# Setting charging options - question for Model S owners



## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

Hi all, I watched some youtube videos recently that stated it's recommended to only charge your car to 90% unless you're on a road trip or don't plan to have access to a charger for awhile. I've also heard that charging speeds get lower as you're topping off the batteries.

On that note, can any of you lucky Model S owners shed some light on the options for charging your car? I know I've heard that you can specifically select to charge during certain hours of the day or night. Is it also possible to tell the car to only charge to 80-90%? Are there any other cool options you can select when charging?

Thanks!


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

ng0 said:


> Hi all, I watched some youtube videos recently that stated it's recommended to only charge your car to 90% unless you're on a road trip or don't plan to have access to a charger for awhile. I've also heard that charging speeds get lower as you're topping off the batteries.
> 
> On that note, can any of you lucky Model S owners shed some light on the options for charging your car? I know I've heard that you can specifically select to charge during certain hours of the day or night. Is it also possible to tell the car to only charge to 80-90%? Are there any other cool options you can select when charging?
> 
> Thanks!


I posted some pictures a little while ago. You specifically set the charge limit in the car or from the app. It provides the recommend range and then you can set it to 100% in "trip mode"


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

I don't own a Model S but yes you can schedule how much the battery charges and when. My EVSE (Juicebox Pro) also allows you to schedule charge times as most people have varied pricing tiers in their electric bill.


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## Petra (Sep 12, 2017)

The Model S and X currently have location based start timer functionality, which allows you set the time of day you'd like the car to start charging and it will associate that setting with the charging location. As of yet, there is no scheduling based on the days of the week or departure timers (scheduling a target time for the completion of charging, leaving the start point up to the car) and you still can't set the charge start time via the app.

Additionally, the user can adjust the max current limit for AC charging down if necessary (if you're using homebrew plug adapters, charging from an unstable source, or whatever) and there's a slider available in-car and through the Tesla app which allows the user to set the max target state of charge to anywhere between 50% and 100%.


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## danzgator (May 17, 2017)

ng0 said:


> I've also heard that charging speeds get lower as you're topping off the batteries.


Charging speed is reduced at Superchargers when you hit 80% because it degrades the battery to top off at such high charging speeds. The speed is consistent in normal daily home/work charging. Reduced charging speeds really aren't an issue on road trips because you generally only charge enough to get you to your next planned Supercharger. Otherwise your waiting around a long time for a full "tank" unnecessarily.


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## SSonnentag (Mar 30, 2017)

Assuming we're connected to a supercharger:

If charging from 50% to 60% takes 1 unit of time, how many units would it take to charge from 80% to 90%, and from 90% to 100%?


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## Bokonon (Apr 13, 2017)

SSonnentag said:


> Assuming we're connected to a supercharger:
> 
> If charging from 50% to 60% takes 1 unit of time, how many units would it take to charge from 80% to 90%, and from 90% to 100%?


Here's a helpful graph showing (ideal) supercharging curves for various Model S and X configurations. Model 3 will be very similar.



http://imgur.com/J1GoBSn


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## danzgator (May 17, 2017)

SSonnentag said:


> Assuming we're connected to a supercharger:
> 
> If charging from 50% to 60% takes 1 unit of time, how many units would it take to charge from 80% to 90%, and from 90% to 100%?


Whew, tough question. There are at least 5 variables that I can immediately think of that would affect the answer, probably a lot more. Without getting hyper-technical, I'd say +/-3 units of time for each 10% you asked about. It's noticeably much slower. You wouldn't do it unless you absolutely needed to in order to make it to your next destination, or were stopped for lunch and wanted to fill up as much as possible.

It really never is an issue though. Most Superchargers are 100-150 miles from the next one. So you plug in for 15-30 min, enough to get to the next one, then repeat. If you have a larger battery, you could skip the next supercharger, and hit the one after that. You're goal on road trips is to minimize the overall total time of the trip. To do so, you charge what you need to make it and move on. If you filled up to 100% at every supercharger, you'd be sitting around waiting for it to charge for 2-3x as long every stop and it would increase your overall trip time a lot.

