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What should my ideal charge percentage be?
- Thread starter Al Sherman
- Start date
I'm assuming the range increase was due to software updates that at first limited your range, then later updates restored some that range. Our 11/13 built S85 had a 256mi range in early 2019. Range dropped overnight to 244 in mid-2019 and would fluctuate between 230-246mi for years. Currently the most I've seen lately is 240mi range with 112K miles on the car/battery. It's been disappointing and hoping to get some clarity in regards to a resolution. Some folks have been getting notices in the mail from the class action settlement, but I've yet to receive anything.
Our charging habits is to keep the car charged between 25%-78% SOC and the car will typically sit in our garage for up to 3 days between usage.
I have no idea what changed. But have been using the 'ideal range' setting bc its makes me feel better seeing 305 vs 220 at 100%.... but when switched back to rated range, saw the 20 mi jump....im sure you are right, its a function of the upgrades not my charging habit.
Well, this dialog is a bit discouraging. I have always charged to 70% or so, based upon what the wisdom was (as I heard it) when I got my car nearly 7 years ago. I have varied the setting somewhat depending upon the season (more in winter, of course) and my immediate needs. And I drive only a few miles a day, most days, and none on at least one or two days a week.
The "wisdom" in the past couple of posts seems to make sense, which suggests I have been doing a less-than-careful job of managing this expensive resource. I do not track my range and have not attempted to determine how much my battery has deteriorated From what I have read, there are also disagreements about how to do that, and doing it correctly is probably a chore that requires a long drive that is not terribly convenient.
Coincidentally, I was going to try to do a range test this past weekend. I had a wedding to attend about two hours away. I charged up to 95% and planned to record how much energy to took to recharge the battery. But when i finished a supercharger session part-way home, I made the error of disconnecting the charging cable before noting how much charge I had received from the charging screen; the screen disappears when the cable is disconnected. I knew that, but had forgotten the trick of stopping charging from the control panel before disconnecting. I rarely use Superchargers so I did not think out the steps correctly. So, no good data from this trip. (I only charged part-way back at the SC and again only back to 65% or so at home at the end of the trip.) Maybe I will try it again on my next trip....
It is unfortunate that Tesla does not communicate very clearly what the optimal charging strategy would be. Instead, owners are confronted with informal and anecdotal advice, from sources that disagree with each other. I suppose Tesla has no financial incentive to provide clearer and more complete advice, given that most owners probably either do not own the car long enough to reach the end of the battery warranty, or don't encounter problems serious enough to make a warranty claim.
The "wisdom" in the past couple of posts seems to make sense, which suggests I have been doing a less-than-careful job of managing this expensive resource. I do not track my range and have not attempted to determine how much my battery has deteriorated From what I have read, there are also disagreements about how to do that, and doing it correctly is probably a chore that requires a long drive that is not terribly convenient.
Coincidentally, I was going to try to do a range test this past weekend. I had a wedding to attend about two hours away. I charged up to 95% and planned to record how much energy to took to recharge the battery. But when i finished a supercharger session part-way home, I made the error of disconnecting the charging cable before noting how much charge I had received from the charging screen; the screen disappears when the cable is disconnected. I knew that, but had forgotten the trick of stopping charging from the control panel before disconnecting. I rarely use Superchargers so I did not think out the steps correctly. So, no good data from this trip. (I only charged part-way back at the SC and again only back to 65% or so at home at the end of the trip.) Maybe I will try it again on my next trip....
It is unfortunate that Tesla does not communicate very clearly what the optimal charging strategy would be. Instead, owners are confronted with informal and anecdotal advice, from sources that disagree with each other. I suppose Tesla has no financial incentive to provide clearer and more complete advice, given that most owners probably either do not own the car long enough to reach the end of the battery warranty, or don't encounter problems serious enough to make a warranty claim.
The problem is the optimal charging strategy is kind of a pain, and also makes it look (to the untrained eye) like you can't use what you have. I.e. You have this huge battery, but only use 30% of it for the best long term health of the pack. To anyone outside the EV world (and lots in it) that just sounds nuts.
