What should my ideal charge percentage be?

[AmpedRealtor]

@Amped - is Brent a TM battery engineer? We've seen all kinds of random info from TM over the years. Is there something that gives you faith in what he says?

The information was provided by Tesla. Do with it what you wish, I was only sharing.

 

[darthvdr]

It depends on how much you drive. If you drive very little, then yes, that will be the ticket. SOC also matters less when it's cold.

I 100% agree.

 

[bob_p]

While Tesla's staff in their stores and with the Ownership team all try to be very helpful - they've also been a source a conflicting information.

Unless Tesla provides an official change to their written policies - such as on their website, in the owner's guide, documented in the car on the touchscreen, or by sending written notices to customers - Brent's statement can't be viewed as an official statement from Tesla - and whatever Tesla has provided in writing should be viewed as their official policy.

So far, Tesla has not provided an official statement on why they implemented the variable charging feature in the car - or what charging level they recommend, other than avoiding frequent use of the max range charges. Since the default is to 90% by the onboard software - then that would appear to be the recommended charging level - and Tesla recommends to leave the car plugged in whenever possible.

If Ownership really wants to help - they should get us an official statement on how the variable charging is supposed to be used - and what the recommended charging practices should be.

 

[Al Sherman]

If Ownership really wants to help - they should get us an official statement on how the variable charging is supposed to be used - and what the recommended charging practices should be.

Yeah, what's up with this?

I started this thread 4 months ago. Almost 20k views and many responses later, I guess I'm closer to an answer but don't really have one. Except that I guess it's not that big (negligible?) a deal. It's been fun and interesting reading the responses from the incredibly smart, and knowledgeable folks on TMC. However, I'd still like an answer from the "really smart battery guy" at Tesla.

I drive less than 40 miles per day over 99% of the time. For now I'm using about 65% which generally gives me 161 rated miles.

 

[mknox]

If Ownership really wants to help - they should get us an official statement on how the variable charging is supposed to be used - and what the recommended charging practices should be.

That would be nice, but I suspect us "early adopters" are still in the process of helping Tesla understand this in the first place. Think about it... we're all charging and discharging at different levels, and Tesla can collect all of this data and draw some pretty solid conclusions after a year or two of "real life" data pours in.

For my part, I've been charging to 70% and returning at the end of each day with about 35% remaining. I figure playing right in the center of the battery's capacity strikes a nice balance between usability and battery life management.

 

[brianman]

If Ownership really wants to help - they should get us an official statement on how the variable charging is supposed to be used - and what the recommended charging practices should be.

Just another opinion...

Official Tesla stance (most recently adjusted by Elon) is "just drive the thing, forget about the manual". "But what about range charging?" "It's fine just drive it." "But what about if I want to OCD about..." "Just drive it."

I think they intentionally gave two messages at once: (1) official statement to not worry about it and (2) here's a setting so the OCD people have a knob to play with.

"Cognitive dissonance?" No. Elaborating...

1. Tesla: The volume goes to 11.
2. Owners: We want more settings.
3. Tesla: It now goes to 11 but in steps of 1/3.
4. Owners: Awesome. What volume setting do you recommend?
5. Tesla: The car doesn't care. Choose anything between 0 and 11.
6. Owners: But what's better for the speakers?
7. Tesla holds back a laugh while offering "listen at whatever volume you'd like."

I'm sure that someone could scientifically prove that leaving your speaker volume between 2 and 5 is "better for it" than sometimes setting the volume in the 9 to 11 range but most people would laugh at this level of OCD.

 

[dirkhh]

I'm sure that someone could scientifically prove that leaving your speaker volume between 2 and 5 is "better for it" than sometimes setting the volume in the 9 to 11 range but most people would laugh at this level of OCD.

Oh, I need to start a thread on that. I'm not sure if 2-5 is best or 1-4. Do you have any data to show that 2-5 is better than 1-4?

And for the humor impaired: :biggrin:

 

[mknox]

Oh, I need to start a thread on that. I'm not sure if 2-5 is best or 1-4. Do you have any data to show that 2-5 is better than 1-4?

Well, they're pretty definitive about the Pano roof at 80% for minimum wind noise. Why can't they nail down speaker volumes and charge percentages the same way???

Oh, and :smile::smile: as well.

 

[qwk]

Think about it... we're all charging and discharging at different levels, and Tesla can collect all of this data and draw some pretty solid conclusions after a year or two of "real life" data pours in.

This.

