I think this sums it up. I keep ours plugged in at home. It's just a habit.
If it having the car plugged in stresses you out ... just don't do it.
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Is leaving Tesla plugged in while not charging really beneficial?
- Thread starter pepperoni
- Start date
If it having the car plugged in stresses you out ... just don't do it.
HellsKitchen
Member
I know the Tesla charger is rated for outdoor use, but does anyone not keep their Y plugged in because it's outdoors?
I put my cell phone on a (wireless) charger whenever I am near one. I have a wireless charger at work, on my desk at home, on my night stand, and in one of my cars. I only charge the phone up to 80% unless I need more stored power for a specific activity. I probably do about 2 cycles a day on this phone. It's the same rules you follow with all li-ion batteries: do not charge to 100% and smaller depth of discharge is better than larger depth of discharge. You know how cell phone batteries typically start to degrade quickly? Well after almost 3 years, my battery is still at 90% SoH.
roblab
Active Member
Why? Many people have to charge outdoors, and it's not just Ys. My daughter charges her X outside. Doesn't seem to have ever hurt it or reduced her range. As I happen to have a garage that's not full of junk, I park my S and my 3 in the garage and plug in whenever. It makes no difference to the car if there's a roof over it or not, because the charger plug is waterproof. The main thing is to keep the car charged so it will be ready when you need it. If you constantly keep running out of range, well, that's why I paid extra for an S. Where I charge it makes absolutely zero difference.
As others have said, if you charge outside and are on vacation, then leave it plugged in and be sure to turn on Sentry Mode (i.e. uncheck the Disable check-box when At Home). So your car is now a security system watching your house. It isn't a Chevy Bolt, so leaving it plugged in is fine.
Also, if it is plugged in then people can't break the window and drive off with it (a popup appears on the screen saying that it is plugged in and it won't move until it is unplugged). And if in doubt, set PIN To Drive. The nice thing about a Tesla is that they can't manually put it in neutral. So if they want to cart it off, they have to drag it (there are YouTube videos showing post-accident Tesla's being dragged up onto a flat-bed for transport since the 12V and/or 400V system failed/autodisconnected).
Enjoy your vacation, the car will take care of itself.
Scott
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MYLR | Red ext | White int | 19" | 5 seats | tow | no FSD | made/delivered Oct 2021
Also, if it is plugged in then people can't break the window and drive off with it (a popup appears on the screen saying that it is plugged in and it won't move until it is unplugged). And if in doubt, set PIN To Drive. The nice thing about a Tesla is that they can't manually put it in neutral. So if they want to cart it off, they have to drag it (there are YouTube videos showing post-accident Tesla's being dragged up onto a flat-bed for transport since the 12V and/or 400V system failed/autodisconnected).
Enjoy your vacation, the car will take care of itself.
Scott
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MYLR | Red ext | White int | 19" | 5 seats | tow | no FSD | made/delivered Oct 2021
This won't run directly off AC though, right? Doing this would likely cost a full HV battery cycle each week'ish.
When Sentry mode is active the Tesla Model Y remains powered on. Power consumption while parked is 230W continuous. The Tesla Model Y will top up the battery as needed once the state of charge drops a few percent. This will maintain the battery at the set charging limit. (When the Tesla vehicle is allowed to enter sleep mode the power consumption is 25W (about 9X less) than when the Tesla is powered on.)
When referring to an Apple cell phone the manual says that updates happen when the phone is plugged in at night.
There seems to be an assumption that software driven devices are kept plugged in when not in use for long periods of time.
If you sit with your car sometime with no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, turn off dash recording, just allow the car to go to sleep, you’ll periodically hear clicks and clangs. The car is running data and diagnostics in background.
So ideally you’d let the car sleep when you have plenty of charge.
Tesla likes to be plugged in is to side with caution that people in our human folly might think a 10 percent of charge is okay so don’t need to charge. It’s Tesla way to trend owners to take care of the battery.
Leaving the car unplugged for the 10-12 hours of away from home work day most people don’t have it plugged in. Your charger schedule is just flip flop night day.
Think how many wait to plug their phone til it’s in the red. Tesla knows people.
There seems to be an assumption that software driven devices are kept plugged in when not in use for long periods of time.
If you sit with your car sometime with no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, turn off dash recording, just allow the car to go to sleep, you’ll periodically hear clicks and clangs. The car is running data and diagnostics in background.
So ideally you’d let the car sleep when you have plenty of charge.
Tesla likes to be plugged in is to side with caution that people in our human folly might think a 10 percent of charge is okay so don’t need to charge. It’s Tesla way to trend owners to take care of the battery.
Leaving the car unplugged for the 10-12 hours of away from home work day most people don’t have it plugged in. Your charger schedule is just flip flop night day.
Think how many wait to plug their phone til it’s in the red. Tesla knows people.
bareyb
Active Member
It was my impression that by leaving it plugged in the charger also maintains proper cooling and heating for the battery pack as well as keeping it charged to the Optimum level for your needs. I leave mine plugged in most of the time with the Battery charged to 60% and the charger set to 30 Amps. So far my battery is as good as it was 9 years ago.
