Practicality of M3 SR+ Without Home Charging

[kelvin 660]

The best thing about a home charger is that you know it will be free when you want to use it. And if it was to break down you know it will get fixed whilst you use the granny charger in the meantime...

 

[PITA]

The best thing about a home charger is that you know it will be free when you want to use it. And if it was to break down you know it will get fixed whilst you use the granny charger in the meantime...

... or just get two Home Chargers fitted onto your Tesla Gateway 2

One wired on the backup side, so that it can charge from Powerwall 2 batteries & Solar Array

One wired on the Grid-tied side, so that it can charge from Grid only, for those times you don't want to savage your Powerwalls.

 

[Rooster6655]

I think it really depends on your local charging network near to your home.

My council leisure centre which is one mile away has free 50 kW charging for one hour. It’s £10 after the first hour. But you get 150 miles of range for free there.

The Lidl and Starbucks 1.5 miles away has rapid charging too.

Mine is a M3 LR and I have a home charger, but I reckon you could make do pretty easy if you had and SR+ and somewhere reliable to charge near home.

I don't think cost really comes into it when you have to factor in your time lost, yes people may justify this by saying that they go somewhere anyway but if its not work or home then its and additional journey.

If you factor in that you either need to stay there for an hour or walk back home you are likely looking at a total time of about 1.5hrs, if you consider the average wage per hour of £15 then thats going to be £22.5 for a free hours charge.

The equivalent of 7 hours charging at home on go is £2.45 compared to a 1 hour charge at a 50kw charger (max speed) and its a journey you have to do so no additional charge and a saving of £20.

So it comes down to if you are prepared to spend additional time and money on charging then thats fine but free charging wouldn't be a good reason to overcome the fact of not having a home charger.

 

[Alan J]

I don't think cost really comes into it when you have to factor in your time lost, yes people may justify this by saying that they go somewhere anyway but if its not work or home then its and additional journey.

If you factor in that you either need to stay there for an hour or walk back home you are likely looking at a total time of about 1.5hrs, if you consider the average wage per hour of £15 then thats going to be £22.5 for a free hours charge.

The equivalent of 7 hours charging at home on go is £2.45 compared to a 1 hour charge at a 50kw charger (max speed) and its a journey you have to do so no additional charge and a saving of £20.

So it comes down to if you are prepared to spend additional time and money on charging then thats fine but free charging wouldn't be a good reason to overcome the fact of not having a home charger.

I use the Free Public Charger at the Local Railway Station which is a 10 Min walk away past the shop where I buy my daily paper so not inconvenient at all. A 2-3 hour charge once a week is enough for my current limited mileage courtesy of Covid. It really is very much a local thing it will not suit everyone but it is easy for some of us.

 

[Scottish mod3]

It's down to individual circumstances and where you live.

Maybe give it a try, looks like there are incentives out there which is ideal but depending where you are...

Agile Streets

 

[Alan J]

Perhaps consider hiring a Tesla for a week to see how you cope ?

 

[Zill]

It's interesting to hear peoples opinions about this as I will be in a similar situation in a couple of weeks time. I've researched extensively if an EV is right for myself as I will not have home charging (might be able to set up a 10A as a short term backup through the window ). I have a SuC around 7 minute drive away and as I mainly WFH and only go to the office around once a month (100 mile round trip) with SuC close to work and another half way in between, it made me confident that I will not lose my head over this with the rest of the driving being nipping around town or the occasional weekend roadtrip.

The public network can definitely be dodgy from experience so I would not 100% rely on that, hence currently I see Tesla with its SuC network being the only EV option for me.

The reality is though that you will lose a big part of the EV appeal when you can't just leave with a full tank each day from home. Also the main reason I felt like LR model is a must.

All individual circumstances and what you are personally willing to live with.

