@privater, I received different information than you about fully charging the new S60. I recently ordered an S60D (set to hit production first week of August). I asked my delivery specialist the same question about charging, and he said that the software limitation makes 15 kWh of the battery completely dormant by taking it off line so that it's as if those 15 kWh don't truly exist. The down side is that you still should only charge to 80-90% regularly for longevity of the 60 kWh you're using. The upside is that while the 60 kWh you're using will slowing degrade and loose maximum charging potential, the 15 kWh that is dormant will not. That means that if you ever upgrade and activate the additional 15 kWh, you will have a larger battery capacity than if you had paid for the full 75 kWh up front (in which the capacity of the extra 15 kWh would degrade along with the rest of the battery).
I think this would make sense if the batteries are wired in parallel as this cite indicates (Battery Pack - Tesla Motors Wiki). If you're charging to 80%, then each set of cells in parallel is only charged to 80%. So if that is what maximizes battery capacity over time, then you would still need to charge to only 80% even if sets of cells amounting to 15 kWh were taken off line. Put another way if you have five 15-kWh cups (e.g., S75) and the idea is to only fill each cup to 80%, then closing off one 15-kWh cup doesn't change what needs to be done—namely, the other 4 cups (e.g., S60) should still only be filled to 80% most of the time.
So I would double check with your Tesla technician to make sure you have the full picture. I had the same though as you, but that was assuming the software limitation was a permanent 80% limitation on how much the battery would charge. But instead it seems that the car software charges in the same manner on both the S60 and S75, the only difference being that 15 kWh of the battery is switched off (like a physical electrical switch) on the S60.
That being said, maintaining battery life may be a bit more complicated than just charging to 80%. For example, I've had a LEAF for 3 years, and it just hit it's 30k-mile service a couple of weeks ago. In that time, I have fully charged the car every day with a handful of exceptions, and have yet to see any loss of bars in my 12-bar battery capacity meter. That may be because my round-trip commute is 46+ miles. Even driving really efficiently, I get to work with 75% or less capacity and get home with 40% or less capacity. And in the winter I get home with 30% or less capacity. So even though the car has been fully charged every day, it spends around half the time at 75% or less capacity. I've also read that charging to 80% may not be as important as trying to only charge the car when it goes below 80%. For most Tesla owners who use around 20% or less of the battery on a typical day, this means only charging to 80% if you want to keep the car plugged in all the time when at home. But if you have a really long commute, or like to drive on the aggressive side, you may use enough battery capacity over the course of a day that charging the car to 100% every night isn't an issue.
My Tesla delivery specialist also said that using the SpCs frequently affects maximum battery capacity. Adding another reason, in addition to long SpC lines, to get a Level 2 charging solution installed at home and use it most of the time.
I think this would make sense if the batteries are wired in parallel as this cite indicates (Battery Pack - Tesla Motors Wiki). If you're charging to 80%, then each set of cells in parallel is only charged to 80%. So if that is what maximizes battery capacity over time, then you would still need to charge to only 80% even if sets of cells amounting to 15 kWh were taken off line. Put another way if you have five 15-kWh cups (e.g., S75) and the idea is to only fill each cup to 80%, then closing off one 15-kWh cup doesn't change what needs to be done—namely, the other 4 cups (e.g., S60) should still only be filled to 80% most of the time.
So I would double check with your Tesla technician to make sure you have the full picture. I had the same though as you, but that was assuming the software limitation was a permanent 80% limitation on how much the battery would charge. But instead it seems that the car software charges in the same manner on both the S60 and S75, the only difference being that 15 kWh of the battery is switched off (like a physical electrical switch) on the S60.
That being said, maintaining battery life may be a bit more complicated than just charging to 80%. For example, I've had a LEAF for 3 years, and it just hit it's 30k-mile service a couple of weeks ago. In that time, I have fully charged the car every day with a handful of exceptions, and have yet to see any loss of bars in my 12-bar battery capacity meter. That may be because my round-trip commute is 46+ miles. Even driving really efficiently, I get to work with 75% or less capacity and get home with 40% or less capacity. And in the winter I get home with 30% or less capacity. So even though the car has been fully charged every day, it spends around half the time at 75% or less capacity. I've also read that charging to 80% may not be as important as trying to only charge the car when it goes below 80%. For most Tesla owners who use around 20% or less of the battery on a typical day, this means only charging to 80% if you want to keep the car plugged in all the time when at home. But if you have a really long commute, or like to drive on the aggressive side, you may use enough battery capacity over the course of a day that charging the car to 100% every night isn't an issue.
My Tesla delivery specialist also said that using the SpCs frequently affects maximum battery capacity. Adding another reason, in addition to long SpC lines, to get a Level 2 charging solution installed at home and use it most of the time.
