20 if I do it. Thus, I understand people in expensive electricity areas that might want to take advantage of their free supercharging.
Just so happens that my wife's favorite buffet is at the Atlantis casino. Right outside is an SC in the parking lot, so sometimes I will charge there, but I try to not hog one of the 6 spots. If it is a busy time and only a couple spots open, I leave them for other people and I drive across the street to the free Atlantis destination charger. By the time the wife consumes about a thousand crab legs at the buffet (yeah they lose money on her), we've still gained about 70 miles on the MX by the time we leave.
My pick is garbage in, garbage out. Battery life improved by high temperatures? Maybe the Tooth Fairy believes that.
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
yes, agree, and I've heard that charging during a full moon will improve battery life
henderrj
Active Member
If you do a search on dendrite formation and remediation you'll find a careful scientific study that shows the reduction of dendrite growth with the careful application of heat. Ignorance may be bliss but knowledge is better.
Same goes for the European study, it is been very carefully and methodically done. Lots and lots of data points. "Get knowledge and in all your getting get wisdom".
My experience might be illustrative. I live in a condo, and it took me a full year to gain approval from the condo board to install a charging site, and then to arrange and install it. (I have a Tesla Wall Connector.) During that first year or ownership, I mostly charged at a nearby Supercharger located at the Dedham (MA) Service Center only 2-3 miles from my home. I supplemented that with Level 2 charging when I could. My car has free supercharging, so cost was not an issue.
Sounds convenient, but it got old fairly fast. At first, it was sort of fun to plug in and then wander around the service center, look at the new cars, talk to owners if there was anyone else charging, or go into the showroom and chat with the sales people if the place was open and not too busy. This was 2015-2016, the service center was new, and Teslas were not yet too common. People often had time to chat. I got to know one of the sales guys pretty well from having numerous conversations when he wasn't too busy. I met some other owners and had a few interesting conversations with them while we both charged. There were always open Supercharger stalls. I got sneak peeks at the first Model Xs to be delivered in our area when they arrived for delivery.
Or I might bring work to do or newspapers or a book to read, especially if it was at night when the service center and showroom were closed. Sometimes I walked to nearby stores if the weather were nice and I had errands to run.
If the S/C were open, I could go inside to use the restroom or get a snack -- in those days there were always granola bars and candy out for visitors (not any more!).
There is a coffee shop not too far away, so I might walk there for a coffee or tea and maybe a donut or something,
But -- in winter it was much less convenient. Charging took longer if the battery was cold, as it would be after a short trip from home. Walking to stores was much less attractive and even dangerous when there were snowbanks blocking the sidewalks, not to mention the cold walk itself. It just was not that much fun to make a separate trip out in winter weather to charge. (I recommend charging during the day if you can, versus in the evening, especially in the winter when daylight hours are short.)
There was not always anyone around to talk with. (In those days, the showroom and service center were not open as many hours as they are today.) Sometimes I would not feel like reading. And in the evening, the car's map lights are really inadequate for reading anyway.
Nowadays, I would not want to use this same Supercharger site on any regular basis. The Service Center is always crazy busy, with many more new car deliveries and 3 or 4 times as many cars in the area to service. (The Dedham service center is one of only two that serve a huge portion of New England.) There are more cars using the charging stations, and during busy delivery periods, Tesla actively discourages people from using this site because of the traffic (at quarter end, they sometimes take the superchargers out of the Tesla map). And of course, now there are idle fees, so leaving your car to shop or eat is more likely to cause you some money for fees.
So, I used the local Supercharger when I had to, but charging at home is far better, even though my home charging installation was unusually expensive and I have to pay through the nose for my electricity.
Sounds convenient, but it got old fairly fast. At first, it was sort of fun to plug in and then wander around the service center, look at the new cars, talk to owners if there was anyone else charging, or go into the showroom and chat with the sales people if the place was open and not too busy. This was 2015-2016, the service center was new, and Teslas were not yet too common. People often had time to chat. I got to know one of the sales guys pretty well from having numerous conversations when he wasn't too busy. I met some other owners and had a few interesting conversations with them while we both charged. There were always open Supercharger stalls. I got sneak peeks at the first Model Xs to be delivered in our area when they arrived for delivery.
Or I might bring work to do or newspapers or a book to read, especially if it was at night when the service center and showroom were closed. Sometimes I walked to nearby stores if the weather were nice and I had errands to run.
If the S/C were open, I could go inside to use the restroom or get a snack -- in those days there were always granola bars and candy out for visitors (not any more!).
There is a coffee shop not too far away, so I might walk there for a coffee or tea and maybe a donut or something,
But -- in winter it was much less convenient. Charging took longer if the battery was cold, as it would be after a short trip from home. Walking to stores was much less attractive and even dangerous when there were snowbanks blocking the sidewalks, not to mention the cold walk itself. It just was not that much fun to make a separate trip out in winter weather to charge. (I recommend charging during the day if you can, versus in the evening, especially in the winter when daylight hours are short.)
