Model 3 Owners: Who Here Has Trickle-Charging Only/No Home Charging?

[Spacep0d]

I'm asking because as it happens, I have no way to upgrade my garage trickle-charging, which is detailed in this thread;

Charging Concerns; Challenging Townhome Situation

I'm incredibly bummed about my rinky-dink electrical setup here, but I will pursue my remaining options— either a DCC-10 switcher (with HOA cooperation) and/or additional power to my garage from the main electrical cabinet feeding the building. Since I have no other options and don't want to move yet, I will lean hard on this.

I'm curious about how others are handling their situation where they cannot get more than trickle-charging in a garage, carport, or parking space. Perhaps some are using street parking with no feasible way to trickle-charge at all.

Do some of you rely solely on Supercharging, and how has your battery holding up? Do you have a routine for Supercharging and how often do you drive and charge?

I've heard mixed opinions on this, but others have reported doing this with no ill effects relating to battery efficiency over the years.

I'd love to read your answers. I've added a poll with two choices allowed in case some of you also have employer-provided charging in addition to Supercharging or trickle + supercharging.

Thanks!

 

[Kevy Baby]

I too live in a condo. Garage is separated from the unit so the association pays the bill. I try to minimize my (free) charging there so as to not lose the option. BUT, if this were my only option, it would have mostly covered my daily commute of about 45 miles R/T + side trips (it's a 120v service and I get about 7 MPH charing out of it).

My employer installed a Nema 14-50 for my charging needs and allows me to charge for free. Between these two free options and the 1,000 free SuC miles, I have paid a grand total of $3.30 to charge my car in over 8,000 miles.

Not sure if this info helps you, but wanted to share.

 

[Spacep0d]

I too live in a condo. Garage is separated from the unit so the association pays the bill. I try to minimize my (free) charging there so as to not lose the option. BUT, if this were my only option, it would have mostly covered my daily commute of about 45 miles R/T + side trips (it's a 120v service and I get about 7 MPH charing out of it).

My employer installed a Nema 14-50 for my charging needs and allows me to charge for free. Between these two free options and the 1,000 free SuC miles, I have paid a grand total of $3.30 to charge my car in over 8,000 miles.

Not sure if this info helps you, but wanted to share.

This is great info Kevy. Thank you for sharing this. I'm looking to see how others live with their Model 3s in less-than-ideal charging scenarios (though work-charging is nice). I guess technically I charge at work too since I work from home, so that takes some of the urgency out of wanting a robust charging solution. But, the girlfriend may want her own EV in a few years.

 

[ivan801]

I see that you live in sunny California. You should be fine, as long as it does not get too cold. The only time charging on 120 V sucks is when temps drop below freezing. This past weekend I stayed at the hotel with outside night time temps around 25F. I used 20 amp outlet (charging at 16 amps, I have purchased additional plug from Tesla so I can get full benefit of 20 amp outlets), and it seems that I used half of the power to heat the battery.

Speaking of outlets, what outlet do you have in the garage, 15 A or 20 A?

 

[Spacep0d]

I see that you live in sunny California. You should be fine, as long as it does not get too cold. The only time charging on 120 V sucks is when temps drop below freezing. This past weekend I stayed at the hotel with outside night time temps around 25F. I used 20 amp outlet (charging at 16 amps, I have purchased additional plug from Tesla so I can get full benefit of 20 amp outlets), and it seems that I used half of the power to heat the battery.

Speaking of outlets, what outlet do you have in the garage, 15 A or 20 A?

15a, 120v. The other thread shows everyone who helped me and details the specific issues, but I just had yet another electrician out here today who confirmed that there's no where to go with my existing 60a panel box, which is in a downstairs bathroom, with a patio between it and the garage, with neighbor's stairwell in the area where they'd want to drill to run a wire (if the panel weren't full), and if every single contender for a circuit wasn't shared. It's a pretty nightmarish scenario and the fellow I had out today was maybe the 6th person I'd consulted on the matter. Others had seen pics, been out personally, etc. Some ran off screaming, some tried hard to find a solution, but there's no love yet.

My one remaining option is to get the HOA to work with me to run new power to my garage (which I will happily pay for) or allow me to install a DCC-10 switcher.

Hopefully the 15a, 120v trickle-charger is better than 3 mph. I seem to recall it being more than that on my LEAF. How does one generally measure this aside from checking every hour at available miles on the battery?

