is it necessary to plug in during the day?

[crackers8199]

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.

not for me, again, unless i'm doing it wrong (if i am by all means please let me know so i can make life easier for myself lol)

i do what you do up until the remove cord step. walk in, press button...and it's locked. and the car won't release it unless i open a door or the trunk or something to wake the car up...

 

[Dana1]

O

not for me, again, unless i'm doing it wrong (if i am by all means please let me know so i can make life easier for myself lol)

i do what you do up until the remove cord step. walk in, press button...and it's locked. and the car won't release it unless i open a door or the trunk or something to wake the car up...

wow, sorry! I’m not sure what’s different. I don’t do anything special. My car has access to home Wi-Fi though I don’t see why that would matter.

 

[jsmay311]

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.

In other threads it's been observed/discussed that if the car is "asleep", you need to unlock the car before it will recognize a button click on the charge connector and unlock the connector, even if the car "sees" your phone. If it's not asleep, it will unlock the charge port and release the connector after a press of the button on the connector.

Based on the wording in the manual about how this is supposed to work, this appears to be a bug. If it recognizes your phone, it should always unlock the charge connector after pressing the button on the connector.

That said, idk if recent software updates have fixed this bug or not since my M3 is still in the shop.

 

[CricTic]

If your car is still charging when you walk up to it, the charge port is still awake, so clicking the button on the charger will unlock it as long as it senses your phone nearby. If your car is done charging, the port falls asleep, and needs to be awakened by the computer (by opening something) before the charger button will work. Supposedly, Tesla is working on fixing this, but AFAIK it's still an issue for people.

Ironically, this means people charging off a normal wall outlet are usually getting a better unplug experience, because the car is almost always still charging when you come back to it. I experienced this change in behavior when I upgraded from a normal wall outlet to a dedicated 40A circuit.

To answer OP's question, here are the guidelines I live by:

• Don't feel like you have to fill it up completely unless you're about to go on a road trip.
• Try not to let it run down below about 20-30% too much if you can avoid it.
• Plug it in whenever and wherever it's convenient for you.
• Otherwise - don't overthink it!

 

[Dana1]

If your car is still charging when you walk up to it, the charge port is still awake, so clicking the button on the charger will unlock it as long as it senses your phone nearby. If your car is done charging, the port falls asleep, and needs to be awakened by the computer (by opening something) before the charger button will work. Supposedly, Tesla is working on fixing this, but AFAIK it's still an issue for people.

Ironically, this means people charging off a normal wall outlet are usually getting a better unplug experience, because the car is almost always still charging when you come back to it. I experienced this change in behavior when I upgraded from a normal wall outlet to a dedicated 40A circuit.

To answer OP's question, here are the guidelines I live by:

• Don't feel like you have to fill it up completely unless you're about to go on a road trip.
• Try not to let it run down below about 20-30% too much if you can avoid it.
• Plug it in whenever and wherever it's convenient for you.
• Otherwise - don't overthink it!

I use a HPWC. Car finishes charging each day in about an hour, lol. I’m on v26.3. I don’t open anything. Press the button, unplug, open door.

 

[Msjulie]

Well you got a zillion opinions so what's one more - we have scheduled charging (midnight to 7am) so car won't be charging anyway... Car goes out during the day, some days, other's it stays home. It or it's Audi A3 e-tron garage sharer gets plugged in only in the evening or weekends (lower rate).

Been following this 'strategy' with all our EVs and Teslas FWIW

 

[TheLocNar]

My plan:

Go to work in the AM. run errands and stuff after. Go home. Plug in before I go to bed. If I have plans at night, I'll plug in when I get home first.

I get a cheap flat rate for electricity because my city and a few other neighboring ones grouped up into a consortium of sorts to bargain for cheaper rates. I'll be changed over sometime in September to a new service for I think $0.09 so I really could plug in whenever. But I don't see the need.

When I go out of town, I'll set the car to 50% and leave it plugged in for however long I am gone.