Is it okay to charge to 100% if I am immediately going to use it right away?

[EVchiq]

So I know that Tesla recommends charging only to 90%, but is that for those of you that have home chargers and it will sit at over 90 for a very long time?

I only charge at public chargers and I have to drive away from them just to go home so in my case would it be okay to charge to $100 since I am going to use that battery right away?

 

[Terminator857]

How much will you drain going home? The answer also depends on temperature. Batteries degrade faster at higher temperatures.

BU-502: Discharging at High and Low Temperatures

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com

20% increase in battery degradation at 86 degrees versus 68 degrees.
Charge to 90% in winter and 80% when temps above 80, unless you don't care about battery degradation.

 

[jcanoe]

You can certainly charge to 100% before you drive as when taking a road trip. I would not charge to 100% regularly as over time this will lead to degradation of the battery, i.e. reduced capacity.

Charging above 95%, up to 100% takes more time than daily charging (50% to 90%) as the charging rate tapers as the battery state of charge gets close to 100%.

 

[ATPMSD]

Don‘t become paranoid about charging to 100%, there is no harm in doing this unless you do it routinely. It is a good practice to drive the car after charging to 100%, but charging the evening before you heard out on a trip the day is fine. In your case, I suggest charging to 90% if that will do, or even 95% if you have too.

 

[ATPMSD]

Here is a chart you can refer too which plots various SOC ranges against battery degration. This is from a laboratory battery test and not a test of a Tesla battery.

 

[Nosken]

You should shoot to have 80%-90% when you park your car at your home, if you are letting it sit for hours or more. If you drive it within a few hours, 100% is fine.

 

[jjrandorin]

So I know that Tesla recommends charging only to 90%

Actually, Tesla makes no such official recommendation at all. The closest you will find to anything official from tesla on this is a tweet from elon a few years ago saying something like "93% is ok".

What you will find, is in long range / performance model 3s and Ys, a "daily" and "trip" segment, which means that for daily use, dont charge above this, and for trip usage, feel free to charge up to here.

So, yes, you can charge to 100% whenever you are going on a trip. With all that being said, you would not want to charge to 100% daily, which is what it appears you are asking to do, unless you were going to spend 10% of your charge getting back home.

if you actually do drive 10% of your charge out just to go charge (which is going to be something like 20 -30 miles, depending on temperature, weather, etc), you likely bought an EV too soon, unless you are planning to remedy that situation shortly.

 

[EVchiq]

Actually, Tesla makes no such official recommendation at all. The closest you will find to anything official from tesla on this is a tweet from elon a few years ago saying something like "93% is ok".

What you will find, is in long range / performance model 3s and Ys, a "daily" and "trip" segment, which means that for daily use, dont charge above this, and for trip usage, feel free to charge up to here.

So, yes, you can charge to 100% whenever you are going on a trip. With all that being said, you would not want to charge to 100% daily, which is what it appears you are asking to do, unless you were going to spend 10% of your charge getting back home.

if you actually do drive 10% of your charge out just to go charge (which is going to be something like 20 -30 miles, depending on temperature, weather, etc), you likely bought an EV too soon, unless you are planning to remedy that situation shortly.

Yeah, that's the case, when I go home after charging, it uses around 6% of my charge. All about seven Miles away from the closest charger period it level 2 period

 

[EmbersDC]

Nothing will happen (or not noticeable) to the battery if you charge to 100%. It's able to charge to 100% for a reason. But, you don't want to maintain 100% for a long period of time such as a full day. I regularly have 150+ mile days and will charge to 100% the night of. I've spoken to several Tesla owners (owned for 3-4 years) and they've had no issues with their battery at 100% for half a day or overnight. The key is not leaving it charged at 100% all day.

If I don't have a long day's drive I leave it at 85% charge.

 

[Maxters]

I charge to 95-100% but immediately use it..

But I don't have it plugged in for a few days as my wife's car is a Honda Clarity and it hogs the cord.

2-3 days when it's down to under 15% I have it charge from midnight until the next morning work (220v 30A) to 90-100% again.

 

[STS-134]

You should shoot to have 80%-90% when you park your car at your home, if you are letting it sit for hours or more. If you drive it within a few hours, 100% is fine.

