Living with 120V - 8000 miles and counting

[SoManyM3s]

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!

 

[KenC]

Good report, but you drive about double the average person, if you've driven 8000 miles in 4 months, that's 24k a year, right?

 

[joebruin77]

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.

I had to make do with a 120V for a couple weeks while I was waiting for my Wall Connector to be fixed. I totally agree about knowing your plugshare options. I have two other related tips:

1) In my area, the most common commercial EV charge provider is Chargepoint. There have been several instances where I have found Chargepoint chargers on the Chargepoint map that are NOT included on Plugshare. Perhaps the property owners were tired of people finding their charges using Plugshare, who knows. So if you do not have a home connector/charger, map out all available public chargers and download app of the local provider with the greatest number of chargers, like what I personally have with Chargepoint in my area. Do not assume Plugshare covers all chargers, as it may miss a few.

2) Look for EV chargers in office building parking lots and consider using them at night during off peak hours. There is an office building about 1 mile away from my home where the parking lot, which normally charges $9 an hour to park, is open and free after 7pm. I had to pay $2 an hour to Chargepoint to use the EV charger in the lot. But I conveniently drove there, plugged in, took my dog for a walk, and came home with a replenished battery.

 

[Scrannel]

120? Tried it once before installing a 240. Am not a necrophiliac.

 

[ewoodrick]

120V works great for the average driver.

At 2,000 per month, you are well beyond an average driver. Average is about 1,000 per month.

 

[outdoors]

I love the 120V. Use it at almost every house we rent. Always ask first. Helps us get around town see the sights, and then get back to the Supercharger highway.

 

[duanra]

Almost 1 year on my MR, 120v works beautiful with a round trip to work of 40km. The trick is to not let your battery down bellow 65% in case you have an unexpected trip thr next day cause you can go from 65 to 90 in 12 hours.

 

[SoManyM3s]

Yeah, I agree with you all that I have more miles than an average driver but that's because the car is new to me and so I do unnecessary trips and that long road trip added to it. It'll average out eventually.

 

[SSedan]

winter is a out to raise your energy use and might change your tune.
I can get by on 120volts with my S in summer, still really happy I put in a wall connector.

 

[SoManyM3s]

winter is a out to raise your energy use and might change your tune.
I can get by on 120volts with my S in summer, still really happy I put in a wall connector.

With the recent cold front and a week of below 40 temperatures, I saw about 15% increase in consumption compared to my normal consumption. So yes, my battery will run lower than usual. Good news is I rarely went below 40% in the summer so I doubt there’ll be an issue. What I’ve noticed is starting with a cold battery, I get almost no regen at 6 in the morning, but if my car is still charging in the morning, I leave with a warm battery with full regen available. This reduces the winter effect a little bit. With 120V, it’s more likely for my car to be still charging when I leave so I only see the limited regen when I leave work after the battery is cooled down over 12 hours of the elements. Of course, if I run into trouble, I can always go to a ChargePoint and charge for a couple of hours. I live in an apartment complex, otherwise I would just install a 240V. My point of this post is, most people will be fine with 120V.

 

[Allistah]

You don’t seem to be affected by range loss. I wonder if your 120v, lower current strategy has helped you maintain that. Maybe lower currents over time allow the battery to balance itself out better than a wall connector with 40A 220v going in. I dialed mine back to 20A from 40A. Not that I care, as long as its ready to go by 6am.

 

[SoManyM3s]

You don’t seem to be affected by range loss. I wonder if your 120v, lower current strategy has helped you maintain that. Maybe lower currents over time allow the battery to balance itself out better than a wall connector with 40A 220v going in. I dialed mine back to 20A from 40A. Not that I care, as long as its ready to go by 6am.

