Thoughts and experience of 110 volt charging

[hsfrank]

I am a new MY owner. I took delivery on December 24 so I was fortunate to get the $7500 discount and 10000 miles free supercharger. Since thone free miles did not kick in until Jan 6, I decided. to go with the mobile connecter and my 20 amp household outlet that was already in the garage. There were two overriding factors that affected this decision . The first was cost $800-$1000 to install a 220 volt outlet in the garage. The second was our driving needs. We do mostly local driving and very few if any long road trips.
Accordingly my routine was to garage the MY and plug in. I had no problem achieving and maintaining a 90% charge by the next morning. Once my supercharge miles kicked in my routine changed. I now let it run down to 40 or 50% and charge it up to 90%. I am now away and I charged to 100% and garaged it unplugged to see my average loss. I disabled Sentry and Cabin Overheat.
I also am fortunate to live within 1/4 mile of a WAWA supercharger. I plan to maintain the practice until my free miles finish.
I would appreciate any thoughts as to whether using a supercharger exclusively will dame or affect battery life, performance or warrantees.

 

[Richh001]

Probably not a good idea to charge to 100% and leave it that way for an extended period. Let us know in a year after exclusively supercharging what your range loss is.

 

[hsfrank]

Probably not a good idea to charge to 100% and leave it that way for an extended period. Let us know in a year after exclusively supercharging what your range loss is.

Actually, I am away for 14 days. I wanted to make sure that if I go away and have to leave it at the airport that I could still have enough range to get home or to a charger. I don’t intend to charge it to 100 % unless I have a long trip.

 

[karkrazy]

Actually, I am away for 14 days. I wanted to make sure that if I go away and have to leave it at the airport that I could still have enough range to get home or to a charger. I don’t intend to charge it to 100 % unless I have a long trip.

With sentry/COP turned off, and if you resist checking the app and waking the car constantly, your charge loss will be minimal. I have a MYP and it has been a loss of about 1% loss for every week parked unplugged. I usually have it at about 40-50% SOC when parked for any length of time.

 

[jcanoe]

I have had occasion to leave my Tesla Model Y at home in my garage for a week. I left the Model Y with 70% state of charge, returned to find ~1% loss of state of charge (charging connector unplugged, vehicle unlocked, Sentry mode set to be off when parked at my Home location, no FSD so no Summon standby.)

Don't routinely open the Tesla app while you are away as this will cause the Tesla Model Y to awaken from the sleep/deep sleep mode where power use in minimal and use more power while in Standby mode.

Charging to 100% if needed before leaving on a trip is OK. You will probably not need to charge above 80% to 90% before starting a trip if you drive the interstate road network and use the Supercharger network. I would not charge to 100% and leave the battery at 100% for extended period, especially in warmer weather.

A Better Route Planner (ABRP), available on the web and as an app for your phone can help you to plan your charging stops on a trip. The standard version of ABRP is currently free to use. You can customize your settings for vehicle, speed, temperature, road conditions and passenger/cargo load. You can set your preference as far as fewer, shorter charging stops or less frequent but longer charging stops.

 

[thesmokingman]

Ugh... excruciatingly slow.

 

[jcanoe]

120V charging at home works well if you drive less than ~30 miles per day and charge using a 120V/15A circuit that adds 3 to 4 miles of range per hour while charging. (120V/20A charging is better, enables adding 6 to 7 miles of range per hour while charging if you use the Tesla Mobile Connector and have the Tesla NEMA 5-20 power plug adapter.

Studies have consistently shown that most people commute ~30 miles per day. As long as you have 10 hours or more available to charge then 120V charging may be all that you need. 120V charging in colder temperatures can be challenging as charging times will be longer depending on how often the Tesla Model Y needs to pause charging to warm the battery. You can help ensure that the battery is warm enough to begin charging by plugging in and charging as soon as you arrive home from driving. (Using this strategy for cold weather charging at 120V may not enable you to take advantage of off-peak utility rates while charging.)

 

[Dirtman16]

I personally would not rely on 120V charging unless my commute was relatively short AND I had a supercharger within relatively close proximity. It sounds like both of those may apply to you OP.

When I first got my car, the nearest supercharger was 25 minutes away (towards nothing useful). I also occasionally drive 100+ miles per day work, so the ability to refill quickly overnight on Level 2 is a big plus.

 

[herrlich98]

Note that regular charging with Level 2 (240V) or Level 1 (120V) is recommended for regular charging but generally SuperCharging is not although I couldn't quickly find an official reference on that. Unless you have one of those LPF (sp?) batteries you should avoid staying near above 90% or below 20% for long.

 

[kavyboy]

I've been using 110V exclusively, other than road trips, for years. With my driving habits in my climate, it's been just fine. Yes, it's slow, but it's not like I'm in the garage twiddling my thumbs while it charges.

