Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

is it necessary to plug in during the day?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

crackers8199

Active Member
May 31, 2015
2,104
1,131
SoCal
i work from home and do most of my driving when running errands at night, but i will typically only drive around 30-40 miles in a day...therefore it's very easy for me to use scheduled charging and fill up during the window from 10pm-8am when electricity is cheapest. i will almost never need to drive enough in a day to have to charge during the day when electricity is most expensive...

my question is: is it still a good idea for me to plug in during the day? or am i ok to leave it unplugged during the day and just plug in after i'm done running my errands at night?
 
i work from home and do most of my driving when running errands at night, but i will typically only drive around 30-40 miles in a day...therefore it's very easy for me to use scheduled charging and fill up during the window from 10pm-8am when electricity is cheapest. i will almost never need to drive enough in a day to have to charge during the day when electricity is most expensive...

my question is: is it still a good idea for me to plug in during the day? or am i ok to leave it unplugged during the day and just plug in after i'm done running my errands at night?

I would just keep plugged in ...if u ever wanted to preheat or pre cool you can use land power vs battery .....but to answer your question no harm in leaving unplugged plenty of folks do that when they go to office ;)
 
Although Tesla recommends leaving it plugged in (in case some software wants to install, I guess), there is no requirement to do that unless you need charge. I used to have tier 1,2,3, etc., so plugging in was a matter of timing to get the best rates. Now with solar, it's a matter of convenience.

I usually plug in whenever I get home. You can set the car to charge when the rates go down, or leave it unplugged. Only problem I have is that if a kid needs picking up, and it's an hour's drive to the baseball or football field, I'd want to have charge to do that, so my car usually sits at 90%.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jsmay311
I work from hone like you. I plug in when done for the day (sometimes I unplug and use agai). But I do not unplug until I need it again which is sometimes all the the next day. Or sometimes at lunch. But it is a not a big deal just habit. And I charge overnight on a schedule.
 
I plug my 3 in at the end of the day, when I think I am in for the night. If I am going to go somewhere, I don’t bother plugging and unplugging. It still gets plugged in once every 24 hours.

When I had my Chevy Volt, I plugged it in whenever I was home for more than a few minutes.

GSP
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: Dana1
I plug my 3 in at the end of the day, when I think I am in for the night. If I am going to go somewhere, I don’t bother plugging and unplugging. It still gets plugged in once every 24 hours.

When I had my Chevy Volt, I plugged it in whenever I was home for more than a few minutes.

GSP

This is exactly what I've been doing, and I also have a volt that is plugged in all the time...that's why I was asking.
 
i work from home and do most of my driving when running errands at night, but i will typically only drive around 30-40 miles in a day...therefore it's very easy for me to use scheduled charging and fill up during the window from 10pm-8am when electricity is cheapest. i will almost never need to drive enough in a day to have to charge during the day when electricity is most expensive...

my question is: is it still a good idea for me to plug in during the day? or am i ok to leave it unplugged during the day and just plug in after i'm done running my errands at night?
You can leave it unplugged and plug in at night to charge. No harm.
 
Keeping it plugged in is fine. Not having it plugged in is fine. It's not going to matter either way, and the car will be fine with it.

The thing in the manual and from Tesla about "A plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla" is more to dispel this odd fear and misinformation that seems to be out there that keeping the cars plugged in too much is going to damage them, which is baloney. So they are recommending to go ahead and have it plugged in as often as you want to, so you always have enough range to use for your convenience. No sense waiting and waiting for it to get lower and avoiding plugging in, and then you don't have enough range to drive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: David99
This whole thing of "A plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla", is for the everyday Joe Average who is not a technical person and just drives an EV. This phrase is meant to simplify things for them, since they can't understand the nuances, or are unwilling to learn.

Long story short, I plug mine in around 25% to 35% and charge to 90%, unless I think I'll be doing a lot of driving the next day, in which case I'll plug it in even at higher remaining charge levels when I get home for the night.
 
Long story short, I plug mine in around 25% to 35% and charge to 90%, unless I think I'll be doing a lot of driving the next day, in which case I'll plug it in even at higher remaining charge levels when I get home for the night.

Is this strategy because you think it will help with the longevity of the battery pack?

I charge mine to 80% every night (even though I only use 12-14% per day just so I am prepared for any eventuality (like a natural disaster or a family emergency).

To me, an electric vehicle has downsides in an emergency, but the one upside it has is knowing that at nearly all times I will have one vehicle with at least a couple hundred miles of range available to me (vs. having anywhere between a quarter and a full tank of gas in an ICE vehicle).

Anecdotal evidence in the forums seems to say that the long term degradation of the Tesla battery packs is pretty low, so manually managing the charge cycles to maybe increase pack longevity by a percent or two does not seem worth it to me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GSP and Dana1
I use to think the latter (discharge down then recharge), but I also learned that a battery pack needs to be fully charged to equalize and balance the pack occasionally so periodically charging it fully is actually healthy for the pack.
 
You're just fine without keeping it unplugged, but it might be easy to just plug in that IF needed you can pre-heat/pre-cool without needing to walk to the car.

I've made it a habbit of plugging in my Model S from 2013 every time I parked at home. Charging wouldn't start after 23:00 in the evening because of the lower tier, but there have been many occasions where I was really happy that I plugged it in because I could pre-condition the car because I needed to leave later that day which I didn't know earlier.

If you always plug it in you won't forget it in the evening and waking up with a not charged car.

I have always charged to 90% every day, no matter what. It just feels good for me that I know I always have a full battery and can drive 250km if needed. (live at the coast).
 
  • Like
Reactions: GSP
one of the other reasons i've been not plugging in during the day is because of how much of a PITA it is to wake the car and unlock the charge cord. i know i've seen people say you can click the trunk button once (and not have it open) or finesse the rear door handle and not have it open, but i've not be able to do either of those things. i always end up having to open and close either the trunk or rear door before i can unlock and remove the charge cord...
 
  • Informative
Reactions: jsmay311
one of the other reasons i've been not plugging in during the day is because of how much of a PITA it is to wake the car and unlock the charge cord. i know i've seen people say you can click the trunk button once (and not have it open) or finesse the rear door handle and not have it open, but i've not be able to do either of those things. i always end up having to open and close either the trunk or rear door before i can unlock and remove the charge cord...

Can’t you just push the button on the end of the UMC or Wall Connector? Or are you talking about the J1772 adapter?
 
In your case I'd say don't plug in during the day. There is no advantage if you only charge at night anyways. Tesla manages the battery at all times regardless if it's plugged in or not. So there is no disadvantage in terms of battery health.
 
one of the other reasons i've been not plugging in during the day is because of how much of a PITA it is to wake the car and unlock the charge cord. i know i've seen people say you can click the trunk button once (and not have it open) or finesse the rear door handle and not have it open, but i've not be able to do either of those things. i always end up having to open and close either the trunk or rear door before i can unlock and remove the charge cord...
You can’t just press the button on the charge cord? I walk into my garage, press the button, remove cord, and open door, drive.