 

[ivan801]

Hopefully the 15a, 120v trickle-charger is better than 3 mph. I seem to recall it being more than that on my LEAF. How does one generally measure this aside from checking every hour at available miles on the battery?

Yes, you should get more than 3 miles per hour. I also have two 2018 LEAFs, and I find Model 3 to be somewhat more efficient. The app will tell you how many miles you are adding per hour, obviously that will be an estimate.

I would suggest you don't worry about it all too much for now. Just see how you do for a few months, and then decide if you need an upgrade (such as DCC-10). Even if you end up topping off at SC a couple of times per month you may be OK with your set up as is.

 

[Spacep0d]

Yes, you should get more than 3 miles per hour. I also have two 2018 LEAFs, and I find Model 3 to be somewhat more efficient. The app will tell you how many miles you are adding per hour, obviously that will be an estimate.

I would suggest you don't worry about it all too much for now. Just see how you do for a few months, and then decide if you need an upgrade (such as DCC-10). Even if you end up topping off at SC a couple of times per month you may be OK with your set up as is.

Good advice, and that's my plan for now. Gonna get the car, see how it goes and then cross any future bridges as I arrive.

 

[ewoodrick]

I'm asking because as it happens, I have no way to upgrade my garage trickle-charging, which is detailed in this thread;

Charging Concerns; Challenging Townhome Situation

I'm incredibly bummed about my rinky-dink electrical setup here, but I will pursue my remaining options— either a DCC-10 switcher (with HOA cooperation) and/or additional power to my garage from the main electrical cabinet feeding the building. Since I have no other options and don't want to move yet, I will lean hard on this.

I'm curious about how others are handling their situation where they cannot get more than trickle-charging in a garage, carport, or parking space. Perhaps some are using street parking with no feasible way to trickle-charge at all.

Do some of you rely solely on Supercharging, and how has your battery holding up? Do you have a routine for Supercharging and how often do you drive and charge?

I've heard mixed opinions on this, but others have reported doing this with no ill effects relating to battery efficiency over the years.

I'd love to read your answers. I've added a poll with two choices allowed in case some of you also have employer-provided charging in addition to Supercharging or trickle + supercharging.

Thanks!

It shouldn't be an issue, dependent on how far you drive daily. If less than about 50 miles, you should be happy. If more, then you may need to think about adding a little more, maybe once a week at some other solution.
I've got a car that only charges off of 120V 15A and it actually doesn't even get plugged in every day, it doesn't need it.
Many commercial installations are 20A service (commonly as a single socket) and that can give you even more.

If your commute is reasonable, no real need to spend anything more. Adding a $1000 charger tends to bring costs back in line with gas!

 

[Kevy Baby]

Hopefully the 15a, 120v trickle-charger is better than 3 mph. I seem to recall it being more than that on my LEAF. How does one generally measure this aside from checking every hour at available miles on the battery?

If you have your display set to show miles instead of percentage, when you are charging, the display will show how many MPH you are charging. This is also available for view on the app on your phone at any time while charging.

 

[rpratt]

I got a Model 3 LR AWD at the end of December, and only got my HPWC installed two days ago. The 3 weeks I owned the M3 before getting home charging sorted out I drove about 850 miles. I charged using a normal 110 AC plug in my garage at 5 miles per hour, and that worked most of the time. I also hit Superchargers twice for about 100 miles of charge each time, but honestly that was as much to make sure I knew how to do it as anything else. I did plug in the car whenever I was home, not just when done for the evening.

I do feel more warm and fuzzy now that I have an HPWC on a 100amp circuit and can charge the M3 at 44+ MPH at home, but I think I could have survived indefinitely without the HPWC set up if I'd had to.

That's in the SF Bay Area with a 45 mile roundtrip commute per work day, plus errands and various other short trips.

 

[GalacticHero]

I've had my 3 for a little over a year and am still using the 120V Level 1 charging. I drive 50 miles round trip for work four days a week and work from home one day; so, use a base of 200 miles per week, plus whatever I need for the rest of life. Also, I changed my electric utility billing plan to Time of Use to get lower rates. The low rate time is 9p to 9a; so, I don't start charging until after 9 and lose a few potential hours of charging coming home from work and cut off the charging at 9 in the morning.

During the warmer months this works fine. There's enough time on the weekends and my work-at-home day to recover the charge even when only charging during the lowest rates. During the winter (like now) I end up letting the charging run into the more expensive charge periods. With that there is enough time to recover charge. Also, I work an hour from a Supercharger. If I'm going to be at the adjoining mall, I will sometimes go ahead and top it off there. There are also several Level 2 chargers at places I go regularly and I will use those if the spaces are available.

