Quarantined charging habits?

[KenC]

Since I now only drive to the grocery store every couple weeks and nothing more, I have set my charge limit down to 60%.

I have it start charging in the middle of the night every night. It sits in a shared garage so I have Sentry Mode running all day. Because of this, it dips to about 56% by the end of the day and charges back to 60% in the middle of the night.

What are your quarantine charging habits?

I always go twice a week to the grocery, but now I specifically go Monday and Thursdays, as those are very low-traffic days. Most grocery shoppers are Friday to Sunday, so Monday is very slow at the store. And Thursday, most people are waiting for the new coupons and specials on Friday, so also very slow day. At least that's the case where I am.

Since last year, my charge limit is 61%, since that's right below the supposedly magical 3.92V, which is at 63%. Normally, if I check, the SOC is 60%, and range is 186miles. The math works out to 310miles rated range. I charge as soon as I get home, as charging is better with a warm battery than a cold battery. No Sentry, and it seems to top up at least every couple hours. Vampire losses are 0.3miles/hr, in Winter, and <0.1miles/hr other times. Zero deg after 15months.

Hospital is 20mins away, and there's a Supercharger less than 5 mins from it, so my charge limit is a non-issue. Family is too far away to make my SOC level an issue.

 

[KenC]

The 50% recommendation for storage is just the commonly accepted figure used for all Lithium-based batteries.

 

[dmurphy]

The 50% recommendation for storage is just the commonly accepted figure used for all Lithium-based batteries.

Anecdotal evidence =! a Tesla recommendation. And that’s my point... I don’t see any documentation, anywhere, where Tesla says such.

It’s certainly not gonna hurt anything, but it’s not a Tesla recommendation, either.

 

[robo_robb]

I mean, chemistry is chemistry— whether Tesla recommends it or not.

 

[dmurphy]

I mean, chemistry is chemistry— whether Tesla recommends it or not.

I’d agree ... were it not for the fancy, custom designed, software programmable, intelligent controllers that sit in front of those cells.

 

[one2many]

well when this mess is over Im gona charge to 100%
I am going out for a drive and never come back
I am sure many know what I mean

 

[toolman335]

Posts should definitely be edited. Tesla doesn't recommend 50% in any way, shape, or form.
You can't compare these batteries to all lithium-ion batteries either.
This is a reckless thread. Moderators, feel free to delete it.

 

[smartypnz]

Sorry... 80 to 90% and always plugged in when home. All 3 Teslas. If you loose grid power for 2 weeks (Power company employees get sick too), your car is maintaining itself on it's batteries. That is until it gets to 0.

OK... apocalypse... you can run devices in the house using car's power if necessary. Small heater, LED lights in house, laptop (if usable), Keurig...well maybe not the Keurig. You can live in your car in the garage with the door closed - no one outside will know it.

Think 7 or 8 years ago Elon mentioned 80 to 90% (unofficially). Not going to research it. But thru experience, 80 to 90 has worked. All cars degradation has been within limits. Mileage has been way beyond average for 2, and way below avg for 1.

 

[lupend88]

Posts should definitely be edited. Tesla doesn't recommend 50% in any way, shape, or form.
You can't compare these batteries to all lithium-ion batteries either.
This is a reckless thread. Moderators, feel free to delete it.

A reckless thread to see how others are charging their car? You realize this conversation also exists when there isn't a quarantine going on, correct? Nothing reckless to poll other owners and see how they are dealing with the situation, calm down.

 

[dmurphy]

A reckless thread to see how others are charging their car? You realize this conversation also exists when there isn't a quarantine going on, correct? Nothing reckless to poll other owners and see how they are dealing with the situation, calm down.

What's reckless is attributing things to the manufacturer that they never said.

Tesla has no recommendation - hasn't & doesn't - to keep a vehicle at 50% charge. The only recommendation is to keep the vehicle plugged in.

If SGOTI (Some Guy On The Internet) wants to claim it's a good idea, that's one thing. But we need to stop attributing things to the manufacturer that they haven't said or done.

As I said above - let's keep manufacturer recommendations and tribal opinion separate. Stop the spread of misinformation.

 

[1.21GW]

if charging to 50% is reckless, I would also like to see evidence that it will cause harm. Based on the Tesla app, the "daily" charge level is between 50-90%. My assumption is that anywhere in that range would not cause harm.

 

[Black306]

Usually between 75-85%. Depends on my mood. I only need 2-3% for my commute. My habits haven’t changed cause of C19.

 

[Zoomit]

let's keep manufacturer recommendations and tribal opinion separate

The third category is peer-reviewed scientific results. Here's a paper that indicates NCA batteries, such as what Tesla uses in vehicles, have a significant decrease in capacity loss when stored below 60% SOC (Figure 5, Page 7).

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.0411609jes/pdf
Ref TMC thread: Battery Degradation Scientifically Explained

Tesla is very likely using a slightly different NCA chemistry than what was tested in that paper and, to my knowledge, they have not provided a recommendation for storage SOC. Until they do, my Model 3 sits at 50%.

 

[lupend88]

What's reckless is attributing things to the manufacturer that they never said.

Tesla has no recommendation - hasn't & doesn't - to keep a vehicle at 50% charge. The only recommendation is to keep the vehicle plugged in.

If SGOTI (Some Guy On The Internet) wants to claim it's a good idea, that's one thing. But we need to stop attributing things to the manufacturer that they haven't said or done.

As I said above - let's keep manufacturer recommendations and tribal opinion separate. Stop the spread of misinformation.

I totally agree with you that nobody should be putting words in Tesla's mouth, so yes that comment shouldn't have happened whoever said it. As for the other part of this conversation, discussing with owners where they are placing their charge % during this time is completely reasonable.

 

[lupend88]

if charging to 50% is reckless, I would also like to see evidence that it will cause harm. Based on the Tesla app, the "daily" charge level is between 50-90%. My assumption is that anywhere in that range would not cause harm.

Bingo

 

[dmurphy]

I totally agree with you that nobody should be putting words in Tesla's mouth, so yes that comment shouldn't have happened whoever said it. As for the other part of this conversation, discussing with owners where they are placing their charge % during this time is completely reasonable.

Spot on. I have no problem with 50% as a general principle; certainly not harmful. My only issue was with attributing it to some Tesla document that doesn't exist.

I just want there to be a very clear delineation between what Tesla publishes and what SGOTI's publish (i.e. us). That helps us keep things straight.

But yeah, from me, no issue at 50% at all. Just keeping facts straight, that's all.

 

[Atari2600]

My car has not charged for 10 days and is still at 78%. Drain is .8 miles per day. Would be less if I would stop going into the app checking for an update every day.

 

[ChairmanMeow]

So would the following be a fair statement:

if the battery is kept between 20% - 80% (or whatever range you deem as health for the battery), there's no reason to keep your Tesla plugged in all the time. So for example, during quarantine, you could leave your Tesla unplugged for 2 weeks if during that time, your Tesla's battery stays within the 20-80% charged range.

 

[TMThree]

The third category is peer-reviewed scientific results. Here's a paper that indicates NCA batteries, such as what Tesla uses in vehicles, have a significant decrease in capacity loss when stored below 60% SOC (Figure 5, Page 7).

View attachment 527578.

I don't know if your wording is weird or what. But the chart clearly shows SoC above 55% resulting in significantly higher capacity loss. Looks like 50% is also better than 55%, so that should be the target.

edit: missed the word BELOW =)

 

[Atari2600]

I meant to say .8% not miles but I can no longer edit my post.