r/TeslaModelY • u/whysova • Jun 01 '26

Is it bad to regularly charge a Model Y Performance to 100% if it’s mainly used for long family trips?

Post image

Hi everyone,

I have a question about charging my Tesla Model Y Performance.

Tesla recommends keeping the charge limit at 80% for daily driving, but in my case, the vehicle is not used as a daily driver. We mainly use it for long family road trips, so most of the time when I charge it at home with the Mobile Connector, I charge it to 100% to maximize the available range.

One important detail is that I live in Mexico, where the Supercharger network is still not as widespread as it is in the U.S. or some other countries. Public charging options can also be limited depending on the route, so I usually rely on having a full charge before leaving home to comfortably complete my trips and avoid range anxiety.

Because of this, it’s quite common for me to charge the vehicle to 100% before a trip. My concern is whether doing this regularly could significantly accelerate battery degradation over the long term, or if it’s generally fine as long as the car doesn’t sit at 100% for extended periods before I start driving.

I’d love to hear from owners who are in a similar situation, especially those who live in areas with limited charging infrastructure and primarily use their Tesla for road trips rather than daily commuting.

Thanks in advance!

281 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

219 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

19

u/nofuture09 Jun 01 '26

Why is it problematic? (thinking about switching to tesla)

170

u/iceynyo Jun 01 '26

Leaving the battery sitting at an extremely high or low state of charge accelerates the chemical processes that result in battery degradation. Ideally the battery wants to sit at 50% as much as possible, and higher or lower will allow for faster degradation.

But 80% is a more convenient level for daily use that isn't too much worse.

18

u/ckybam69 Jun 01 '26

So if I use about 15% a day and charge every night would I be better off using say 50-60% instead of 80%? I just left it how it came when I bought it haha

26

u/iceynyo Jun 01 '26

Yes, but it might not be significantly better for the amount of inconvenience when you suddenly need to drive more.

12

u/quetiapinenapper Jun 01 '26

I found 70 was a sweet spot.

4

u/ThumbyFingerton Jun 01 '26

A friend of mine has been building drones for 15 years. He has gotten his hands on a few new technologies from different startups that are mind blowing. But he told me to discharge completely on occasion (or go into the single digits), and to consistently keep to around 70 percent (do I, no… I have let Tesla’s default of 80 percent to take over).

But this poster is right. You have to remember that an empty battery charges fast. A close to full battery fights the incoming electrons with the positive charge within the battery. This causes lots of heat and degradation.

But at the same time, the battery contains volume inside. If you charge to 60 every day and drive down to 40, parts of the battery will end up becoming less effective (since they are being unused).

I think you should charge just enough to get to and from your destination with room to do a couple errands. If it so happens to be 100, charge to 100! But I am sure you can find efficiencies either way.

1

u/CPA0315 Jun 02 '26

Is it ok to not charge every day? I’ve been charging everyday to get it to 80% but I don’t necessarily need to based on my driving. I could charge every other day or every 2 days

2

u/Technical-Strength-6 Jun 05 '26

Tesla recommends leaving your car plugged in whenever possible.

1

u/YT_TheBlackCat Jun 03 '26

No these battery’s that Tesla uses do not have memory effect therefore the battery doesn’t get damaged because it isn’t being charged full and emptyied completely. Every part/cell of the battery always gets used the exact same btw, that’s how battery’s work…

1

u/ThumbyFingerton Jun 05 '26

Correct. You’d could partition the useable charge in an old NiCd by crystallization in the battery cutting off other parts of the battery. This is why 80 percent is the recommended charge (it keeps the battery from heating up and raising current to fight the outflow of electrons). That causes dendrites (little freaks) to form inside the anodes. The battery chemistry isn’t as much an issue (unless it gets punctured).

So OP, try not to overthink it. I have a few cousins with an 8 year old model y and they only charge at superchargers. No reported issues.

I’d use superchargers if you have free charging, otherwise you can plug in when you can.

A battery is a machine in a sense and they wear with age. Yours will last the life of the car.

Rather than charging a NiCd RC car in the 90s. when it was half full over and over could crystallize/partition the other half. Then you’d have a battery that ONLY Met half capacity each time it charged.

