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Recommended charge level.
- Thread starter liuster
- Start date
Many will explain how that would be dependent on your situation, such as how far you travel daily and your charging options. Others will explain the simplified approach, which is to charge to no more than 80-90% for daily use and only charge to 100% when absolutely necessary, such as for long trips.
In my opinion, if you're not driving very far on a daily basis, I would try to cycle the battery as close to 50% as possible. This is the State of Charge that involves the slowest rate of battery degradation.
You're probably overthinking it. For best health of the batteries long term, more toward a middle state of charge is the most ideal. But that's definitely not practical for using the car. So move it up more to what comfortably gives you enough range to use the car stress free. That's why the car has that display showing a broad range from 50% to 90% as the DAILY range. So just find whatever balance in there you're comfortable with.
To clarify, cycling the battery around 50% SoC is the ideal scenario for longevity in my opinion.. it doesn’t have to be as close as possible.
For example, I generally cycle the SoC between 35 and 65 since our MY doesn’t travel more than 100 miles every 4 days. This equates to charging every 3-5 days, which is how I like to roll.
This technique also allows for the BMS to complete important capacity calibration tasks at various SoC. The full charge range estimate can be reduced when the MY has not been given opportunities to Sleep (8+ hours) at various SoC. Every 8-12 weeks I throw in a low or high SoC scenario (25% or 75%), interchanging between the two, so that it can get a new sample at these rarely used SoC’s.
I tend to analyze and get scientific with these sorta things.. and these are my observations when it comes to charge practices and things to be aware of. I also have a background in lithium battery management and have a plethora of batteries to maintain for all kinds of uses, from 700mm RC helicopters, to drones, to lawn care equipment, to DIY home lithium battery backup solutions, etc.
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Tesla's recommended daily charging threshold is displayed in the Tesla App on the Charging screen. For daily use the battery graphic displaying the battery state of charge (SOC) between 50% and 90% is bracketed with 90% to 100% SOC reserved for trips. So to be clear, for daily use you can safely set the charging limit anywhere between 50% and 90% to meet your daily driving needs.
whisperingshad
Active Member
The OP's question was Tesla's recommendation on the percentage of charge level for charging the batteries not the upper and lower bounds of normal use. The Tesla charging screen shows the recommended daily charging level in brackets (50% to 90%) with 100% charging reserved for trips.
Agree with this. During my first year, I meticulously only charged to 80%, and always at home. Last week, Tesla service told me that my battery still has 90.5% capacity. They call that "normal". Staying below 80% still gave me almost 10% degradation. Meh. I bumped it up to 85% immediately after.
I agree. I have mine set to 80%, then at the end of the day of driving (California commute) it is down to around 30%. If you're going to go a long distance, set it to 100% the night before on those occasions. Also, if you are out-and-about and need a SuperCharger, be sure to set it as a destination before you arrive since it preconditions the battery. And stop the SuperCharging at around 80% or 90%. That last bit takes quite awhile to actually get to 100%.
Scott
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MYLR | Red ext | White int | 19" | 5 seats | tow | no FSD | made/delivered Oct 2021
Yep. The first year or two will typically see the biggest drop, with the degradation tapering off to a slower rate after that.
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