Repeated full charges can negatively impact li-ion battery cells, which is why Tesla recommends to only daily charge to 90% capacity and to charge to 100% only when needed for long trips.
The battery, however, has a minimum lifespan of 1,500 charge cycles which should translate to 300,000+ miles (standard range/standard range plus) to 500,000 miles (long-range variants).
We recommend plugging in every evening to top off the battery. What percentage should I charge the battery to? For regular use, we recommend keeping your car set within the 'Daily' range bracket, up to approximately 90%. Charging up to 100% is best saved for when you are preparing for a longer trip.
Frequent use of DC charging could result in reducing your battery's efficiency and lifespan. The vehicle monitors battery health and may take actions including, but not limited to, reducing the DC fast charge rate to protect the battery hardware from damage, and to maintain battery health.”
When repeatedly charging your Tesla at one of these stations regularly, you will start to notice Tesla throttling your supercharger rate. Charging at a non-Tesla DC fast-charging station leads to damage to battery cells, that is why Tesla will throttle your supercharging rate.
You can supercharge the car as often as you need to. On road trips I've charged 3–4 times a day for a week.
Many of the latest new electric cars can complete a range of over 200 miles(322 km) on a single charge , which means these vehicles can easily cover daily driving. Most electric car owners charge their cars at home overnight. In fact, people with regular driving habits need not charge the battery fully every night.
Overcharging a battery causes excessive gassing — the electrolyte gets hot and both hydrogen and oxygen gas are generated. On older vented batteries, the electrolyte could cook away, leaving the plates exposed and ruining them. On sealed batteries, the buildup of gases could cause the battery to burst.
The 80/20 Rule for Battery Electric Vehicles
To extend your EV battery's life, remember the 80/20 rule, which means not charging past 80 percent and not letting it drop below 20 percent. Many EVs allow the driver to use an app or the car's touchscreen to tell it to stop charging when it achieves a certain charge level.
For All-Wheel Drive vehicles, keep the full charge limit of the battery to under 90% for daily use by using the mobile app or vehicle's touchscreen to set charge limit within the 'Daily' range.
Technically, you can still charge your battery to its maximum, but Tesla doesn't recommend it unless you're planning a long trip.
Repeated full charges can negatively impact li-ion battery cells, which is why Tesla recommends to only daily charge to 90% capacity and to charge to 100% only when needed for long trips.
Tesla Battery Degradation by Age of Car
As you can see in the chart below, a new car starts off giving over 100% of the EPA range, but from there the battery does indeed deteriorate over time. The data showed that by seven years old the average Tesla battery still provides around 93% of its original capacity and range.
On average, Tesla owners can expect at least 267 miles of range on a single charge of their car's battery. According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, your Tesla batteries are supposed to last for 300,000 to 500,000 miles, or 1,500 battery cycles. That's around 22 to 37 years for an average person.
Most electric vehicle batteries have an estimated 1500 to 2000 charge cycles. The array of cells have to charge 100%, then discharge to 0% for a cycle to be complete. While 500 cycles may be practical in a phone, it is not so for a car that is expected to last well over ten years.
So if you find that you're doing a lot of short journeys, it's possible that your battery could be in danger of being undercharged. To keep things ticking over, take the car for a decent spin (at least 30 minutes) every so often to give it a chance to charge up the battery fully and balance out the shorter journeys.
Most car batteries will last between 500 and 1,000 charging cycles, which works out to a lifespan of between three and five years, depending on driving and weather conditions. While there's no way to make your car battery last forever, you can prolong its life as long as possible by caring for it properly.
In simple terms, charging an EV battery to 100% will lead to a reduction in the total usable capacity of the battery. It might not be noticeable at first, but your battery will gradually lose its range as it degrades over time.
Keep the “State of Charge” between 20-80%
Most daily or weekly driving is easily covered by the range of most EVs. In fact, most of us don't even need it fully charged, so try to keep it between 20% and 80% except for longer trips.
Some EVs will notify you when you've charged beyond your daily driving limits. “Definitely across the board you don't want to fully charge it or fully deplete it,” Hu says. “You want to avoid below 10 percent and more than 90 percent. You don't want to go from fully charged to fully empty.”
A supercharger puts a huge amount of stress on an engine through kinetic energy and heat production, therefore many engine components have to be over-engineered to cope with the additional strains put upon them. In most cases, this then leads to added weight and diminishing returns in terms of performance.
Superchargers are ideal for long distance travel and are designed to charge your Tesla quickly so you can get back on the road. For daily commutes or local driving needs, there are a variety of home charging options.
It is possible that at least some Tesla battery packs degrade a little faster with fast DC charging like the Supercharger; however, one Tesla Model X in commercial limousine service that was Supercharged to 95% 4 times a day for 2 years, and driven over 300,000 miles, had only 12.8% degradation.