How much super charging is considered too much for good battery health

[gottagofast]

If I’m on a trip and I use a super charger twice in 1 day then I went back home the next day and used the super charger twice again for a total of 4 super chargers in 2 days would that be considered excessive super charging?

I’m just wondering what is considered excessive as far as battery health in a time span of 1-5 days

What’s the total super charges you can do in the lifespan of the car before degradation from super charging becomes noticeable

I estimate I would probably super charge 15 to 30 times per year for trips

 

[Mercimek]

I wouldn’t worry about it. The car will slow your charging if you’re supercharging too much.

 

[brainhouston]

also many ppl reported that heavy supercharging doesn't really degrade it any faster but like above, BMS tracks everything n will eventually slow down ur charge rate...

 

[gottagofast]

also many ppl reported that heavy supercharging doesn't really degrade it any faster but like above, BMS tracks everything n will eventually slow down ur charge rate...

Do you think 4 supers in 2 days would slow the charging then? I wonder what the limit is

 

[brainhouston]

idk for sure but haven't seen any reports of that
i think its only slows down for overall count for the battery over time...

 

[ewoodrick]

If I’m on a trip and I use a super charger twice in 1 day then I went back home the next day and used the super charger twice again for a total of 4 super chargers in 2 days would that be considered excessive super charging?

I’m just wondering what is considered excessive as far as battery health in a time span of 1-5 days

What’s the total super charges you can do in the lifespan of the car before degradation from super charging becomes noticeable

I estimate I would probably super charge 15 to 30 times per year for trips.

No penalties for Supercharging. Not going to hurt your battery.
I do trips where I'm charging over 4 times in a day.
I just got to Orlando from Atlanta and Supercharged 3 times.

The Teslas with the most miles have charged many times a day, every day of the week for years.

 

[bruce4000]

I don’t think it is dependent on how many times a day since battery is liquid cooled. The Nissan Leaf had problems with this as is air cooled so the second time the battery was getting hot and so slowed charge rate. There are lots of Ride Share drivers using Tesla’s and charge several times a day every day and do not report excessive degradation. On road trips I like to find hotels with free slow charging which reduces need for SC but mainly because more convenient and free

 

[David99]

According to reports collected from drivers using 90% supercharger for all their driving needs and comparing them to those who use only 10% supercharging, there is almost no difference in degradation on the batteries. It confirms other studies that came to similar conclusions. I think Tesla has figured out DC fast charging pretty well.

The car will always adjust the charge rate to be within a safe range. There is also no penalty for using supercharging many times a day. I travel a lot of long distances and I have supercharged 15 to 20 times in a day. No issues. There are a few situations where you see a reduced charge rate. For example when the battery is cold or too hot. But again that's nothing to worry about as the car takes all factors into account and charges the car as fast as possible without causing any damage.

Bottom line is, use superchargers as much as you want.

The only think that battery experts have told us to make our battery last longer is to use shallow charge cycles. So instead of going from 100% to 5% and then up to 100% again, it's best to charge your car as often as you can and don't charge all the way up. For normal daily use the ideal is to go between 65% and 35%.

 

[gottagofast]

According to reports collected from drivers using 90% supercharger for all their driving needs and comparing them to those who use only 10% supercharging, there is almost no difference in degradation on the batteries. It confirms other studies that came to similar conclusions. I think Tesla has figured out DC fast charging pretty well.

The car will always adjust the charge rate to be within a safe range. There is also no penalty for using supercharging many times a day. I travel a lot of long distances and I have supercharged 15 to 20 times in a day. No issues. There are a few situations where you see a reduced charge rate. For example when the battery is cold or too hot. But again that's nothing to worry about as the car takes all factors into account and charges the car as fast as possible without causing any damage.

Bottom line is, use superchargers as much as you want.

The only think that battery experts have told us to make our battery last longer is to use shallow charge cycles. So instead of going from 100% to 5% and then up to 100% again, it's best to charge your car as often as you can and don't charge all the way up. For normal daily use the ideal is to go between 65% and 35%.

That make sense, if I’m on a long trip though that I do 3 or 4 times per year I would probably go from 90% to 10-20% between super chargers, that would be a scenario that you say isn’t good but I would only do it 15 to 30 times per year. So maybe no big deal over the life of the vehicle?

I definitely don’t want to stop at super chargers everytime I use only 30% of my battery that would increase the trip time by alot

 

[ewoodrick]

That make sense, if I’m on a long trip though that I do 3 or 4 times per year I would probably go from 90% to 10-20% between super chargers, that would be a scenario that you say isn’t good but I would only do it 15 to 30 times per year. So maybe no big deal over the life of the vehicle?

That's not the fastest way to travel, that make charging take a long time.

More stops, running the battery as low as you are comfortable with and charging only to 50-70% is much baster than 20-90%.

