What is your method of charging?

[Bill Price]

Stopped by the local supercharger and while I had a pen and paper with me, thought I'd put to paper the results of that supercharger session.


Start of charge 12 miles......................kW..................................Est.Time Remaining

..............................................................62...............................................70
5 minutes-------> +22............................115..............................................60
10 minutes-----> +52............................115..............................................60
15 minutes-----> +81............................114..............................................50
20 minutes-----> +110...........................112.............................................50
25 minutes-----> +139...........................106.............................................40
30 minutes-----> +165............................92..............................................40
35 minutes-----> +188............................83..............................................30
40 minutes-----> +209............................75..............................................25
45 minutes-----> +227............................60..............................................20
50 minutes-----> +242............................49..............................................15
55 minutes-----> +254............................42..............................................15
60 minutes-----> +264............................37...............................................10
64 minutes-----> +272............................32

This supercharger has 8 stations. While I was charging, a blue 75 came in and charged at one of the stations for about 15-20 minutes. Shortly thereafter a white P85 came in and also charged for about 15-20 minutes and then left. At around 55 minutes of charge, a black MX P100D came in and started charging, but of course I left before she did. I charge at this supercharger almost exclusively since it is only about 5 miles from my house. I had (in the past) tried charging when I had 100 miles left, and then 200 miles left and found the times to charge were not significantly different and probably only deviated by 5 or 10 minutes. i.e. between 30-40 minutes. Since I am retired and I have the time, I decided to charge the car when it gets into the orange part of the scale of charge. So instead of stopping by the supercharger every week for a 40-45 minute charge, I now stop by every two to three weeks for a 60 minute charge. It has been my observation that MOST people that are stopping at the supercharger (while I am there) seem to be either "topping off" their charge, or charging only for 15-20 minutes at most. I have installed a wall charger in my garage, but since the supercharger is a factor of at least 10 times as fast AND it costs me nothing to charge there, I have not used the wall charger since I installed it. I live in Indiana and probably will utilize the wall charger when there is a foot or more of snow on the roads and I don't want to travel to the supercharger because of the convenience of having a wall charger. Do most people just stop by for a "top off" or a quick charge in the realm of 15-20 minutes? What is your particular method of charging at a supercharger?

 

[ckoval7]

Here are all of my experiences in the order they occurred:

1) Stopped in Milford, CT the day after picking the car up just to check out the charger. Topped off for about 20 min. Enough time to grab a bite at the food court in the mall.

2) Day 2 with the car, stopped in Tarrytown, NY for about 20 min to get me enough charge to comfortably make it to the next charger

3) Stopped at Allentown, PA. I was there for almost an hour getting to 90% from 20%. This got me all the way home.

4) Stopped at Laurel, MD while i was in the vicinity, Charged for 20 min from ~60 to 90% and grabbed a bite to eat.

5) Stopped at Laurel because I was doing a lot of running around that day and was a little nervous about range at that point. I planned to stop for about 15 minutes, but the chargers were full and the rate was reduced. Charged for 30 minutes from ~30 to 70%

6) Stopped at Hagerstown, MD, shopped for almost an hour. Charged from ~25 to 87%. I was the only one there, but for some reason the charger was going pretty slow. I think it had to do with the temperature of my battery. It was only 40F outside.

Mostly though, I charge at home to 80%. I drive around 70 miles per day, stopping at a SC all the time would be an inconvenience. Charging starts at 2AM, though I may move that to 3AM once it starts getting colder.

 

[SDRick]

Bill,

Which model S do you have and how many miles on the clock?

 

[brkaus]

I charge at home for all local driving. Supercharge on trips. Typically charge from ~10% to %60% and head to the next charger. That's usually a restroom break for the kids and sometimes a snack.

The cost of charing at home, to me, is nothing compared to time driving around and charging. We have pretty reasonable electricity rates here.

 

[Bill Price]

Which model S do you have and how many miles on the clock?

P100D with 5,000 miles

 

[ewoodrick]

So instead of stopping by the supercharger every week for a 40-45 minute charge, I now stop by every two to three weeks for a 60 minute charge. It has been my observation that MOST people that are stopping at the supercharger (while I am there) seem to be either "topping off" their charge, or charging only for 15-20 minutes at most. I have installed a wall charger in my garage, but since the supercharger is a factor of at least 10 times as fast AND it costs me nothing to charge there, I have not used the wall charger since I installed it. I live in Indiana and probably will utilize the wall charger when there is a foot or more of snow on the roads and I don't want to travel to the supercharger because of the convenience of having a wall charger. Do most people just stop by for a "top off" or a quick charge in the realm of 15-20 minutes? What is your particular method of charging at a supercharger?

So, [rant on] using a Supercharger when you have charging capabilities at home is not a good thing. You are using a resource that someone else may have a much bigger need for and you have essentially no need for. [rant off]


While your daily average of what seems to be about 20 miles per day is really low, the habits that you seem to have with the battery are no where near Best Recommendations, slightly on the verge of "hard on the battery"

If you want to be nice to your battery, charge at home and follow Tesla's recommendation of just leaving it plugged in. And using a Supercharger to charge on, all the time, is definitely not recommended. You are probably only using less than $25 per MONTH for charging.