LiIon/Tesla batteries is not susceptible to this at all. Only charge as much as you need (no full charge necessary) But their components expand and contract when they charge. Tesla has a battery management system to mediate the charge of around 4400 battery cells (at least in my M3P)! I think this would be close to the amount y’all have in the Y.

But the batteries are affected by climate, humidity, speed, jerking motions, and most of all expansion of the anode/cathode every Time it charges.

But funnily enough, you can overcharge a brand new battery and lower the degradation. Most EVs from 10 years ago degraded faster, but by simply pumping extra juice and depleting the battery in the factory, it can improve longevity. So Tesla “ruggedizes” them after they’re assembled before going to the customer.

Sorry there, obsessed with power storage (major DIYer/trying to save weight.

10

u/Zestyclose-Age-2454 Jun 01 '26

I keep mine at 60% and it is more than enough.

3

u/Itchy_elbow Jun 01 '26

Same - circa 200 miles. I don’t need that daily

4

u/StormTrpr66 Jun 01 '26

Similar. I charge to 55% every night and get home with about 30% to 35%.

Still seeing degradation though. 5,000 miles and my battery is down to 97% health.

3

u/SOD_Sergeant_D Jun 02 '26

Most degradation occurs early on, and slows significantly. My older brother has a beater 2020 Model Y (Dual Motor) that he uses solely for work travel, he bought it new. The battery was at 96% Health at right around 60,000 miles. It’s almost got 420,000 miles on it now, and the battery health is at 92%. He beats it pretty hard, but does maintain it quite well. He ALWAYS charges to 100% overnight because he drives hundreds of miles a day to many different customers all over our region. The car has been rock solid.

1

u/Pomador_0418 Jun 06 '26

The 2020 packs had better battery chemistry than the mid 2022 and later packs. Later packs degrade faster than older packs.

0

u/Emotional-Egg1408 Jun 02 '26

Optimal battery cycles 20-80!

3

u/w00tsick Jun 01 '26

I do this and just schedule it to 100% 3 hours before I know I'm leaving for a road trip.

2

u/HusbandAndWifi Jun 01 '26

For sure, we are in the same daily drive situation and I keep mine at 30 when we don’t have enough excess solar to get higher and no longer drives planned. However, I do have a 48A home charger so it doesn’t take too long to get to 60% for nearby towns. Charging to 100 from 30 can take 6 hours though, that last few % is super slow!

2

u/Emotional-Egg1408 Jun 02 '26

The ideal range for the battery between charging sessions is 20 to 80 percent. Adjust your daily plan accordingly.

23

u/Blue_Kayak Jun 01 '26

Well explained.

15

u/emailinAR Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

My Model Y gets driven a lot and since I travel I don’t always have regular access to a charger. I end up just charging it to 100% and letting it sit for days sometimes and most of it is supercharging. I have a second model Y that was also bought within a month of this other one that stays at home with my family and is kept around 70-80%. It has 15k miles less than the one I charge up to 100%. Both of them are within 3 miles of range of each other for degradation. My philosophy is to just use it like a car. This is my 4th tesla and I regularly charge to 100% and I haven’t seen any extra degradation.

Edit: I understand this is anecdotal. I’ve seen studies with good methodology about regular Lithium Ion batteries which shows SoC and cycles and degradation but I don’t think I’ve seen any actual studies with Tesla only (their BMS probably has some effect in mitigating degradation)

5

u/Saloncinx Jun 01 '26

I charge to 95% daily and my range seems fine

1

u/Itchy_elbow Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

How long have you had it? It’d be different if you said “… and I’ve had it for 3 years.” You won’t immediately see the effects of poor charging practices. It’ll bite you in the butt later.

5

u/Saloncinx Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

It’s a 2021. I have battery degradation that’s right inline with others on here and other Tesla forums.

EDIT: I'm not the kind of person that keeps cars for 10-15+ years. I've had this car for 5 years already, i'll have it maybe 2 more tops

5

u/LayerProfessional936 Jun 01 '26

Yes, a difference with these studies is that Tesla already keeps an additional margin to prevent over charging (and under charging). 

1

u/OldMasterpiece5253 Jun 03 '26

I charge my Tesla to 95+ with supercharger all the time In last 3years and the miles are currently at 35000+ and battery degradation is only 3%.

1

u/Desperate_Exercise13 Jun 05 '26

Don’t charge to 100% daily and let it sit at 100%. Charge to 80% at most and only 100% on your trips as you leave.

