Charging Best Practices

madeyong

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I know there are a few threads on this subject but I’m trying to distill everything and figure out the community consensus.

I do not drive my TTS long distances. It’s mostly used around town for short trips. I have the general profile set to 80% and no timers or location based profiles.

I will typically be at approximately 50-55% SOC after 3-4 days of usage after starting at 80% SOC.

My question is when is best to re-charge back to 80%? I’ve been waiting until I get to just below 50% and then plugging in at night to bring the car back to 80%. Should I be waiting until it gets lower in the 40s or upper 30s SOC before recharging (I’m not worried about needing additional range given my driving needs) or is 50% a good proxy for when I should top up? I know I shouldn’t let it get too low. Alternatively, should I be charging more frequently (when in the 60s and 70s) and start each day at 80%?

This is the first time I have purchased vs. leased a car in forever and it’s also the most expensive car I’ve ever owned (and my first EV and Porsche). Needless to say I am new at this and really want to maximize the battery over the long term.

Thoughts? Thanks!
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XLR82XS

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Not a huge deal at 50% to go back to 80% I usually charge up once I hit ~20-25% for daily use.

General rule of thumb: keep charge between 20-80% for optimal battery health.
 

Skilly

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Not a huge deal at 50% to go back to 80% I usually charge up once I hit ~20-25% for daily use.

General rule of thumb: keep charge between 20-80% for optimal battery health.
I keep seeing this but Porsche already holds back a portion of the battery. So do you mean 80% on the gauge, or do you mean 80% of capacity (which would be more consistent with best practices)?

Also, I haven't seen a lot of specifics about heat related to fast charging, but can also play a part in battery life too - has anybody found information on this? Porsche doesn't provide any recommendations here like 'avoid or limit fast charging'.
 

riburn3

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Your habits are pretty much mine, although I typically will charge to 80% on a daily basis while my car is parked at work, and on my last day of the work week, I will charge to 90 or 100% and that will typically last me my whole week off (I work a week on week off schedule).

As other's have said, keeping the state of charge between 20-80% typically is when a battery is at it's happiest. That said, temperature variances and fast charging habits have more impact on your battery than what you charge it to, especially since over 10% of the Taycan's battery is roped off from us, and we can never actually charge it to "100%". A lot of early Tesla adopters fried their batteries at a much faster rate because they took advantage of the free supercharging for nearly 100% of their charges AND also topped them off to full.
 


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More frequent shallow charges are better than less frequent deep charges.

You have an 8 year warranty. If you have an EVSE in your garage, stop overthinking it and plug in nightly so you have the range if needed. There is no proven reason to wait till any % SOC.

I charge to 80% daily, whether the car is at 50% or 75%.
 

Klepper

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More frequent shallow charges are better than less frequent deep charges.

You have an 8 year warranty. If you have an EVSE in your garage, stop overthinking it and plug in nightly so you have the range if needed. There is no proven reason to wait till any % SOC.

I charge to 80% daily, whether the car is at 50% or 75%.
+1

I charge every day to 80%. That way I am always ready in case I have some extra driving to do that day.
 
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XLR82XS

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Porsche Taycan Charging Best Practices 1634241448009
 

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A lot of early Tesla adopters fried their batteries at a much faster rate because they took advantage of the free supercharging for nearly 100% of their charges AND also topped them off to full.
This has been said a couple of times on the forum - there was a well known article published on electrik.com as far back as 2016 saying the exact opposite with proof.

A hacker was able to get into the Tesla battery management systems and confirm that they too were holding back capacity - in fact, in some cases it was simply to separate the commercial offerings.

Here is a breakdown from that time:
  • Original 60 – ~61 kWh total capacity, ~58.5 kWh usable.
  • 85/P85/85D/P85D – ~81.5 kWh total capacity, ~77.5 kWh usable
  • 90D/P90D – ~85.8 kWh total capacity, 81.8 kWh usable
  • Original 70 – ~71.2 kWh total capacity, 68.8 kWh usable
  • 75/75D – 75 kWh total capacity, 72.6 kWh usable
  • Software limited 60/60D – 62.4 kWh usable
  • Software limited 70/70D – 65.9 kWh usable
We can also use the Katrina as a fully published example where Tesla admitted to software restricting the range of their batteries - they lifted it during that time to help people with Teslas in the path of the storm increase distance between charging.
 

riburn3

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This has been said a couple of times on the forum - there was a well known article published on electrik.com as far back as 2016 saying the exact opposite with proof.

A hacker was able to get into the Tesla battery management systems and confirm that they too were holding back capacity - in fact, in some cases it was simply to separate the commercial offerings.

Here is a breakdown from that time:
  • Original 60 – ~61 kWh total capacity, ~58.5 kWh usable.
  • 85/P85/85D/P85D – ~81.5 kWh total capacity, ~77.5 kWh usable
  • 90D/P90D – ~85.8 kWh total capacity, 81.8 kWh usable
  • Original 70 – ~71.2 kWh total capacity, 68.8 kWh usable
  • 75/75D – 75 kWh total capacity, 72.6 kWh usable
  • Software limited 60/60D – 62.4 kWh usable
  • Software limited 70/70D – 65.9 kWh usable
We can also use the Katrina as a fully published example where Tesla admitted to software restricting the range of their batteries - they lifted it during that time to help people with Teslas in the path of the storm increase distance between charging.

I'm well aware tTesla holds back battery capacity. As you mentioned, this has been known for some time. My comment was more to the point that early Tesla's that used a lot of super charging saw reduced battery capacity and state of charge faster than folks that mostly charged at home.

https://insideevs.com/news/332479/e...s-x-leads-to-permanently-reduced-charge-rate/

https://getoptiwatt.com/news/the-co...r-teslas-battery-efficiency-and-battery-life/

Fortunately, makers are getting much better with their battery chemistry so it likely isn't as much of a factor now.
 

Skilly

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I'm well aware tTesla holds back battery capacity. As you mentioned, this has been known for some time. My comment was more to the point that early Tesla's that used a lot of super charging saw reduced battery capacity and state of charge faster than folks that mostly charged at home.

https://insideevs.com/news/332479/e...s-x-leads-to-permanently-reduced-charge-rate/

https://getoptiwatt.com/news/the-co...r-teslas-battery-efficiency-and-battery-life/

Fortunately, makers are getting much better with their battery chemistry so it likely isn't as much of a factor now.
I don't disagree about fast charging - I made the point earlier above yours.

I saw that you had also noted 100% charging as a culprit too, but 100% like Porsche, doesn't represent 100% of the capacity - so I wonder if that had a play in the earlier degradation at all.
 

riburn3

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I don't disagree about fast charging - I made the point earlier above yours.

I saw that you had also noted 100% charging as a culprit too, but 100% like Porsche, doesn't represent 100% of the capacity - so I wonder if that had a play in the earlier degradation at all.
Who knows. Even Tesla initially recommended charging to 80 or 85% and then Elon said 90% was okay.

If anything, we have mostly learned that these batteries last much longer than anyone first projected. If you had told some folks a decade ago that there would still be plenty of early Model S vehicles on the road with over a hundred thousand miles and limited range loss, they would have laughed at you. That was journalists biggest question early on, and now we all know the batteries do quite well. EV's, at least premium ones, seem like they're going to have a much longer shelf life than most other ICE vehicles on the road with very little upkeep comparatively.
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