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Living with 120V - 8000 miles and counting

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I've had my M3 AWD for about 15 months now; I live in Syracuse NY, where it gets pretty cold / snowy in the winter. We have an older house with 120V. luckily my daily commute is only 10 miles roundtrip. Last winter, home charging got me a fraction of what I normally get overnight (10-12 mi vs 50-60 mi) since the battery couldn't stay warm enough overnight to keep charging. Coupling that with using more energy to keep the car warm, it got a little hairy a couple times, since I'd be plugged in overnight and not get enough juice back in the battery to cover my 10 mile commute.

There's a chargepoint station within walking distance of my work (Not that I enjoyed walking in freezing cold) but that helped a few times.

I'm excited to try out the new charging/warming "scheduler" that came with the latest OTA update, since I think it'll help with the extreme weather issues in the cold overnight. This fall I've also tried warming the car for 10 minutes at night before I go to bed, since I figure using 3-4 miles to warm the car will buy me another 20 miles of range.

I guess overall, depending on where you are and your daily driving, you can totally get away with just 120V. In colder climates, I wouldn't recommend it, but it's passable.
 
Lots of good high-quality info here guys, I'm enjoying reading this thread -- it's a real gem, thanks!

I have 14K on mine M3 ER in 8 months. I do have a 240V charger, but only 30 Amps. I charge every 2nd or 3rd night (at 6 kW).
That's pretty much top speed of the Gen 2 Mobile Connector which tops out at 32A -- if 30A is not a typo, you're not really missing much with 2 fewer amps. BTW, 30A would be 7.2kW (while the full 32A is 7.7kW). On 32A, which is pretty much the same as 30A, the Model 3 Long Range's battery pack could be fully charged from 0% -> 100% (not that you'd ever do that, but in theory) in 13 hours. There is absolutely no need for anything more than this, outside of some very specific edge cases (example: someone who drives 150 miles, comes home and only stays for a limited amount of time like 3 hours, then needs to drive another 100 miles roundtrip; this is of course highly atypical). 48A via HPWC is 50% faster (11.5kW) but wholly unnecessary for a Model 3, although it may make some sense for people with S/X (which are less energy efficient) who have considerably longer than average daily commutes. There is also the Corded Mobile Connector which splits the difference and will do 40A (9.6kW) via a NEMA 14-50 (which should always be on a 50A breaker).

To be clear I'm not advocating using a 120v circuit, especially in cold climates, just relating my experience based on circumstance. I would wire in a 240v circuit myself tomorrow if this wasn't a rental or even with a rental if the box had an open space. As is I would have to monkey with the other wiring. I'm way too lazy for that as long as slow charging works.
Just a data point, my house didn't have space on the main panel either and the Tesla-recommended electrician (who did an amazing job and became a friend) had to install a subpanel to which he moved a couple of the circuits (breakers) and installed the 50A for the NEMA 14-50. This cost all of $600. For me personally I would never ever go 120V unless there is no way to make a 240V happen. Just the installation alone is much more sturdy, I just feel uncomfortable running 1,440W for extended periods of time on a regular outlet plug (that's not behind a counter like a microwave is -- but microwaves are usually less than 1.4kW, and they don't run overnight). I have young children so this is a bigger concern for me, but still, compared to how sturdy a NEMA 14-50 240V install is, the safety aspect alone is worth it (although I could not live with the idea of the slowness of charging at 1.4kW for any extended amount of time). The 240V is literally brand new cable rated to take lots of juice, run thru metal tubing directly from the main panel; this is vs running 1.4kW for extended periods of time over existing wiring inside the wall from whenever the house was built.

Here's last night's charge on 240V @ 32A -- this is typical of what's needed to recoup the daily commute on my wife's LR AWD, which averages 45 miles but uses up 60-65 rated miles (due to various losses -- and these will increase as temps drop, it's still warm here in Dallas)
qyz7VWv.png

Voltage at the scheduled start of 4:30 AM at our house is actually a bit higher and we charge at around 7.8kW. It still takes 2 hours+ to recoup, but a nice benefit is that, as mentioned previously, when it is really cold (really cold for us, for example it was 29F a week ago and that was basically the end of the world in my mind), charging at a decent pace like this will warm up the battery pack in the ~2 hours it takes to recup, and you leave the house with a warm pack. Maybe you get the same warmup from charging the entire night at 1.4kW, but as temps get lower you probably don't want to rely on the at-the-limit charging solution. And remember, you always have the flexibility to drop the amps to increase the charge if temps are so low that you want it to charge longer (time-wise), for example I can just select 16A and it will charge at 3.8kW which will double the charge time for those extra cold nights (not an issue where we live, but could be for others in more northern climates).

