Just ordered my Model S - Any things to lookout for?

[sschlesinger1]

Hello everyone, thanks for everyone for their advice. I went for a contactless test drive yesterday, came home and ordered my Model S Long Range. Is there any thing I need to be on the lookout for?

In this day of the pandemic, I will probably be staying close to home. What is the best charge % to keep the batteries at for only short runs under 100 miles.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

 

[SilverGS]

Hello everyone, thanks for everyone for their advice. I went for a contactless test drive yesterday, came home and ordered my Model S Long Range. Is there any thing I need to be on the lookout for?

In this day of the pandemic, I will probably be staying close to home. What is the best charge % to keep the batteries at for only short runs under 100 miles.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

Congratulations!!!! What color combination did you get?

For such a short trip, I charge mine to to 75% (that keeps the battery cooling fans from coming on so frequently) when the charge rate gets to 40%. Don't think about it too much. I keep mine between 40% to 75% unless I'm going on a trip and then I charge to 90%.

 

[XLR82XS]

I follow the manual's advice and leave it plugged in whenever possible (at home in garage) and keep it charged to 90% daily.

 

[aerodyne]

Hello everyone, thanks for everyone for their advice. I went for a contactless test drive yesterday, came home and ordered my Model S Long Range. Is there any thing I need to be on the lookout for?

In this day of the pandemic, I will probably be staying close to home. What is the best charge % to keep the batteries at for only short runs under 100 miles.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

Sounds boring and trite, but the MOST effective thing you can do is read the manual, twice if needed, and check that all the features you paid for work, and practice using them, stationary if possible.

All kinds of opinions on battery use, charging and such. You can go nuts worrying about the battery and range and vampire drain. Most would agree with Elon's tweet a few years back on the MS, that 30-70% is a good operating range for the max battery life. Nothing wrong with 20-90% either.

If you don't have FUSC, then no need to be visiting SuC much. Buy the NEMA 5-20 adapter if you have such an outlet and charge at home. 240v outlets are 10% more efficient, but the installation costs will take years to pay off unless you do it yourself and have an outlet near the service/ breaker box.

If you don't want to do the above, just go to the TeslaTap page. Read a bit at a time.

 

[PhilDavid]

I follow the manual's advice and leave it plugged in whenever possible (at home in garage) and keep it charged to 90% daily.

Exactly what I do. The car is basically plugged over 90% of the time with the charge set to 90%.

I've wondered if I should set it to 80% instead by it seems the consensus was that it was fine to leave it at 90%. In fact I think Elon once tweeted that 90% is what is recommended.

 

[2101Guy]

Exactly what I do. The car is basically plugged over 90% of the time with the charge set to 90%.

I've wondered if I should set it to 80% instead by it seems the consensus was that it was fine to leave it at 90%. In fact I think Elon once tweeted that 90% is what is recommended.

I think the tweet was that it was "ok" not necessarily redommended.

For most, charging daily to 90% is probably fine. But knowing a bit about these types of batteries, typically somewhere middle range of their total capacity and charging at lower voltages seem to be the best for longest life while minimizing degradation. I switched from charging to 90% every night because I realy didnt need to with my driving needs. Working from home 5 days a week now, Im charging once every 4-5 days to about 70 or 75% once the battery gets down to about 30%. 240volt outlet and rarely supercharge.

I'll go to 100% charge once every couple of months

 

[gavine]

IIRC, Elon's tweet about 90% was mostly about convenience. Apparently, 90% is not so bad for the battery, however, some would argue that it's still better to be closer to 50% than 90%. In the end, the difference might be negligible. I don't think anyone knows for sure. I'm not comfortable keeping mine charged to 90%. I stay between 50% and 75% unless I need more.

 

[SO16]

Lots of good stuff here.
TeslaTap

 

[Chaserr]

@gavine Someone posted a chart of SOC versus "stress" on the battery and from about 20% to 70% there wasn't much difference. The most stress was above 90% and below 10% but 90% was much higher than 80 and 70 was practically flat with 50.

 

[AaronD]

For 100 miles trips, just leave it at 70% max charge. That’ll be plenty in any weather.

As for things to look out for, it’s really really fast, so look out for that.

 

[beatle]

I've been keeping mine plugged in and I set the charge percentage to 78% to avoid the coolant pumps running all the time. I was keeping it at 50%, but power goes down with SoC, so I think 78% is a good compromise. If I really care about getting the "most" out of the car, I'll charge to 90% which is what I used to charge to before staying home all the time.

 

[PhilDavid]

Would keeping it charged at 90% cause fewer charge/discharge cycles?

I've had my car charge at 90% its entire life based on SC recommendation and Elon's Tweet but the car is always plugged in while parked in the garage.

Now I'm wondering if I should set the charge limit to 75% or 80%.

 

[aerodyne]

Would keeping it charged at 90% cause fewer charge/discharge cycles?

I've had my car charge at 90% its entire life based on SC recommendation and Elon's Tweet but the car is always plugged in while parked in the garage.

Now I'm wondering if I should set the charge limit to 75% or 80%.

Cycle count as shown on lion batt spec sheets is based on full charge discharge cycles.

For any battery, shallow cycles are better than deep ones. For instance, 2000 cycles at 50% depth of discharge (DoD) are better for the batt than 1000 at 100% DoD.

You could split the diff (78%) like Beatle says, and avoid having the pumps run as much as they do over 80%, since the recent firmware updates.