What battery percentage to charge to on trips?

[Wennfred]

Use the EVTO app myself because I like to play with things and routing on my phone. Once you get used to it and have it dialed in for your speed and load it’s very accurate. Recommended.

All the suggestions above are excellent also, buffer-wise and how much to charge. GF just did a trip from VA to northwest MA and back and we trusted the estimates and buffers much more on the return trip

Great App thanks! I just got it.
I charge to 100% when leaving on a long distance run like Las Vegas and then the recommended charge once I hit the Superchargers on the way up so maybe 60% or when the Kw curve starts to drop off and slow down.



Fred

 

[SSonnentag]

I should say, regarding the Lima, Montana supercharging location, that despite the slow charging and obvious maintenance needs of the site, the view is great! Beware of large hail stones entering your car when you open the door though. One hit my shoulder, and it is still sore and bruised 3 days after the event.

 

[CrymeLord]

I should say, regarding the Lima, Montana supercharging location, that despite the slow charging and obvious maintenance needs of the site, the view is great! Beware of large hail stones entering your car when you open the door though. One hit my shoulder, and it is still sore and bruised 3 days after the event.

Sky Rocks bad.

 

[Wennfred]

I'm curious. Consider me a skeptic.

What is the value of sites and apps like this vs simply using the built in navigation?

I've always followed my own advice (above) and just used the built in navigation. It's easy, it's simple, and I don't need anything 3rd party. But it appeared to me that these apps end up at the same superchargers for potentially different time periods when I last investigated.

These Apps let you plan ahead without getting into the car and playing with the nav station. Also I like to see how they both arrive at their waypoints. Checks and balances against the Tesla Nav station for when you’re new at this.

Fred

 

[Stevestub]

I should say, regarding the Lima, Montana supercharging location, that despite the slow charging and obvious maintenance needs of the site, the view is great! Beware of large hail stones entering your car when you open the door though. One hit my shoulder, and it is still sore and bruised 3 days after the event.

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Hail that big would dent a steel car. Any dents on yours?

 

[SSonnentag]

Hail that big would dent a steel car. Any dents on yours?

We were worried about dents and glass breakage, but as far as we can tell the car survived unscathed. Luckily we were parked and charging during the hail. Driving in that almost certainly would have done damage.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Without absolutely ANY hesitation or worry, charge to 100% before leaving for trips, or whenever you need it. That's what the battery was designed for.

And no, leaving it at 100% for hours or days will not harm it. Leaving it at 100% is something that becomes an issue over months or years.

But, just be aware that you probably won't be charging it to 100% at Superchargers.

Quite honestly it depends on how far away is that first Supercharger stop.

When heading from Atlanta to Savannah, you have to stop at Macon, about 105 miles for me, so I do nothing special. I think anything above 50% is safe for that leg.

Coming back is a different issue, because that's also Macon and about 175 miles for me. But even then, anything above 80% is safe even at the speeds normal on I-16.

 

[m.c.b.]

Great advice in this thread. I just completed a 3,200 mile drive from CT to WI and back. I agree that the start of each day should be at 100% and the charge at the superchargers is perfect if you add enough energy to reach your next destination with range to spare. I did not run into any access issues in my 16 day trip but it is nice to have enough power to reach the next alternate supercharger. I try to arrive with 75 miles left just to be sure that I am not leaving myself short of the next supercharger should this one be down or inaccessible. I used EVTO-Tesla for planning, particularly to estimate where my destination chargers will be at the end of the day. During the day I use the built in nav and supercharger locators and only program to my next stop. Have fun, the journey is a blast.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Wish ABRP would make an android app.

The site works great on mobile devices. It will even prompt you to create an icon so you can pretend it's an app.

 

[KC_Denver]

The idea is not to charge to full and keep it there. Use it immediately.

Also charging to full on stops is also inefficient -- run your battery as low as comfortable but then charge to about 60-80% and move on. Why? The charge rate slows. Of course you can eat / rest / relax and charge more if you want to, but you'll find that your charging rate decreases at a curve that gets greater as you get closer to full.

In a nutshell, or to oversimplify it -- let the Tesla route planner guide you and charge about 5% more to be safe.

You'll find the extra 30 minutes at a charging station to get 30% more battery doesn't save you a lot of time overall.

(my numbers are very very rough, so apologies on the charge rate purists on the forums)

 

[Dabmik]

I'm getting ready for a trip that will be about 1200 miles from home. What should I set my charge percentage to for the trip? I'm thinking about 95% charge from home and leaving it at 95% for all supercharging stops. Does that sound right?