My concerns are exacerbated by having young children, I would not feel comfortable with taking the whole/most of the night to recup our average commute. Let's say there is a power outage, I want to be able to charge my car up relatively quick when the power comes back on (I lived in South Florida for a decade and still remember the abnormally high number of weather-related power outages). To top it all off, we had two Model 3s (I sold my P3D+) ;)

[edit]P.S. Oh, and it looks like I'll be getting a CyberTruck, and I ain't charging that bad boy on 120V, no sir ;) But seriously, the reason I mention this is because installing a NEMA 14-50 can add value to a dwelling, either your property or someone else's that you rent, especially as EV adoption increases. The 14-50 has the advantage of being a standard, so doesn't lock you in the Tesla ecosystem, which for potentially adding value to a house is a no brainer (over an HPWC, which would require buyer to be a Tesla owner).
 
Again, not for everyone, but I’ve been 120V charging my S70D at home exclusively for 4.5 years and 55,000 mi (8 mi RT commute). I have a Leaf for in-town driving (7000 mi/yr), so it’s been very easy to return the Tesla to 80-90% in three days for my next road trip. Winter is no problem either, since I start out full and stop at a supercharger about two hours away, giving the batteries plenty of time to warm up.
 
Lots of good high-quality info here guys, I'm enjoying reading this thread -- it's a real gem, thanks!

That's pretty much top speed of the Gen 2 Mobile Connector which tops out at 32A -- if 30A is not a typo, you're not really missing much with 2 fewer amps. BTW, 30A would be 7.2kW (while the full 32A is 7.7kW). On 32A, which is pretty much the same as 30A, the Model 3 Long Range's battery pack could be fully charged from 0% -> 100% (not that you'd ever do that, but in theory) in 13 hours. There is absolutely no need for anything more than this, outside of some very specific edge cases (example: someone who drives 150 miles, comes home and only stays for a limited amount of time like 3 hours, then needs to drive another 100 miles roundtrip; this is of course highly atypical). 48A via HPWC is 50% faster (11.5kW) but wholly unnecessary for a Model 3, although it may make some sense for people with S/X (which are less energy efficient) who have considerably longer than average daily commutes. There is also the Corded Mobile Connector which splits the difference and will do 40A (9.6kW) via a NEMA 14-50 (which should always be on a 50A breaker).

Just a data point, my house didn't have space on the main panel either and the Tesla-recommended electrician (who did an amazing job and became a friend) had to install a subpanel to which he moved a couple of the circuits (breakers) and installed the 50A for the NEMA 14-50. This cost all of $600. For me personally I would never ever go 120V unless there is no way to make a 240V happen. Just the installation alone is much more sturdy, I just feel uncomfortable running 1,440W for extended periods of time on a regular outlet plug (that's not behind a counter like a microwave is -- but microwaves are usually less than 1.4kW, and they don't run overnight). I have young children so this is a bigger concern for me, but still, compared to how sturdy a NEMA 14-50 240V install is, the safety aspect alone is worth it (although I could not live with the idea of the slowness of charging at 1.4kW for any extended amount of time). The 240V is literally brand new cable rated to take lots of juice, run thru metal tubing directly from the main panel; this is vs running 1.4kW for extended periods of time over existing wiring inside the wall from whenever the house was built.

