MYLR Limited Use Best Practice Charging

[Blaine -]

I recently received my Model Y and wonder what the best practice would be for maximizing battery life and distance on top of the 20-80 / non-fast charging I've read about.

Plus the most recent changes in supercharger prices has made it that it's cheaper to charge there rather than charging at home (I use SCE's TOU-PRIME page in Orange County CA). Plus I only use about 30-50% battery/week (I drive everyday, though).

As more detail..,

• I use about 5-10% battery/day
• Leave the house ~6:30 every 2nd day
• I've installed a Tesla charger at home (48kW)
• My plan is 21 cent/kWh (off peak)
• The Super Charger near by (72kWh) is 17 cents

For convenience, it would be nice to keep it plugged in at home. But how should I set up charging in the app?

• Switch between scheduled depature and charging every other day?
• Should I do preconditioning (what about days I don't know when I will leave)?
• Should I plug in everyday?
• Or... should I just go to the Super Charger and not charge at home? (ie when it's at 20-30%)

Appreciate your opinions.
Thank you.

Blaine -

 

[jcanoe]

Charge at home unless the SC is super convenient to where you work, dine shop or go to the gym. Your time is worth something, driving to the SC when you could charge at home adds additional wear on the vehicle's tire every time you drive. (There is also the risk of a collision with another vehicle.) For only $0.04 more per kWh (that is approximately $0.01 more per mile) I would charge at home.

Preconditioning using Scheduled Departure Preconditioning works best when you have a schedule that includes leaving home each A.M. at approximately the same time (M - F or every day.) Otherwise you can just precondition using the Tesla app about 5 minutes before you decide to drive your Model Y. (In locations where the temperature drops to below 40F the Tesla Model Y will warm the battery pack some degree while preconditioning. Tesla has been reprogramming the Preconditioning to not warm the battery quite as much as before as this takes time and uses more energy.)

The Tesla Model Y Owner's Manual states that you should leave your Tesla vehicle plugged in when not being driven, i.e. when you arrive home for the day. Many do so and other Model Y owners are fine with plugging in every other day or every third day etc. Set the daily charging limit between 50% and 90%; many set the charge limit to 70% or 80% but as long as you only charge to ~100% for longer trips the Tesla Model Y battery will be fine.

When you charge at home you can use Scheduled Departure to ensure that the Tesla Model Y will be charged to the charge limit you desire every morning before you leave. (It takes some time to work through the Scheduled Departure Charging Settings and get this set up. Scheduled Charging (charge every day starting at the same time) and Scheduled Departure Charging (will always complete charging by approximately 20 minutes before the departure time) are mutually exclusive, you can only use one of these settings. Off-Peak Utility Rate time settings that cross over the meridian (noon time) may confuse the Tesla Scheduled Departure Charging function. It may be best to just set the Scheduled Departure Charging for 0600 and let it be.

 

[Blaine -]

jcanoe - Thank you for the detailed info! You're right, the cost difference is negligible. I think I'll only plug in on days when I know I'm leaving ~ 6:30 am (or a long trip). 3-4 times/week. I also prefer to charge in the early AM hours.

Is preconditioning a big issue if temp. in the garage is always around 25-29°C?

 

[jcanoe]

jcanoe - Thank you for the detailed info! You're right, the cost difference is negligible. I think I'll only plug in on days when I know I'm leaving ~ 6:30 am (or a long trip). 3-4 times/week. I also prefer to charge in the early AM hours.

Is preconditioning a big issue if temp. in the garage is always around 25-29°C?

Preconditioning is not a big user of energy when your desired cabin temperature is 20C to 22C and you are starting with the outside temperature and inside vehicle temperature in the garage at no more than 29C. Preconditioning will run the AC or heat the passenger cabin (battery too when below ~4C) and can automatically turn on the heated seats and heated steering wheel. Preconditioning also lowers the humidity inside the passenger cabin as needed. All in all it is worth preconditioning for at least a couple of minutes before driving. If nothing else you don't get blasted in the face with stale air when you enter the passenger cabin.

 

[jjrandorin]

jcanoe - Thank you for the detailed info! You're right, the cost difference is negligible. I think I'll only plug in on days when I know I'm leaving ~ 6:30 am (or a long trip). 3-4 times/week. I also prefer to charge in the early AM hours.

Is preconditioning a big issue if temp. in the garage is always around 25-29°C?

Pre condition for the humans who will be in the car, not for "battery health" or anything like that. You are thinking about pre conditioning as something you need to do for the battery, and unless you will be driving somewhere that you either anticipate driving the entire range of the vehicle out, or are on your way to a supercharger, preconditioning for the BATTERY isnt really needed.

Pre condition for the humans ( to make the cabin comfortable) by simply turning on climate control using the app 5-10 minutes before you get into the vehicle, whenever that is.

 

[theocguy]

I recently received my Model Y and wonder what the best practice would be for maximizing battery life and distance on top of the 20-80 / non-fast charging I've read about.

Plus the most recent changes in supercharger prices has made it that it's cheaper to charge there rather than charging at home (I use SCE's TOU-PRIME page in Orange County CA). Plus I only use about 30-50% battery/week (I drive everyday, though).