 

[Darmie]

In 2017 I was working out of town and living at an apartment. That's when I purchased my first tesla. It was a 75 RWD Model S. We rented a garage at the complex and that's where we charged the car using 120V. This worked out well for we would only drive the Model S during weekends and a few nights a week. We would usually do day trips on the weekends and if we ever needed to top off the charge, we would head to the local Supercharger that morning. 120 is very doable if you are not driving the vehicle that much and it sounds like it may work for you. Sure we all want faster charging at home but I'm sure this will work out. It was never recommended to supercharge the vehicle often. I think that was related to the throttling that would happen to the older model S/X vehicles. I'm not sure if that's the case with the MY. I would hold off on using up all my free supercharging miles so to get some road trips in and charge at home as needed.

 

[GalacticHero]

I charged my M3 for a year using 110V with a 25 miles commute to the office. Plugged it in when I got home and left it to charge until the next day. I'd lose a little bit of range every day since even over night wasn't enough to restore 25 miles used, but then had all weekend to top back up. My work is also 1 mile from a Supercharger; so, I could also top up there if I had a lot of driving during the week. It worked out fine, but after the first year I did install a 240V outlet in the garage to make it a bit more convenient, especially after I used up all my free Supercharger miles.

 

[BitJam]

I would appreciate any thoughts as to whether using a supercharger exclusively will dame or affect battery life, performance or warrantees.

Using a supercharger exclusively is one of the worst things you can do to your battery. Mix in some AC charging and you'll be fine. It does not affect the warranty but it can significantly decrease the life of your battery.

 

[240vPlug]

Avoid charging to 100% ....especially avoid charging to 100% and letting the car sit. If your leaving for a long road trip its ok to charge to 100% right before you drive off.

 

[jcanoe]

I have not seen the data that shows that exclusively charging using a Supercharger to charge the Tesla Model Y is bad for the battery. There are many variables. How many times a week is too many? Is an Urban Supercharger (72kW maximum) better for the battery than using a V2 (150kW maximum) or V3 (250kW current maximum)?

Retained capacity is what we are concerned with, right? One thing that has been documented is that for about the first 5 years it is the calendar aging of the battery that has the greatest effect on the maximum capacity of the battery, it decreases over time no matter how you charge.

 

[240vPlug]

I have not seen the data that shows that exclusively charging using a Supercharger to charge the Tesla Model Y is bad for the battery. There are many variables. How many times a week is too many? Is an Urban Supercharger (72kW maximum) better for the battery than using a V2 (150kW maximum) or V3 (250kW current maximum)?

Retained capacity is what we are concerned with, right? One thing that has been documented is that for about the first 5 years it is the calendar aging of the battery that has the greatest effect on the maximum capacity of the battery, it decreases over time no matter how you charge.

I agree. The examples I have seen...mostly youtubers...are fairly normal degradation for the time and mileage. The BMS does a good job at preventing premature degradation. It probably does cause more degradation but the amount is likely very little.

The problem is supercharging as the primary source of charging is the cost. As an example on a recent road trip it was running me about 36 cents per kwh for supercharging. I pay less than 11 cents per kwh for home charging.

 

[hsfrank]

Thanks to all those who replied.

 

[israndy]

No one mentioned that the 120v charging is less efficient. You will recoup the cost of the 240v install eventually just on charging losses. But that might not be a big deal for you as many people pay very little for electricity or have solar panels.

I always hear that HEAT is the big issue for battery life, and when I Supercharge in the summer I know the battery will be loudly working to keep the heat down and it always makes me wonder if I just went to the Supercharger twice or three times as often if the battery not getting a chance to get so hot would benefit it's overall life or not. The Tesla is pretty good about ejecting heat, but it may still be that Supercharging will always get ahead of what the car can dissipate quickly enough.

 

[jcanoe]

No one mentioned that the 120v charging is less efficient. You will recoup the cost of the 240v install eventually just on charging losses. But that might not be a big deal for you as many people pay very little for electricity or have solar panels.

I always hear that HEAT is the big issue for battery life, and when I Supercharge in the summer I know the battery will be loudly working to keep the heat down and it always makes me wonder if I just went to the Supercharger twice or three times as often if the battery not getting a chance to get so hot would benefit it's overall life or not. The Tesla is pretty good about ejecting heat, but it may still be that Supercharging will always get ahead of what the car can dissipate quickly enough.

While charging at 120V is less efficient (perhaps ~10% less efficient) than charging at 240V in most cases it would take many years of charging at 240V to recoup the cost of installing a 240V charging circuit. I.e. if you save $100 per year (10% of $1000 annual charging cost) it would take more than 10 or 12 years to recoup the cost of a typical 240V charging circuit and equipment.

Tesla has an advanced battery management system. If you navigate to a Supercharger using the Tesla Navigation system the Tesla Model Y will actively warm the battery for Supercharging to ensure the fastest, most efficient Supercharger charging session. While charging the Tesla battery management system will maintain the optimal battery temperature. Once Supercharging has been completed the Tesla Model Y will cool the battery, not leave the battery at the higher temperature (122F) used for optimal Supercharging.

 

[Mateo83]

I tried the 110v in the garage once because I didn't feel like turning the car around to reach the 220v. The estimated charging time was 24 Hours.