New Model 3 wanna be owner - need tips before ordering

[nitynity]

I don't need to supercharge for a while..maybe months. I wonder if I wait a few months to redeem the free miles, if the 10k miles begin when I redeem? I hate to use up the 10k miles commuting back and forth to work for a year and never using any of the free supercharging.


Ok, wait....does 10k free supercharging miles mean that I can add 10k miles of range via supercharging over the next two years, regardless of how many total miles I put on the car i.e. even if I rack up 20k miles, I can still supercharge as long as I've added less than 10k miles of range from actual supercharging? If that's the way it works, it's MUCH better than I realized......

The free credit expires in 2 years. Jan 4 2025

I think it stated somewhere 2 years or 10k miles which ever comes first. I’m not sure if it’s 10k odometer miles or free credit miles redeemed. Hoping it’s the latter.
Now that I have MC installed I won’t be driving 18 miles for free charging unless I happen to be in the area or going somewhere that has super charger on the way. Again this is strictly commute vehicle so I don’t see much usage of it for me.
I ended up using super charger last weekend since I was still waiting on my MC. I requested a credit from Tesla for the amount spent as I bought a new EV which is kinda useless without a charger which I ordered separately and still waiting for. But as expected they DECLINED the request.

So that’s my only concern about Tesla, their customer support is rock bottom. Also I can easily get a loaner from my Lincoln dealership but probably Uber credit from Tesla in case of any repair. I’m really hoping it won’t get there.

 

[nitynity]

I used the supercharging credits today for the first time. Charged from 25-99% in around 40 minutes. I preconditioned the battery, but still my max rate was 140 kWh. Is there a max limit on the model 3RWD battery unit?

Also, 110 miles were deducted from my total credit. I wonder how they calculated that number? I had 65 miles remaining when I started charging and it went all the way up to 272 miles. So the difference would be 207 miles, but the credit charged was for 110 miles.
But no complaints here. Just curious how the numbers work.

 

[BitJam]

I used the supercharging credits today for the first time. Charged from 25-99% in around 40 minutes. I preconditioned the battery, but still my max rate was 140 kWh. Is there a max limit on the model 3RWD battery unit?

This article shows the charging curve for the 2021 M3SR+ with LFP batteries:

MIC Tesla Model 3 SR+ Fast Charging Test Reveals Strong Results

Today we will take a look at one of the latest and most interesting fast charging tests in Europe of the Made-in-China Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.

insideevs.com

If you got 140 kW (not kWh) at 25% or above then you are doing better than that curve but the gist should be the same. If you want to, the game to play at superchargers is to use this curve (or a better one) to decide what SoC you want to start and end charging with. You might want to only charge to 90% or 95% (or less) at a supercharger if you don't want to wait around. The game allows you to minimize overall road trip travel time by charging more frequently using the lower half of the capacity (where it charges faster) so you spend less overall time charging.

In addition, not charging to 100% will extend the battery life. Tesla wants you to charge LFPs to 100% because they are harder to calibrate. If people often charge to 100% then there will be fewer complaints about poor range predictions.

The long range and performance have better (faster) charging curves, briefly maxing out at 250 kW but still falling rapidly above 20%. IIRC, LFP also have lower energy density and worse cold weather degradation. LIke with all things, it's a trade-off. For mostly commuting and driving around town with few road trips, LFP is a good choice. But even if you want to mostly road trip, it's not bad.

 

[nitynity]

This article shows the charging curve for the 2021 M3SR+ with LFP batteries:

MIC Tesla Model 3 SR+ Fast Charging Test Reveals Strong Results

Today we will take a look at one of the latest and most interesting fast charging tests in Europe of the Made-in-China Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.

insideevs.com

If you got 140 kW (not kWh) at 25% or above then you are doing better than that curve but the gist should be the same. If you want to, the game to play at superchargers is to use this curve (or a better one) to decide what SoC you want to start and end charging with. You might want to only charge to 90% or 95% (or less) at a supercharger if you don't want to wait around. The game allows you to minimize overall road trip travel time by charging more frequently using the lower half of the capacity (where it charges faster) so you spend less overall time charging.

In addition, not charging to 100% will extend the battery life. Tesla wants you to charge LFPs to 100% because they are harder to calibrate. If people often charge to 100% then there will be fewer complaints about poor range predictions.

