How often to charge with short trips to work and back

[manddarran]

I have a 25 mile commute one way. I have a charger at work and at home.

Do I charge to 90% on each? 80% each? Or just charge at one end?

I have been reading all over here and can't seem to come to a consensus.

Some say to always plug in. Just got the tesla last week and want to start off right.

 

[MassPlay]

We don't do a lot of long drives during the week so I tend to

• Charge to 80% Sunday night at home to get ready for the week
• Drive until I get down to 15%ish then charge back to 80%ish at work.
• Fri charge at work to 80% so I'm good to go for the weekend
• Charge throughout the weekend as needed

 

[Rocky_H]

I have a 25 mile commute one way. I have a charger at work and at home.

Do I charge to 90% on each? 80% each? Or just charge at one end?

I have been reading all over here and can't seem to come to a consensus.

Some say to always plug in. Just got the tesla last week and want to start of right.

It's generally not going to matter much within some general guidelines. Don't intentionally have the battery really high or really low for long periods of time. Also, the manual for the car specifically tells you that there is no benefit to trying to intentionally run the battery down low before charging again, so go ahead and plug in as often as you like or is convenient. They are trying to let people know they don't need to try to avoid plugging in. But with that, it's not any big deal if you go a day or two without charging if you are still staying within that middle level of charge. I don't plug in every night just from convenience/laziness, but it's only getting down to about 50-60% or so before I top it back up, so it's never getting really low anyway, which is still very safe and healthy for the batteries.

As far as your high end, again, no need to overthink it. The limit slider in the car shows the range from 50% to 90% that you get to pick for your Daily limit. Toward the middle is a little better for the battery, but you also need to have enough range to practically use the car, so pick wherever you are comfortable with as a balance between those. 80% would be just a little marginally better than 90%, but it's kind of diminishing returns, once you get that first little chunk away from the extreme top.

 

[SSedan]

I would set it at 80 or 90% and charge once per day. This leaves good reserves for emergency trips or power outages.
Plugging in twice a day would be pointless wear and tear on the plug.

 

[jrweiss98020]

I set it at 85% (261-265 mi) and leave it plugged in whenever I'm not driving. Exception is between several short trips in a single day.

I don't think you need to worry about wear & tear on the plug using it once a day...

 

[KenC]

Keep it on 80% at home. Your question about charging both at home and work, for a 25mile commute, sort of implies you want to keep it at a certain SOC for battery longevity? Is that what you want to know? In that case, you might want to set it at 60% at home. The closer the cycle is around 50%, but below 63%, is optimal, but the supposed benefit is miniscule. Best to keep it at 80% at home.

 

[Dogtone]

New Nifty tool! - Best practices for battery charge level for long battery life

 

[jdcollins5]

I charge to 90% and recharge around 50%.

 

[manddarran]

thanks for all the tips. thinking about leaving it plugged in at the office during summer as it gots hot for thermal management.

 

[TW14 9LF]

Who is paying for the electricity? If your work plug is free, no brainier. Charge at work.

 

[Msjulie]

Who is paying for the electricity? If your work plug is free, no brainier. Charge at work.

Pretty much yup, daily charge at work, set to 90 but due to weather (cold or warm) it usually drops a percent or 2 by day's end

 

[manddarran]

Thinking that might be where I land atleast for most of the time. Depending on weather.

 

[DaveRZ]

Who is paying for the electricity? If your work plug is free, no brainier. Charge at work.

x2

 

[Teedub21]

We don't do a lot of long drives during the week so I tend to

• Charge to 80% Sunday night at home to get ready for the week
• Drive until I get down to 15%ish then charge back to 80%ish at work.
• Fri charge at work to 80% so I'm good to go for the weekend
• Charge throughout the weekend as needed

Don’t do this. Tesla tells us to plug in whenever we can. No need to run it down. General consensus is set max somewhere between 80 & 90% and forget about it. So many people overthinking this and trying to make it more difficult than it’s supposed to be.

 

[user212_nr]

I have a 25 mile commute one way. I have a charger at work and at home.

Do I charge to 90% on each? 80% each? Or just charge at one end?

I have been reading all over here and can't seem to come to a consensus.

Some say to always plug in. Just got the tesla last week and want to start off right.

You are overthinking the situation. The battery at 100% is considered "overcharged" which means that while it has ability to store that much energy, it is more than is healthy. The exact number of what charge is healthy isn't really known, but less than 90 is the ideal. Maybe you will do fine at 80%. You won't be able to find a consensus on that number because the debate is still ongoing.

Plugging in more often will help the battery, but if you only discharged 10% it may not be worth your time. You may save a few $ by charging at work, if it is subsidized.

Personally I set it at 90%. I don't need 90% for my commute, but I would need to modify that limit for the weekend. Then if I forgot, which I would expect to do, I would possibly need to supercharge.

 

[neurocutie]

Don’t do this. Tesla tells us to plug in whenever we can. No need to run it down.

It would seem, particularly during the winter and very cold weather, if it takes a certain amount of energy to heat up the battery before charging, then for owners that only drive 10mi a day or so, it would be more efficient (cheaper) to charge only a few times a week rather than once/twice a day. That way, the energy used to heat up the battery is expended fewer times.

For me, going from 80% to 40% before charging might well mean I only need to charge once a week.

 

[miimura]

On our Model 3, we set the charge limit to 80%. We don't plug it in until it is around 50%. This usually takes 2 or 3 days of commuting. I have only ever charged above 90% in preparation for a trip. Even then, I didn't crank it to 100% because I didn't need that extra 5% to make it to our preferred first Supercharging stop, even with 20% arrival buffer.

 

[manddarran]

I think I am landing on 80 then down to 60 ish. i want to be able to up and go......