Battery cycles are battery cycles. On the one hand, I wonder if it’s my 12A charging rate that’s doing it, on the other hand when I think about it logically, it doesn’t Make sense. I guess I’ll find out if I’m still around 325 miles after 20k miles

 

[ivan801]

It appears that OP lives in North Carolina. 120 V charger should work fine for him/her in the winter. Now, if you live in Canada then winter charging would probably be very slow and there would be days when most of the energy would go towards heating the battery.

 

[eprosenx]

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!

Great data! Thanks!

I too plug in with 120v anywhere I can when on trips, though I am super glad to have 240v charging at home. I have 48a capability and so it is hilarious overkill (I also only drive 30 miles a day most days).

I did just want to point out that running your cooling pump for so long for charging might not be fantastic. Many folks have claimed there is no benefit to charging slower since even 48a at 240v is hilariously slow compared to a supercharger. No risk to the battery.

Also, what others said about winter is true. I would really not want to rely on 120v in cold weather. The car uses a lot more when it is cold and it has to heat the battery before charging (which may not be possible at 120v if it is extremely cold), and you can’t do morning warm up from “shore power” like I can on 240v.

 

[toolman335]

Is the overall point is you're getting by with 120 at home but you use every available charger in the area and you're constantly plugged in when visiting other homes? I'm not sure what the point is, but maybe I'm missing something.
It sounds like you think about charging a lot. There's a difference between true range anxiety and dwelling on charging. You might not realize it, but some Tesla owners basically think about their charging situation around the clock. I can't emphasize enough that 240 power at home takes away any and all charging thoughts. I've only had my car for 2 months but I never think about it.

If you did a 1,300 mile trip you certainly used more than everyone's 120 power along the way lol. That is, unless the trip was spread out over a month.

ps- I wish I worked 12 days per month!

 

[SSedan]

40 isn't cold even in your location I believe you are in for a lot colder before long and it will be a complication for you.

Once winter is here and the pack needs heating to charge I suspect it will at times have trouble maintaining enough pack warmth to actually charge, that attempting to warm the battery the whole time plugged in while cold is going to cost a bunch too. Is the outlet at the apartment on your meter?

Once it gets below freezing I think we would all like to hear back.

 

[gary3411]

Charging thoughts are fun.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Thank you for sharing, OP.

No matter where you are, more capacity makes it easier to use slower charging.

People think of a large battery taking a long time to charge, but as long as you can charge more per period than you use, over time you'd end up with a full battery.

If you drive a distance in a day you can replenish overnight, you're OK as long as you are within range.
But if you can't replenish the distance, the next morning your remaining range is lower.
The lower the capacity, the more likely it is that you'd eventually hit 0 before a longer charge (e.g. parked commuter for the weekend) can fully replenish the battery.

 

[Allistah]

To the OP -

Can you share with us your driving habits (aggressive, conservative, etc), how far you go down to before charging, etc? We are trying to figure out what we need to do to get our range back in multiple other threads so we’re trying to extract information from those they don’t have any range loss. Thank you!

 

[SoManyM3s]

Is the overall point is you're getting by with 120 at home but you use every available charger in the area and you're constantly plugged in when visiting other homes? I'm not sure what the point is, but maybe I'm missing something.
It sounds like you think about charging a lot. There's a difference between true range anxiety and dwelling on charging. You might not realize it, but some Tesla owners basically think about their charging situation around the clock. I can't emphasize enough that 240 power at home takes away any and all charging thoughts. I've only had my car for 2 months but I never think about it.

If you did a 1,300 mile trip you certainly used more than everyone's 120 power along the way lol. That is, unless the trip was spread out over a month.

ps- I wish I worked 12 days per month!

Supercharges are meant for long trips, that’s what I used for my long trips. I don’t think people with fast home cheating never use supercharged, and just like them I use them for long trips. With charging at my family’s place overnight is so that I don’t get home with near empty If I’m doing 250 miles round trip and don’t wanna stop in the way to supercharge. This way I’ll have gotten some back overnight and would come back home with 50-60 miles rather than 10 miles.