Play around with a road trip on EV trip planner. It will tell you how much you need to charge at each rest stop. If you start deleting too many superchargers from your trip, you'll see that your overall trip time will start increasing dramatically. To roughly mirror an LR M3, I use a MS 90D 19" to give me approximately the same range. https://www.evtripplanner.com/


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## Juergen (Jan 22, 2017)

Also a good EV tripplaner
https://abetterrouteplanner.com
There is the M3 already in.


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## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

wow thanks everyone for the great responses! I actually just noticed that there were replies, so sorry I didn't respond quicker.  Let's say I'm charging at work at 6.6 kW/h, should I be consistently charging up to 80-90%? Is there a reason to stop at a lower amount?


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## danzgator (May 17, 2017)

ng0 said:


> wow thanks everyone for the great responses! I actually just noticed that there were replies, so sorry I didn't respond quicker.  Let's say I'm charging at work at 6.6 kW/h, should I be consistently charging up to 80-90%? Is there a reason to stop at a lower amount?


Batteries don't like to be full or hot. 90% max, unless you're going on a road trip. 70%, if that's all you need daily, but anywhere below 90% is officially ok.


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

ng0 said:


> wow thanks everyone for the great responses! I actually just noticed that there were replies, so sorry I didn't respond quicker.  Let's say I'm charging at work at 6.6 kW/h, should I be consistently charging up to 80-90%? Is there a reason to stop at a lower amount?


To best answer your question, what size battery are you planning and how far is your daily commute? Based on my calculations, a 6.6kw/h should give you about 20-25 miles per 1 hr of charge if you charge at full current. Another question is if you have a time limit on occupying this charge spot while at work.

See this thread for my charge settings.


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## M3OC Rules (Nov 18, 2016)

Thanks for the info. Not a Tesla owner yet but after learning about Tesla battery management I've been trying not to charge my Nexus 6P above 90% unless I need to. I'm amazed at how much of a difference it makes. I've been using Accubattery to monitor my battery health and it gives you a charge cycle calculation for each charge session and estimates your remaining battery health. My original 6P was down to 80% after a little over a year of full charging overnight and "topping off" once in awhile. Then I got a new refurbished phone and after 6 months its gone from 95% to 94% because I'm charging in the morning while I get ready and only full charge when I know I'm going to need it. I really wish cell phone makers would have a setting to stop at some set point. I guess they just want us to buy new phones every year....


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## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

danzgator said:


> Batteries don't like to be full or hot. 90% max, unless you're going on a road trip. 70%, if that's all you need daily, but anywhere below 90% is officially ok.


Thanks!



Brokedoc said:


> To best answer your question, what size battery are you planning and how far is your daily commute? Based on my calculations, a 6.6kw/h should give you about 20-25 miles per 1 hr of charge if you charge at full current. Another question is if you have a time limit on occupying this charge spot while at work.
> 
> See this thread for my charge settings.


I'm planning on getting the long range and my commute is about 30 miles each way to work and back. Sometimes I run some errands and will drive an extra 10-20 miles. In rare occasions I'll be driving up to orange county and los angeles, so it makes sense for me to have the extra range.

At this point I don't believe there's any limit to how long I can park in the spot at work. There are 4 spots and they're rarely all filled up surprisingly enough. I'm sure over the next few years that will change, but for now it seems like a free for all.


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## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

DC Rules said:


> Thanks for the info. Not a Tesla owner yet but after learning about Tesla battery management I've been trying not to charge my Nexus 6P above 90% unless I need to. I'm amazed at how much of a difference it makes. I've been using Accubattery to monitor my battery health and it gives you a charge cycle calculation for each charge session and estimates your remaining battery health. My original 6P was down to 80% after a little over a year of full charging overnight and "topping off" once in awhile. Then I got a new refurbished phone and after 6 months its gone from 95% to 94% because I'm charging in the morning while I get ready and only full charge when I know I'm going to need it. I really wish cell phone makers would have a setting to stop at some set point. I guess they just want us to buy new phones every year....


