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What should my ideal charge percentage be?
- Thread starter Al Sherman
- Start date
AAKEE covered a lot of if. To get the claimed times on a Plaid (at least for the 1/4 mile) you have to be somewhere in the 90% range. For each 10% of less SoC, I figure I add about a tenth to my 1/4 mile times. So start at about 9.3 and add about 0.1 seconds for each 10% drop in charge starting when you go below 90%. Is this perfect? No, but pretty close to back of the napkin math.So hold on, let me see if I understand correctly. The the level performance available is relative to the state of charge?
Does that mean that assuming I start from a 100% charge, the more I drive the less performance I have available?
I would've thought that would be controlled by the driver through the screen like sport modes in ICE cars... as in if I have 20% SoC left and I want to go balls out that's my issue cause the car doesn't know how much further I want to drive. Is there no way for me to manually set it max performance at all times?
Or do I understand this completely wrong?
And btw I know these are probably questions that have been asked a million times so I understand if you guys don't want to go over it with me again.
The car does hold very well down to about 30% SoC for the 1/4 mile. If you are just running from a dig, the difference is far less. It is still super quick down to 20% even if it does drop off a bit from higher SoC. Keep in mind that pulling that much current (high discharge rate) from a low SoC battery pack is going to stress it more which can result in more wear and tear so to speak. At the same time, you can make most any car on the street disappear even if not full power at a 30% SoC. I normally limit any full power runs to be above 30% just to play it safe.
On the street for the most part you are limited by traction, rather than SoC, until you get a ways down in charge level. As I said, I just keep it at about 50-55% and I haven't found anything that will run with it on the street other than another Plaid. If I am going to the track, I'll up the charge level. At this point, I don't really care that much about the times. It is quick enough whether I run a 9.3 or 9.5. I am not out for any bragging rights. I am a bigger guy and my size already puts me at a disadvantage to some flyweight people out there. Every pound matters when chasing times.
Enjoy the car! It does a pretty damn good job of keeping your performance at a high level right to pretty close near the end.
Thank you DT ... I'm more of a road course guy (I race Porsches) but I think it will be fun to take this thing to the drag strip.
I was talking to a friend of mine with a 1200hm tuned TT 720 and he said we should do it and it will be close,
But on a daily driving level, if I have the thing set in Plaid mode, will I be able to tell the difference when I mash it off the light to 60 or from 40 to 80 whether the SOC is at 90 or 30?
I was talking to a friend of mine with a 1200hm tuned TT 720 and he said we should do it and it will be close,
But on a daily driving level, if I have the thing set in Plaid mode, will I be able to tell the difference when I mash it off the light to 60 or from 40 to 80 whether the SOC is at 90 or 30?
I did road racing a lot in the past before the Plaid. Plaid is a death trap on a road course unless you upgrade the brakes or drive very cautiously and don't overheat them. I just now feel comfortable taking it to anything other than straight line events.
Off the line, the car will be stupid quick regardless of SoC if >=30%. You likely won't notice the difference. From 40 to 80, there will be a difference, but likely measurable, but likely not that noticeable from by just the seat of the pants until you get used to the car. For me it is more obvious the difference once up in the triple digit range and the faster you go, the more obvious it is.
Going from a fast ICE car to a Plaid forces you to rethink a few things. You are always in the right gear. You have instant torque. No need to build revs. On a road course, you'll want the Plaid in track mode and watch the temps. Power will start to taper off as the SoC drops inverse of when your ICE car gets faster as the fuel burns off. Cold weather hurts you rather than helps you, at least until the batteries are warmed up. There is a learning curve like all things. I'll never go back for a daily driver. Been replacing some of my motorcycles with EV versions.
It will be ready before the scheduled time. My experience has been about 10 min before. If you don't leave, after about it will send you an alert and ultimately it shuts off. I don't call the exact time that it takes until it shuts off.
I always got a note in the Teslq app exactly 15 minutes before the set time on my M3P.
I think it kept istelf on for 15-20-25 minutes.