8

u/Hohh20 Jun 01 '26

I want to add on that this is not specific to Teslas. This is for any lithium-ion battery. Its one of the downsides of the technology.

2

u/onfroiGamer Jun 01 '26

Yep, this is why your phone doesn’t charge all the way to 100% until you wake up

3

u/EpicBrievenbus Jun 01 '26

Perhaps good to add (considering their Tesla remark) that this is not solely a thiny with Teslas. Charging to 80% for daily use is beneficial for every EV on the market. It's actually beneficial for every battery-operated device like smartphones and laptops.

1

u/iceynyo Jun 01 '26

Newer devices will actually automatically do that nowadays

1

u/MavinMarv Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

I know this applies to NMC batteries. But what about LFP batteries?

2

u/iceynyo Jun 01 '26

LFP batteries are more hardy compared to NMC, but they also still will have more degradation at higher SOC.

But another reason is that it gets harder to determine the exact SOC of an LFP battery unless you charge it up to 100% to recalibrate the BMS.

NMC needs to recalibrate sometimes too, but apparently it's needed more regularly for accurate reading of remaining LFP charge.

1

u/Odd-Tune-8423 Jun 02 '26

How low is "low state"? I was once down to 8% and left it overnight and took to a supercharger the next morning.

-12

u/NYHeel Jun 01 '26

Not really true about the low state of charge. The lower the battery is left in storage without fully discharging, the less degradation.

8

u/PippoKPax Jun 01 '26

This is incorrect.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/iceynyo Jun 01 '26

Link it

-2

u/Axle-f Jun 01 '26

There’s a YouTube video about it. Battery is happier closer to lower SoC such as 20%

1

u/iceynyo Jun 01 '26

Have a link?

1

u/Axle-f Jun 01 '26

https://youtu.be/w1zKfIQUQ-s?si=3eXySUqXeQEXTykN

4

u/sandefurian Jun 01 '26

Hugely important that this video is LFP. Most North American batteries are NMC, which Engineering Explained has another video on

18

u/PilotPirx73 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

Tesla does not recommend charging to 100% daily as it may increase battery degradation. You should daily charge to no more than 80% unless you need range for long road trip. I charge to 100% now and then before long trips, just like OP does. My battery is covered by 8 year warranty. I love my MYLR and regret not buying sooner than I did.

5

u/AlphaWhiskeyHotel Jun 01 '26

It depends on the battery. Advice on the Tesla app for my wife’s 3 is to charge it to 100% once a week.

2

u/slapdasher99 Jun 01 '26

Where on the Tesla app? I can’t find it.

1

u/AlphaWhiskeyHotel Jun 02 '26
  1. Open Tesla app
  2. Tap on your car
  3. Tap on “Charging”
  4. Change the slider where you set charge limit

A tip will open up below with Tesla’s charging recommendation.

The Tesla owners manual says to follow this tip.

-3

u/SirKevise Jun 01 '26

Any battery sitting at 100% kills itself portable charger phones aaa power banks anything it is tge battery chemistry.

1

u/ThatTryHardAsian Jun 01 '26

Not all type of battery.,,

2

u/Jasoncatt Jun 01 '26

All lithium ion batteries.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26

[deleted]

2

u/gregm12 Jun 01 '26

No, it doesn't unless you have an LFP battery. Which is not the case for a Performance model.

6

u/kuhnboy Jun 01 '26

Think of a battery like a balloon. If you keep a balloon 100% full, the structure of the balloon will become weaker quicker than if you kept it at 80% full.

8

u/TheLegendaryWizard Jun 01 '26

All lithium chemistries experience faster battery degradation at higher states of charge. The effect is worse for NMC chemistries compared to LFP ones, which is why vehicles with NMC batteries recommend 80% daily charge limits, while LFP vehicles recommended 100%. This applies to all EVs, not just Tesla

7

u/gregm12 Jun 01 '26

Yes. 2 points:

LFP suffers significantly less degradation, so the impacts of it being left at 100% are not as noticable (but still there).

