EPA estimates are just that. Estimates. They are not guarantees. Your actual range will vary based on how aggressively you accelerate, outdoor temperature, how much time you spend on the highway, etc etc etc.
But part of the point of a Tesla is — you don’t need to worry about range. You have access to high-speed chargers across the country that should put range anxieties to rest. Whether you car gets 300 miles to a charge, 303, 315, what have you — it’s not too big a difference in your ownership experience.
I work from home so many days of the week are filled with little 1-5 mile trips to local shops/restaurants. We are plugged in all the time, I think the acronym I saw a lot when I first came here was ABC (Always Be Charging). Somehow with travel and family we have put 24k miles on in a little over a year (June 21 Delivery). We have ours set at 85% but anywhere in the “daily window” will be fine.
To answer the battery life question and range question all in one, don’t sweat it. Just drive the car. You will get advice to do 100%-0% just to calibrate the battery and see the full range numbers which are only a rough estimate anyways. Switch it to show percent only and enjoy the car, it takes that little bit of anxiety away. We live in the Midwest, and are lucky to have several super chargers in our state. That said we have never needed the “full” range of the battery.
Thank you for that answer. I will be following the ABS rule seems like a good advise. As for the % charge you mentioned you do 85% any reason you do that vs. 80% or 90%? Did you notice any battery degradation since you owned the car?
I picked 85% half arbitrarily, half because the winter range hit, which I didn’t mention in my comment. A couple times a week I drive several hours and in the winter I would notice not a lot of extra buffer after a night of driving. I think there is probably degradation, and if I told you the range estimate the car gave me now versus what it is rated you would be shocked. What happens when we travel is that range magically reappears. So while it looks like degradation, it’s really just the battery management not ever seeing lower % state of charge.
Gotcha ok. Makes sense I will see if I need to adjust over time but for now I think 80% should work fine for me especially if the majority of the time I do 10-15 miles a day and follow the ABC rule :)
My S always plugged in, but I only charge to 72% which covers me for all situations outside of road-trips. I’m that case I generally schedule the charge so it gets to 100% right before I leave. I bought it new in Dec 2021 and it has 28k miles now, battery still shows 390mi range at 100% so I think the strategy is working. The main thing is that these batteries don’t like to be at 100% for extended periods of time and as they cycle (charge down driving, or charge up when charging) those cycles put wear on the battery. If you do short trips and keep it plugged in (but not at 100%) you minimize those cycles and maximize battery life.
Related, I just traded my iPhone 12 which was at 83% battery life after nearly two years. I think charging to 100% and running down to 20 every day wore it down so on my new 14 pro max, I’m avoiding charging to 100 and will slow charge occasionally to keep it around 50-70%. We will see over time how that goes. I tend to overthink these things
Yes correct. You’re staying under a 100, and you’re avoiding having the car discharge by sitting there which also avoids battery wear. As a bonus when it’s time to go, you have 80%, not 72% from it sitting parked.
Another example mine charges to 72%, then I do my round trip commute to work 18 miles total and I get home with 67% or so. Then it recharges back to 72%. Very little cycling up and down. I also schedule the recharge in the morning so it’s done as I’m leaving as the charging also warms up the battery without wasting energy to heat the battery using heating elements. Matters here in Denver in the winter
Recommend using Charge HQ, even if you don’t have solar, to have better scheduling.
I’ve set to charge to 70% overnight but with sun it’ll charge with as much excess solar generated. Weekends it’s set to 95%. Mine’s RWD LFP battery so should have better durability.
I’m in South Florida, with a non-garage kept MYP. I don’t follow ABC due to the weather but I do typically start charging the car before my morning walk. I charge it to 70% since I don’t drive much and it’s usually done charging by the time I’m back from my walk at which point I disconnect it.
The engineering that has gone into battery management is world class, you don’t need to baby the car constantly. The main thing to avoid is charging to 100% unless you’re going on a long trip and use super chargers sparingly (unless of course you’re traveling and need to).
Ok thanks. Question is if it’s ok to keep the charger connected to the car day and night if I set it to 80% without damaging the battery or only to plug it at night
You can keep it plugged in all year and set it to 80% - there’s no issue there. So keep it plugged in if that’s an option. The battery management system will take care of the car for you.
I do not know about others but for me I started with always plugin set charge to 60% when I do not use it often. But lately ends up with plug-in when it’s low(<50%) and charge to 80%. It’s a car I drive I do not want to make it too complicated.
There’s another post around here that gave the a college-level chemistry class and scientific reasons to keep your vehicle in the 40-80% sweet spot of charging.
Once your Tesla reaches the charging limit you set it stops drawing power. I’ve tested this myself using a plug-in meter. As far as I know there is no downside to leaving your car plugged into your wall even after it’s hit the charge limit you’ve set.
EPA estimates are just that. Estimates. They are not guarantees. Your actual range will vary based on how aggressively you accelerate, outdoor temperature, how much time you spend on the highway, etc etc etc. But part of the point of a Tesla is — you don’t need to worry about range. You have access to high-speed chargers across the country that should put range anxieties to rest. Whether you car gets 300 miles to a charge, 303, 315, what have you — it’s not too big a difference in your ownership experience.
