Long Daily Commute; Sorry for the Charge Post

[landmissle]

Hi all,

There are so many schools of thought on charging and state of charge, that for a someone newly acquiring an EV, the topic can be confusing.

I pretty much get the idea of keeping the state of charge (SOC) out of the extremes (>90 and < 10) and you'll be generally fine. At least that's my basic understanding of it after reading too many posts.

I am looking for some advice for my situation. I commute 95 miles round trip every weekday. Due to a general slight upgrade and mountain roads, my 95 mile commute consumes, on average the following "Tesla" miles on the battery display;

To work (slightly up hill grade) = 70 Tesla miles
To home (slightly down hill grade) = 50 Tesla miles

Total round trip of ~ 120 Tesla miles

I am driving a Model 3 Performance with the 20" wheels so I'm taking a hit with respect to efficiency and real range.

The habit I've gotten into is to charge every night to 80% and forget about it. This gives me plenty of range that will easily take into account an unexpected side trip, traffic (which can be bad), lead footing it, etc. But, my state of charge will generally only get to the low 40% sometimes high 30%. Will this be a problem?

I could easily charge nightly to 70% and still have reserve for the unexpected. In this case my low SOC is brought down, but I'm not sure if routinely charging to only 70% is going to lead to issues.

If it's better to deplete the battery more, I could just squeeze in two round trips ( 190 real miles and ~ 240 Tesla miles) ,but that would be tight on an 80% charge, but more manageable with a 90% daily charge. However, I think I would suffer some serious range anxiety at 80% and only a little less so at 90%.

BTW, charging at work is not really an option and while I "could" drive the car a little more efficiently, (drive less then 70 MPH on the freeway for example and not have fun on the back curvy mountainous roads) , but I'd prefer not to compromise my driving style such that it's no longer fun to drive the car.

So, I guess this comes down to should I just keep doing 80% daily, drop to 70% daily , deplete the batteries more (two round trips), or smash my fingers with a rubber mallet for posting another charging question?

 

[Cousin]

I have a similar commute, charge it to 80% each night and forget about it. Depleting the battery more is not good for it (per many discussions here). Just charge it every day to 80 and be happy.

 

[joebruin77]

charge it to 80% each night and forget about it.

I also agree. I plug in each night and charge to 80%. Even though I rarely get home at the end of the day with less than 200 miles of range, I still plug in each night and charge to 80 or 85%. According to my Stats For Tesla, app my battery is in great shape with nearly zero degredation after 1 year of ownership (and daily charging).

 

[GSP]

I also charge to 80% every night, and often arrive home with more than 200 miles left. Li-ion batteries do not have a memory effect, like the old Ni-Cad and NiMH batteries have. It is better for life to do shallow cycles than deep cycles. It is also a great convenience to start each day with plenty of energy for any unexpected travel needs.

GSP

 

[acarney]

Your charging habits are perfectly fine. You could go a little higher occasionally if you need to drive more that day or probably dip down to 75% if you wanted to for whatever reason.

80% to 40% is perfectly fine though.

Next thing to think about is how you charge. As long as you’re not supercharging every night you’re golden. There is zero evidence of any long term issues when charging at the max rate the on board charger can do (48A @ 240v in your case, ~11.5kW)

 

[landmissle]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

I do the have Tesla wall charger and can input up to 48 Amps, which works out to be something like adding 42 miles per hour of range.

I've played with charging as low as 15 Amp, going to 30, and up to the limit of 48. Not sure it matters much. I do like the flexibility and especially the ability to gain 100 miles of range in only a few hours if necessary.

 

[acarney]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

I do the have Tesla wall charger and can input up to 48 Amps, which works out to be something like adding 42 miles per hour of range.

I've played with charging as low as 15 Amp, going to 30, and up to the limit of 48. Not sure it matters much. I do like the flexibility and especially the ability to gain 100 miles of range in only a few hours if necessary.