Here's last night's charge on 240V @ 32A -- this is typical of what's needed to recoup the daily commute on my wife's LR AWD, which averages 45 miles but uses up 60-65 rated miles (due to various losses -- and these will increase as temps drop, it's still warm here in Dallas)
qyz7VWv.png

Voltage at the scheduled start of 4:30 AM at our house is actually a bit higher and we charge at around 7.8kW. It still takes 2 hours+ to recoup, but a nice benefit is that, as mentioned previously, when it is really cold (really cold for us, for example it was 29F a week ago and that was basically the end of the world in my mind), charging at a decent pace like this will warm up the battery pack in the ~2 hours it takes to recup, and you leave the house with a warm pack. Maybe you get the same warmup from charging the entire night at 1.4kW, but as temps get lower you probably don't want to rely on the at-the-limit charging solution. And remember, you always have the flexibility to drop the amps to increase the charge if temps are so low that you want it to charge longer (time-wise), for example I can just select 16A and it will charge at 3.8kW which will double the charge time for those extra cold nights (not an issue where we live, but could be for others in more northern climates).

My concerns are exacerbated by having young children, I would not feel comfortable with taking the whole/most of the night to recup our average commute. Let's say there is a power outage, I want to be able to charge my car up relatively quick when the power comes back on (I lived in South Florida for a decade and still remember the abnormally high number of weather-related power outages). To top it all off, we had two Model 3s (I sold my P3D+) ;)

[edit]P.S. Oh, and it looks like I'll be getting a CyberTruck, and I ain't charging that bad boy on 120V, no sir ;) But seriously, the reason I mention this is because installing a NEMA 14-50 can add value to a dwelling, either your property or someone else's that you rent, especially as EV adoption increases. The 14-50 has the advantage of being a standard, so doesn't lock you in the Tesla ecosystem, which for potentially adding value to a house is a no brainer (over an HPWC, which would require buyer to be a Tesla owner).
 
So for those of you charging on 120v, any thoughts on benefits or not in terms of degradation or BMS drift?
I do 120V charging in my apt garage with a 30mi RT on weekdays. My daily SOC is 50%-65%. Top up only when I go on a trip. Also occasional SC up to 85%. Have 9000mi in 8 months. With recent drop in temps, saw a small dip in rated range on Stats, but seems to want to go back to 325mi. Let's see what full year usage reveal.
 
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I do 120V charging in my apt garage with a 30mi RT on weekdays. My daily SOC is 50%-65%. Top up only when I go on a trip. Also occasional SC up to 85%. Have 9000mi in 8 months. With recent drop in temps, saw a small dip in rated range on Stats, but seems to want to go back to 325mi. Let's see what full year usage reveal.
Has your rated range always been 325, or did you get a bump up after a software update? Do you have a Stats battery efficiency chart to share?
 
For those who does 120v charging with 30+ miles commute. Do you not have time of the day electric rates? If I want to charge at the lowest rates, I only have 7 hrs, from 12am- 7am before I need to use the car again. Which means I can charge 28 miles a day or I will fall behind. A lot of mental pressure...
 
Has your rated range always been 325, or did you get a bump up after a software update? Do you have a Stats battery efficiency chart to share?
Only yesterday I downloaded the Stats data for rated range. It's always been hovering around 325 till ...
  • The arctic outbreak we had from 11/12-14, when temps didn't go above low-mid 20s for 3 days. In that cold spell I hit the 9000mi mark, and saw the rated range drop significantly below the flat line of 325 (there are a couple of readings at/below 320).
  • Tesla released 2019.36 on 11/11, and installed it probably on 11/14. At the same time temps went back to being normal - 40s/50s day time and 30s at night. Rated range has started to climb up slightly. See the picture to get an idea.
IMG_1136.jpeg


Too soon to tell if I lost some rated range, or if weather and/or Tesla update caused it go back up from a temporary but certain drop - being an engineer (and a half-baked scientist), I understand that correlation is not causation, especially when two factors are changed simultaneously!

After a full year usage (in April 2020), and definitely by next summer when I hit the 15000mi mark, I will get a better sense for the rated range regardless of the cause.
 
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Reactions: SoManyM3s
For those who does 120v charging with 30+ miles commute. Do you not have time of the day electric rates? If I want to charge at the lowest rates, I only have 7 hrs, from 12am- 7am before I need to use the car again. Which means I can charge 28 miles a day or I will fall behind. A lot of mental pressure...

I live in the Cincinnati area, and we still use the flat rate system. In spite of this I start charging with my 120V outlet for a 30mi RT at midnight, to end charging roughly when I leave for work. I consistently get close to 4.5mi/h back.

