Stay in car or Eat/shop while supercharging?

[JetFalcon]

So I've done a few supercharging sessions in the half month of driving the Model 3. And at the dealership, they always say you can go eat / shop while you're supercharging. To make the idea of charging sound less shitty.

But when I go to superchargers, I see some people who just stay in their car. Mostly older people not really millenial looking people. I thought everyone was on the same page that you're supposed to make most of your time supercharging by eating / getting coffee / shopping at whatever was around the super charger. But seems some people just stay in their car and literally wait there doing nothing.

Seems kinda depressing to just wait in your car because charging takes like an hour. So far, I only tried supercharging because it's free (6 months) and just for the heck of it.

I thought Tesla super charging stations would be some kind of Tesla owners gathering place where you can talk to other Tesla owners. Like a hang out, but it's not really like that, just seems like a place people don't wanna be at but have to. I just find it depressing when I see people just sitting in their car doing nothing, especially if the surrounding business are still open.

Plus, I tried explaining to my mom that while supercharging, it best to do shopping / get food while charging so you're not waiting around for an hour doing nothing. But she wanted to stay in the car, which I did not understand why, but whatever.

Maybe if I have to go on a roadtrip and need to charge in a rural area with nothing around or businesses are closed, I should bring some chairs and a camp fire to pass the time. I wonder if other Tesla owners would be down for that idea or if they're gonna be lame and just sit in their cars.

 

[DCGOO]

It just depends on your agenda and how long since, or until you need a meal or potty break. I have found that supercharging is not a social event. Rarely does anyone speak to someone else. Honestly, I might go grab a drink and then go back to the car and watch my favorite news channel or a movie for a while. After all the car is a pretty pleasant place. But It is rare that I have to sit for more than 20 minutes. It is nothing like taking the RV into a campground, heheh

Real Road trips requiring multiple charging stops are quite a bit different than local travel, or even trips less than 200 miles requiring a single stop in the day.

 

[dedicatedtek]

It all depends on location and the people there at that time. My first experience was in Denton Texas. I arrived where every stall was full, and I needed to charge to get home. One of those charging at the time moved before finishing and motioned me to take their spot. Started chatting with everyone there, most friendly bunch I'd met.

 

[ajdelange]

When you get to be my age you will understand why some of us just want to sit in the car and listen to the radio or surf the net.

If you bought the car to enhance your social experience perhaps you could find (or maybe even start) a local Tesla club.

Also keep in mind that the charging strategy generally espoused and emphasized by programs like ABRP is to arrive with the battery pretty low (10 - 20%) and only add enough charge to get you to the next charger with 10 - 20% remaining. This keeps the SoC in the region where the battery accepts charge most rapidly and often involves only 10 - 30 min. charging. Try planning a few trips with ABRP and I think you will see this.

So you arrive some where, plug in and wander off to a restaurant which takes 5 minutes to walk to. You sit down and order and by the time your food comes there are only 10 minutes left to go in the charging cycle. You have 10 minutes to wolf it down leaving you 5 minutes to get back to the car and disconnect before the idling fee kicks in.

I guess there are ways around this. As you see end of charge approach you could always up the target charge level to get you more time in the restaurant. Or if the app shows more than half the stalls available then there will be no wait fee and you can relax and finish you meal (but as the car is sitting there while you do you might as well up the target and take more charge.

If the charging station is not busy this is all fine but if you got the last stall and the app shows every stall taken that would be, IMO, a bit unethical. As more and more Teslas hit the road I think the idea of the charging station as a place to "hang out" is going to be fading.

 

[JetFalcon]

When you get to be my age you will understand why some of us just want to sit in the car and listen to the radio or surf the net.

I guess there are ways around this. As you see end of charge approach you could always up the target charge level to get you more time in the restaurant. Or if the app shows more than half the stalls available then there will be no wait fee and you can relax and finish you meal (but as the car is sitting there while you do you might as well up the target and take more charge.

I usually aim for 90%, since they say that's the max charge level that Teslas can hold without degrading the battery. But I'll just push the bar to 100% to give me more time to shop / eat to give me more time if I spend more time than expected, so it's still charging and not incurring idle fees. Then walk back to my car and maybe my car is at 92-95%.

Hopefully, charging a little over 90% or to 100% is better than the cost of idle fees, with the thought of slightly degrading your battery faster.

 

[JetFalcon]

Plus, if someone complains about supercharging about how it takes too long, can it be seen as like you get a free lunch / dinner compared to if you had to pay $50-60 to fill up an empty gas tank? Since usually most supercharging are around restaurants. And plus most gas cars will eventually be sitting in a parking lot for an hour while its owners are eating?