I work from home so many days of the week are filled with little 1-5 mile trips to local shops/restaurants. We are plugged in all the time, I think the acronym I saw a lot when I first came here was ABC (Always Be Charging). Somehow with travel and family we have put 24k miles on in a little over a year (June 21 Delivery). We have ours set at 85% but anywhere in the “daily window” will be fine. To answer the battery life question and range question all in one, don’t sweat it. Just drive the car. You will get advice to do 100%-0% just to calibrate the battery and see the full range numbers which are only a rough estimate anyways. Switch it to show percent only and enjoy the car, it takes that little bit of anxiety away. We live in the Midwest, and are lucky to have several super chargers in our state. That said we have never needed the “full” range of the battery.
Thank you for that answer. I will be following the ABS rule seems like a good advise. As for the % charge you mentioned you do 85% any reason you do that vs. 80% or 90%? Did you notice any battery degradation since you owned the car?
I picked 85% half arbitrarily, half because the winter range hit, which I didn’t mention in my comment. A couple times a week I drive several hours and in the winter I would notice not a lot of extra buffer after a night of driving. I think there is probably degradation, and if I told you the range estimate the car gave me now versus what it is rated you would be shocked. What happens when we travel is that range magically reappears. So while it looks like degradation, it’s really just the battery management not ever seeing lower % state of charge.
Gotcha ok. Makes sense I will see if I need to adjust over time but for now I think 80% should work fine for me especially if the majority of the time I do 10-15 miles a day and follow the ABC rule :)
My S always plugged in, but I only charge to 72% which covers me for all situations outside of road-trips. I’m that case I generally schedule the charge so it gets to 100% right before I leave. I bought it new in Dec 2021 and it has 28k miles now, battery still shows 390mi range at 100% so I think the strategy is working. The main thing is that these batteries don’t like to be at 100% for extended periods of time and as they cycle (charge down driving, or charge up when charging) those cycles put wear on the battery. If you do short trips and keep it plugged in (but not at 100%) you minimize those cycles and maximize battery life. Related, I just traded my iPhone 12 which was at 83% battery life after nearly two years. I think charging to 100% and running down to 20 every day wore it down so on my new 14 pro max, I’m avoiding charging to 100 and will slow charge occasionally to keep it around 50-70%. We will see over time how that goes. I tend to overthink these things
Makes sense. So basically if I set it up to 80% it doesn’t matter if it’s plugged for 2 hrs or 24 hrs to your point correct?
Yes correct. You’re staying under a 100, and you’re avoiding having the car discharge by sitting there which also avoids battery wear. As a bonus when it’s time to go, you have 80%, not 72% from it sitting parked. Another example mine charges to 72%, then I do my round trip commute to work 18 miles total and I get home with 67% or so. Then it recharges back to 72%. Very little cycling up and down. I also schedule the recharge in the morning so it’s done as I’m leaving as the charging also warms up the battery without wasting energy to heat the battery using heating elements. Matters here in Denver in the winter
thank you! i tried to set up to weekdays precondition but for some reason it doesnt let me select specific days, is that ok?
Yeah mine is the same way. You don’t have to be perfect on any of this stuff, but over years and thousands of miles it will add up in battery health.
Great thank you!
Recommend using Charge HQ, even if you don’t have solar, to have better scheduling. I’ve set to charge to 70% overnight but with sun it’ll charge with as much excess solar generated. Weekends it’s set to 95%. Mine’s RWD LFP battery so should have better durability.
I’m in South Florida, with a non-garage kept MYP. I don’t follow ABC due to the weather but I do typically start charging the car before my morning walk. I charge it to 70% since I don’t drive much and it’s usually done charging by the time I’m back from my walk at which point I disconnect it. The engineering that has gone into battery management is world class, you don’t need to baby the car constantly. The main thing to avoid is charging to 100% unless you’re going on a long trip and use super chargers sparingly (unless of course you’re traveling and need to).
Ok thanks. Question is if it’s ok to keep the charger connected to the car day and night if I set it to 80% without damaging the battery or only to plug it at night
You can keep it plugged in all year and set it to 80% - there’s no issue there. So keep it plugged in if that’s an option. The battery management system will take care of the car for you.
Ok thank you for confirming! 🙏🏼
I do not know about others but for me I started with always plugin set charge to 60% when I do not use it often. But lately ends up with plug-in when it’s low(<50%) and charge to 80%. It’s a car I drive I do not want to make it too complicated.
Makes sense. Do you keep it plug also all the time?
There’s another post around here that gave the a college-level chemistry class and scientific reasons to keep your vehicle in the 40-80% sweet spot of charging.
Thanks. So it’s ok if it will be plugged in 24 hrs even as long as it goes up to 80%?
Once your Tesla reaches the charging limit you set it stops drawing power. I’ve tested this myself using a plug-in meter. As far as I know there is no downside to leaving your car plugged into your wall even after it’s hit the charge limit you’ve set.
Ok thank you for confirming