I just got a Model X and wanted to save money by relying almost exclusively on superchargers with basic 118v charging at home. This is to take full advantage of the lifetime unlimited supercharging. There are three superchargers directly on the 50 mile route from my home to office. How realistic is it for me to just supercharge 10 minutes a day + slow charge at home 12hrs a day for just commuting?
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Life without a home 240V charger
- Thread starter hidavi
- Start date
Gen 2 NEMA Adapters
At 15A/120v, you're looking at roughly 2 miles an hour.. So ~24 miles over your 12 hour charge. However, there will be some loss due to battery and or other preconditioning that may occur.
At a Supercharger, 10 minutes may get you anything from 0 miles to 70 miles of range.. it all depends on the Supercharger, your battery state, temperatures, and whatnot.
Since getting my X in July, I've put just over 5k miles on it, and have only supercharged. I only took the mobile charger out of the bag once to test it for a minute. I typically do the 80%-20% charge (though I may not charge to 80 if the wife wants me home sooner), but, that charge usually takes around 40 minutes.
You can do that but it would be nice to have more margin at home in case you arrive at home and it’s below zero and you need/want to charge. Or you want to top off in the morning some day for a long trip and don’t want or have time to stop. It’s so trivial going from a 15a 120V to say 20A 240V. That would give a lot more margin for heating battery when/if needed.
12A (which is what the 15A circuit charges at) * 120V is 1440 watts. The battery heater alone is 6000 watts (Max), that would need a 60A circuit at 120V alone to run fully or 30A at 240V. You don’t need full heat but you have so little with 15A 120V. If you lived in Hawaii then heating would be another story.
It’s the corner cases you want more juice for. The routine cases are easy to manage. What if a super charger is full or broken. When it’s super duper cold out and snowing that 50 miles will be like 100. When it’s super cold out with a cold battery the 15A 120V may not charge at all. It will spend all the watts on heating and never catch up.
12A (which is what the 15A circuit charges at) * 120V is 1440 watts. The battery heater alone is 6000 watts (Max), that would need a 60A circuit at 120V alone to run fully or 30A at 240V. You don’t need full heat but you have so little with 15A 120V. If you lived in Hawaii then heating would be another story.
It’s the corner cases you want more juice for. The routine cases are easy to manage. What if a super charger is full or broken. When it’s super duper cold out and snowing that 50 miles will be like 100. When it’s super cold out with a cold battery the 15A 120V may not charge at all. It will spend all the watts on heating and never catch up.
Thanks for all the replies! It was 40 degrees F last night and I got 40 miles in 11hrs charging at 118V*12A all night.
So far supercharging at the three stations on my route seems to yield 25miles in 10 mins.
The stations don't ever seem to be more than 30% occupied and they're all built within the last 2 years it seems.
So far supercharging at the three stations on my route seems to yield 25miles in 10 mins.
The stations don't ever seem to be more than 30% occupied and they're all built within the last 2 years it seems.
So your good then, why even ask?
Superchargers will never be full or broken and it will never get colder than 40F.
Adding 25 miles at a SuperCharger isn’t even worth stopping for. That’s like stopping at a gas station for 1/2 a gallon gas.
My experience is based on 3 days of ownership. I haven't actually stopped for just 10 mins. More like 30-60 mins so far when I'm running errands near the superchargers.
A half a gallon of gas in my last car only got me 8 miles so this seems better to me lol.
Awesome. So happy for your X, and most of all you.
Many people have different use cases. Seems like you found one that fits you. Courtois charging by most will help many if not all. If you don't need it, maybe it can wait if the Supercharger is getting full. A garage really does help fight the cold with basic charging if that is all you have. As others have said the efficiency is a bit less than the higher amp charging.
Welcome. Ask all the questions. We all learn that way. Keeps the informed ones on their toes as well.
In my humble opinion, it's a PITA to stop at a Supercharger daily. By charging at home, your life becomes much easier. My time is worth so much more than the "free Supercharging"
It takes 10 mins for the shop to make my sandwich, so it's convenient to supercharge while I wait. I'm getting twice as much done on my lunch breaks now.
Personally I would get a NEMA 14-50 installed at home, or better a HPWC.
When I first got my X I had a NEMA 14-50 (240V, 50 A) outlet installed. It was only $125 or so. My electric panel is in the garage, so the electrician only needed a foot of cable. I bought the outlet at Home depot for $13. Rest was labor. But then I got a HPWC for a referral and had that installed. That is nicer since even though I never use the UMC Wall charger I always worried about not having it with me.
FWIW, I free Supercharging and use it when on trip or long errand. Plus there is the whole permanent throttling if you use too much Supercharing thing
When I first got my X I had a NEMA 14-50 (240V, 50 A) outlet installed. It was only $125 or so. My electric panel is in the garage, so the electrician only needed a foot of cable. I bought the outlet at Home depot for $13. Rest was labor. But then I got a HPWC for a referral and had that installed. That is nicer since even though I never use the UMC Wall charger I always worried about not having it with me.
FWIW, I free Supercharging and use it when on trip or long errand. Plus there is the whole permanent throttling if you use too much Supercharing thing
Thanks for the good advice. I'll see if my fiance wants to gift me this for my bday
NIce! i would have liked to gift my fiance a Model 3 for Christmas, but the wedding budget has taken over...
You could give them a choice. Do you want a great day or a great car to drive every day?
Congrats on your new car!
For me, charging at home is one of the real game changers of owning an electric car. It is SOOO nice to just come home, plug in and not worry about coordinating my schedule, visiting a Supercharger or going out of my way.
At the very least, I'd inquire with an electrician about how much it costs to install an outlet at your home.
For me, charging at home is one of the real game changers of owning an electric car. It is SOOO nice to just come home, plug in and not worry about coordinating my schedule, visiting a Supercharger or going out of my way.
At the very least, I'd inquire with an electrician about how much it costs to install an outlet at your home.
My dad was a licensed electrician and taught me everything he knew, so the truth is I can do the labor myself. The problem is that my solar panels just barely cover my electric bill now and charging a 90kwh battery 2x a week will mean getting more solar panels to stay at $0 electric cost. It's more than I'm willing to invest at this point.
But speaking from experience, let me tell you that it's a great feeling to charge your cars via the nuclear fusion reactor in the sky. And way more convenient.
That does sound super dope... Just gotta see if I can get tax credits for expanding my solar array
If you have a change in your usage, like ES I think you can get credit since you need the additional solar to cover your addition power demands. Our utility has a worksheet and booklet that goes over the calculations. I assume yours will have the same type of information.
You might also ask in the Tesla energy forum, Tesla Energy Someone in your locale may know the specific ends and outs.