The long range and performance have better (faster) charging curves, briefly maxing out at 250 kW but still falling rapidly above 20%. IIRC, LFP also have lower energy density and worse cold weather degradation. LIke with all things, it's a trade-off. For mostly commuting and driving around town with few road trips, LFP is a good choice. But even if you want to mostly road trip, it's not bad.

Sorry that’s what I meant. 140kW. It was 144 kW for a few seconds and it dropped 140.

And you are right. From 90 to 99% I think it took about 8 to 10 minutes. So I could have got 90% or less under 30 minutes.

But last time I went from 15 to 99% in about 45 minutes. And I didn’t precondition the battery so the max power was around 94 kW briefly and then it dropped to 54kW.

This time I was fully prepared and I went from 25 to 99% and all I saved was five minutes? I guess regardless of the battery precondition status it slows down after a certain percentage.

So you are saying I should stick between 20-80% percentage regardless of Tesla recommendation to extend battery life?

Also, how do you calculate the actual range?
I see 272 miles displayed after 99/100% charge. But I’m not sure how much I’m getting out of it by the time I am ready for the next charge at 20% or less. (Maybe deduct 40-50 miles or so). In addition the regen brakes might add back some miles. Or you strictly go by odometer?

 

[BitJam]

[...] regardless of the battery precondition status it slows down after a certain percentage.

Yes, exactly. The charging curve shows the maximum rate of charge given the current state of charge.

So you are saying I should stick between 20-80% percentage regardless of Tesla recommendation to extend battery life?

Yes. I was very surprised when I found this out. You might want to charge up to 100% once a week or so to help calibration, if that is important to you. The voltage of LFP batteries increase less than normal li-ion batteries when they (LFP) charge so they need more help (more charging to 100%) to calibrate (which helps the range estimate). They are also more robust so they are not hurt as much by charging to 100% but it's still not good for them.

Also, how do you calculate the actual range?

I suggest you use the energy consumption app on the touchscreen. The icon for it looks like a graph in the menu bar. It uses the measured wH/mile of the car to estimate your range. You can get your total range by dividing the estimated range by the state-of-charge. If the projected range is 212 miles and your state of charge is 81% then your total range is:

212 / .81 = 262 miles

The screen also shows your measured wH/mile which you can use to estimate the total size of the battery.

Battery capacity (wH) = total-range * wH/mile

If your total range is 262 and your wH/mile is 230 then your battery size is:

262 * 230 = 60 kWh

If you've selected a destination then the energy consumption screen can show you a graph of your projected state of charge along the route it plans to navigate. I think it can also show you the difference between your estimated state of charge and actual state of charge for a trip as you go. IIRC they are even using weather predictions now to help project your consumption. It's usually pretty accurate.

I see 272 miles displayed after 99/100% charge. But I’m not sure how much I’m getting out of it by the time I am ready for the next charge at 20% or less. (Maybe deduct 40-50 miles or so). In addition the regen brakes might add back some miles. Or you strictly go by odometer?

I'm not sure if this is what you mean but the range shown near the battery icon is bogus. Touch the battery icon to change that display to percent and keep it on percent. Use the energy consumption screen for an accurate range estimate.

There are several video tutorials about the energy consumption screen. Here is one of them:

There was a big update/improvement a few months ago so videos from before that time are less useful now.

 

[nitynity]

Thank you so much. I wasn’t aware of that app yet. That shows the actual mileage I was looking for. I found another video which is helpful as well.

Tesla range

 

[BitJam]

I found another video which is helpful as well.

Tesla range

Thanks! That is much better than the video I linked to. I also liked this one from Frugal Tesla Guy but these older videos don't cover the new features.

 

[TesslaBull]

Sounds like Tesla is being quite generous with the amount of charge they are giving compared to the number of miles they are charging against the 10,000 allotment. Essentially, it should be completely free DC fast charging for 2 years for me regardless how much I drive(as I can't imaging charging for more than 10,000 miles away from home in 2 years)

 

[MacO512]

Sounds like Tesla is being quite generous with the amount of charge they are giving compared to the number of miles they are charging against the 10,000 allotment. Essentially, it should be completely free DC fast charging for 2 years for me regardless how much I drive(as I can't imaging charging for more than 10,000 miles away from home in 2 years)

Maybe it's 10k of miles at a high speed in Tesla least efficient vehicle (MX Plaid?). So a M3RWD would go many more miles with the same KWh. Thus some might get 15k-20k worth of free super charging.