Three weeks vacation coming, should I leave my M3 plugged-in ?

[kimwin]

I have read lot of information about this topic related to model Y.
My question is specific to 2023 M3 which Tesla recommends to fully charge to 100% once a week.
My car will be in the garage for 3 weeks during my vacation (fully charged before I go on vacation).
I have seen it loosing 1% per week on a previous 2 weeks out of town.
Three weeks would cause the battery to lose 3%. Not a big deal I guess,
This time, I will leave it plugged in, schedule it to charge to 80%., starting at midnight (for lowest electricity rate, in California).
My guess charging will never happen as the SoC would be close to 100% , way above 80%.
On my 11-th day of vacation, I will schedule it to charge to 100% to comply with the recommendation.
I will set a security camera pointing to the Wall Connector so I can watch the light showing charging in progress (for my own curiosity and entertainment).
I know this is unnecessary as the APP shows that too. It would be fun to see that as If I am at home.

Please let me know if there is anything wrong with this plan.

 

[LoudMusic]

Personally I'd set it to 50% and leave it.

I also wouldn't be charging to 100% once a week. Maybe once a month, but really only when necessary. Mostly what you're doing with a 100% charge is recalibrating the battery state of charge meter. There is drift, but not much.

 

[Kairide]

Don’t overthink it, you could either leave it plugged in and left at 100% since it’s LFP. Or, charge it and leave it unplugged for the 3 weeks.

 

[3sr+buyer]

The easy way is to leave it plugged in with the charge target at 50% if you want to minimize time spent >70%, then charge it back up to 100% when you get back if you are concerned about the BMS losing the true state of charge with an LFP battery that has not seen 100% (or very low state of charge) for the three weeks.

 

[Soul Surfer]

I have read lot of information about this topic related to model Y.
My question is specific to 2023 M3 which Tesla recommends to fully charge to 100% once a week.
My car will be in the garage for 3 weeks during my vacation (fully charged before I go on vacation).
I have seen it loosing 1% per week on a previous 2 weeks out of town.
Three weeks would cause the battery to lose 3%. Not a big deal I guess,
This time, I will leave it plugged in, schedule it to charge to 80%., starting at midnight (for lowest electricity rate, in California).
My guess charging will never happen as the SoC would be close to 100% , way above 80%.
On my 11-th day of vacation, I will schedule it to charge to 100% to comply with the recommendation.
I will set a security camera pointing to the Wall Connector so I can watch the light showing charging in progress (for my own curiosity and entertainment).
I know this is unnecessary as the APP shows that too. It would be fun to see that as If I am at home.

Please let me know if there is anything wrong with this plan.

We were in Italy for 3 weeks. I left mine plugged in at 70% SOC, my usual level. All good and recommended by the company.

 

[ATPMSD]

Don’t overthink this. If it is convenient to do so leave the car plugged in. If not, charge to 80% and relax as the car will lose less that 1 kWh / day, assuming you leave Sentry and cabin overheat protection turned-off

There is much debate as to the best “storage“ target. I suggest anything between 50% to 80% is fine. Don’t worry about that 100% recommendation during your vacation, just charge to 100% when you get back.

And don’t check your car via the app on a daily basis, relax and enjoy your vacation!

 

[DuncanM]

I have read lot of information about this topic related to model Y.
My question is specific to 2023 M3 which Tesla recommends to fully charge to 100% once a week.
My car will be in the garage for 3 weeks during my vacation (fully charged before I go on vacation).
I have seen it loosing 1% per week on a previous 2 weeks out of town.
Three weeks would cause the battery to lose 3%. Not a big deal I guess,
This time, I will leave it plugged in, schedule it to charge to 80%., starting at midnight (for lowest electricity rate, in California).
My guess charging will never happen as the SoC would be close to 100% , way above 80%.
On my 11-th day of vacation, I will schedule it to charge to 100% to comply with the recommendation.
I will set a security camera pointing to the Wall Connector so I can watch the light showing charging in progress (for my own curiosity and entertainment).
I know this is unnecessary as the APP shows that too. It would be fun to see that as If I am at home.

Please let me know if there is anything wrong with this plan.

Sounds good.

There's lots of discussion regarding charging strategies for the LFP M3 but the data seems to indicate that charging it to 100% regularly doesn't cause increased degradation. The max battery capacity seems to decline with age so that low mileage and high mileage cars with the same build date will have about the same remaining capacity. I know, a bit weird,

 

[kimwin]

And don’t check your car via the app on a daily basis, relax and enjoy your vacation!

