What would be the best way of maximizing the longevity of a Tesla?
- Thread starter Owen Lucas
- Start date
5+ years of ownership beats opinion. And the willingness to engage in open-minded conversation.
That involves being willing to consider different perspectives, even if they contradict your beliefs. It's a key component of emotional intelligence and fosters education.
1) 55% to 20% charging
2) Level 1 charging
3) If you must charge to 100% do it right before a trip.
4) Light foot
5) Keep in ambient temperature whenever possible.
Right now I have a 10 year old Tesla nest to a 30 year old Corolla (Geo Prizm). In due time EVs will outlast the ICE. Then something else will come along.
2) Level 1 charging
3) If you must charge to 100% do it right before a trip.
4) Light foot
5) Keep in ambient temperature whenever possible.
Right now I have a 10 year old Tesla nest to a 30 year old Corolla (Geo Prizm). In due time EVs will outlast the ICE. Then something else will come along.
I charge my Y Performance to 75% daily. My commute is 54 miles a day for work and I drive fast, 80-90+ mph most of the time on the highway with lots of full throttle blasts. Add in shuffling kids, going to lunches/dinners/meetings I probably go 70-80 or more miles many days but have never charged anywhere but home.
If the car remains trouble-free as it has for the first 11.5 months, I’ll hopefully keep it and find out how the battery holds up. So far, in 15,156 miles, I’ve put maybe a half gallon of washer fluid in it. I’m hoping to get 30k or better out of the tires.
If the car remains trouble-free as it has for the first 11.5 months, I’ll hopefully keep it and find out how the battery holds up. So far, in 15,156 miles, I’ve put maybe a half gallon of washer fluid in it. I’m hoping to get 30k or better out of the tires.
When I rented a Model 3 while visiting my son in Kentucky, I vaguely recall reading in the Tesla online info, that charging to 100% is OK, as long as you are going to be driving the car within a certain amount of time, which I can't recall. Just like Torrid mentions. So I'm a little curious, JeffKeryk, whey you have your charge set to 80% when, if I recall correctly, you drive your model 3 almost daily. Just playing it safe? Obviously, 80% works for your daily commute, so perhaps I've already answered my own question.
If you said 5 years and 100K your position would have more credibility IMO than 19 or 20K of total ev ownership is not long enough to even know the car thoroughly.
You never address any legit concerns like cracked giga casting parts, plastic suspension control arms that fail, cheap Chinese parts that are failing, poor brake performance, poor fit and finish with bad paint and a host of other things.
These are not my beliefs these are factual shortcomings and failures. JMHO
Tesla's recommendation is it is better to regularly charge to 80% if you have a battery like mine (NCA perhaps?), while the LFP batteries can be charged to 100% without degradation.
This is my understanding. Your Model 3 rental was likely newer than our 2018 Mid Range, so it probably had the LFP battery.
I have numerous cars; none of them are driven that much. Being retired, I don't even have a daily commute. I prefer to fly if going a distance.
Have there been issues with the vehicles? Of course. Name a car that hasn't.
The braking performance of our car has been fine; additionally regen braking has proven to be a great way to modulate and drive the car. I really like it. Are the brakes undersized for the Plaid? Yes, if driven hard for a period of time. There is a new track package that is appropriate. And the new Model 3 Performance, just released, has upgraded brakes to match its high power.
Tesla fit and finish has been an issues for the cars; our car is very good. It has been inspected by Tesla techs, body shops and my collector car friends. The newer cars are much better than the older cars.
You want bad paint? You should have seen the lousy paint on my 86 and 90 Corvettes. Here's the paint on our Model 3:
I do not have in depth information regarding the cracked giga cast and have researched it. There is no recall and I cannot find any count of occurrences. Can you? Do you know of any accidents or failures attributed to the castings? I have not but would be interested in reading about any.
I have never said these cars are perfect. They are great if they fit your personal use case. In the 5+ years I have come to learn to really appreciate the car. It seems people want Teslas and EVs to be just like ICE vehicles. Well, they aren't; there are differences.
The Model 3 is much more of a hard riding sport sedan than our GS350 F Sport; the Lexus is far more comfortable. Well, it's a Lexus, so there's that.
Tesla's customer satisfaction is off the charts; we are talking Porsche territory. The Model Y, not a cheap car, was the number 1 selling car in the world last year, beating the Corolla, hardly any expensive car. As you say, numbers matter and carry credibility. Well, those are the numbers.
Batteries dont like 100% SoC.
You can go so far as to buy a white one with white interior.
This is a decent page on what’s going on in a Li-Ion battery when charging.
In the old Wild West days of Li-Ion 18650s, we would limit charge voltage to prolong battery life at the expense of usable capacity. 4.10v or even 4.00v if you were obsessed. IIRC, 1C charging or higher wasn’t as much as a concern. I’m sure it’s a little more complicated than that these days.
This is a decent page on what’s going on in a Li-Ion battery when charging.
JHZR2
Staff member
Time at temperature affects ICE and turbine life too.
Higher power ops on batteries increase i^2R heating, and stress on the anode.
This isn’t surprising. It’s best practice for just about everything.
I paid for all the horsepower I will use all the horsepower!
JHZR2
Staff member
Not sure if you’re being silly or serious, but that’s a recipe for lower life on anything.
Mostly silly with a hint of serious. Sometimes it just feels good to just floor it and let it shift a gear or 3, traffic and weather permitting.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Sure, but in practice:
- Your typical Kenworth is spending lots of time at 100% full load
- Your typical Mustang/Charger/Camaro is going to have the living crap beat out of it for most of its life and still go hundreds of thousands of miles. Been there, done that, sold the engine because it outlived the car.
I just found it amusing, because I have never seen Ford/GM/Stellantis/BMW/Mercedes say something along the lines of:
"To avoid unnecessary engine wear:
- avoid driving at high speeds
- avoid accelerating/decelerating frequently or suddenly"
BMW's disclaimer in the manual for my M5 was effectively "wait until the variable redline goes away before using all of the tach" lol.
Assuming an NMC-type battery simply avoid the extremes of the charge range. Try to keep the time spent at a particular charge level balanced across the middle, like water settled in a bathtub. And don't worry about charging small amounts more frequently.
No need to avoid max acceleration.
80% or even a 90% charge is a good start. Driving the EV regularly, instead of other vehicles is a good way to get more miles out of the battery pack. Use and time take a toll, but at the moment it does seem that time is more of a factor than use for most people. 300K miles is very likely with regular use.
But we should remember that the fast and short discharge of rapid acceleration helps prevent dendrite growth, or more accurately, destroys growing dendrites. So while rapid discharge may not extend battery lifespan, it can help prevent early cell failure. The same is not so with rapid charging.