Even without the other chargers, I would have enough time to recharge at home, albeit while using the more expensive charge times (which are still cheaper than SC.)

 

[arghx7]

I have 120V only at my rental house, but I have a LR battery and free 240V 32A charging at work and as long as I get there before about 8:30 AM I'm fine. So far I've only been charging at home over holidays in the winter. My commute is 42 miles round trip, mostly highway.

 

[Spacep0d]

Awesome information so far. Looks like I'm not such an outlier after all. Thanks for the contributions and keep 'em coming if you're moved to share. Thanks!

 

[ewoodrick]

Yes, you should get more than 3 miles per hour. I also have two 2018 LEAFs, and I find Model 3 to be somewhat more efficient. The app will tell you how many miles you are adding per hour, obviously that will be an estimate.

I would suggest you don't worry about it all too much for now. Just see how you do for a few months, and then decide if you need an upgrade (such as DCC-10). Even if you end up topping off at SC a couple of times per month you may be OK with your set up as is.

Yep 5-6 mph when I checked last month.

You can always see the charge rate in the app or the car screen.

 

[TheJDJ]

I've been charging on 120 at home for 6 months now. I get about 4.5-5 miles of range per hour. I drive less than 200 miles during a typical week. With the TOU plan here, I only charge for 6 hours per night during the week. On weekends I can charge for up to 14 hours if need to.

I have a 14-50 UMC adapter, 25 ft 14-50 extension, and a short cable to adapt the 14-50 to my unused 14-30 dryer plug in my kitchen. This is my backup plan if I need to charge faster, but since the the extension cord needs to run out of the kitchen, through the dining room, then out the door to the garage, I do not use this regularly.

 

[Spacep0d]

I suppose if I really had to charge fast I could use my fridge outlet, or snake a cord from my upstairs dryer through the patio and in to my garage.

 

[JBHemlock]

I'm in your boat. I've owned my SR+ for about 5 weeks now, just charging it on 120v 15a at home. I drive a 50 mile RT commute days a week, and have occasional access to work-provided L2 chargers - I typically manage to score about 3 hours on one of those per week - and I haven't had to supercharge yet. Which, honestly, surprised me.

When I ordered the car, I did all the standard reading on chargers and figured "I'd better shell out the bucks for a L2 charging station at home", but I figured I'd see how it goes first. I figure I'll eventually install a 240v outlet, but so far so good.

All the details: I live in Seattle, so it's cold but not heinously cold. I typically get about 14 hours a day on my home charger, which gives me back about 45 miles of my 50 mile RT. Any block of time on a work charger will break me even. Likewise, charging over the weekend will also get me back up to full (90%) charge, even if I can't get time on a work charger that week. This includes random errands, but any long weekend trip would require me to hit a supercharger.

 

[Snow Drift]

We started out supercharger only for about 3 months bc we didn’t have a choice (apt). It was ok, but then in the winter it got to be a pain.

I voted for trickle bc we then spent a year using a basic 5mi/hr 120v outlet in a rented garage. It worked great vs. supercharging only. My wife’s short commute to work was easily covered by charging at home on 120v.

Now, we have a house and Tesla wall connector and a muchhhhh longer commute. It’s awesome with a 60A breaker.

 

[slashsnake]

Great to hear this. My panel is in my garage, and I've got a 100amp breaker, which isn't big for the house size. Going up to a 150amp (not quite necessary but close) would be another $1000 with a buddy and permitting. So was hoping when I do buy I could see if I could get by on 120v 20amp (I believe they make an adapter to get that over 15amp for $35) to start.
Figure that's 75-100 miles or so a day for me in charging which should be pretty solid for now.

 

[drj3]

I charged off of 120V outlet for the first 4 months I had my Model 3 and never had any significant issues. If your commute is not very long, the only times you may wish for faster charging are before or after long trips. With daily charging to 80% you need to plan ahead more if you want to be at 100% before leaving on a long trip. Consider upping charge limit to 90-95% the day before you will need 100 to make it faster to get to 100 before you leave. Also plan to arrive home with enough charge after a long trip to make sure you recover enough charge for your driving needs when you return. I never had problems running out of battery when charging on 120 V, but since upgrading to 240 I don't even have to think about these things anymore.