Home charging speed, does it make a difference?

[3cyberbeast]

I have been charging my truck at 25 amps. It keeps the Charging cable cooler to the Touch. I have a six hour window where my electricity rate is lowered for car charging and it always charges up to the 80% within that timeframe on my typical daily commute. My thinking is a slow trickle charge is better than a faster charge. Below, I asked ChatGPT and this is what it came up with. What do you all think about it?

Charging a Tesla or any electric vehicle (EV) at a lower amperage can indeed have some positive effects on the longevity of the battery, though the benefits are not as significant as one might think. Here’s a breakdown:

### 1. **Heat and Battery Degradation**:
Charging at a lower amperage reduces the heat generated during the charging process. High temperatures can accelerate battery degradation over time. By charging at 25A instead of the maximum 48A, the lower heat buildup can contribute to slightly less wear on the battery, especially over the long term.

### 2. **Battery Cycles**:
Lithium-ion batteries in EVs are most affected by the number of charge cycles and the depth of discharge. Charging at a lower rate doesn’t directly affect these cycles, but a slower charge may help with more even battery conditioning, which could potentially extend overall battery health slightly.

### 3. **Diminishing Returns**:
The benefits of charging slower are incremental. Tesla batteries are designed with sophisticated thermal management systems that regulate temperature during charging and driving. Thus, even when charging at the higher 48A, the system prevents overheating, which limits degradation. This means the impact of charging slower is relatively minor compared to other factors, such as maintaining proper state-of-charge habits (e.g., not fully charging or fully draining the battery often).

### 4. **Increased Charging Efficiency**:
In terms of efficiency, there might be a slight increase in energy efficiency when charging at lower amperage because the system doesn't need to work as hard to manage higher currents and temperatures. However, this difference is often quite small.

### Conclusion:
While charging at 25A instead of 48A might offer some marginal benefits for long-term battery health due to reduced heat, Tesla's battery management system is designed to handle higher charging rates without significantly impacting the battery's longevity. Therefore, the overall impact of lower amperage charging on battery life is likely modest. For most users, the convenience of faster charging outweighs the small benefits of charging more slowly.

For optimal battery health, it’s more critical to avoid frequent fast charging (using Superchargers) and to maintain moderate charging levels (between 20-80%) in daily use.

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[CyberGus]

Cell longevity is best when charging below 1C (full discharge to full charge in 1 hour). Level-2 charging is limited to 48A or 11kW, which is less than 0.1C.

Charge at whatever level you like, but there is negligible difference in Level-2 charge rates for the effect on the cells.

 

[Outdoors]

Cell longevity is best when charging below 1C (full discharge to full charge in 1 hour). Level-2 charging is limited to 48A or 11kW, which is less than 0.1C.

Charge at whatever level you like, but there is negligible difference in Level-2 charge rates for the effect on the cells.

Yep. This would be an example of trying to overthink. Many of these thoughts everywhere. Just in different shapes and forms. Stick with the 1C rule and one can sleep.

I have just stuck with. Home charging is best at any rate. Supercharging isn't that bad either.

Lower the rate the higher the overhead.

My Gen2's (3) wall chargers have never failed.

Again. Try to overthink makes others think ya might be a little too much into ya car. Plug it in and drive it.

 

[Ward L]

What about charging to varying end points? Meaning sometimes charge to 80%, then 75%, then 70%, etc?

 

[3cyberbeast]

That’s just too much work. But it sometimes does charge to 81% even when I set it to 80% any body else have that happen?

 

[Zoomit]

What do you all think about it?

That ChatGPT response is misleading at best, is blatantly wrong on a few of points, and should just be ignored.

If you care about your battery’s longevity, concern yourself with battery storage conditions (temp and SOC) and less so how you charge or use it.

 

[Jack27]

If it’s a concern of yours just set it lower for your over night automatic charge. Regardless it will be charged by morning right ? And just set it higher when in a pinch for a faster charge.

 

[mcorf]

What about charging to varying end points? Meaning sometimes charge to 80%, then 75%, then 70%, etc?

Back in 2019 and 2020 when I got my 1st model 3 and Y, the recommendation from the dealership was 90%. They just switched it to 80% either a year or 2 ago.

 

[65SoYoLO]

That’s just too much work. But it sometimes does charge to 81% even when I set it to 80% any body else have that happen?

if i set the % on my phone, i find that sometimes if I don't life my finger perfectly straight off the screen, it will jump up or down a few %

 

[3cyberbeast]

If you care about your battery’s longevity, concern yourself with battery storage conditions (temp and SOC) and less so how you charge or use it.
[/QUOTE]
Charging at a lower rate decreases heat generated by charging, so shouldn’t that be beneficial by itself?

 

[3cyberbeast]

if i set the % on my phone, i find that sometimes if I don't life my finger perfectly straight off the screen, it will jump up or down a few %

It still says that the charge limit or set to 80 But when I get in the truck, it says 81%. This only has happened when I set the charge limit at or below 25 A, And it’s only happened a couple of times in the last 2 1/2 months. My reasoning is I had behind it is back in the old days when we had RC cars a slow trickle charge would always get you much better charge. I understand that these are completely different batteries now with much more sophisticated management systems. I was at the very least it would be much more efficient to charge at the lower amperage as there is not efficiency loss due to any heat generated. By Tesla admissions they say charging at higher rates does degrade the battery.

 

[3cyberbeast]

If it’s a concern of yours just set it lower for your over night automatic charge. Regardless it will be charged by morning right ? And just set it higher when in a pinch for a faster charge.

Yup, it charges to its 80% every night within that time period. And it has not really been an issue to set it higher than maybe a couple of times, when I drained the battery down to past 40% left. So it’s really nothing I have to think about for the most part. I was just curious to get other input on it. I appreciate everybody’s answers. Thank you all for that.

 

[eswimm]

I charge at the fastest rate available for level 2 (only 48A for current Teslas). At the fastest, it's a fraction of level 3 charging rate and the faster you charge at level 2, the more efficient it is and the faster the vehicle can go to sleep and preserve energy. I think limiting your level 2 charge rate is probably worse than just charging as fast as it can, but likely a negligible difference. Honestly, I don't think many charging behaviors that people perform to maximize battery health have any significant impact, I think luck is a bigger factor than behavior. There are obviously some habits to avoid, prolonged 0% or 100% battery storage or majority level 3 charging, but most of the other behavior makes little actual difference in battery health.

 

[3cyberbeast]

I charge at the fastest rate available for level 2 (only 48A for current Teslas). At the fastest, it's a fraction of level 3 charging rate and the faster you charge at level 2, the more efficient it is and the faster the vehicle can go to sleep and preserve energy. I think limiting your level 2 charge rate is probably worse than just charging as fast as it can, but likely a negligible difference. Honestly, I don't think many charging behaviors that people perform to maximize battery health have any significant impact, I think luck is a bigger factor than behavior. There are obviously some habits to avoid, prolonged 0% or 100% battery storage or majority level 3 charging, but most of the other behavior makes little actual difference in battery health.

Great! Thank you for your input.

 

[tmeyer3]

I assume we're talking about home charging speeds? Anything less than 240v48a (rectifier maximum) isn't going to make ANY difference to a 123kWh battery ... It's just too well distributed across that many cells to matter at all.

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