If your daily commute is 40mi RT, you could get the extra 50mi back over the weekend. Ok, not ideal ... If you have 60mi RT every day, and want to pay the lowest rates, you need a NEMA 14-50 outlet.
 
Only yesterday I downloaded the Stats data for rated range. It's always been hovering around 325 till ...
  • The arctic outbreak we had from 11/12-14, when temps didn't go above low-mid 20s for 3 days. In that cold spell I hit the 9000mi mark, and saw the rated range drop significantly below the flat line of 325 (there are a couple of readings at/below 320).
  • Tesla released 2019.36 on 11/11, and installed it probably on 11/14. At the same time temps went back to being normal - 40s/50s day time and 30s at night. Rated range has started to climb up slightly. See the picture to get an idea.
View attachment 480922

Too soon to tell if I lost some rated range, or if weather and/or Tesla update caused it go back up from a temporary but certain drop - being an engineer (and a half-baked scientist), I understand that correlation is not causation, especially when two factors are changed simultaneously!

After a full year usage (in April 2020), and definitely by next summer when I hit the 15000mi mark, I will get a better sense for the rated range regardless of the cause.
Anecdotally, the data seems to show more variation and potentially BMS drift when the temp changes. The more dramatic the change, the greater potential for BMS drift.
Screenshot 2019-11-22 15.05.39.jpg

That's data from my car, bottom chart, and another Tesla. The other is a LR-RWD. Mine is a LR-AWD. The curves are surprisingly similar with peaks and drops in very similar spots. There seems to be a good correlation with temperature, as both vehicles see similar ambient temps. The variation is minimal in the warm season, and greater as the temps drop.

Also, the way 3rd-party apps pull the API SOC data seems to lag the actual SOC data from the car or Tesla app. So, for example, if Stats says the car is charged up to 60%, it'll stay at 60% all night, but the Tesla app may show 59% or lower. When you do the math, divide the Rated Range by the SOC%, with Stats, I can get 307 miles, and that's the dot that will show on the Battery Health chart in Stats, but if I divided the Rated Range by the 59% SOC the car is actually showing or the Tesla app is showing, I'll get 308 to 312, but usually 310.

While the chart seems to show my battery is dropping below 310 miles rated range, I think that's just error as whenever I've manually calculated my range using the actual SOC the car is showing or the Tesla app is showing, I get 308 to 312 miles. It's something to do with the SOC API not updating after initial charging, as the battery experiences some phantom or vampire drain overnight.
IMG_4149 (1).jpeg
 
IMG_FF7532D26D21-1.jpeg
Has your rated range always been 325, or did you get a bump up after a software update? Do you have a Stats battery efficiency chart to share?

My range hasn’t changed, that I can tell, since the last update. I do have the Stats app and it’s showing a slight downward curve (degradation). It was initially ( March 2019) about 325 mi and now it is 319. That’s expected, I believe. And I’m in WA, so temps are dropping, which may affect efficiency. I don’t know if they both er with adjustments for temperature. I notice my “Driving Efficiency” on that same app drop as it gets colder outside, too.
 
i made it work on a 20 amp 120v plug for 6 months. Now that i have a 240v 14-50 plug it's way easier. I can show up home from a long trip low charge and not worry about taking 40 hours to fill the car. Also, i can put 100 miles of range into the car fairly quick if i know i'm leaving unplanned in a few hours. It's doable but much easier if you can get that faster plug.
 
If I want to charge at the lowest rates, I only have 7 hrs, from 12am- 7am before I need to use the car again. Which means I can charge 28 miles a day or I will fall behind. A lot of mental pressure...
I would guess you're not on "peak" pricing for the rest of the time (7am-12am) and instead there's some partial-peak pricing that is better than peak but not as good as off-peak. Just guessing some numbers, if off-peak would be 20¢/kWh and partial-peak is 28¢/kWh to charge from 7pm-12am, that would add an additional 20 miles for 40¢ over the off-peak rate. So instead of paying $1.40 for 28 miles, you would pay $2.80 for 48 miles if you needed the extra mileage.

Overall, with 120v, you're charging at ~1kW, so you're not drawing that much additional to get some additional mileage without having the mental pressure unless you need to worry about the additional 8¢ difference.
 