A lot of it depends on your driving habits. Most important of which is probably do you keep to the speed limit? I have found that if I keep to the speed limit, the navigation system is very accurate in telling you how much charge you will have at the next supercharger. However if you have the same genetic defect that I have, leadfoot, the charges will not last as long as the navigation system tells you.

And if you have this leadfoot disease, your navigation system and the computer in the car will tell you to slow down if you want to make it to your next scheduled supercharger.

The comments about the extra long time it takes to get from 80 to 100% are right on. I found that sticking to the speed limits is actually a timesaver with regard to the trade off for the extra time necessary for charging. You will actually get there quicker.

In my case, I assume that I have a 20% loss of mileage due to the leadfoot. And like to have a little bit of extra reserve at the end just in case. So I charge so that there is at least 20% mileage left at the destination according to the navigation system.

I hope this helps, have a great trip. Enjoy!

 

[Nocturnal]

100% for leaving home, and stopping when your charging rate becomes slow (or charging to as high as you need to make it to the next stop).

 

[MountainJedi]

Is there a chart somewhere that shows the general taper based on SOC? I think you can get this from Stats or Teslafi, but I don't feel comfortable giving either a token. I have only supercharged twice and don't plan to do it often, but it would be helpful for planning longer trips and generally understanding the taper.

 

[Kognos]

Is there a chart somewhere that shows the general taper based on SOC? I think you can get this from Stats or Teslafi, but I don't feel comfortable giving either a token. I have only supercharged twice and don't plan to do it often, but it would be helpful for planning longer trips and generally understanding the taper.

It's all over the place, but I'll give you a quick and dirty explanation.

You're going to be super fast charging from 1% to about 50%.
(this depends a lot on battery temperature and preconditioning where available)
It tapers down from there pretty aggressively.

A lot of this has to do with how fast your car can accept charge, too ... SR has a different rate than LR. So I'm not being specific on purpose. This is generally speaking why you see a lot of people run their battery to 10% before charging then get it up to 60% because it gets them to the next charger - or they will charge only the minimal amount + small buffer to get to the next charger.
Getting from 10 to 60% might take 15 minutes.
Going from 60% to 90% will take twice as long or more. Why wait?

Of course you CAN wait, but that's why there are route planners and timers, etc. If time is of the essence then this is how people plan. If there's no rush, there's no concern here.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Getting from 10 to 60% might take 15 minutes.
Going from 60% to 90% will take twice as long or more. Why wait?[
/QUOTE]
Sometimes it requires 60% to 90% or even 100% to reach one's destination.

 

[ceekz]

The biggest and glaring problem with the built in navigation is that you can't do multiple waypoints.

I agree! And you can't switch to a different SC within the app if you want to stop sooner and have it automatically recalculate.

Someone with a bigger, fatter brain than mine needs to write a program to compare the charging time vs speed to figure out how to optimize the variables when you know you HAVE to slow down to make it to the next charging stop. There is something incredibly shameful about being passed by a Prius when you are already below the posted speed limit...

 

[MentalNomad]

I don’t think anyone suggested putting in a final destination farther than your final destination for that day.

Good tip.

It can suck to arrive at a destination and meet folks who want to go somewhere in your car, and to be empty. I over-top at the last charging station before destination if there's a chance I'll want to use the car.

 

[Kognos]

Sometimes it requires 60% to 90% or even 100% to reach one's destination.

This is absolutely true and I guess the problem was that I introduced a rhetorical question when answering a specific point. If someone needs more charge to get to a destination farther away, of course they should do the needful. But for the most part, especially with batteries that can take faster charges, it's a personal choice to hop more often and faster or hop less and slower.

 

[Wennfred]

Someone with a bigger, fatter brain than mine needs to write a program to compare the charging time vs speed to figure out how to optimize the variables when you know you HAVE to slow down to make it to the next charging stop. .

The Tesla nav station already does that, it gives you a warning like in a yellow box to reduces speeds to 70 mph or slower in order to make it to your destination.

Fred

 

[TexLaw]

Relax. Relax, and enjoy your journey. I'm not being facetious. One of the great things about the Tesla is learning how to enjoy the journey.

Definitely charge to 100% overnight. Use ABRP or something like it to see your route options (I like ABRP because I can use it on my laptop and then pick it up with my phone, and also because of all the variables I can plug in). Use Plugshare to make sure that the chargers are good and for some reviews. Use Google Maps to see what good options are available while you wait (plus some more reviews). Then, figure out your game plan

I know full well that the plan may change, so I do charge a bit extra before leaving a charger. However, I rarely need to consciously do that, as we tend to enjoy our stop plenty long as it is.

Cheers!