I’m just curious what everyone generally set their charge battery limit to on their model 3. I don’t commute for work much, mainly taking kids to practices in the evenings so I set mine to 70% and charge every other day. Thursday night I set it to 80% knowing the weekend is coming up since I drive more on Fridays and Saturdays. Seems to be working. I get it down to about 25-35% before I charge up most of the time.
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Set Charge Limit
- Thread starter ngogas
- Start date
dhrivnak
Active Member
I set mine at 90% because on the Roadster you needed to be above 80% for balancing to occur and that is what my Ranger recommended. I would also plug in most every night as many shallow charges are better than bigger charges.
Canuck
Well-Known Member
If you plug in more often you will have much shallower cycles which is proven to prolong battery life, and lessen degradation, so you should plug in whenever you can.
How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University
A connected Model S is a happy Model S
New owners, PLEASE read the owners manual, especially the battery section. Then you would know about things like plugging in when you can, and not waiting until you “need” a charge, is better for the battery.
See, I was nice and polite this time. I didn’t say RTFM. But you know what I was thinking.
See, I was nice and polite this time. I didn’t say RTFM. But you know what I was thinking.
Canuck
Well-Known Member
From the Battery University site above:
Higher charge limits means more electrons to deal with which degrades the cathode. Ideally you want to cycle around 50%, so 90% is ideal if you're getting down to 10% before charging again. Unless you need 90% daily, you're better off with the 70% you are using, then bumping it up to 80% for weekends. But really, I doubt it would make much of a difference if you set it at 80% and left it there.
There's a reason 90% is at the high end of the daily driving range. It's still fine but not ideal, again unless you have a very long commute before being able to charge again.
Higher charge limits means more electrons to deal with which degrades the cathode. Ideally you want to cycle around 50%, so 90% is ideal if you're getting down to 10% before charging again. Unless you need 90% daily, you're better off with the 70% you are using, then bumping it up to 80% for weekends. But really, I doubt it would make much of a difference if you set it at 80% and left it there.
There's a reason 90% is at the high end of the daily driving range. It's still fine but not ideal, again unless you have a very long commute before being able to charge again.
israndy
Supercharger Hunter
I charge mine to 50% (if it needs it), that way when I am out and about and find free charging I can partake. I originally kept it topped up until I kept finding charging at the movie theater or where ever and I didn't have a use for it. So I didn't wanna take the electric car space away from someone who CAN use it, so I had to pay for parking. If I don't pay for electricity I don't have to pay for parking, nice!
50% of 310 miles means I still have 155 miles I can go in my day. If I discover I need to go farther I can always supercharge, costs the same as charging at home. There are LOTS of choices in Supercharging in a 155-mile circle from my house.
-Randy
ps. I know, PG&E doesn't charge $.26/kWh. I don't have PG&E, my power company doesn't have time-of-day rates yet, so they just credit me $15/mo for every EV VIN I have. I get that even if I never charge at home.
50% of 310 miles means I still have 155 miles I can go in my day. If I discover I need to go farther I can always supercharge, costs the same as charging at home. There are LOTS of choices in Supercharging in a 155-mile circle from my house.
-Randy
ps. I know, PG&E doesn't charge $.26/kWh. I don't have PG&E, my power company doesn't have time-of-day rates yet, so they just credit me $15/mo for every EV VIN I have. I get that even if I never charge at home.
@TexasEV gotcha.
I assume doesn’t matter how much you charge. So long as the range is between 50-90% on a daily....
What a waste of a battery resource. Might as well install a fiat 500e battery in the Tesla.
I ran my fiat battery down to like 1% many many times and charge it to 100% every day.
After 3 years 36,000 miles. I had 0 range loss. I can still drive 85-88 miles on a full charge the day I returned the lease.
dhrivnak
Active Member
Yes I have had the Roadster for 7 1/2 years now. And yes frequent shallow charges is what is recommended.
Falkirk
Member
I also charge to 70% daily but when I went to charge 100% on the weekend I found the range to be 12% lower than 4 months ago when new. Does shallow charging mess up the balancing over the months? I've reached out to Tesla to confirm there's no issue but I can say I was surprised I had "lost" 60km even though I'm at 100% in 4 months. I did another 100% charge this morning and it's the same, a little less actually.
Thanks
Thanks
WhiteMountains
Member
When I got my car, the service person recommended 80% based on my limited daily commute, so that is what I have been using. The rules seem to be: the closer to 50%, the better on average, but there is very little statistical difference when you get below 70-80%. Setting it above 90% will almost certainly lower your battery life. You want to have enough charge that you can make an unexpected long trip, but otherwise lower is statistically better in the very long term. 70-90% is all good with 70-80 being a little better for long battery life.
SeanM
Member
I have owned my M-3 (long range) for about a month. I have kept the charging limit at 90%, this shows range 270 miles (actual range is always less due to vampire drain, driving styles.. etc.). I recharge when the range shows between 90-100 miles remaining. I remember while taking the M3 delivery, the Tesla Delivery Rep said to charge whenever the battery reaches around 20% and set the charge limit at 90%.or below.
As such, a "worse case" scenario, the battery still has a 8 year warranty. On a positive note, there will be a ton of R&D done on batteries, so our current batteries will be 'obsolete' by the end of 8 years, even the Model-3 will change (just like Iphone did in past decade).
Hence, chin up & enjoy your toy. ;-)
As such, a "worse case" scenario, the battery still has a 8 year warranty. On a positive note, there will be a ton of R&D done on batteries, so our current batteries will be 'obsolete' by the end of 8 years, even the Model-3 will change (just like Iphone did in past decade).
Hence, chin up & enjoy your toy. ;-)
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