There was not always anyone around to talk with. (In those days, the showroom and service center were not open as many hours as they are today.) Sometimes I would not feel like reading. And in the evening, the car's map lights are really inadequate for reading anyway.
Nowadays, I would not want to use this same Supercharger site on any regular basis. The Service Center is always crazy busy, with many more new car deliveries and 3 or 4 times as many cars in the area to service. (The Dedham service center is one of only two that serve a huge portion of New England.) There are more cars using the charging stations, and during busy delivery periods, Tesla actively discourages people from using this site because of the traffic (at quarter end, they sometimes take the superchargers out of the Tesla map). And of course, now there are idle fees, so leaving your car to shop or eat is more likely to cause you some money for fees.
So, I used the local Supercharger when I had to, but charging at home is far better, even though my home charging installation was unusually expensive and I have to pay through the nose for my electricity.
After browsing a number of contributions on this site, I am more confused than ever regarding how to charge my midrange M3. We rarely take trips but I noticed a charging rate of 80kw for a while. I have a 50amp 220 plug at home but it always charge at 35A or less. We charge every few days when reserve drops below 100 miles. . We probably uaverage about 40 miles a day. Would it be better to lower my charge rate and keep the car plugged in every nite at 80% or 90%? 2 questions. Plus will this site notify me at my email if someone reply’s, or will I have to hunt to find this place again?
32amp is probably what I get. My M3 was delivered in No Cal Feb 2019. I can’t find anything supposedly official except to leave it plugged in, which my wife , who has Rheumatoid arthritis, does not like to have to unplug it. Is 80% better on the battery than 90% and would a charge rate lower than 32 amps be better?
I wouldn’t overthink it too much set it to what you use 32a is low IMO for size of these batteries ..in 3 Tesla’s I have charged at 90,80,70 ..I have found for my daily uses 70 is good enough but I have a 100 batt
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
beat me to that one. Yup, people tend to over-think these things. I wonder if when ICE cars first came along, did people stress over how much gasoline to keep in it
gavine
Petrol Head turned EV Enthusiast
If you click on "watch this thread", you can select "email me when someone replies" and you'll get emailed. You can do that for any thread, even ones on which you haven't contributed.
It helps to understand the reason why Tesla gave that recommendation. They were having to counteract some urban legend myth fears that were semi-common about electric cars. There used to be this myth that electric cars didn't have any type of controlling to stop charging, and that if they were left plugged in, that it would keep trying to "force" energy into the already full battery and damage something or blow it up. So Tesla was trying to reassure people that they don't need to get into a panic and run to their car to yank the plug before it explodes.
So it was two purposes: 1) Let people know they can just plug it in as often as they like and leave it plugged in, so they don't have to remember to unplug it when it's done charging.
And 2) It's a good all-purpose recommendation that builds the right habit for good practical usability. They don't want to have people trying to wait and wait until the car is low before trying to remember to plug in, and then they forget, and then they wake up and find out they don't have enough range to drive to work, and then they are pissed off at this "piece of %$&* useless car that stranded me", etc. etc. They just want to keep it simple and recommend people plug in as often as they feel like and not worry about trying to run it down low on purpose.
So there is just a very general principle about lithium ion batteries that they don't love being near 0% or near 100% for very long periods of time. They prefer to be somewhat near the middle, but deciding within that is a balance you have to decide on for what is the practical amount of range you use. Some people do use 90% as their limit every day, but if you drive very little, and you find that you're never getting below about 60-70%, then maybe a 90% limit is higher than you need, and you could be just a little bit easier on your battery for the long term by using a slightly lower charging limit.
Nguyenning
Member
I just got the 5,000 referral bonus supercharging miles and live like 2 miles from a supercharger that’s located near shops and restaurants.
I actually see myself solely using supercharger for a while since these bonus miles expire in 6 months. Free is free.... why would I even bother charging at home in this case
I actually see myself solely using supercharger for a while since these bonus miles expire in 6 months. Free is free.... why would I even bother charging at home in this case
I don't want to repeat my post upthread, so I'll just say that in my experience, "free" is often overrated and not always as free as it sounds.
True story: My first Supercharger use was back in 2015 at the Vacaville Supercharger, which happens to be in an outlet mall. The electricity was free, but my family spent like $700 in the shops.
Bruce.
We've not been granted permission to install a charger at the flats we live in London. So we have been using a combination of superchargers and Polar chargers. The former charge somewhat quickly (I believe London is way behind other countries in charging speeds) but the nearest is around 10 miles away (in London traffic about 30 minutes). The later is a very slow 7kWH but less than a mile away (and free to use) so we use then when food shopping. We never had any issues apart from one supercharger only having two units, meaning there can be over an hours wait to plug in. I used to wait, but now I don't use that location as it's not worth it. I travel a little further to a place that has 12 stations.
My best experience has been using the Portsmouth Superchargers (in the south of England) - it has ben the fastest charging and is a very quiet location which we prefer to the typical busy locations found around the UK.
My best experience has been using the Portsmouth Superchargers (in the south of England) - it has ben the fastest charging and is a very quiet location which we prefer to the typical busy locations found around the UK.
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