Even if your restaurant selection was slim, or the supercharging was only around sit down restaurants with $15+ items and you only wanted some cheap food that time, is eating more expensive food plus supercharging on low charge going to be less expensive than filling up a car on low gas?

 

[ajdelange]

You should avoid charging above 90% if it isn't really necessary as doing that too often will shorten the battery life. It would be better for the battery if you set the limit to 70 or 80%. Then if you want to extend the restaurant time you could up to 80 or 90%. All assuming, of course, that there isn't a queue of cars waiting for a stall.

 

[animorph]

We've Supercharged plenty of times on trips and rarely have to wait longer than 30 minutes. Very different than using it like a local gas station since we're just getting enough charge to make the next Supercharger, 50%-80% SoC at the end is pretty common. And usually no crowd, so it's easy to say hi if someone else is there.

If it's time to eat we walk to a nearby restaurant for a meal (once with a couple from Alabama with a Model X we met at the charger). We set the charge limit to 100% to extend the charge time and shorten the wait at the next Supercharger. If we don't need to eat we walk around to see whatever is interesting, mostly just to stretch out a bit. Certainly always a bathroom break for me. When we get the "almost done charging" message we head back to the car. If we don't feel like walking around, yeah we'll sit in the car and read a while.

While staying at Laurel, MD we were able to do our grocery shopping while charging or have dinner while charging. That's probably the closest to OP's situation. Just need the right location! At Mountain View, CA we got one of the last open chargers, didn't have anything else to do, and hadn't been sitting in the car for three hours traveling. There was a small group of people there, but we didn't feel like talking, so we sat and read for what seemed like forever charging up to 90% at nowhere near maximum power. Yep, that's a drag.

But mostly we just charge in our garage, at the cost of a fraction of a minute to plug in, and don't worry about charging at all.

 

[ewoodrick]

You should avoid charging above 90% if it isn't really necessary as doing that too often will shorten the battery life. It would be better for the battery if you set the limit to 70 or 80%. Then if you want to extend the restaurant time you could up to 80 or 90%. All assuming, of course, that there isn't a queue of cars waiting for a stall.

I'm pretty sure that this is NOT correct. The correct statement is that leaving the battery at 100% charge for long time slightly derates the battery life. Periodic charging to 100% it not only readily accepted, but actually good.

I assume that you also don't charge your cellphone to 100%? It is the same concept.

 

[ewoodrick]

When talking about charging, there are different reasons to charge and hence different concept.

1) Daily chargers, because of either free Supercharging (and they never tern down free) and those who don't have charging capabilities at home or work.
2) Supercharging around town, because you happen to be a little low.
3) Supercharging on a trip.

Folks in category 1, I believe, have created a daily routine and they just do it. Maybe it's a coffee shop, or its the time they read a book. Often on the way home, they have supper waiting on the table.

Catgeory 2 is similar to 1, except that these folks don't have a set activity and are more likely to be roaming around, or maybe sitting in the car catching up on work.

Category 3 is the group that is most likely to eat meals, as they have to find a meal somewhere. But there are folks in this group who seem to only care about getting from point A to B,

And to those who say that charging isn't a social event, if you don't get out of your car, it won't be. We passed the Buford GA Supercharger today and there were a lot of people out talking to each other.

 

[ajdelange]

Set your charge level to 92 or 93% and be sure the car is plugged in every night. Observe what happens after a couple of days. You may change your mind.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I'm pretty sure that this is NOT correct. The correct statement is that leaving the battery at 100% charge for long time slightly derates the battery life. Periodic charging to 100% it not only readily accepted, but actually good.

This is correct.

Set your charge level to 92 or 93% and be sure the car is plugged in every night. Observe what happens after a couple of days. You may change your mind.

Sorry, but I'd stick with what the Tesla engineers tell us -- that charging to 90% or even 100% is perfectly fine and will not degrade the battery. What you may be seeing are cells getting out of balance, not actual battery degradation.

 

[Silicon Desert]

But when I go to superchargers, I see some people who just stay in their car. Mostly older people not really millenial looking people. I thought everyone was on the same page that you're supposed to make most of your time supercharging by eating / getting coffee / shopping at whatever was around the super charger. But seems some people just stay in their car and literally wait there doing nothing.

Interesting that in my travels across the USA, I see just the opposite. It's younger folks sitting in their cars addicted to the cell phones. The older folks (like me) are out walking around to get some exercise because we can't sit in the car very long. After about 3 hours, I am glad to hit an SC so I can get out.