I'm sure that Tesla has a good idea of what is best for their batteries(they have their own testing and simulation lab),but more real-world info certainly cannot hurt. If they flat out told us that a certain SOC was best for the battery, then most people would follow, and their data wouldn't cover the vast span it does now.

 

[FlasherZ]

Oh, I need to start a thread on that. I'm not sure if 2-5 is best or 1-4. Do you have any data to show that 2-5 is better than 1-4?

The thing I learned long ago - make up and present some statistics. It's been proven that only 4% of people will challenge you on your data, and only 2% will follow through to verify its consistency. Oh, and then 93% of them will dismiss it anyway as a cog in the corporate dissonance machine. Source: Covey.

That way the person challenging you looks like the *#%hole.

(50% more smileys than mknox)

 

[dirkhh]

The thing I learned long ago - make up and present some statistics. It's been proven that only 4% of people will challenge you on your data, and only 2% will follow through to verify its consistency. Oh, and then 93% of them will dismiss it anyway as a cog in the corporate dissonance machine. Source: Covey.

That way the person challenging you looks like the *#%hole.

(50% more smileys than mknox)

Can you send a link to your source for those statistics? My data show that 9% will challenge you but only 3% will follow through on consistency. And in 90% of the cases I observed I was one of those 3%
(OK, the mods are about to shake their fingers at us...)

 

[FlasherZ]

Can you send a link to your source for those statistics? My data show that 9% will challenge you but only 3% will follow through on consistency. And in 90% of the cases I observed I was one of those 3%
(OK, the mods are about to shake their fingers at us...)

I gave my source! Covey! Look it up!

(Okay, the fact that it might be Alyssa J. Covey, my neighbor, isn't exactly going to help you... but hey.)

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I suspect the reason Tesla doesn't make specific recommendations is because Tesla doesn't want the EV experience to be a complicated one. There is also the small detail that if you officially recommend to the world that keeping the battery at approximately 50% charge is "best" (however that is quantified, I don't know), critics will quickly twist that information to say that using the car as advertised is damaging the battery and reducing its capacity. It seems like a no-win PR scenario for Tesla to get this granular, so the official position is to keep it simple. Doing so raises fewer questions.

 

[hans]

The thing I learned long ago - make up and present some statistics. It's been proven that only 4% of people will challenge you on your data, and only 2% will follow through to verify its consistency. Oh, and then 93% of them will dismiss it anyway as a cog in the corporate dissonance machine. Source: Covey.

That way the person challenging you looks like the *#%hole.

(50% more smileys than mknox)

89.4% of all statistics are meaningless.

 

[huntjo]

89.4% of all statistics are meaningless.

Only 21-23% of Americans know this.

 

[jerry33]

89.4% of all statistics are meaningless.

And the rest are made up.

 

[spaghetti]

89.4% of all statistics are meaningless.

Statistics is like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive. What they hide is vital. :smile:

 

[pilotSteve]

Love the humor in the past 14 posts (hey I get to make up number too!).

I have been thinking about the psychology of why Tesla changed to let us pick the percentage, and also why they do not display the range slider in miles which would be the most useful IMO.

Its about basic human needs. Consider these four "C"s: Control. Comfort. Caring. Consistency.

Control is obvious.

Comfort speaks to ensuring you have "enough" range for the day's activity, be it a hop to the store and back or a long excursion. Spouse/family comfort that we have enough range to easily meet the trip plan.

Caring address those that have "compassion" if you will toward their equipment, environment, family, etc. to minimize environmental foot print, maximize battery life, etc.

Consistency. This unfortunately points to why Tesla does not (yet?) allow specifying charge as desired range. There are too many variables that have been previously discussed that will never deliver consistent predictable range from a pre-defined charge state. On the other hand by letting us control "percentage" we can consistently achieve that.

Maybe I'm over thinking all this. But it seems like another area that Tesla sweated details on and came up with a pretty darn good solution.

 

[Crispix]

I'll just throw this out there: I charge to 70-80% most days. One benefit is that I sometimes find myself at a nearby free EV charger for several hours. I'll then bump up the slider to the standard 90% and revel in the glory of free electrons. Had I charged to 90% at home, I would miss out on $2 of free electricity 'cause I'd get back to full too quickly!

Who was it on these forums that said free charging, even if it is just a few pennies, is thrilling? It certainly is!

 

[brianman]

Statistics is like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive. What they hide is vital. :smile:

"according to the internet" the quote uses "conceal" not "hide"

Also, some facts to go with our statistics:
http://www.bikiniatoll.com/facts.html

Note to mods: The link was "clean" when I posted it. Hopefully it stays that way.