 

[Mrklaw]

I rarely leave home with a full tank and I have a charger on my drive. If I'm doing shorter trips I don't bother charging. an SR+ can fill 50% of its battery in a 4 hour octopus go off peak session overnight so I can drop to 30 and then back up to 80 which is roughly where I hover. Then top it up to 90/100 if I'm going further afield

 

[Adopado]

I rarely leave home with a full tank and I have a charger on my drive. If I'm doing shorter trips I don't bother charging. an SR+ can fill 50% of its battery in a 4 hour octopus go off peak session overnight so I can drop to 30 and then back up to 80 which is roughly where I hover. Then top it up to 90/100 if I'm going further afield

Yes, it's going to vary by individual patterns of use. In our location we couldn't confidently allow the battery to remain low simply because even "basic needs" trips (essential shops and services) require longer distances. If you live in or near a town or city you could probably pop out to do several essential errands and only drive 20 miles in total. We may drive 50 miles for just one errand so to allow for multiple such instances I prefer to start the day with a minimum of about 75% onboard. I vary my home charging to make sure I have a fullish tank of between 75% and 90% for anticipated daily uses and a very rare 100% charge for exceptional long trips.

 

[Reddom]

Had a LR for 18 months now in london without home charging. Its been fine, it will depend a lot on whether you have good convenient local chargers. Theres a bunch of Source London points within 5 mins walk of my house I probably use these 2-3 times a month drop the car off walk back, pick it up later. They work out about the same cost as a SuC so not cheap but not terrible. There are a lot of SuC around london and so occaisonally will stop for 10mins after a long journey to charge up a bit while battery is hot. Other than that its opportunistic charging at shopping centres or nearby attractions and Suc on long journeys. I only really have to think about it if we are planning a long trip and make sure i charge the car on the nearby 7Kw the day before. Phantom drain is not much of an issue any more, I'd say even on a very Hot/Cold night i'd be surprised if the battery dropped by more than 1% over 24 hours.
I dithered a lot between SR+ and LR, with hindsight I'd have been fine with SR+ and after a few weeks of worrying about charge, I'd say i never think\stress about it at all any more. An SR+ being slightly more efficient will get more miles for the same 7kw charge time, and the ability to charge the new MIC batteries to 100% overnight will also help you a lot.
The only downside is not being able to use cheap overnight elec rates, public charging is a lot more expensive than home charging so you wont benefit as much from fuel savings.
RD

 

[Rooster6655]

I use the Free Public Charger at the Local Railway Station which is a 10 Min walk away past the shop where I buy my daily paper so not inconvenient at all. A 2-3 hour charge once a week is enough for my current limited mileage courtesy of Covid. It really is very much a local thing it will not suit everyone but it is easy for some of us.

Well if you are doing less than 90 miles a week (3hrs work of charge) then of course its not an issue, but at that little use I would think of getting a different transport option.

 

[Alan J]

Well if you are doing less than 90 miles a week (3hrs work of charge) then of course its not an issue, but at that little use I would think of getting a different transport option.

I guess like quite a few people on here I bought the Model 3 before Covid was a 'thing' and like others on here Covid has severely curtailed my driving. Even if I had to charge 2 or 3 times a week for higher mileage I was just trying to evidence that in the right circumstances reliance on Public Charging can work for some but probably not all.

 

[Scottish mod3]

I guess like quite a few people on here I bought the Model 3 before Covid was a 'thing' and like others on here Covid has severely curtailed my driving. Even if I had to charge 2 or 3 times a week for higher mileage I was just trying to evidence that in the right circumstances reliance on Public Charging can work for some but probably not all.

Totally agree, I drive even less at 50miles a week lol .. public chargers are like lottery atm... lucky for some , not for all.

Not too worried with the capacity being more than 4x on average weekly usage. Mainly opted for SR+ as battery in the newer lfp model should last longer... little impact from higher charge cycle and soc.

Interestingly, some people keep their LR as low as 70% soc for daily use to minimise degradation .. that's roughly 100% SR+...

There are 7- 22kw chargers within 2 mins radius from me. Looking on zap map, suspect they are a few EV/ICEholes hogging the space, I guess we will see.

Fingers crossed, picking up my m3 next Friday. Looking forward to geeking out on the tech mostly...