You can be horrible with your charging habits, or flawless in them... The reality is most people sell the car before battery issues spring up even if they let the car sit at 100% for weeks at a time.
I have unlimited supercharging and was dumb enough to pay for FSD (Back during the 2019 'cheap' firesafe). So I'm basically stuck with this car for years, hence I try to take better care of my battery.
The Model S/X 85 kWh batteries are very resistant to calendar life capacity loss - I wish all Tesla batteries were as good in that capacity.
Your car has over 90% capacity remaining after 10+ years and 112k miles.
That is phenomenal.
That sudden loss of capacity in the 85 kWh cars was due to an issue with the BMS boards and Tesla, out of an abundance of caution, limited max voltage of the packs to eliminate the risk of overcharging. There's a huge thread in here which discusses that.
Now those batteries can't supercharge as fast as the cells used in the Model 3/Y and are really the only achilles heel - instead of losing capacity, they seem to lose supercharging speed.
In comparison, the Model 3 will lose about 10% capacity in 2-4 years for most users. My Model 3 is down about 10% coming up on 4 years now after following a mostly 70-80% charge limit the first couple years, but only around 30k miles. That said, the estimated range has been very steady the last year with no real trend in capacity loss detected. Maybe that's because I switched to the AAKEE recommended method of charging (charge to 55%, recharge when you need to, charge higher if you need to for trips), or maybe because the batteries lose capacity quickly the first 1-2 years, then quickly levels off. Or maybe a combination of the two.
Either way, 50% SOC is more than enough for any typical day of driving. My last car was a LEAF - trying to charge that to 80% to prolong life meant ~50 miles real world range until you start getting some real range anxiety, ~70 miles on a 100% charge, but that battery lost 25% capacity in 4 years.
I wasn't aware that the Model 3/Y saw such dramatic early range loss...I've been living in "classic" Model S-Land for a little too long. I've been reading through that huge thread here and there but nothing is really sufficiently definitive because:
A) Tesla is both understanding and frustratingly opaque about issues and resolutions. I mean, we're all sort of beta testers feeding field data with regards to usage, habits, and longevity.
B) The software and related hardware are dynamic. My 11/13 built S85's components do not operate the same way they did when it rolled off the assembly line. My radiator fans and coolant pumps suddenly work a whole lot more after the 2019 software updates in ways they did not previously.
C) The most information we get from the community is from inference, deduction, assumptions, and reverse engineering. I'm not sure we've ever heard Tesla confirm our collective assumptions or theories.
As for other EVs, I almost bought a used 1st gen Leaf to test the EV waters. My wife and I tested a prototype model back at a 2008 auto show and they touted the battery pack for its ability to diagnose and replace individual cells within the modules to reduce anxiety of a costly replacement (that didn't exactly pan out the way Nissan reps claimed). We ended up getting 2013 Fiat 500e since my wife preferred the styling, size, and sunroof. We've got 78K miles on it and it seems to have lost about 10% of its HV battery pack. Oddly, we're still getting 12.8V-13.2V out of the original 12V battery. I assume it only has a fraction of vampire draining components compared to the Tesla.
Since I plan on keeping my '22 S LR for a long time, I've been pretty strict about my charging habits after really diving deep into it. I follow what would be pretty close to the AAKE approach on my S. It is much easier to do on the S than on my 3 due to the great range it has to start with.
For the S I am typically starting at 50% and the 3 at 60% each day. One of my biggest concerns was with the low SoC that it would very adversely impact the performance which was one of the reasons I bought Teslas in the first place.
On my 3 it has boost, and even at a 40% SoC, it is still a fair amount quicker to 60 than it was without boost and a 100% SoC. I do notice some obvious fall off of power above 80 mph but from 0-80, that covers 95% of my driving.
On the S LR, it is just flat @$$ quick no matter what. Maybe not Plaid quick, but not a lot of cars on the road I'd have to worry about. I think Tesla did a better job of optimizing the available power even above 60 mph (i.e it doesn't fall of as much as other Teslas) and that seems to pay dividends at a lower SoC. It was down to a 30% SoC the other day coming back from a trip and I had to accelerate hard to make a gap or brake extremely hard. I am glad I was paying close attention as it pulled far harder than I thought it would. By 30% SoC the 3 is definitely not feeling its oats as much.
