First M3 Road trip coming Next week

[russgm]

First, I got my Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range "Bojack" about 6 weeks ago.
Second, I have a Wall Charger that I use a few nights a week to bring "Bojack" up to 80%.
Finally, my son is graduating college next weekend. The trip is about 139 miles each way.
I have never charged beyond 80%, I was told this is something to avoid, also going below 20% too, The highest I have ever gone is 80%, which I do about 50% of the nights and the lowest I have ever gotten to is about 30%, just once and aside from that, I haven't even been below 50% more than once or twice, maybe.
Next, there is a Tesla Supercharger nearish to the midpoint of the trip, (each way obviously).
And I made us reservations for dinner at a restaurant that is in a mall that has a Tesla supercharger on the first night.

So, question one: how much should I charge the night before? The usual 80%, or 90% or even 100%??? and why. I am curious what the veterans think.

Lastly, whats the deal with my battery? I was told it has 310 miles of range, TeslaFi thinks it has 309.48 and the highest its ever been is 310. But I have read that some older update before my purchase, I am on 2019.12.1.2, raised some battery (mine?) from 310 to 325? If true, why isn't that reflected anywhere????

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

Graduation is the pinnacle of your many milestones as a parent. Congrats! @russgm Spare the details and charge to 100% before you leave and make sure it's 100% right when you wake up. You paid >$100k sending him thru school, so lets not have anything (distractions) take away for the moment.

I am on 2019.12.1.2. The bump was primarily intended for Single Motor Long Range configurations, which I have. I haven't seen the virtual mileage bump either.

 

[Rocky_H]

I have never charged beyond 80%, I was told this is something to avoid, also going below 20% too, The highest I have ever gone is 80%, which I do about 50% of the nights and the lowest I have ever gotten to is about 30%, just once and aside from that, I haven't even been below 50% more than once or twice, maybe.

You're stating it a little too strongly. It's not really "something to avoid". It's more like something to not do daily 365 days a year if you don't need to. But using the full charge when it's helpful once in a while is fine.

So, question one: how much should I charge the night before? The usual 80%, or 90% or even 100%??? and why. I am curious what the veterans think.

I'm a somewhat veteran at 5 years, and I've heard this method from a few others too. I set it the night before a little over 90%, so it finishes whenever it finishes during the night. Then, when I wake up in the morning, I can pick up my phone, open the Tesla app and move the slider up to 100% and get it charging again while I'm showering, having coffee/breakfast, and getting ready. By the time I'm ready to go, it's up near 97% or 99% or so, and that's good enough and hasn't been sitting at 100% for several hours.

And yeah, it's certainly worth it to hit that Supercharger along the way for even a little 15-20 minute boost to not have to worry about range. I don't know if you would need it both ways, but either on the way there or the way back--however you feel.

 

[ewoodrick]

You are going on a trip, albeit a short one. It is indeed recommended to charge it to 100%. Your sources on not charging above 80% are incorrect. It is perfectly fine, even recommended to charge to 90% daily. Charging to 100% every few months is actually recommended to help balance the batteries.

Since you will be under the range of the car for the trip, although I suspect side trips will bring you back up to max range, you really only need a few minutes at the Supercharger. I would not recommend plugging it in and leaving it plugged in through dinner. You possible will end up with idle charges and you'll pay for too much energy even at 30 minutes.

Charge to 100% the night before (don't worry about how long it will be at 100%)
Head out in the morning and set your max back down to 80-90%.
Enjoy the trip
Add a 10-15 minutes at the Supercharger, or better, if possible, plug in at the hotel to slower charging.
Enjoy the trip home, make sure that you have the nav computer set to take you home. If for some reason you start to get low, it will suggest limiting speed to make it.

 

[TJKR]

I'd just charge it to 100% and just do the whole trip. The slower you go on the highway, the better your going to do on the mileage. I have a Mid-range and on a recent trip I did 240 miles no problem. Lot of it stuck in traffic, and came back with 40 miles/15% left.

 

[Rocky_H]

Your sources on not charging above 80% are incorrect. It is perfectly fine, even recommended to charge to 90% daily.