It's interesting, I was just wondering about that recently. I fully charge and discharge my Galaxy S7 constantly, and after about about a year of usage, the battery life seems soooooo bad. I may try to take a different approach for my next phone.


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

ng0 said:


> Thanks!
> I'm planning on getting the long range and my commute is about 30 miles each way to work and back. Sometimes I run some errands and will drive an extra 10-20 miles. In rare occasions I'll be driving up to orange county and los angeles, so it makes sense for me to have the extra range.
> 
> At this point I don't believe there's any limit to how long I can park in the spot at work. There are 4 spots and they're rarely all filled up surprisingly enough. I'm sure over the next few years that will change, but for now it seems like a free for all.


The recommendation as per the other experts in my thread is to keep the battery close to 50% for the typical cycle to maximize battery chemistry lifespan. A 30 mile commute is a non issue for either standard or long range battery. For the long range battery, you can set your daily charge to 60% daily and still have plenty of range for unexpected trips. For the standard battery, you can charge to 70% daily. If there is no time limit to your parking, you can set charge rate at 15 amps and easily charge your commute miles in 2-3 hrs without generating excess heat.


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

ng0 said:


> It's interesting, I was just wondering about that recently. I fully charge and discharge my Galaxy S7 constantly, and after about about a year of usage, the battery life seems soooooo bad. I may try to take a different approach for my next phone.


Most non EV owners automatically equate the bad battery longevity on their phones with what to expect on an EV. I would go out on a limb and suggest that we've been charging our phones wrong all this time... We should avoid fast charging our phone to the point that the battery gets hot and we should NOT charge to 100%.


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## Brett (Aug 1, 2017)

Brokedoc said:


> I would go out on a limb and suggest that we've been charging our phones wrong all this time... We should avoid fast charging our phone to the point that the battery gets hot and we should NOT charge to 100%.


Interestingly I have been using wireless charging only (slow) for my last couple of phones and I have not noticed any significant drop in battery life. You may be onto something.


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

Brett said:


> Interestingly I have been using wireless charging only (slow) for my last couple of phones and I have not noticed any significant drop in battery life. You may be onto something.


Wireless charging would theoretically be great for slow charging phones intermittently to keep cell phone batteries around the 50% mark as Elon has suggested. Beware some wireless chargers that create excess heat.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

DC Rules said:


> Thanks for the info. Not a Tesla owner yet but after learning about Tesla battery management I've been trying not to charge my Nexus 6P above 90% unless I need to. I'm amazed at how much of a difference it makes. I've been using Accubattery to monitor my battery health and it gives you a charge cycle calculation for each charge session and estimates your remaining battery health. My original 6P was down to 80% after a little over a year of full charging overnight and "topping off" once in awhile. Then I got a new refurbished phone and after 6 months its gone from 95% to 94% because I'm charging in the morning while I get ready and only full charge when I know I'm going to need it. I really wish cell phone makers would have a setting to stop at some set point. I guess they just want us to buy new phones every year....


This sounds great in theory, but I am not sure how real world possible it is. Unfortunately the smart phones aren't smart like the Tesla and they don't allow you to set a charge limit so babysitting the charge is probably more cumbersome than its worth.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

In the Android app store, I see plenty of apps that will sound a notification or alarm when the phone has charged to a certain level. I haven't found any that will simply stop charging at a certain level - I guess they don't have access to control that.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

garsh said:


> In the Android app store, I see plenty of apps that will sound a notification or alarm when the phone has charged to a certain level. I haven't found any that will simply stop charging at a certain level - I guess they don't have access to control that.


Apple is definitely tighter on what they allow dev's to access.


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## M3OC Rules (Nov 18, 2016)

SoFlaModel3 said:


> This sounds great in theory, but I am not sure how real world possible it is. Unfortunately the smart phones aren't smart like the Tesla and they don't allow you to set a charge limit so babysitting the charge is probably more cumbersome than its worth.