For the S I am typically starting at 50% and the 3 at 60% each day. One of my biggest concerns was with the low SoC that it would very adversely impact the performance which was one of the reasons I bought Teslas in the first place.
On my 3 it has boost, and even at a 40% SoC, it is still a fair amount quicker to 60 than it was without boost and a 100% SoC. I do notice some obvious fall off of power above 80 mph but from 0-80, that covers 95% of my driving.
On the S LR, it is just flat @$$ quick no matter what. Maybe not Plaid quick, but not a lot of cars on the road I'd have to worry about. I think Tesla did a better job of optimizing the available power even above 60 mph (i.e it doesn't fall of as much as other Teslas) and that seems to pay dividends at a lower SoC. It was down to a 30% SoC the other day coming back from a trip and I had to accelerate hard to make a gap or brake extremely hard. I am glad I was paying close attention as it pulled far harder than I thought it would. By 30% SoC the 3 is definitely not feeling its oats as much.
gavine
Petrol Head turned EV Enthusiast
I realize laptops don't have liquid cooled batteries and sophisticated battery management like Tesla, but I had a mobile workstation for about 5 years. It ran very hot when in use. This was before I understood battery health techniques. The laptop was plugged-in 24/7 and was used Monday through Friday every week. It sat at 100% charge continuously.. After the 5 years, I tested the battery and it lost about 85% of it's capacity. In hindsight, I'm actually surprised that it still had that much left under the circumstances. My current laptop is now about 5 years old. I cycle the battery daily and never leave it over 90% any any period of time. I even make sure it's around 50% over the weekend when not being used. I basically follow the battery health guidelines discussed here and the battery still runs for about the same as when it was new (no noticeable degradation).
You can see the amount you charged in the app, or on your account page on tesla.com....
Right, if I had looked at the app soon enough, I could have done that and I should have. But once I got home and plugged in (again), that value disappears. I have only recently noticed that feature and did not think of it. Battery was pretty low (again) when we got home, and I was tired.
Looking now, my account page only shows that I charged, with no information about the amount of kWh. Perhaps that is because I have free supercharging, not sure. There are columns for charging fees, idle fees, and invoices, nothing for energy use.
But thanks for the suggestions!
zoomer0056
Active Member
Look at Charge Stats in the app. The picture shows one session because I'm touching that line with my finger.
Wow, you're right. That's a change (not for the better) from what used to be in there.
As @zoomer0056 said, the app has the details if you hover on a specific day....
I see no such screen in my app. Is that from the Android app, or Apple? If it is Apple, then it may not be available in the Android version I have. How do you get to that page? I looked in the app store and the sample pages do not show anything like that, and no newer version than mine seems to be available.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Interesting, but my app does not look like that, which suggests I may not have the latest. My phone says that I have version 4.8.1-1032, installed on April 28 -- sounds pretty recent.
If I may ask, can you tell what version of the app you are running?
Also, I wonder if it matters what car you have. Mine is a 2015, so it may be too old to provide that data....just a guess.
The App Store does not indicate what version is available. Usually if there is a newer version, it says "Install" when you look at an app in the store. Mine says "Open" or "Uninstall," suggesting there is no newer version. Newer versions usually install automatically.
My app menu does not have entries for "Schedule" or "Charge Stats" but I have an entries for "Summon," "Service," and "Roadside," not shown on your screen shot but possibly just outside of your image.
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zoomer0056
Active Member
The store will say "update" if an update is available. Also, you must have FSD as summon is only available with FSD. My Tesla is a 2022 Model S without FSD. My app version is 4.8.1-1032
I do not have FSD, but the very first version of autopilot, AP1, which I have, does include the Summon features (lane changing, self-parking, and straight summoning in and out of spaces). At some point, Tesla removed Summon features from the basic (free) version of Autopilot.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Ok, that explains summons. I think you're right about data availability for different years, but I don't know for sure.
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