You should be totally fine charging at its max rate. It’s really only supercharging that can stress the battery, and that’s 10x the power?

 

[eprosenx]

Hi all,

There are so many schools of thought on charging and state of charge, that for a someone newly acquiring an EV, the topic can be confusing.

I pretty much get the idea of keeping the state of charge (SOC) out of the extremes (>90 and < 10) and you'll be generally fine. At least that's my basic understanding of it after reading too many posts.

I am looking for some advice for my situation. I commute 95 miles round trip every weekday. Due to a general slight upgrade and mountain roads, my 95 mile commute consumes, on average the following "Tesla" miles on the battery display;

To work (slightly up hill grade) = 70 Tesla miles
To home (slightly down hill grade) = 50 Tesla miles

Total round trip of ~ 120 Tesla miles

I am driving a Model 3 Performance with the 20" wheels so I'm taking a hit with respect to efficiency and real range.

The habit I've gotten into is to charge every night to 80% and forget about it. This gives me plenty of range that will easily take into account an unexpected side trip, traffic (which can be bad), lead footing it, etc. But, my state of charge will generally only get to the low 40% sometimes high 30%. Will this be a problem?

I could easily charge nightly to 70% and still have reserve for the unexpected. In this case my low SOC is brought down, but I'm not sure if routinely charging to only 70% is going to lead to issues.

If it's better to deplete the battery more, I could just squeeze in two round trips ( 190 real miles and ~ 240 Tesla miles) ,but that would be tight on an 80% charge, but more manageable with a 90% daily charge. However, I think I would suffer some serious range anxiety at 80% and only a little less so at 90%.

BTW, charging at work is not really an option and while I "could" drive the car a little more efficiently, (drive less then 70 MPH on the freeway for example and not have fun on the back curvy mountainous roads) , but I'd prefer not to compromise my driving style such that it's no longer fun to drive the car.

So, I guess this comes down to should I just keep doing 80% daily, drop to 70% daily , deplete the batteries more (two round trips), or smash my fingers with a rubber mallet for posting another charging question?

I charge to 80% every day in my LR RWD. I use 12-18% per day for my commute depending on the time of year (cold temps are a big impact). Some days I go a little more for errands.

I take longer trips fairly often, but normally I don’t get below 50% (I do on occasion, lowest ever was 8% and that was because I was *trying* to get below 10% just for the experience). I charge to 100% when going on those trips since I like being prepared for the worst.

This has worked flawlessly for me. I too have a 48a Wall Connector at home and I plug in every day religiously.

I keep my charge setting at percent (vs miles remaining) and I don’t stress over it ever.

I think your charging strategy is great. Don’t change a thing and don’t worry about it!

 

[toolman335]

Last week I changed my display from miles to percent. It has taken away range anxiety lol. I don't think about it as much. Now it's just like a cell phone that I charge at the end of every day. I found myself hypermiling while watching the miles drop. It was taking away from the joy of owning the amazing car.

 

[toolman335]

Your charging strategy is perfect. As if you're following the Tesla manual

 

[Kevy Baby]

Last week I changed my display from miles to percent. It has taken away range anxiety lol. I don't think about it as much. Now it's just like a cell phone that I charge at the end of every day. I found myself hypermiling while watching the miles drop. It was taking away from the joy of owning the amazing car.

Yeah, I need to do this for the exact reason you mention. Thanks for (indirectly) reminding me to make the change!

 

[elf9]

You're fine with your charging plan.

FWIW, my daily commute is 214 actual miles; do a nightly charge to 90%, leaving me with an average of 17% by the end of the day. Mountain passes and high winds are my nemesis LOL. For the occasional long trips, I start with 100% SOC (323 miles) from my level 2 home charger ... March 2019 Model 3 LR RWD.

 

[Rocky_H]

FWIW, my daily commute is 214 actual miles;

Jeez, dude! That's over 50K miles a year, not counting any weekend driving. Good thing you are using electricity instead of gasoline; that would get expensive.