Range Charge Issue -- Forgetting To Reset Back Down

[Skotty]

I take regular long trips for work. On average, once per week. Having a frequent mix of long trips and around town driving has revealed that I have a recurring problem. For the trips, it makes sense to switch the charge limit temporarily to 100% -- range charge. After the trip, for the sake of the battery, I need to reset the charge limit back down to 80% or so.

The problem: I keep forgetting to reset the charge limit back down.

It seems to be there could be a software solution to this. Some kind of temporary range charge setting or sticky regular charge limit -- basically some way for it to auto-reset back down to the "regular" charge limit.

Do you have this issue? Would you like to see a software update someday that provides some kind of feature that helps you reset or remind you to reset the charge limit back down from a range charge?

There are a lot of different ways such a feature could be implemented which can be discussed, but I don't want to break it down that much in the poll. Though I did break it down to whether you would rather it be an active feature (auto-reset) or passive feature (reminder prompt).

 

[dmckinstry]

When I do a range charge (normally I do 90%) I usually get a reminder to set it back lower. I don't know if this always happens, but do you never get a reminder to lower it?

 

[Canuck]

There's no warnings as before to avoid an EPA hit on range like what the EPA did to 2011/12 Nissan Leaf and others with similar warnings.

 

[Evbwcaer]

I got the warnings in the past as well.

One idea would be to put a Post-it, or other visual reminder on the screen or on the inside of the charge port door, when range charging so that you remember for the next charge.

A software alert would be nice.
I wonder if the Epa would take issue if it was an alert you could opt-in to?

 

[Skotty]

Ahhh....that explains it. I hate when regulation snafus get in the way of good functionality.

 

[TexasEV]

There's no warnings as before to avoid an EPA hit on range like what the EPA did to 2011/12 Nissan Leaf and others with similar warnings.

Why do you think that? The last time I charged to 100% on a trip for 3 days I got the warning. Has a newer version of 7.1 deleted that?

I can't imagine this has anything to do with EPA rating. That was a different issue, when cars had two different charge settings the EPA averaged the ranges of the two. Tesla going to the slider many firmware updates ago rather than having just two settings eliminated that.

 

[Canuck]

"Customers who choose the Long Life Mode on the MY13 vehicle should know that the EPA testing methodology resulted in an estimated range of approximately 66 miles based on a single charge. Because of the vehicle owner’s ability to change the default 100 percent charging mode to the 80 percent Long Life Mode (which some current owners chose to do), the EPA decided the EPA label should display the mathematical average of the two modes using their testing methodology, which results in 75 miles of estimated range in a single charge."

Shortly After the EPA did this to Nissan, Tesla quickly dropped the warning I used to get every time I tried to charge to 100%, as confirmed by WK057 in reply to my post on this issue:

Info: When Balancing Occurs, and Pack Maintenance

Why do you think that? The last time I charged to 100% on a trip for 3 days I got the warning. Has a newer version of 7.1 deleted that?

I'm not sure what update it came in, since there's been many since I got my car, but it came in an update shortly after Nissan and others got hit with lower EPA rated ranges.

You can draw your own conclusions.

 

[Skotty]

Could be the warning still works but only after multiple charging sessions. Though I don't find that particularly helpful if so. I usually only accidentally leave it at 100% once. When I see it later the next day, I turn it back down. What I don't like is that happens after it has already sat all night and some of the next day at 100%, which to my understanding is not a good thing.

I can probably train myself to immediately lower the charge limit back down right after I finish my 100% charge and am heading out for my trip. Though a software assist would be still be appreciated.

 

[Canuck]

You can use a sticky as mentioned but I have a piece of card stock paper that reads "Charged to 100%" that I keep in the glove box. When I charge to 100% I throw it on the driver's seat. Then when I get in to leave, I know immediately to turn it down, and I put the paper back in the glove box.

 

[TexasEV]

"Customers who choose the Long Life Mode on the MY13 vehicle should know that the EPA testing methodology resulted in an estimated range of approximately 66 miles based on a single charge. Because of the vehicle owner’s ability to change the default 100 percent charging mode to the 80 percent Long Life Mode (which some current owners chose to do), the EPA decided the EPA label should display the mathematical average of the two modes using their testing methodology, which results in 75 miles of estimated range in a single charge."