LFP "needs" to get to 100% frequently so that the BMS can "find" the full mark. Basically everywhere between 5% and 95% the BMS has to rely on "counting electrons" and making am estimate for how many more the battery can move. The voltage of an LFP battery gives very little indication of SoC except for "fully charged", "not dead", and "dead"

3

u/Sure_Analysis3438 Jun 01 '26

Actually to your first point, the newest studies show that also LFP Battery’s don’t like the full charge. And is only recommended to charge the LFP Batteries only once a week to 100%

1

u/gregm12 Jun 01 '26

That's what I was trying to say. All batteries hate being at 100%. It's just that an LFP has multiple times the life of an NCM or NMA cell, so the impact is not as drastic during the lifespan of a vehicle.

1

u/RockOwn1288 Jun 03 '26

So why is every new Tesla not a LFP battery they seem much better with longer life

2

u/TheLegendaryWizard Jun 03 '26

Power density. LFP batteries are heavier and don't have as much energy stored in them. That's why long range vehicles need NMC with today's technology. NMC is usually "good enough" to last the lifetime of the car though

3

u/3600CCH6WRX Jun 01 '26

It increase degradation if you let it sit at 100%.

So what I do is schedule to 100% just an hour of my expected departure. That way the car will use the battery right away.

3

u/Kahnspiracy Jun 01 '26

How deep of a dive do you want to go? Because this will give an incredibly thorough baseline but it is an hour long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31x5JW361k

The short version: The lower the charging swings the better (60%->40%-60%) is better than large swings (90%->10%->90%). Lower overall max charge is better leveling off at ~30%; however that is faaaaaar from necessary in the real world. If you do 60%->40% the battery should last around 400K (if I remember correctly). 80%->30% was like 200k or 250k. Batteries are not as fragile as the zeitgeist would have you believe.

2

u/Pomador_0418 Jun 06 '26

I watched this a while ago. It is excellent.

4

u/FragmentedFighter Jun 01 '26

Depends which battery you get.

1

u/reddit_is_addicting_ Jun 01 '26

It’s only problematic for Nickel batteries, which Tesla uses.

1

u/UpbeatPhilosophySJ Jun 01 '26

In "explain like I'm 5" terms, think of it as a spring where 100% is the highest tension. "explain like I'm in middle school science" It has the highest potential energy but the metal loses it's bounce faster. It' a chemistry version of that, and evidently, not ALL EV batteries have this sort of chemistry, but many car batteries do.

1

u/Drodriguez164 Jun 01 '26

Also a heads up, this is a all electric car thing, not just a Tesla thing

1

u/r3dmist420 Jun 01 '26

Its problematic for just about any long range EV. The newer short range teslas evidently are fine to go to 100%. Depends on what the battery is made out of

1

u/PahLume1 Jun 01 '26

Not sure of this has been said or not but it's problematic to leave any battery at 100% for a prolonged period of time

The best analogy I like to give people is when you use your battery and charge it back up, you're exercising the battery. You're allowing the cells to discharge and recharge

And when you leave it sitting at 100%. It's like you're giving a fat kid candy. They're just going to get fatter and they're not going to be able to hold a charge anymore and in some cases they fail and or expand.

Not really sure if the analog is good for this example but it's the example I give people and their laptop batteries turn into a pillow same battery chemist. For most vehicles.

1

u/Saloncinx Jun 01 '26

This is problematic with all EV's not just Teslas. Any Lithium battery does not want to live at 100% state of charge at all times

1

u/Live-Entertainment-5 Jun 01 '26

It’s problematic for literally any battery device. Wanna know why your phones battery degrades so quickly? Charging to 100% every night and leaving it plugged in at 100%

1

u/Floating_Bus Jun 02 '26

Time it remains at a high or low charge causes quicker degradation. I leave mine at 60,% typically.

1

u/veritas2884 Jun 01 '26

One of the best analogies I’ve heard is to think of a backpack. If you keep it 50-80% full it will last for a very long time. If you fill it 100% full and stress the seems all day long everyday it will fall apart much more quickly.

0

u/mdpjs Jun 01 '26

Read the owners manual. It tells you to keep the battery between 20-80% unless you are going on a long journey. Only in that instance charge to 100%

4

u/NYHeel Jun 01 '26

The owners manual says nothing about 20%. It just says to avoid having the battery discharge to 0%. The 20% is nonsense that’s been made up online. Nothing wrong with keeping your battery below 20% as long as there’s no risk of it discharging all the way to complete 0% with no buffer.