I'd like to relay my experience of living with only a 120V charging option at home. I have a LR RWD built June 2019.
I bought my car on the 29th of June and started using it full time late July. In 4 months, I've driven more than 8000 miles, so I would consider my self an average driver - miles per month wise.

Number of times I've faced range anxiety: 1
Number of times I've went to a supercharger to top up when near home: 1
Longest road trip: 1300 miles round trip

Background on me: I drive about 35 miles one way to work about 12-13 times a month for work. I park at work with sentry mode on for 12 hours before I come back home. I used to, but no longer use sentry mode in my parking garage (just to avoid BS cars driving past activations that fill up the drive). My LR RWD averages about 4.6 miles per hour charge rate with sentry mode off on my 120V plug.

Tips for success from my experience:
1) Get the LR if you can afford it.

2) Always plug your car in if you're home. I don't sometimes for a day or two when I'm full and not anticipating any trips. I do this less and less since it takes less than a minute to plug in.

3) Don't forget your charging cord behind at your friends/family homes when travelling. I left mine behind at my parents' who live 2 hours
away and that is the only time I had range anxiety. That's also the only time I have went to the supercharger to top up because I couldn't charge at home.

4) Know your non-supercharger plugshare options - these will typically be closer to you than the supercharger. I have one at my public library and I've went and hung out at the library to charge once. You can get a 100 miles back in a 3-4 hour window. This is helpful when you're down to less than a hundred miles and anticipate heavy driving over the next week without lots of time at home without charging options.

5) Don't use gas car just because you're having range anxiety. This defeats the purpose of a Tesla.

6) Don't be ashamed to ask your friends or family to allow you to plug in when visiting overnight. If you're staying overnight or most of the day, they probably know you well enough to not care. That extra 50-60 miles of charge will maybe get you home without having to supercharge.

7) Carry your J1772 adapter in the car, never know when you'll run into a charge you can use. I went for a massage and found that parking lot had a free charger. The massage was even more worth it LOL.

8) If you have the option, get the 240 V charger installed. You will get that money back in charging efficiency over maybe about 50,000-100,000 miles of home charging.

9) Since I have not done a true experiment, this is purely anecdotal. Your battery might last longer. I still have full 325 miles with zero degradation at about 5 months and 8000+ miles. To me this doesn't make sense, but I don't know many people with zero degradation with my amount of charge cycles.

10) Don't be rough with your charger cable. You will be using it everyday, unlike faster home chargers. Make it last. I always neatly fold it up or lay it on the ground in such a way to avoid tripping. Breaking one of these will cost as much as having had a faster home charging option.

Share your tips below!
I installed the 240 volt outlet and get 30 mph charging. Also mounted a hose rack on the wall and coil the cord and hang it there, keeps it off the floor.
 
Very good point about the 120 usage not being able to take advantage of off-peak charging hours. I hadn't thought about that.
You wouldn't regret 240 home charging. I simply don't want to think about charging and know that I can wake up the next day at 80%+ no matter what the level was when I arrived home.
 
I was totally fine with 120. I live on Maui and have put on 11k miles in 8 months.

I’ve ran into a couple near empty scenarios but made it out ok.

I just switched to 240 100 amp install for future proof or load sharing. RANGE ANXIETY FOREVER GONE. What I noticed by living with 120 this entire time was just get the 240 installed and move onto other things in life. At our end we’re not going to care if we degraded the battery 3% or always having that little battle about charging speed and if we have enough time or if we ran too many miles that day and can we top up for tomorrow or whatever. Just pick whatever works best and in 95% or scenarios I would say 240 wins as you never ever worry about your range then. The only people who would be perfectly fine with 120 and ever have a heart raising scenario is older people who don’t drive the car every day and just roll into town.

My summary. Don’t play game with the 120 and always be checking and anything. Just get 240 and move on. I thought it was cute and fine that 120 was good 99% of the time but sometimes I drove 100 miles a day for a few days then worried about charging or what would happen if my kid wanted to go around the island. It’s just not worth it. Think from a perspective as I said we are going to die one day. We would think it’s utterly ridiculous that flirt with something that might be ok rather then just paying someone to make sure you got no range anxiety issues ever again.

just think of it this way. The 120 is a ten year old computer. Still works loads pretty well. Now switch to the newest computer ( 240 ) and then you go. Holy cow why was I using that old crap