Poll: Do You Plug In Every Day (for daily driving, home charging)?

[Midpack]

For daily driving for those with home charging primarily. I read Tesla says the car should be left plugged in when at home and not in use. I wait until I’m down to about 40% or so and then charge to 80%, usually overnight. Does it really make a difference?

I’m not asking about exceptions, like charging to 90-100% for a longer road trip. Or those who don’t have home charging available.

 

[fholbert]

During the week I charge nightly, I often drive 100 or more miles for work each day. On the weekend not so much, maybe 20 miles a day. I’ll go back on the charger Sunday night.

 

[ATPMSD]

There are so many comments on topics like this! The reason Tesla recommends plugging in at home probably has more to do with “marketing” to avoid range complaints. But, it is probably best to plug in every night if it is convenient to do so. You just need to decided the upper limit for the SOC that works best for you and your daily drive.

In my case, I get 95+% of my charging for free at the “office” so I very rarely charge at home.

 

[jjrandorin]

For daily driving for those with home charging primarily. I read Tesla says the car should be left plugged in when at home and not in use. I wait until I’m down to about 40% or so and then charge to 80%, usually overnight. Does it really make a difference?

No, it doesnt really make a difference.... but there is no benefit (none) to "running it down to charge it back up", either. Since that is the case, and because I have (2) EVs that both get parked in my garage, as well as (2) wall connectors, one for each EV, Its much easier for my wife and I to simply "plug the car in every time its in the garage".

I happen to fall in the camp that thinks Teslas recommendation is because of what @ATPMSD said in the post above mine. I know its not necessary to plug in every day, but I also know there isnt any reason NOT to, if its convenient, and for me, its more convenient to plug in than to not plug in.

For my wifes model Y, she doesnt even really pay attention to the range meter. She just plugs in every time the car is in the garage, and knows that it will charge to whatever level I set for it, whenever I set it for, so she doesnt need to think about it other than "plug it in".

 

[mborkow]

I charge to 60% every day (which on my software locked battery pack is actually 55%)…I typically use 10 - 15% and then charge back up to 60%.

 

[karkrazy]

‘22 MYP, we don’t drive too much, so only charge once or twice a week from ~20% till 70-80%. Sometimes at home, sometimes at L2 public charger, sometimes at supercharger. Depends on time of day, cost and convenience

 

[Zythryn]

I’ve found it is more reliable for me to stick with the habit of plugging it in daily.
Probably not a big deal, but it makes for one less decision I need to make each day

 

[WyoDude]

I don’t really think it’s matters all that much either way but I plug in everyday and have followed some of the recommendations listed in other threads for battery health optimization because it’s not difficult to do and doesn’t have an impact on me.
My Y is at .8% battery loss after 1 year and 16k miles, who knows why that is, but could be partially due to following the recommendations and seems to be decently better than the norm.

 

[Calliope]

I plug in my 2021 MY every time I park it in the garage, mostly to build the habit......That way I won't be in bed when I suddenly realize that I hadn't plugged in my car one night and I have several hours of driving the next day.

My daily use ranges from 15% to 70%, but every time I use it, I plug it in and it charges to 80%. overnight On those rare times I have a road trip planned, I'll charge it to 100%.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

It's a much smaller contributor than keeping it (storing it) below 55% (for NCA packs, it's a higher percentage "allowed" for storage for LFP), but minimizing depth of discharge is better for the pack. There's plenty of data showing that you can get more "full cycles equivalent" out of packs that are cycled in a more shallow manner (again, equivalent so even after accounting for the fact that each cycle is smaller!). But the number of FCEs are quite high for that - so something you'd worry about after a couple hundred thousand miles probably.

I just plug it in whenever I can and charge to below 55%. And I charge above 55% routinely - I just don't leave it there.

 

[E90alex]

Zero benefit to waiting until below xx% to charge for daily use if you have easy access to home or work charging. Charging daily is best. Keeping charge level below 55% is best if that works for your use.

Many many many many threads on best charging habits. Low state of charge and low depth of discharge is best for battery health as long as it doesn’t cause any inconvenience.

I charge to 50% daily and use 10-13% daily. Never worry about range and never pay attention to the charge level. If I need to go farther all of a sudden there’s plenty of superchargers in each direction.

 

[CobaltLights]

I keep my ‘23 MY plugged in and cap charge level at 50%m which easily covers 90% of my needs.

 

[Midnightsun]

I like to keep both cars topped off to around 80% all the time so we plug in at home and I plug in at the office also. Would be a bummer if something out of the ordinary happens and you are sitting at 40% or less requiring a longer travel. Not like you can fill up the tank in 5 minutes like with an ICE.

 

[E90alex]

I like to keep both cars topped off to around 80% all the time so we plug in at home and I plug in at the office also. Would be a bummer if something out of the ordinary happens and you are sitting at 40% or less requiring a longer travel. Not like you can fill up the tank in 5 minutes like with an ICE.

40% gets me about 2 hours away from my house. Where could you possibly need to go suddenly more than 2 hours away that you wouldn’t have time to stop and charge?

 

[jddaigle]

Most of the time I drive less than 10 miles a day so I don’t plug in every night. A couple of days a week I’ll drive 40 or 50 miles for work. My charge limit is set to 60 and I usually plug it in when I get down to the low 40s. We do take longer road trips every month or two and for those I aim to be at 100% about an hour or so before departure.

Both of our Teslas share a Mobile Connector that is “permanently” plugged into a 14-50R in our garage, so the most frequently either one of us could charge is every other night anyway.

 

[Midnightsun]

40% gets me about 2 hours away from my house

Wow, you can drive for 5 hours with your car charged to 100%. I want one of those.

I happen to be in the hospital with my dad right now, had to come here on a moments notice and I am really glad the car was sitting at 80%.

Point is, $hit happens so why no be prepared when home charging is so simple and cost effective.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Wow, you can drive for 5 hours with your car charged to 100%. I want one of those.

I happen to be in the hospital with my dad right now, had to come here on a moments notice and I am really glad the car was sitting at 80%.

Point is, $hit happens so why no be prepared when home charging is so simple and cost effective.

It all depends on your use case and whether you want to cut your capacity loss roughly in half (not really a huge deal but could impact resale, or potentially usability between very long distances between Superchargers (very unusual).

Keep it above 60%, get double the capacity loss (roughly) that you would see if you stored below 55%.

Really a personal choice and a use case issue. I have a backup ICE vehicle so if I am really out of luck I can always use that.

 

[gtae07]

I charge nightly, to 55% normally or higher if needed. Usually finish the day around 25-30. Scheduled departure minimizes time spent above 55%. If I'm ever really in a crunch I live a mile from a supercharger. Only needed to do that once, when I stupidly updated while plugged in and it dorked my charging up.

 

[dcfas]

During the week I charge nightly, I often drive 100 or more miles for work each day. On the weekend not so much, maybe 20 miles a day. I’ll go back on the charger Sunday night.

Ditto. The car is usually unplugged for weekends.

 

[WyoDude]

40% gets me about 2 hours away from my house. Where could you possibly need to go suddenly more than 2 hours away that you wouldn’t have time to stop and charge?

I personally hate when I have to flee the country last minute and I’m low on charge, that’s the worst and then it takes 15 minutes to supercharge up to 80% - never again.