To answer your question, it depends on the car and the owner. In general (for all EVs) people use public fast chargers only when they NEED to. That would include owners that don't have charging at home or work and people out travelling beyond their range needed to get from point A to point B. I just took a trip from Atlanta to Orlando. I NEED to charge along the way.

If when I NEED to charger, and there is someone sitting at a charger because they CAN charge, I get impacted. And it doesn't seem that you have knowledge that only half of the charge ports at a site will charge at full speed. So if you are at a 6 port site and you and 2 other cars are there, when the 4th car pulls up, they are essentially waiting for someone to stop charging before they get to full power.

PLEASE CHARGE ATO HOME WHEN YOU CAN!!!!

 

[Skotty]

Just don't let it cold soak over night and then supercharge it in the morning. You'll regret it.

I need max range for my regular business trip stops, so I'm usually charging from around 15% all the way up to 90+%. I'm almost always there longer than anyone else; a bit over an hour usually. I use it as nap time.

On the rare occasion I take a holiday trip in it, a typical charge session is shorter, usually charging from maybe 25% up to 70%.

There are tons of L2 chargers (plus 2 supercharger stations) in my home city, and I almost never use them. Around town, the range is enough that I just don't have any good reason to plug in away from home. Every once in a blue moon just for the novelty.

At home, I have a GE Wattstation I use in my garage (7.2 kW). As a bonus, I also now have rooftop solar, so at least some of my juice comes from that.

 

[Snowstorm]

I have installed a wall charger in my garage, but since the supercharger is a factor of at least 10 times as fast AND it costs me nothing to charge there,

If I were you, I would charge at home instead over regular supercharging. That pattern of deep cycle followed by supercharging to nearly full is hard on the battery, and would likely reduce its capacity faster. Even if you do not keep that car for long, it could hurt resale. Also, supercharging may be fast but is actually a lot slower than charging at home because you don’t have to wait at all at home (charge while you’d sleep) or spend the time to drive to the charger.

I charge L2 45% at home, 45% at work and about 8% at places I visit. Supercharged about 8 times on road trips.

 

[SSedan]

Have you owned the car thru winter yet? Battery heating changes things a LOT.

 

[animorph]

I charged at the Indianapolis Supercharger on my way to Maryland. Went from about 20% to 60% in a little over 20 min, enough to make it to the Dayton Supercharger. As your data shows, it's faster to add 40% charge at a l low state of charge than it is to "top off" from 60% to 100%.

At home I use an HPWC (and 120V until we install the second HPWC). Fills up over night (to 80%) with no fuss. There's no way I'm sitting at a Supercharger for an hour.

 

[Bill Price]

So, [rant on] using a Supercharger when you have charging capabilities at home is not a good thing. You are using a resource that someone else may have a much bigger need for and you have essentially no need for. [rant off]


While your daily average of what seems to be about 20 miles per day is really low, the habits that you seem to have with the battery are no where near Best Recommendations, slightly on the verge of "hard on the battery"

If you want to be nice to your battery, charge at home and follow Tesla's recommendation of just leaving it plugged in. And using a Supercharger to charge on, all the time, is definitely not recommended. You are probably only using less than $25 per MONTH for charging.

To answer your question, it depends on the car and the owner. In general (for all EVs) people use public fast chargers only when they NEED to. That would include owners that don't have charging at home or work and people out travelling beyond their range needed to get from point A to point B. I just took a trip from Atlanta to Orlando. I NEED to charge along the way.

If when I NEED to charger, and there is someone sitting at a charger because they CAN charge, I get impacted. And it doesn't seem that you have knowledge that only half of the charge ports at a site will charge at full speed. So if you are at a 6 port site and you and 2 other cars are there, when the 4th car pulls up, they are essentially waiting for someone to stop charging before they get to full power.

PLEASE CHARGE ATO HOME WHEN YOU CAN!!!!

Ironic, isn’t it? You claimed to “rant off”, however, your entire reply to my thread was, indeed a rant including your use of all upper-case letters at the end. Your response was unsolicited, unwarranted, unwanted, uninformed, puerile and off-topic. The purchase of my car from Tesla included the “privilege” of 'free, unlimited Supercharging for your current Tesla vehicle as well as any new Model S or Model X purchased before January 31, 2018. If you choose to sell your current Tesla, free Supercharging will not transfer to the next owner.' This is a direct quote from Tesla. Curiously, it does not include (for some unknown reason) a disclaimer that should I get a rant from ewoodrick, I should cease and desist all supercharging activities and “CHARGE AT HOME WHEN I CAN!!!!”

Those people with unlimited supercharging privileges can and will use them as they see fit, not as you see fit.

If it was your agenda to attempt to persuade me not to use the supercharger because my charging in Indianapolis somehow impacts you in Buford, Georgia, you have failed miserably. The privilege of supercharging was given to me by Tesla. Although I am convinced you believe you are somehow a supercharger monitor and you have the right to impose your will on others with supercharger privileges, I am also convinced you are sadly mistaken. Perhaps if you had taken another tack and chosen to talk to me in a calm, respectful manner, trying to educate me on why, when I choose to use my supercharging privilege, it may impact poor souls such as yourself, you may have gotten closer to your goal. Instead you chose to talk down to me in a condescending, arrogant and patronizing manner.

We would all appreciate it if when next you post a reply to someone on this forum, you could do so in a courteous and mature manner.

Back to on-topic, please.