New to Tesla (MY)... is this normal?

[Highway18]

The car is always making some sort of noise (sometimes louder than others). When I park and exit, am I supposed to do something that tells it to turn off and shut up - lol? I have lock when away enabled and have been putting it in park, getting out with screen and music playing, shutting the door and walking away.

These noises are both during and while not charging. Help, this is annoying as it seems to use up the battery as well. Thanks in advance.

 

[Twiglett]

Your car is never really "off' most of the time. It does go to sleep, but it will wake itself up to run a whole bunch of things.
It is constantly checking the battery and will start pumps, open vents, run fans etc.
If you have it plugged in, it will occasionally pull power from the charger.
But yes, you can just get out and walk away, it will put itself into park if you forget
[edit]
Sorry, should have said, things like sentry mode, summon etc will keep the car awake. So set those to suit your needs.
Welcome to the forum

 

[Georgia_Y]

It will also try to maintain the cabin temperature if you have that set.

 

[Highway18]

Thanks, turned off the cabin temp setting and already had Sentry mode off at home. Turns out service was running stuff remotely in prep for my service visit this Thursday and that was causing some activity.

Also learned always plugging in when possible is preferred (per customer support). I was just going to plug in to my Nema 15-50 when I dropped to 100 miles or so. I guess I'll plug in every day now.

Support sent me the MY manual: https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_y_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf
This will be helpful as sitting in the car and searching was a tad annoying.

Thanks everyone.

 

[shanerpark]

Also learned always plugging in when possible is preferred (per customer support). I was just going to plug in to my Nema 15-50 when I dropped to 100 miles or so. I guess I'll plug in every day now.

I'm new to Tesla (MY) as well. Are there any benefits of plugging in the charger on a daily basis without scheduling a daily charge? Maybe I need to do the same?

 

[spsheridan]

I'm new to Tesla (MY) as well. Are there any benefits of plugging in the charger on a daily basis without scheduling a daily charge? Maybe I need to do the same?

Yes, plugging into your own charger on a daily basis is preferred because 1) the charge is slower than a Supercharger and thus better for battery health, and 2) it makes it easier to keep your battery charged at a mid-range level. The 2170 lithium-ion cells that the Model 3 and Model Y battery packs are made from “prefer” being charged to a level of about 50% - 60%. It’s fine to charge and operate them above and below this level. However, having them at a very high state of charge (SoC) or very high depth of discharge (DoD) level for long periods puts stress on the battery which eventually reduces the amount of charge it can hold and shortens its life. Be sure not to let the battery charge run down to 0% and follow Tesla’s rule-of-thumb of charging to up to 80% unless longer range is needed for a trip.

 

[Highway18]

Did something change with the charge level setting recently? I seem to recall seeing the slider show a percentage so you knew if you were at 80%. Doesn't show percentage when sliding mine???

 

[DDrawer]

I recommend everyone at least reads the manual once. This is found on page 157. They tell you to leave your vehicle plugged in when you are not using it in bold text. I believe the percentage will show if you set the charge level from the app.

 

[Twiglett]

I recommend everyone at least reads the manual once

Once?
I think I'd read it at least three or four times before I picked up the car

 

[Pilot1226]

For what it's worth, I believe I read an article on Reddit where people were theorizing that it is best to keep your battery as close to 50% SOC as possible for longevity.

With a full 100% rated range of 315 miles, that means every 1% of charge is 3.15 miles.

So, if you drive 4 miles per Kilowatt (250 watts per mile efficiency), and you drive 31.50 miles per day, you'd want to charge to 55% daily (for example). This will swing low to 45% when you plug in, and back up to 55% for the next day.

That being said, it's also a theory and also subject to "diminishing returns" meaning the perceived or actual degradation from charging to 100 vs. 90 is greater than the difference between 90 vs. 80, and so on.

When I eventually get my Model Y, with my daily driving requiring under 30 miles per day (commute is 20 round trip plus a few trips in town with kids & errands), I'm intending to charge to either 60 or 70%. This is mostly because I have 120V charging and it would take a really, really long time to get the pack up higher if I needed it for a trip.

(a 74 kW battery pack filled to 66% would take somewhere around 18 hours to full replenish the remaining 34%...)

74 kW @ 66% = 48.84 kW, 25.16 kW remaining; 120V@12A=1.44 kW*.8 efficiency =1.152 kW; 25.16/1.152 = 21.84 hours to fill the remaining 1/3. That means if you ran to 0% it would take you around 65 hours to fully charge.

 

[MY-Y]

How much performance (acceleration) is lost running an average charge of 50% most of the time vs 75%? I figured I'd charge to 80% so the car would keep near max performance at the end of my 50 mile commute.

