Short Commute Charge Limit?

[mxmissile]

New Y owner. With my new job, I commute only 6 (3 each way) miles a day (I know... I know... I should walk!).

Could I get some direction on where my daily charge limit should be set to maximize battery health long term?

 

[jcanoe]

For such a short commute you could set the daily limit to 60% to 70% and be fine. Don't forget about preconditioning before you drive. In the A.M. the Tesla will likely be plugged in. When you leave work in the P.M. you will want to precondition for ~5 or 10 minutes. Preconditioning when not plugged in can use a couple of % of the battery charge to warm the battery and the passenger cabin to your preferred temperature before you drive.

What is your home charging setup? Are you using the Tesla Mobile Connector that come with the Tesla vehicle or the Tesla Wall Connector? If you are charging at 120V and the 12 amp limit of a 15 amp circuit this will charge at ~4 miles per hour. If you want to take a longer trip this will require overnight charging to charge to 80% or 90% before you leave.

 

[Rocky_H]

New Y owner. With my new job, I commute only 6 (3 each way) miles a day (I know... I know... I should walk!).

Could I get some direction on where my daily charge limit should be set to maximize battery health long term?

My drive to work is about 2 miles. I'm certainly not going to keep my limit all the way up at 90% when it barely goes down from a few days of driving. I think I have mine about 70%, so I only get down to around 50 or 60% from two or three days at a time of driving, and then I'll plug it in. It's not going to matter much if you plug in every day or wait a few days if you're still staying generally in the middle of the state of charge. There's not some benefit to intentionally running it down, but I just don't want to mess with it every time I get back into the garage.

 

[mxmissile]

For such a short commute you could set the daily limit to 60% to 70% and be fine. Don't forget about preconditioning before you drive. In the A.M. the Tesla will likely be plugged in. When you leave work in the P.M. you will want to precondition for ~5 or 10 minutes. Preconditioning when not plugged in can use a couple of % of the battery charge to warm the battery and the passenger cabin to your preferred temperature before you drive.

What is your home charging setup? Are you using the Tesla Mobile Connector that come with the Tesla vehicle or the Tesla Wall Connector? If you are charging at 120V and the 12 amp limit of a 15 amp circuit this will charge at ~4 miles per hour. If you want to take a longer trip this will require overnight charging to charge to 80% or 90% before you leave.

Thanks, I'm using a 40 amp wall charger at home.

 

[GtiMart]

Same here, 4km to the office. I keep it at 70% and charge when I get close to 50%. I charge higher when I leave for a trip...

 

[Fourdoor]

My daily commute is 50 mile round trip, and I use 60% as my normal charge limit and bump it up to 85% for weekend use.... we have such a huge battery that starting at 60% I can do (in worst case conditions) 120 mile round trip at highway speeds. Range anxiety doesn't exist for me even starting at 60% charge. I only bump it up to 85% for weekend use because I have free charging at work and this means I can do all of my weekend driving for free without having to charge at home.

Keith

 

[ATPMSD]

This is from a laboratory test. You will note maximum battery life is an SOC in the 75%-65% range.

 

[jcanoe]

I've read that the test was conducted on one lithium battery cell, not a Tesla battery pack. Partial charging cycles are not the same as the dynamic stress test (DST) cycles used for the test. Fully charging once a day, for 10 years, would be 3650 full charge cycles. I would be satisfied if at the end of 10 years the battery retained 80% of its original capacity.

 

[ATPMSD]

This is not a test of the Tesla battery. To my knowledge this was a test of the battery type used in Teslas - in a laboratory. The advantage of a lab, of course, is the ability to run controlled tests. I suggest it makes for good “general” guidance.

 

[EVer Hopeful]

I commute only 6 (3 each way) miles a day (I know... I know... I should walk!).

You could always split the difference - drive there, then walk home