While parked the Tesla vehicle will not use energy from the grid or from the battery to cool or heat the battery unless this is required for charging or when preconditioning.
bareyb
Active Member
It's a nice safety feature for the battery that wouldn't happen if it wasn't plugged in. Not even sure why this is a debate. Tesla has said many times that the best way to take care of the battery is to leave it plugged when not in use. It is also recommend to keep the battery charged to the minimum past 50% that you need for your daily driving and to set the charger at 30 Amps instead of 40. Seems to be working well for me so far. Almost no degradation in 9 years.
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Once the battery reaches the preset charging limit the Tesla vehicle stops charging, stops using power from the grid. Whether plugged in or not plugged in once charging has been completed the Tesla vehicle does not cool or heat the battery while the Tesla vehicle is parked because this would just waste energy.It's a nice safety feature for the battery that wouldn't happen if it wasn't plugged in. Not even sure why this is a debate. Tesla has said many times that the best way to take care of the battery is to leave it plugged when not in use. It is also recommend to keep the battery charged to the minimum past 50% that you need for your daily driving and to set the charger at 30 Amps instead of 40. Seems to be working well for me so far. Almost no degradation in 9 years.
Where does Tesla state that charging at 30 amps instead of 40 amps is better for the battery?
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
It’s a debate because what you are saying is flatly wrong. The car will condition the battery as necessary, at any time, regardless of if it’s plugged in or not. Nor is there any recommendation to charge at 30 amps vs. 40. This “recommendation” is imaginary.
bareyb
Active Member
Wow. Settle down Bro. Lol. It is widely known that these type of batteries like to be at about 50% charge level and it's better to charge them at a lower voltage vs. a higher one, not to mention easier on your home's electrical panel and the charging unit itself (you may recall some of the earlier models were melting). It's just a good idea in general and is widely known by anyone who has read up on Batteries and their care. And I never said it came from Tesla because it didn't have to. It's literally battery care 101.
Tesla does however encourage owners who want to do the best by their vehicles to keep their cars plugged in when not in use. That is also not in dispute. It's just you being argumentative like you are in virtually every thread you post in. I love how when I gave you a thumbs down for being rude (and wrong), you went back and thumbs downed all of my posts. Petty much? I've seen your posting history and you're a Troll. Stop quoting me and stop trying to argue with me. And I might suggest get a life.
Tesla does however encourage owners who want to do the best by their vehicles to keep their cars plugged in when not in use. That is also not in dispute. It's just you being argumentative like you are in virtually every thread you post in. I love how when I gave you a thumbs down for being rude (and wrong), you went back and thumbs downed all of my posts. Petty much? I've seen your posting history and you're a Troll. Stop quoting me and stop trying to argue with me. And I might suggest get a life.
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I've seen no evidence that charging at 30 amps vs 40 (I charge at 48) is better for the battery. 40 amps is only 9.6kW, 48 is 11.5kW. Even at 48 amps, that's less than 1/6c. Peak supercharger power is 250kW, over 3c. 3c is pretty rough on a battery, 1/6c is not.
I just leave my HPWC at 48 amps, plug in every day, and set my departure to 6:00 so my higher SoC is held for a shorter time.
I just leave my HPWC at 48 amps, plug in every day, and set my departure to 6:00 so my higher SoC is held for a shorter time.
No, this is not true, which had been observed directly from the car's own data years ago. When reading values from the car with one of those 3rd party tools, like maybe Scan My Tesla, you can see the values the car is using for its high and low temperature range targets. The car will use different temperature targets if it detects it is plugged in, versus if it is not.
So the way this behavior looks like in real life is that if the car has been parked all day out in the sun at work during the Summer, and it has been getting toasty on the hot blacktop at over 100 degrees, and you then drive home just a few miles, you pull into your garage. The car may just quietly sit there when you park, because the allowed temperature target is that high. But then if you plug it in, the car is set to know that it has extra energy available and won't be just using up your range, so it moves the target temperature down, and it will start drawing from the wall connection and will activate the chiller and start actively cooling the battery down to get it into a more ideal temperature. This has been measured and observed by multiple people. I guess it's just not widely known. And again, this was seen on the S and X platform. I don't think I have heard if the 3 and Y do things differently. But if so, then don't generalize about "Tesla vehicles".
It's an intentional programming choice to make that tradeoff. It won't do as much active heating or cooling while unplugged, because that could deplete people's range, and make for unhappy customers. But if the extra energy is available externally, they decided to do what is a bit better for the battery by moderating the temperature range.
I would be interested in seeing the data, especially as regards warming the battery when plugged in with cold temperatures.
I parked at a family member's house recently and someone commented that my car was out there "running". Sure enough, there was a lot of external noise of a fan running... and the interior climate was off. This was about an hour after parking and it remained on for quite a while. Pretty sure it was actively cooling the battery... not plugged in.
OR: the car was actively drying the evaporator of your AC, to try to (and fail at) prevent bad odors.
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