This my first Tesla, brand new. The app helps me to schedule charging only if I want to do so.

 

[jjrandorin]

This my first Tesla, brand new. The app helps me to schedule charging only if I want to do so.

The reason @ATPMSD mentioned that recommendation, is because every time you open the tesla app to "check on" your car, you wake it up, increasing the amount of standby energy it uses. Meaning, "checking on it to see if you need to charge it" will directly contribute to needing to charge it more often.

If you leave it plugged in, you wont need to check on it at all, just set it at whatever level you want to, and know that the car will charge itself when it needs to. Or, if that doesnt work for you and you want to check on it, at least be aware that doing that is going to make you need to charge it more often.

 

[kimwin]

every time you open the tesla app to "check on" your car, you wake it up, increasing the amount of standby energy it uses

I understand this and intentionally open the app to wake it up. Loosing some SoC is not a big deal for me.

 

[Kairide]

I understand this and intentionally open the app to wake it up.

Why? There’s no need to intentionally wake up your Tesla.

 

[SO16]

I always set mine to 50% and plugged in no matter how long the vacation. Just in case something happens and I’m gone longer than expected.

I’ve left mine plugged in for up to 5 months at a time.

 

[E90alex]

Leave it plugged in at 50%.

Charge to your usual % (or 100% if needed for LFP) on your way back or the night you get back depending when you need the car.

 

[Big Earl]

I'd store it at 50-60%. Plugged in or unplugged, whichever makes you feel better.

 

[AAKEE]

Sounds good.

There's lots of discussion regarding charging strategies for the LFP M3 but the data seems to indicate that charging it to 100% regularly doesn't cause increased degradation.

The LFP’s degrade mainly from calendar aging.
Calendar aging is less with less SOC.
The biggest win is to stay at or below 70% as there is a steep change in calendar aging just above 70%.

70 vs 80% makes a bigger difference than 80 or 100% because of this.

The max battery capacity seems to decline with age so that low mileage and high mileage cars with the same build date will have about the same remaining capacity. I know, a bit weird,

The true capacity will remain longer with lower SOC.

 

[DuncanM]

The LFP’s degrade mainly from calendar aging.
Calendar aging is less with less SOC.
The biggest win is to stay at or below 70% as there is a steep change in calendar aging just above 70%.

70 vs 80% makes a bigger difference than 80 or 100% because of this.

The true capacity will remain longer with lower SOC.

The LFP’s degrade mainly from calendar aging.
Calendar aging is less with less SOC.
The biggest win is to stay at or below 70% as there is a steep change in calendar aging just above 70%.

70 vs 80% makes a bigger difference than 80 or 100% because of this.

The true capacity will remain longer with lower SOC.

I haven't seen real world data to support this.

 

[Randy-12]

When I go on vacation I leave my 2022 RWD with the LFP plugged in.
I make sure that I'm below 70% SOC when I park it and then Plug it in and set the max to 70%
I then force close the app on my iPhone and go away.
About 24 hours before I'm scheduled to be home, I'll open up the app and move the charge limit to 100%
I use 24 hours as I charge on Level 1 and it will take about 20-24 hours to get it back to 100%

I don't check on the car when away, no need to.

 

[AAKEE]

I haven't seen real world data to support this.

This is most probably due to the fact that you havent seen any real data?

One way might be to search for calendar aging + LFP (or LiFePo4, as tihs is the chemical formula)

These might work as an example of a not too old research reports, showing how calendar is affected by temperature and SOC.
Compare different SOC with the same temperature and see for your self.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...and_Model_Identification_via_Machine-Learning

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b4...5*MTcwMDE1OTM2Ny4yLjEuMTcwMDE1OTQ2OC41OS4wLjA

 

[E90alex]

I haven't seen real world data to support this.

Controlled lab data supports this.

There’s not really a good way for real world data to support this since there’s way too many variables. Unless someone buys two identical vehicles and drives them identically the same way in the same climate but only differ in their charging habits.

You can compare one person with low SOC charging with fleet wide data points as some apps let you do, which has so far corroborated the lab data for NMC and NCA cells. There’s no reason to believe LFP cells would be any different.

 

[gsmith123]

While Tesla recommends charging to 100% weekly on LFP packs, there’s no need to comply with that if not using the car.

Seems like the easiest vacation plan is simply full charge 100% before you get home to calibrate the BMS, and leave it at whatever storage SOC one feels comfortable with. I’d aim for below 70% but everyone seems to have an opinion about this.