 

[Silicon Desert]

You should avoid charging above 90% if it isn't really necessary as doing that too often will shorten the battery life. It would be better for the battery if you set the limit to 70 or 80%. Then if you want to extend the restaurant time you could up to 80 or 90%. All assuming, of course, that there isn't a queue of cars waiting for a stall.

Pretty obvious that you are not one of the battery engineers I consult with from time to time at Panasonic. They don't agree with your statement.

HankLoydRright said it perfectly. The main problem is leaving the car at a top end charge rate instead off driving off a lot of that charge, such as on a long trip. It's actually not a bad idea to fully charge on occasion when you have a need to run off some of that charge soon after you do it. I'll give your statement the benefit of the doubt as you say "if it isn't necessary" If on a trip, and a long distance to the next SC, then it might become necessary and maybe that is what you mean.

 

[AudubonB]

Another reason you will learn as you become accustomed to the SpC way of traveling is that, on your 43rd time at the {FillTheBlank} location, you really, truly don't need to explore that mall or fast food joint hosting the charger any further.

 

[PDX-JP]

When talking about charging, there are different reasons to charge and hence different concept.

1) Daily chargers, because of either free Supercharging (and they never tern down free) and those who don't have charging capabilities at home or work.
2) Supercharging around town, because you happen to be a little low.
3) Supercharging on a trip.

Folks in category 1, I believe, have created a daily routine and they just do it. Maybe it's a coffee shop, or its the time they read a book. Often on the way home, they have supper waiting on the table.

Catgeory 2 is similar to 1, except that these folks don't have a set activity and are more likely to be roaming around, or maybe sitting in the car catching up on work.

Category 3 is the group that is most likely to eat meals, as they have to find a meal somewhere. But there are folks in this group who seem to only care about getting from point A to B,

And to those who say that charging isn't a social event, if you don't get out of your car, it won't be. We passed the Buford GA Supercharger today and there were a lot of people out talking to each other.

Yep, I’m category 1 (no ability to charge at home). I’m retired so I go twice a week during non-peak hours. I’m usually charging from 35/40% to 80% so it only takes 30 minutes. Sometimes I walk around and sometimes I sit in the car I read.

 

[roblab]

Interesting that in my travels across the USA, I see just the opposite. It's younger folks sitting in their cars addicted to the cell phones. The older folks (like me) are out walking around to get some exercise because we can't sit in the car very long. After about 3 hours, I am glad to hit an SC so I can get out.

Well, Milli and I generally sit and read a good book. Improves your mind. AND you can get out and walk over to the restrooms or buy a coffee so you can use the restroom at the next charger. Who says old people are boring??

JK. Driving EVs are way more relaxing than driving a gas car, and having to stop every couple hundred miles for coffee and bathroom (somehow those are related) is over rated. Personally, I don't need coffee and have found that I can skip superchargers, at least here in CA. You don't want to know any more than that, and it's possible that was too much.

 

[ajdelange]

You should avoid charging above 90% if it isn't really necessary as doing that too often will shorten the battery life

Pretty obvious that you are not one of the battery engineers I consult with from time to time at Panasonic. They don't agree with your statement.

Please have these battery engineers get in contact with Tesla and inform them of this so that Tesla can remove the caution that appears on the touch screen if you charge to over 90% for more than a couple of nights. It says that continuing to do so will degrade battery life.

 

[dgatwood]

Please have these battery engineers get in contact with Tesla and inform them of this so that Tesla can remove the caution that appears on the touch screen if you charge to over 90% for more than a couple of nights. It says that continuing to do so will degrade battery life.

The warning message is correct. When we say that it is fine to charge for 100% and then drain off that power, we mean immediately, not the next morning.

 

[Jonikay]

I’ve only used a supercharger 4 times since I got my X 6 mos ago. In SoCal I see limits on the charging time. Very frustrating. I was driving on the 405 after driving friends at LAX and my battery was showing 15% which wasn’t enough to get home. I stopped in Redondo Beach at a supercharging (Hilton garden inn) and was surprised to see a sign saying I could only charge for 40 min. That wouldn’t give me enough battery to get home. Luck for me att stalls were open so I didn’t feel bad staying longer. Does anyone know if you get charged for staying longer if it’s busy. Is the time limit just a suggestion? Also I noticed at another charging when someone took the stall next to me my charging rate dropped very low. What original was shown as 70 min ended up closer to 105 min. Is this normal?