Shortly After the EPA did this to Nissan, Tesla quickly dropped the warning I used to get every time I tried to charge to 100%, as confirmed by WK057 in reply to my post on this issue:

Info: When Balancing Occurs, and Pack Maintenance



I'm not sure what update it came in, since there's been many since I got my car, but it came in an update shortly after Nissan and others got hit with lower EPA rated ranges.

You can draw your own conclusions.

What you quoted is when Tesla dropped the "daily" and "trip" modes in favor of the slider so there weren't two numbers to average. I have continued to get the warning after 3 days at 100% long after 2013. Could your not getting the warning any more be a Canadian thing?

 

[Canuck]

What you quoted is when Tesla dropped the "daily" and "trip" modes in favor of the slider so there weren't two numbers to average. I have continued to get the warning after 3 days at 100% long after 2013. Could your not getting the warning any more be a Canadian thing?

The warning used to be immediate every time you charged to 100%. After the EPA hit Nissan and others, Tesla buried the warning. WK057 is in the States and as he pointed out:

Now it only gives you the warning if you leave the car set at > 90% for several charge sessions. It'll pop up with the warning message letting you know that you shouldn't do this regularly (don't know the exact warning). Probably works out so that the EPA didn't see it. lol.

So clearly it's not a Canadian thing. Whenever I use the app to move the slider to 100% I never get the warning anymore -- before I got it every time. I don't charge repeatedly to 100% so I can't say if it's buried -- perhaps others can. Before the EPA hit Nissan and Toyota, I got the warning immediately and had to "OK" Tesla's warning before it let me charge to 100%. In my view, dropping the immediate warning was done to avoid an EPA hit on range but obviously we will never get a confirmation from Tesla that this is why they dropped the old immediate warning. Nissan dropped the Long Life Mode and sacrificed battery health for a higher EPA range rating.

In my 2012 Leaf (that can't be updated over the air like a Tesla) it also warns about charging to 100%. In fact, 80% is called "Long Life Mode" referring to the life of the battery (as you will note in what I quoted above from Nissan). If Tesla warned you every time you charged to 100% that charging to 100% was bad for the longevity of the battery, like they used to before the EPA reduced range for doing so, then it's the same as what Nissan did and Tesla risks being downgraded on EPA range.

I could be wrong but my theory makes sense to me at least.

 

[TexasEV]

I don't recall ever having the warning each time. It's always been when charging to 100% for 3 days in a row. I think that's an appropriate way to do it, as you don't need to be reminded of this when you set it to 100%, presumably you're doing it for good reason, but it helps to be reminded if it stays at 100% for several days as you may have forgotten to set it back down.

 

[cpa]

Could there not be a small prompt when we slide the bar to, say >95%? "You have selected a range charge for this session. The charging bar will automatically adjust down to XX% upon unplugging unless you press HERE."

 

[Skotty]

They could circumvent regulatory issues if they added a temporary charge limit change, where you can temporarily set a different charge limit. This could be done while making no implications of what it might be used for (you could temporarily set it up OR down from "standard" with maybe some criteria options for when to switch back). Of course, we here would all know what it was really for. ;-)

 

[Jtrader]

Does it hurt to charge it to 100% occasionally? It would be nice to have a few extra miles of range where I'm going this weekend.

 

[csshih]

it's not as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be. As long as you're not doing it daily you'll be fine.

 

[TexasEV]

Does it hurt to charge it to 100% occasionally? It would be nice to have a few extra miles of range where I'm going this weekend.

That's what it's there for--to use it when you need it. Just don't keep it as your daily setting.

 

[kort677]

if I do forget to reset the charge levels and find the car at 100% I will take it out for a spin and burn off the excess/unneeded charge. it is ok to charge to 100% but it is not ok to let the car sit for a prolonged time at 100%

 

[csshih]

Also, if you have never charged to 100% before, please be aware that you do not have any regen (or it's very low) until you drain the pack a little bit.

 

[thecloud]

Also, if you have never charged to 100% before, please be aware that you do not have any regen (or it's very low) until you drain the pack a little bit.

I've been noticing that I get the little yellow caution triangle icon next to the regen portion of the power meter graph after I've charged to 90%. However, regen braking still seems fully active. (As you say, if you charge to 100% then there is no regen braking ability, and it can be disconcerting if you've gotten into the habit of one-pedal driving.)