Only arrived after the time it stopped keeping it warm a couple of times and that was beyond 30 minutes
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
Preconditioning is more about the climate control and finishing the charge at that point. So if you set it for 7:30 in the morning figuring you’re going to be leaving at 7:45, it will definitely be ready to go and cool or warm depending upon the season. It’ll stay that way for probably about an hour. But I don’t think it actively continues using electricity for the air conditioner.
MrIanB
Member
I charge daily whenever I get home and keep car plugged in at all times in the garage.
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
With that kind of usage, which is the expected method of charging, you should see what kind of percentage you are using on a daily basis and reduce your maximum charge such that you arrive home with between 10 and 20% remaining. Keeping the battery in the lower half of the percentages seems to maximize the lifespan.
Then, from your earlier post;
The battery will be fine, but you do not ”save the battery” with that charging habit.
80% is not the sweet spot for low degradation. It causes about the same calendar aging as 100%
To ”save the battery” you would like to have the SOC at 55% or less most of the time.
If you need 80%, or like to start the day there you could set a charging scedule that makes the car ready and charged shortly before the next days first drive.
Of your end of the day SOC is 50-60% you probably only need a few hours of charge in the late night.
MrIanB
Member
Keep in mind, that if you set a departure time, it won't make sure your car is charged to XX%. It will just condition the battery and set the climate control appropriately.
You sort of have to back into what the car needs to start charging and set the schedule to begin charging accordingly. You need to know what your rate of charge is and look at the SoC (state of charge) of the car when you park the previous night.
For example, if I am on my wall charger, my model 3 charges at about 12% per hour and my S about 8-10%. I try and keep my average SoC about 50-55% to minimize degradation. Starting the day with 55% will typically cover about 90% of my driving scenarios. So if I parked the 3 at 30% and I want to leave with 55% the next day, I know I'll need just over 2 hours to charge back to 55%. So I am leaving at 8am, I'll have the car start charging at 5:45am to ensure it will be back up to 55%.
If I need to be at about 75%, then I'll start charging about 4 hours before departure so at 4am. You don't really want to charge up and just let the car set there. Keeping the avg SoC again at 55% is best and charging just before you leave also helps the batteries be at their optimal temps.
Don't forget that running the heating or cooling will impact how much energy is diverted to the batteries for charging, especially when just turning on the heating or cooling. I typically factor in a 15 min buffer for my charging if I really need the charge. Most days I might only drive 50 miles. So if I am anywhere near 50%, I am good with either car.
If you are only driving 50 miles a day, an 80% SoC is charging far more than you need. There is an attendant increase in degradation as @AAKEE has pointed out. If really cold out, I might start the day with 65% and charge an hour before I leave.
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gavine
Petrol Head turned EV Enthusiast
So hold on, let me see if I understand correctly. The the level performance available is relative to the state of charge?
Does that mean that assuming I start from a 100% charge, the more I drive the less performance I have available?
I would've thought that would be controlled by the driver through the screen like sport modes in ICE cars... as in if I have 20% SoC left and I want to go balls out that's my issue cause the car doesn't know how much further I want to drive. Is there no way for me to manually set it max performance at all times?
Or do I understand this completely wrong?
And btw I know these are probably questions that have been asked a million times so I understand if you guys don't want to go over it with me again.
Power (horsepower or kw) is a factor of volts x amps. The battery voltage drops as the SOC drops so lower volts = less power. Tesla programs their inverter to increase the amps as the volts drop to try and maintain the same power output, but this can only get so much. Once the amps are maxed-out, then the power will drop further. So yes, higher SOC (thus higher voltage) produces more power.
As others have said, the cars are still extremely quick, even at lower SOCs, but the power increase at high SOC is noticeable.
Then don't do it?
The reality is that you get maximum range when you want it with a bit of battery tending. For my use, it causes basically no extra hassle, here's what I do:
- Set max charge to 55%
- Set preferred charge start time to utilize off-peak electricity rates
- Plug the car back in when range gets low (I use ~100 miles or about 30% - higher than ideal, but I'd rather have the range than squeak out the remaining bit of optimization)
- If I'm going on a road trip, set max charge to 100% to save a bit of time charging on the road (in reality, this isn't much and for most of my trips, could stick with 80-90%)
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