I charge to 60% daily, and only charge to 100% every 3-4 months (unless I take a road trip before that), and always right before consuming at least 10%. I will generally set Scheduled Departure for 1-2 hours before I plan to leave if charging to 100% so that it finishes just before I drive and it does not sit at 100% for longer than an hour (generally, it takes about an 40-60 extra minutes to hit 100% compared to when Scheduled Departure initially thinks it will due to the charge rate tapering).

 

[Ohmster]

We had an S and an X for 4 years. Minimal battery degradation in a combined -110k miles. Both vehicles predominately charged at home or at work. Both had FUSC. Daily routines was to slow charge at 32A overnight to 85%. I did about 72 miles a day on the S and wife’s mileage was erratic. On long trips (Thousand Oaks to Bay Area, Vegas, Palm Springs, San Diego, Joshua Tree) we would charge to 100% within an hour of departure from home or Super Charger.

 

[MY-user]

Here is a chart you can refer too which plots various SOC ranges against battery degration. This is from a laboratory battery test and not a test of a Tesla battery.

View attachment 753532

What's a DST Cycle?

 

[ATPMSD]

What's a DST Cycle?

Dynamic Stress Test - basically a charge and discharge cycte.

 

[MY-user]

Dynamic Stress Test - basically a charge and discharge cycte.

if orange graph showing 75-65% SOC does it mean 10 charging sessions is one DST cycle?

 

[ATPMSD]

if orange graph showing 75-65% SOC does it mean 10 charging sessions is one DST cycle?I

No. One charge to 75% followed by a draw down to 65% is one cycle. If you then charge back to 75% and then draw down again to 65% this is then two cycles.

Assuming you charge your car once a day, 1,000 cycles is 2.7 years! The chart predicts if you do the 75%-65% cycle 1,000 times your battery capacity will be about 97% (a reduction of just 3%)

 

[Rocky_H]

if orange graph showing 75-65% SOC does it mean 10 charging sessions is one DST cycle?

Yes.

No. One charge to 75% followed by a draw down to 65% is one cycle. If you then charge back to 75% and then draw down again to 65% this is then two cycles.

That is not true. You are thinking of charging events, not cycles. In the world of battery charging data and analysis, a "cycle" is defined as an entire 100% capacity of the battery, being used and refilled in however many smaller pieces that is. Using a tenth ten times, or a fourth four times, or a half twice, or whatever. Each of those is still just one charge "cycle".

 

[ATPMSD]

Yes.

That is not true. You are thinking of charging events, not cycles. In the world of battery charging data and analysis, a "cycle" is defined as an entire 100% capacity of the battery, being used and refilled in however many smaller pieces that is. Using a tenth ten times, or a fourth four times, or a half twice, or whatever. Each of those is still just one charge "cycle".

Not for this chart. If you want to call it an event instead of a cycle, fine. But right or wrong on this chart a “changing event” is a “cycle.”

Consider further: if 75%-65% must be done 10-times to create one cycle, this process must be repeated 10,000 times to reach the 1,000 DST mark - at one “event“ per day that is 27 years!

 

[MY-user]

Not for this chart. If you want to call it an event instead of a cycle, fine. But right or wrong on this chart a “changing event” is a “cycle.”

Consider further: if 75%-65% must be done 10-times to create one cycle, this process must be repeated 10,000 times to reach the 1,000 DST mark - at one “event“ per day that is 27 years!

Thank you for clarification. Now 100-25% at 1000 cycles will result in 10% battery capacity reduction while allowing us to travel
average 315 mile range ×75%×1,000 cycles=236,250 miles.
To travel the same distance with 75-65% cycle I need to charge 7,500 times which will give me about the same battery degradation.
Does this mean the degradation is mostly dependent on the milage rather than charging/discharging pattern?

 

[ATPMSD]

Thank you for clarification. Now 100-25% at 1000 cycles will result in 10% battery capacity reduction while allowing us to travel
average 315 mile range ×75%×1,000 cycles=236,250 miles.
To travel the same distance with 75-65% cycle I need to charge 7,500 times which will give me about the same battery degradation.
Does this mean the degradation is mostly dependent on the milage rather than charging/discharging pattern?

Well that is certainly an interesting way to look at it!

The objective for most people is to preserve maximum charging capability for when they need it. For example, using the 100-25% approach, after 1,000 cycle the maximum you will be able to charge the car to is 90%, while using the 75-65% approach preserves the ability to charge to 97%.

But again, please recall this is a laboratory model so it is best viewed as a general comparison.