I (and plenty of data) disagrees with you. There is some small negative cumulative effect the higher your charge level is. That so-called "recommendation" of 90% is a sales/marketing recommendation. They want people to have enough range to use so they don't complain about the usability of the car. Overall, are people going to care about an extra percent or two of degradation in the 10-15 year time frame? Maybe not, but that 90% is going to be just a little worse than 80% for daily use.

 

[Saghost]

I spent the last 2.5 years consistently charging to only 80% except on road trips - and ended up with exactly the same 4-5% degradation that folks who charge to 90% typically see at 50k miles. I wouldn't worry about charging to 90% routinely - the difference appears to be miniscule. You just don't want to go much higher than that and let it sit.

 

[IdaX]

Charge to 100% whenever you want, for any reason, and don't feel bad! Just don't do it every day by default.

 

[Rocky_H]

I spent the last 2.5 years [...]

*facepalm* Did I, or did I not say that this would be noticed as a long term effect, like in the 10-15 year time frame?

 

[Saghost]

*facepalm* Did I, or did I not say that this would be noticed as a long term effect, like in the 10-15 year time frame?

All the historical trends I've seen show the strongest degradation in the first year or two, fading thereafter. Do you have data to suggest that charging to 90% will somehow change this trend, producing no change to the degradation in the typical high period but somehow accelerating degradation in the later years? I certainly haven't seen that data.

 

[Rocky_H]

All the historical trends I've seen show the strongest degradation in the first year or two, fading thereafter. Do you have data to suggest that charging to 90% will somehow change this trend, producing no change to the degradation in the typical high period but somehow accelerating degradation in the later years? I certainly haven't seen that data.

It is literally all of the studies and data. The first two statements don't contradict. There usually is a bigger very early drop and then it levels off to a lesser gradual slope. But how steep that long term slope is does depend on how high the state of charge is over the long term use. Being centered around that midpoint of near 50% state of charge always shows the least degradation. And as you look at each experimental population that used higher and higher states of charge, the long term degradation slopes continually get steeper.

As for finding the data, go ahead and paste this phrase into Google:
"battery degradation trending by state of charge"
and check out however many of those studies you would like.

I really hate that we're getting so into the minutia of this on what was a pretty simple question starting this thread. But I just can't stand seeing people make these kinds of absolute but false statements, like there being no difference at all between using 90% daily limit or lower limits. I grant that the difference is probably going to be small and may not be very significant to most people, especially if they don't plan to own their cars for a very long time, but it's a little bit of difference. And if that extra range is not important to some people on a daily basis, then maybe they do want to lean a little bit toward the long term health of their batteries.

 

[Wennfred]

First, I got my Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range "Bojack" about 6 weeks ago.
Second, I have a Wall Charger that I use a few nights a week to bring "Bojack" up to 80%.
Finally, my son is graduating college next weekend. The trip is about 139 miles each way.
I have never charged beyond 80%, I was told this is something to avoid, also going below 20% too, The highest I have ever gone is 80%, which I do about 50% of the nights and the lowest I have ever gotten to is about 30%, just once and aside from that, I haven't even been below 50% more than once or twice, maybe.
Next, there is a Tesla Supercharger nearish to the midpoint of the trip, (each way obviously).
And I made us reservations for dinner at a restaurant that is in a mall that has a Tesla supercharger on the first night.

So, question one: how much should I charge the night before? The usual 80%, or 90% or even 100%??? and why. I am curious what the veterans think.

Lastly, whats the deal with my battery? I was told it has 310 miles of range, TeslaFi thinks it has 309.48 and the highest its ever been is 310. But I have read that some older update before my purchase, I am on 2019.12.1.2, raised some battery (mine?) from 310 to 325? If true, why isn't that reflected anywhere????

If you keep your wh/mi around 250 or under then you don’t have to charge. But you can charge to 80% at that Supercharger and go as fast as you want. Your round trip is 278, so a charge at the house at 100% will cover the whole trip. You can charge to 100% for long distance trips.

Fred

 

[RFernatt]

I do a similar length trip occasionally (149 miles), but through mountains. I hit the SC at the destination for a few minutes before the return trip or another SC on the way back. I do charge to 100% before leaving on these trips, but normally charge to 80%. Always better to have a little extra buffer on a trip.