Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

To plug in og not to plug in, that`s the question!

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Untill recently Tesla adviced me to not plug in unless I had to charge due to errors etc when the charging completed (live in Norway), but a recent softwareupdate fixed this and now it just says charging complete etc. I know taht Tesla advises me to have the car plugged in at all times, but the circuit at home is a bit unstable, which still gives errors on rare occations. If the temperature is between 0-25C (always in shadows) and the car is not directly in the sun, keeping the car plugged in overnight seems to do nothing, even at a lot colder temperatures nothing happends which makes me wonder if it really makes a difference to keep it unplugged or not? I want my battery to have the longest lonevity possible, but if it doesn`t matter if I plug in or not I`d rather keep it unplugged... Any opinions?
 
Warmer weather here in Virginia, USA but I don't always rest my car plugged in. Warm weather (> 15C) I'll charge up every 2 or 3 days. In winter I tend to plug the car in every night, but I haven't noticed that much difference in warm up times on the battery, etc. I do like to use shore power to pre-heat the car though in winter.
 
I`ve been concluding to myself that the reason Tesla wants us to always plug in is:

1) Protect the battery from bricking. Yes it doesn`t do this overnight, but it`s the same as holding a hand in the hand rails while going down the stairs.
2) Protect battery from overheating or extreme cold. I`ve overheard a Tesla employee in Norway saying to customers that if the Model S is not plugged in, the BMS cannot start up any actions to prevent cooling or heating of the battery.

I have no troubles understanding Teslas view on no 1. About no.2 I`ve been thinking about sending a mail to the more technical people in Tesla to get more information.
I feel that I know too little about the BMS of the car. I want to know everything :tongue:

I only plug my vechicle in to keep it between 40%-75%. My car is unplugged most of the time.
 
ScanSep2201311_40AM-page1.jpg