Here’s my dilemma...I’m driving about 240 miles tomorrow, but after work. So do I charge to 100% overnight and have it ready to drive to work, which is only about five miles, leave it sit for 6 hours (no charging at work) and then do the trip? Is that bad for the battery? I know I’ll have to charge at some point along the way, but what really is the best way to go here? It’s my new baby and I want to treat the battery right!
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Trip Charging Advice
- Thread starter Citrus2045
- Start date
Charge to 90%. There is probably no need for you to charge to 100%. The Tesla Supercharger network now has 1000s location in the US. Use the Tesla Navigation system to help locate Supercharger (SC) and non-SC charging locations. Use A Better Route Planner (ABRP) to plan your trip. ABRP is both a phone app and a web-based service.
How were you planning to charge once you arrive at your destination? You can bring the Tesla Mobile Connector kit that comes with the Tesla vehicle. You can use the included NEMA 5-15 plug adapter to charge from any grounded 15A or 20A outlet. Bring the Tesla J1772 adapter as you may be able to locate a Level 2 public charging station (sometimes these are even free to use for a few hours at a time.) Dowload the Plugshare app to your phone to help located public charging stations. Google maps also has an EV charging station option.
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Sigh. That's probably not even a dilemma, but you didn't tell us your route, so it's hard to say.
Probably neither of those. You seem firmly stuck in the gas car mindset that we see all the time from new owners here on this forum, and that's going to inconvenience you and make things worse if you try to do that way with an electric car. You are going by the gas car plan: "Fill all the way up, and then try to drive as far as I can in one shot, with no stops, until the car is very low on fuel, even if that includes white knuckling and stressing myself out." How about not?
Yeah--there's your real answer. You live in Florida, so I would think it's very unlikely that you would have a 240 mile trip that doesn't have a Supercharger along the way. Just use your normal daily charge level of 85 or 90% or whatever, and partway along your trip, take a 20 minute stop to refill some, and not even worry about it. This is much easier if you just plan and expect that you can take a little recharge break every 2 or 3 hours instead of trying to do every segment from full to empty.
Along with what people have said, I would add: use ABetterRoutePlanner to plan your route in advance. You'll see what it suggests as far as charging on route. That should reassure you that you can charge on route and get away from the ICE mindset.
A couple of additional comments (though a bit late for your trip): If it isn't too stressful, try to get the battery below 20% before you top up enroute. It will charge faster if you start at a lower SoC, which reduces wait time at the Supercharger. Also don't charge fully, only enough to get to the next charging stop with a comfortable margin on SoC. As others suggested, use ABRP to optimize your charging strategy. If you do charge from a 115V outlet, be aware that charging times are disproportionately higher compared to a Level 2 (240V) charger. Because the charging current also supplies the car's operational demands while it's awake, charging at low power takes much longer than you might expect. I charged my car this way (nominally 1.4 kW) for 22 hours in cold temperatures, and it only added 15% (~12 kWh).
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