I've been doing it for the last 6 months. Its a total pain in the butt and once or twice I screwed up and didn't have enough for the day. Battery life is a common complaint and reason for people getting new phones though so if someone wants to keep their phone for a few years and they are typically near a charger it might be worth it for them. I fast charge while I get ready in the morning and it works ok for me. I can charge at work and in the car if I need to. That's not going to work for everyone.



garsh said:


> In the Android app store, I see plenty of apps that will sound a notification or alarm when the phone has charged to a certain level. I haven't found any that will simply stop charging at a certain level - I guess they don't have access to control that.


I've been using Accubattery which I recommend on Android to help understand your battery health and the difference between charging from 20%-60% versus 90%-100% for example. It has the notification to alarm at a set level but I don't use it because it doesn't work for my habits. This is why the phone manufacturers need to implement a way to stop at a set level!!!


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## Model34mePlease (Jun 3, 2017)

DC Rules said:


> I've been doing it for the last 6 months. Its a total pain in the butt and once or twice I screwed up and didn't have enough for the day. Battery life is a common complaint and reason for people getting new phones though so if someone wants to keep their phone for a few years and they are typically near a charger it might be worth it for them. I fast charge while I get ready in the morning and it works ok for me. I can charge at work and in the car if I need to. That's not going to work for everyone.
> 
> I've been using Accubattery which I recommend on Android to help understand your battery health and the difference between charging from 20%-60% versus 90%-100% for example. It has the notification to alarm at a set level but I don't use it because it doesn't work for my habits. This is why the phone manufacturers need to implement a way to stop at a set level!!!


This is why I tend to favor phones that have a removable battery so I can replace it when needed without replacing the whole phone. The rest of this stuff is too hard to keep track of.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

DC Rules said:


> I've been doing it for the last 6 months. Its a total pain in the butt and once or twice I screwed up and didn't have enough for the day. Battery life is a common complaint and reason for people getting new phones though so if someone wants to keep their phone for a few years and they are typically near a charger it might be worth it for them. I fast charge while I get ready in the morning and it works ok for me. I can charge at work and in the car if I need to. That's not going to work for everyone.
> 
> I've been using Accubattery which I recommend on Android to help understand your battery health and the difference between charging from 20%-60% versus 90%-100% for example. It has the notification to alarm at a set level but I don't use it because it doesn't work for my habits. This is why the phone manufacturers need to implement a way to stop at a set level!!!


I think it's just easiest to plug into my brain that I will spend $30/month and get a new phone every 2 years


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## teslaliving (Apr 2, 2016)

ng0 said:


> Hi all, I watched some youtube videos recently that stated it's recommended to only charge your car to 90% unless you're on a road trip or don't plan to have access to a charger for awhile. I've also heard that charging speeds get lower as you're topping off the batteries.
> 
> On that note, can any of you lucky Model S owners shed some light on the options for charging your car? I know I've heard that you can specifically select to charge during certain hours of the day or night. Is it also possible to tell the car to only charge to 80-90%? Are there any other cool options you can select when charging?
> 
> Thanks!


Long-term model S owner, looks like the thread got a little off-topic so to the OP original questions:

1) Tesla recommends you charge between 50%-90% daily. 
2) >90% is for trips (note that 10% of my car new max is an extra 26miles. People fixate on small numbers like that that dont make much of a difference. Even when going on trips I rarely charge the extra 10% as it's rarely helpful. I use EVTripping.com to figure out what I need to start the trip.
3) Your minimum allowed charge setting is 50% and your maximum is 100%.
4) You can control your speed (amps) at non-Superchargers, but not at Superchargers. I use this sometimes when parking overnight to let it charge all night at a public charger so it is charging all night and people don't get mad at me for squatting and not charging (hotels).
5) You can only set charge start time on charging. Not charge end time or duration of charge. Charge end time depends on your charge setting and how fast you can change.
6) Tesla remembers the amps you have set and whether you're using scheduled charging or not based on GPS location.
7) You can start/stop charging from your phone and change the charge max (up or down).

Third party apps can provide other things (like warnings that your car isn't plugged in at a certain time of day from EVTripping.com, etc).


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