 

[DDrawer]

I think we are off topic at this point, and I love geeking out of the numbers just as much as the next guy, but don't forget you bought that car to drive it and not to limit yourself to the point of inconvenience. It is true, scientifically these batteries prefer to live as close to the middle state of charge as possible, but if not charging to 90% daily is going to put you in an awkward spot, don't worry about it. Degradation happens over such a long time, most people will be selling their Tesla's for the next Tesla before it's even a consideration.

Just remember the following tips, and you'll be golden.

 

[shanerpark]

Yes, plugging into your own charger on a daily basis is preferred because 1) the charge is slower than a Supercharger and thus better for battery health, and 2) it makes it easier to keep your battery charged at a mid-range level. The 2170 lithium-ion cells that the Model 3 and Model Y battery packs are made from “prefer” being charged to a level of about 50% - 60%. It’s fine to charge and operate them above and below this level. However, having them at a very high state of charge (SoC) or very high depth of discharge (DoD) level for long periods puts stress on the battery which eventually reduces the amount of charge it can hold and shortens its life. Be sure not to let the battery charge run down to 0% and follow Tesla’s rule-of-thumb of charging to up to 80% unless longer range is needed for a trip.

@spsheridan and @DDrawer - Thank you so much for your explanation. I read through the manual but completely missed this section. Model Y prefers to be charged about 50% ~ 60%. So basically set the charging amount to just ONE BAR after "Daily" right? Thanks so much for sharing this knowledge

 

[outdoors]

@spsheridan and @DDrawer - Thank you so much for your explanation. I read through the manual but completely missed this section. Model Y prefers to be charged about 50% ~ 60%. So basically set the charging amount to just ONE BAR after "Daily" right? Thanks so much for sharing this knowledge

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Where do you see this 50-60% in the manual? I don't Tesla saying anywhere to charge to 50-60%.

"prefers to be charged to" That is complete nonsense. Overthinking it way to much. Next we will hear Battery University being quoted. Please just read what Tesla puts out. Plug the car in. The next morning it is ready. Nothing more. Nothing less.

102K on my S. Charge to 90% daily 5% degradation
70k on my 3. Charge to 90% daily 3% degradation

 

[spsheridan]

@spsheridan and @DDrawer - Thank you so much for your explanation. I read through the manual but completely missed this section. Model Y prefers to be charged about 50% ~ 60%. So basically set the charging amount to just ONE BAR after "Daily" right? Thanks so much for sharing this knowledge

Don't let the 50%-60% "preferred charge level" value limit your charging. Your battery will do fine with charging up to 80% on a regular basis.

 

[Scooby24]

Does Tesla's battery management allow you to define a daily charge rate maximum so you can just keep it plugged in and forget it?

 

[outdoors]

Does Tesla's battery management allow you to define a daily charge rate maximum so you can just keep it plugged in and forget it?

Yes. The slider bar can set it to the level you like. It will start charging when you plug it in, or if you set a desired start charging time.

Like Ron Popiel said. "Set it and forget it"

I love to tinker. Yet I realize my thoughts of extending my life on a battery by my hairbrained charging techniques are foolish. Better to enjoy the ride than to think always about the battery. I also like the thought of having a 90% ready to go almost all the time.

 

[travis1906]

90% is fine also. This debate has been going on for the past couple of years. Elon our that out over a year ago or so. Just don’t want to go over 90%.

 

[shanerpark]

Where do you see this 50-60% in the manual? I don't Tesla saying anywhere to charge to 50-60%.

"prefers to be charged to" That is complete nonsense. Overthinking it way to much. Next we will hear Battery University being quoted. Please just read what Tesla puts out. Plug the car in. The next morning it is ready. Nothing more. Nothing less.

102K on my S. Charge to 90% daily 5% degradation
70k on my 3. Charge to 90% daily 3% degradation

Thanks for the information. Your battery degradation is really impressive. I'll go through the manual again as well.

 

[DDrawer]

And even if you do need to charge to a high SoC, just don't let it sit there. So if you are going on a long trip, just set the scheduled departure to before you head out. That way your battery reaches 100% and then you start driving and it reduces back down to a lower state of charge.

That manual does not say anything about charging to 50-60%. We were simply saying, yes, battery science says these types of batteries will theoretically last the absolute longest if they were just constantly hugging 50%.

But again, don't even worry about this stuff, just plug it in, charge daily to 80 or 90%, and enjoy the car. As you'll see by the testimony of long time Tesla owners, the amount of degradation over years of driving you will see regardless of how you charge the battery is very very small.