 

[David99]

That make sense, if I’m on a long trip though that I do 3 or 4 times per year I would probably go from 90% to 10-20% between super chargers that would be a scenario that you say isn’t good but I would only do it 15 to 30 times per year

On road trips that you do 3 or 4 times a year, it is perfectly fine to use the most battery range you can get and that gives you the best driving experience. The study compared cells that were cycled 10 times a day or more and then they looked at the results after 2000 total cycles. I don't remember the exact numbers, but you get the idea. That's' when they saw more degradation on the cells that had full cycles compared to more shallow cycles. A few road trips make no difference.

 

[Black306]

Do you think 4 supers in 2 days would slow the charging then? I wonder what the limit is

Nope. Don’t worry about it.

 

[Tronguy]

Look: I've been banging around the eastern half of the U.S. with a M3 since 2018. Have taken trips from NJ to FL and back; as far west as Chicago; south to Louisville, and all that. Serious road miles.

When the car gets down to 5-10%, run it into a supercharger and fill 'er up.

No degradation. Dunno if you've noticed, but max power input (power being the rate at which the car is being charged) is at low percentage of charge; it drops off fairly steeply above 30% or so. Why does it drop off? Because the Battery Management System (BMS) is reducing the charge rate to keep from harming the battery. Battery too cold? BMS slows down the charge. The time it takes to charge from 90% to 100% is about as long as the time to charge from 5% to 90%. Why? BMS is keeping the battery from getting harmed.

So, stop worrying about this and live the life.

The only thing one is supposed to worry about is charging the car to 100%, then leaving it there. And there seems to be some 2nd order effects that charging more than 80% when one is banging around town and not actually driving all that much has some long term effects.

 

[gottagofast]

That's not the fastest way to travel, that make charging take a long time.

More stops, running the battery as low as you are comfortable with and charging only to 50-70% is much baster than 20-90%.

A trip I take to Florida there’s 2 super chargers that are placed exactly 180 miles apart from each other, it just makes sense to me to stop at those 2 instead of stopping at 4 chargers

2 stops seems like less time than 4 even if charging took like 10 more mins

 

[gottagofast]

Btw I’m glad bucees has super chargers now it’s the perfect place to have them, I can spend 30 mins there and not even realize it

Do the chargers get full there with wait times usually?

 

[brkaus]

The leaf used to overheat with no active cooling and hurt the batteries. The Tesla has active cooling so charge away.

 

[Supcom]

Btw I’m glad bucees has super chargers now it’s the perfect place to have them, I can spend 30 mins there and not even realize it

Do the chargers get full there with wait times usually?

Like any charging site, it depends on the location. Away from cities, there are rarely wait times, regardless of the amenities on site.

 

[David99]

A trip I take to Florida there’s 2 super chargers that are placed exactly 180 miles apart from each other, it just makes sense to me to stop at those 2 instead of stopping at 4 chargers

2 stops seems like less time than 4 even if charging took like 10 more mins

If the battery is close to empty it charges a lot faster. The higher it gets, the slower the charge speed. So sometimes it can be faster to make an extra stop rather than charging to a high %. The general rule is if you have to charge beyond 75-80% to reach the next supercharger, it will be faster to find a charger in between. But it's not going to be much of a difference as you are spending time getting off the freeway to the charger and back.

I drive 60-80k miles a year. I spend a lot of time road tripping. I honestly don't plan my drives to be most time efficient any more. I keep the general rule of not charging beyond 70-80% in mind, but that's where it ends. I plan stops based on what food option there are. If I plan an actual sit down restaurant stop, I let the car charge to 100% and then drive a longer leg because I am rested and have the extra range. If the weather is bad, I might drive extra slow. Not worth the risk. If there is something worth seeing on the trip, I make a stop. If I have to pee, I stop and go. This fixation of getting to the destination the fastest way possible is an obsession. I make the trip comfortable and fun, the entire experience is far better than arriving stressed and exhausted in 7 min less than what Goggle said.

 

[Earl]

2 stops seems like less time than 4 even if charging took like 10 more mins

Its up to you, of course, but if you truly want to get somewhere fast, "Splash and Dash" like NASCAR is fastest where you run as low as you dare and get going when the charging speed drops.

Btw I’m glad bucees has super chargers now it’s the perfect place to have them, I can spend 30 mins there and not even realize it

If you're doing something fun anyway, you might as well fill up the whole time. However, I find that most stops only need 20 - 30 minutes on road trips in moderate temperatures (above freezing). If you're spending more time and, true to your handle, you "gottagofast", you might want to adjust your approach.

 

[Big Earl]

If I’m on a trip and I use a super charger twice in 1 day then I went back home the next day and used the super charger twice again for a total of 4 super chargers in 2 days would that be considered excessive super charging?

I’m just wondering what is considered excessive as far as battery health in a time span of 1-5 days

What’s the total super charges you can do in the lifespan of the car before degradation from super charging becomes noticeable

I estimate I would probably super charge 15 to 30 times per year for trips

Charge as often as you need to. It's a car that you bought to use, so use it when you need to.

When on long road trips, I've charged my 2018 Model 3 numerous times per day, multiple days in a row. In total, this car has thousands of Supercharging sessions. My battery is at 88% of original capacity, with 205,000+ miles, which is typical of vehicles of this age regardless of mileage and charging routine.