As more detail..,

• I use about 5-10% battery/day
• Leave the house ~6:30 every 2nd day
• I've installed a Tesla charger at home (48kW)
• My plan is 21 cent/kWh (off peak)
• The Super Charger near by (72kWh) is 17 cents

For convenience, it would be nice to keep it plugged in at home. But how should I set up charging in the app?

• Switch between scheduled depature and charging every other day?
• Should I do preconditioning (what about days I don't know when I will leave)?
• Should I plug in everyday?
• Or... should I just go to the Super Charger and not charge at home? (ie when it's at 20-30%)

Appreciate your opinions.
Thank you.

Blaine -

Hi, I use SCE in OC as well. Is TOU much higher? I am on tier pricing so i just watch out how much I use. I plan to install solar and hope it can help to offset the electricity as well.

 

[Blaine -]

jcanoe - Thank you for the detailed info! You're right, the cost difference is negligible. I think I'll only plug in on days when I know I'm leaving ~ 6:30 am (or a long trip). 3-4 times/week. I also prefer to charge in the early AM hours.

Is preconditioning a big issue if temp. in the garage is always around 25-29°C?

Great! Thanks!

 

[CaseyL]

• I use about 5-10% battery/day
• Leave the house ~6:30 every 2nd day
• I've installed a Tesla charger at home (48kW)
• My plan is 21 cent/kWh (off peak)
• The Super Charger near by (72kWh) is 17 cents

I'm guessing that is a typo above about having a 48kW home charger. My Wall Connector puts out about 11.5 kW (48 amps @ 240v).

I use about 15% a day commuting to work. My daily habit is to charge to 60% every morning at 4:00am. I charge to 80 or 90% when headed out on a road trip.

Enjoy your Model Y!

 

[OldPro]

I recently received my Model Y and wonder what the best practice would be for maximizing battery life and distance on top of the 20-80 / non-fast charging I've read about.

Plus the most recent changes in supercharger prices has made it that it's cheaper to charge there rather than charging at home (I use SCE's TOU-PRIME page in Orange County CA). Plus I only use about 30-50% battery/week (I drive everyday, though).

As more detail..,

• I use about 5-10% battery/day
• Leave the house ~6:30 every 2nd day
• I've installed a Tesla charger at home (48kW)
• My plan is 21 cent/kWh (off peak)
• The Super Charger near by (72kWh) is 17 cents

For convenience, it would be nice to keep it plugged in at home. But how should I set up charging in the app?

• Switch between scheduled depature and charging every other day?
• Should I do preconditioning (what about days I don't know when I will leave)?
• Should I plug in everyday?
• Or... should I just go to the Super Charger and not charge at home? (ie when it's at 20-30%)

Appreciate your opinions.
Thank you.

Blaine -

We charge my wife's 2018 during "off peak hours" 12 midnight until 5:00am during the winter when our solar panels are not producing sufficient "juice" to charge during the daytime...Summer is the best. We are lucky to have Tesla Solar Panel system for our home. Trying to line up a Powerwall to add to my system

 

[Blaine -]

I'm guessing that is a typo above about having a 48kW home charger. My Wall Connector puts out about 11.5 kW (48 amps @ 240v).

I use about 15% a day commuting to work. My daily habit is to charge to 60% every morning at 4:00am. I charge to 80 or 90% when headed out on a road trip.

Enjoy your Model Y!

LOL - you are correct. Typo. The charger is running at 48 AMP so ~ 11.5 like you. Thanks for your use info.

 

[Blaine -]

We charge my wife's 2018 during "off peak hours" 12 midnight until 5:00am during the winter when our solar panels are not producing sufficient "juice" to charge during the daytime...Summer is the best. We are lucky to have Tesla Solar Panel system for our home. Trying to line up a Powerwall to add to my system

Would love to add solar, but are HOA won't allow it. Been pushing for it for over 6 years.

 

[Blaine -]

Hi, I use SCE in OC as well. Is TOU much higher? I am on tier pricing so i just watch out how much I use. I plan to install solar and hope it can help to offset the electricity as well.

We were on Tier pricing and they automatically switched us to TOU 4-9 with a notification that it would cost us an additional $26 for the year. I switched to TOU-PRIME because the off peak hour cost is much lower. Our biggest expense are the two fridges as we seldom use AC and never use heating (for 8 years now). I have a Jackery 2000 with solar panels that I have on the roof (the HOA doesn't know about as we ar not allowed to have solar). Solar charges the Jackery during the day and I use it the run the fridges 4-9pm

 

[OldPro]

We were on Tier pricing and they automatically switched us to TOU 4-9 with a notification that it would cost us an additional $26 for the year. I switched to TOU-PRIME because the off peak hour cost is much lower. Our biggest expense are the two fridges as we seldom use AC and never use heating (for 8 years now). I have a Jackery 2000 with solar panels that I have on the roof (the HOA doesn't know about as we ar not allowed to have solar). Solar charges the Jackery during the day and I use it the run the fridges 4-9pm

Too bad Sempra Energy has made decision making so difficult to navigate. Gee, I wonder if that is on purpose