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firstevchecklist·October 14, 2026·@pete_ainsworth

My First EV & Tesla!

Honestly the thing that mattered most for me was getting a home L2 charger sorted. Plugging in overnight and waking up to a full car beats the gas station every time, and you stop thinking about it after a week. The 80% thing only really matters if you're going to be charging at home anyway. Daily use, 80% is fine. Road trip, charge to whatever gets you there. Nobody warned me that I'd actually come to like the forced breaks on long drives, though. Took 3-4 trips before it clicked.

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26 ANSWERS

@rdoucet_October 15, 2026

Same on the 80% for me. My Tesla's charge screen has a line at 80 and another at 90, and in 3 years the 90 has only been for days before a road trip. If you're only using a small slice of the battery each day, going higher doesn't get you anything but a bit more wear.

@dstanton_61October 15, 2026

On the 80% thing, I charge to 90% every day for a 70 mile each way commute and the car is at 157k miles with 94% battery capacity. I like having around 30% left when I get home, so for me the small degradation is worth it. If your daily use is short, 80% is fine, but don't stress about it being a hard rule.

@cal_hoytOctober 15, 2026

Same here, I've always charged to 90% and it's a good compromise for my car's range. The only time I'd go higher is when I'm charging right before leaving and have the time, since 100% gets used right away. For the charge before the drive home, 80 or 90 is plenty.

@nsimms_October 15, 2026

I'm kind of the opposite case. I barely drive my Model 3, so I charge to 90% every time, which works out to once a week in winter and every couple weeks in summer. From what I remember the manual says the 80% advice is really for daily driving. A couple of 90% charges a month doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

@gerry_lombardiOctober 14, 2026

Mach-E here too, and I stop at 80% most days. Mostly because the last 10-20% takes forever, not battery worry. The manual says to keep it between 10 and 90, so I figure 80 is safely inside that. I only go to 100% before a road trip.

@dmcnaughtonOctober 15, 2026

My first EV had under 100 miles of range and lived on a Level 1 cord for a good while. It was workable for a short commute, but I'd still say get the dedicated EVSE in early. Once I did, home charging covered about 90% of my local charging and I stopped thinking about it.

@dmcgillisOctober 16, 2026

Agreed on getting the L2 in early. Home charging has been effortless for me, so the surprise was public charging. I've only used public stations a few times, but where the charger is and whether it's actually available mattered way more than I expected. I'd check PlugShare before a trip rather than assuming there'll be a spot.

@mike_orlowskiOctober 16, 2026

Reliability can be a surprise too, and it isn't always the 12v. My wife's Lyriq has had the battery coolant pump fail twice, and now it's getting a full pack replacement. It's been in the shop about 15 days waiting on parts. So if anything weird shows up in the first year, write down every shop visit and the dates. Lemon law where I am kicks in at 30 days in the shop, so those dates matter.

@lcastellanoOctober 15, 2026

Mine's a Lyriq too and the HV pack is getting replaced at only about 2,500 miles. Seconding the paper trail advice, keep every repair order and date. I've already contacted a lemon lawyer about a buyback, so the records are what everything hinges on.

@wkinsleyOctober 15, 2026

Seconding the paper trail. I'd add that if a dealer ever tells you to just clear the code and ignore it, get it on a repair order anyway. I've seen that advice given to owners on the BlazerEV and EquinoxEV subs. When I finally got the dealership GM on the phone, he admitted it had happened to other customers and called the car a half-baked car they rushed out. Not every car is affected, but it's enough of them that it isn't a one-off.

@gbickfordOctober 16, 2026

Yeah, same with parts. Make sure the dealer actually orders it. Mine booked the battery replacement on my Bolt and never ordered the pack, then told GM they had. The dealer network where I live is rough for EVs, so I'd get every date in writing.

@kolson_72October 17, 2026

Service pricing is another one. Tesla quoted me about $1,000 for two rear tires and a local shop did the swap for around $400. Tires and brakes are routine work, so I wouldn't default to the manufacturer for those.

@kgreenway_October 16, 2026

Agree on not trusting the range estimate. Mine said -15% when I left on a cold night and I still limped into a Supercharger at 1%, no heat, 35 mph with flashers on. Cold plus a low starting charge makes that number a lot worse than it looks.

@harlan_vossOctober 17, 2026

Cold got me too, just not in a near-empty way. My Polestar 2 has no heat pump and lost at least a third of its range once it dropped below freezing. The estimate looked fine until the first real cold week, and then the real number was way off.

@tomas_rielOctober 17, 2026

Same lesson here, just with speed instead of cold. I had 93 miles showing for a 37 mile round trip and figured that was loads of margin. Then a traffic jam made me push about 75 on the highway on the way out, and I started the return with 31 miles left. Another jam on the way back and I got home with 2 miles on the display. Highway speed eats the estimate way faster than you'd think.

@hcallowayOctober 16, 2026

Yeah, this happened to me too. Left the airport at 22% for a 44 mile uphill drive that usually costs me about 20%. I ran 75 in a 70 and left sentry on because I like the peace of mind, and I got home with 1%. I could have topped off at a Supercharger and just didn't.

@dan_whitleyOctober 17, 2026

Ha, I've done the 1% Supercharger arrival about five times now. If the car looks like it's heading for 0% I just slow down a few mph, and I usually roll in with around 2%. It's cutting it close, but it's worked out every time.

@hal_dupreeOctober 17, 2026

Slowing down works until wind gets involved. I had a headwind for about 100 miles in eastern Oregon, towing, ran 45-50 the whole way, and still hit 0% three miles short of the charger. Had to sit on the shoulder for a bit before I could limp in. Stressful, glad I made it.

@gjensen_64October 14, 2026

Yeah, the posted kW really isn't reliable. Last trip an EA charger in Terre Haute was only pushing about 35 kW with nobody else plugged in, so I drove to a Tesla station nearby and got 150. Now I figure out the backup stop before I leave.

@dmorrell_74October 14, 2026

I'm in the no-garage camp too, just a carport in LA, and it's been more workable than I expected. In summer I run a 120V cord out the office window every other day or so. In winter I mostly use Superchargers, because they come out cheaper than the electricity in my building. Precondition by navigating to the charger first and the sessions go faster.

@tmaki_82October 15, 2026

Same boat here, and I drive a bZ, which works at Superchargers, so it's been fine. I've also found public chargers tucked into corners of parking lots near me that I walked past for years. It took some patience at first, but treating any parked time as charging time helped a lot.

@wendy_oakesOctober 15, 2026

Same here. I've had mine since April and the quick, smooth acceleration is what I love most. Going back to gas would be a real turn-off. Charging runs me about $15 a month too, which still surprises me.

@mauro_t91October 17, 2026

Same for me on my Zeekr X, a month in. I was braced for the range to disappoint and it's actually doing a bit better than I expected around town.

@ilya_n73October 16, 2026

Mine was a smaller surprise, but 4 months in it still gets me. The driver alert system beeps constantly, and I have to switch it off before every drive because it doesn't remember the setting. Not a week one thing, but if yours does the same, it's worth knowing where the toggle is. Otherwise I'm enjoying the car.

@jpellegrinOctober 17, 2026

The 45 minutes for 9 miles is the part that scares me. How do you tell ahead of time if a charger is actually fast enough for your car? I'd have no home charging, so I'd be relying on public ones.

@ryan_hallettOctober 15, 2026

Same here, about a week and a half in on my first Tesla (second EV overall). Really happy with it so far.