Should I Charge Every Day

[Monroematt]

If the Model 3 is rated at 1500 charge cycles, should I charge every day, assuming I study at 80% SOC and only go down to 70% on a daily basis. I'm looking to prolong battery life.

 

[P85_DA]

The battery will most likely outlast your ownership of your car ..lot of threads /opinions on this subject but ultimately not a definitive answer that even Tesla will publish ..use the car, charge as you see fit ..me personally I keep plugged in every day and leave set to 90% as I drive a lot ...I’m at near 100k miles and according to TeslaFi stats..I’m about 9% “degradation” I say this in quotes as only the Tesla BMS knows my batteries true condition ..don’t stress these items and enjoy the car ....only you can make ultimate decision on how you will use your car ...reading forums causes a lot of doubt

 

[jerry33]

1500 charge cycles means 1500 0% to 100%. I doubt you drive that much every day. Reduce the percentage difference of charge and you increase the number of charge cycles (and it's not just additive, it's exponential). As a made up example, if you charge from 40% to 90% every day (50% battery capacity), you don't get 3000 cycles, it's more like 6000 cycles. The shorter the charge amount the more the amount of cycles goes up. The 2013 S I just traded in a few months ago for a 2020 X, had about 8% degradation at 130K miles after seven years. It was charged well over 2500 times because about half the miles were road trip miles, so often there were multiple charges per day. Just do as the manual says and plug in whenever possible for the best battery life.

 

[akenham]

As pre-warning, a lot of effort/worrying/effort over battery preservation beyond what's in the manual may only yield very small, maybe unnoticeable benefits in the time you own the car. Of course, outright abuse (charging to 100% frequently, deep discharge, lots of supercharging) may have a bigger effect.

Having said that...

As others have said shallow cycling is better than deep discharges - it's better to charge a little every day than run the battery down from 80% to 20% before charging.

Try to stay out of the fully charged and deep discharge ranges unless you need it for a trip (<20%, >90%).

Arguably being around 50% is the kindest place for the battery but it's not linear benefit so the difference between cycling 45%->55% vs 70%->80% may be small and not worth the fuss especially as you get the ability to do extra miles when needed without pre-planning in the latter case.

Finally, there's some been some folks that have caused themselves minor trouble with extreme cases of never charging to 80-90% (possible BMS calibration drift, possibly cell balancing issues).

If you want to read (a lot) more: How I Recovered Half of my Battery's Lost Capacity is a good place to start.

But TL;DR

1. Shallow charge cycles are better
2. Daily charging to 80-90% is fine
3. Try not to deep discharge (<20%) unnecessarily - but if you need to do so on a trip don't sweat it.
4. Don't fully charge (100%) unless you need it for a trip and try not to leave it sitting around at 100%
5. Plug in the car when not in use as it can use shore power for preconditioning (and it's ready to do timed charging etc).

 

[jerry33]

As pre-warning, a lot of effort/worrying/effort over battery preservation beyond what's in the manual may only yield very small, maybe unnoticeable benefits in the time you own the car. Of course, outright abuse (charging to 100% frequently, deep discharge, lots of supercharging) may have a bigger effect.

Having said that...

As others have said shallow cycling is better than deep discharges - it's better to charge a little every day than run the battery down from 80% to 20% before charging.

Try to stay out of the fully charged and deep discharge ranges unless you need it for a trip (<20%, >90%).

Arguably being around 50% is the kindest place for the battery but it's not linear benefit so the difference between cycling 45%->55% vs 70%->80% may be small and not worth the fuss especially as you get the ability to do extra miles when needed without pre-planning in the latter case.

Finally, there's some been some folks that have caused themselves minor trouble with extreme cases of never charging to 80-90% (possible BMS calibration drift, possibly cell balancing issues).

If you want to read (a lot) more: How I Recovered Half of my Battery's Lost Capacity is a good place to start.

But TL;DR

1. Shallow charge cycles are better
2. Daily charging to 80-90% is fine
3. Try not to deep discharge (<20%) unnecessarily - but if you need to do so on a trip don't sweat it.
4. Don't fully charge (100%) unless you need it for a trip and try not to leave it sitting around at 100%
5. Plug in the car when not in use as it can use shore power for preconditioning (and it's ready to do timed charging etc).

6. Whenever Supercharging, drive to the location using the Nav system so that the battery will precondition (if needed).

 

[SmartElectric]

I'm looking to prolong battery life.

If you are OK with 15 years of battery life, do whatever, don't do anything special either way, don't read anything just plug in.
If you need 25 years of battery life, then micro-manage your charging and garage your car, perform every possible maintenance, scrub off rust, and plan for 10 sets of tires (you'll need them).

In 7.5 years of EV driving and daily charging, the battery packs in all three EV's (different brands) I've owned never dropped below 95% original capacity.

 

[nwdiver]

should I charge every day,

yes

 

[wooter]

ABC. Always Be Charging. A plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla.

Is ABC "Always Be Charging" bad for battery life?

Having said that, this is also fine information:

If you want to read (a lot) more: How I Recovered Half of my Battery's Lost Capacity is a good place to start.

 

[Brando]

If the Model 3 is rated at 1500 charge cycles, should I charge every day, assuming I study at 80% SOC and only go down to 70% on a daily basis. I'm looking to prolong battery life.

IF you can keep state of charge between 30% - 70% it might last easily a million miles. I don't think it would degrade at all.

(not sure, you might need to charge to 100% to get full balancing? from the BMS - Battery Management System - any experts out there?)
As soon as you reach 100% it is best to start driving, don't wait.

 

[jerry33]

IF you can keep state of charge between 30% - 70% it might last easily a million miles. I don't think it would degrade at all.

Unlikely. First time degrades batteries even with zero driving. Second, lower than 50% creates more heat than above 50% which degrades batteries. Just charge to 90% and don't worry about it. There won't be enough difference in the degradation to notice.

 

[Brando]

Unlikely. First time degrades batteries even with zero driving. Second, lower than 50% creates more heat than above 50% which degrades batteries. Just charge to 90% and don't worry about it. There won't be enough difference in the degradation to notice.

I only think I know what I think I have read. You are no doubt more right than me. Can you remember/suggest article(s)/talk(s) that would help explain? just for my curiosity

Why own a vehicle if you aren't using it? Don't get a BEV to see how little you can degrade the battery - drive it - that is why it was made for.
And certainly don't obsess about battery life - ENJOY your ride. If you actually wear-out a battery - good for you - consider replacement.


PS - think I've read if you store a cell at a low temperature it won't degrade - you?
thanks.
(no reply expected, nor actually needed)

 

[jerry33]

I only think I know what I think I have read. You are no doubt more right than me. Can you remember/suggest article(s)/talk(s) that would help explain? just for my curiosity

Why own a vehicle if you aren't using it? Don't get a BEV to see how little you can degrade the battery - drive it - that is why it was made for.
And certainly don't obsess about battery life - ENJOY your ride. If you actually wear-out a battery - good for you - consider replacement.


PS - think I've read if you store a cell at a low temperature it won't degrade - you?
thanks.
(no reply expected, nor actually needed)

Google for battery university. Lots of information there although sometimes it's dated.
Here is a older post about how it works by @hcsharp.
My point was to just charge to 90% and don't worry about it.