The IDEAL Electric Vehicle World

[RickMachE]

That is counter to Ford’s suggestion that you plug it in every night when it’s cold. I don’t know if that advice to run it down to 10-20% each time is still valid.

It isn't. Ford recommends charging to 90%, unless you're leaving on a trip requiring a full charge. Plug in every night. Unless you're not using your car for 30+ days, leaving it at 90% is just fine.

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[Rt1AWD]

That is counter to Ford’s suggestion that you plug it in every night when it’s cold. I don’t know if that advice to run it down to 10-20% each time is still valid.

I'm wondering too.... What is better - to keep on charger for as much time as possible or to discharge it to 10-20% before charging.

 

[RickMachE]

I'm wondering too.... What is better - to keep on charger for as much time as possible or to discharge it to 10-20% before charging.

If it's fully charged to your set level, i.e. 90%, then keeping it plugged in allows it to use house current to prep for departure, do a remote start, or keep the battery warm on a very cold night (or cool on a very hot day). There is zero reason to not do this.

Further, do you never go out without planning on it? "Hey, let's go to dinner. Sorry, can't, I didn't charge the car because I read something on the internet."

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Ideally, new charging stations along freeways/highways would get the same subsidies that new gas stations received during the interstate expansion of the 1950s-1980s, with an appropriate tax on charging to repay those bonds. I'm more than happy to contribute to the costs of building a societally-shared infrastructure.

Where would I like to see them? I don't particularly stress about where they are other than I'd like a restroom and maybe some kind of convenience store. And enough charging plugs to provide reasonable wait times. I don't particularly like the current seemingly-random distribution of stations. I'm okay with the ones along the route we're planning for an upcoming road trip, but it would be nice to decide to stop when we're ready to stop. That requires a denser distribution compared with what we have now, at least on the western side of the USA. Of course, the distribution at the moment is not much different from what we would do with a gasoline vehicle, so perhaps it's not as bad as my anxiety makes it out to be.

 

[Rt1AWD]

If it's fully charged to your set level, i.e. 90%, then keeping it plugged in allows it to use house current to prep for departure, do a remote start, or keep the battery warm on a very cold night (or cool on a very hot day). There is zero reason to not do this.

So if let's say your daily routine takes 20% then if you charge every day then the level of your charge would always be between 70-90 it would never go below 70 unless you drive far. Does it affect the battery in any way in comparison with always discharging it to 10-20 and charging to 90
ALso what is "cold"?...

 

[RickMachE]

So if let's say your daily routine takes 20% then if you charge every day then the level of your charge would always be between 70-90 it would never go below 70 unless you drive far. Does it affect the battery in any way in comparison with always discharging it to 10-20 and charging to 90
ALso what is "cold"?...

The battery wants to be at 70 degrees. Cold is below 70. Hot is above 70. When the battery gets too cold, or too hot, the car will automatically work to get it to a more desirable temperature.

The car is designed for normal (i.e. non-geeks) to use it. Ford says plug in and keep it at 90%, unless you're storing it for more than 30 days. They also guarantee the battery will be at 70% of capacity for 8 years / 100,000 miles. For 99% of the population, that's all they need to know.

This discussion has nothing to do with the thread topic though.

 

[dml105]

And enough charging plugs to provide reasonable wait times.

That's actually a kicker for me. I don't want to wait for a charge plug. I'll wait 5 minutes, but not longer. Gas stations do have that advantage: you can tell about how long your wait will be (if there is one at all) by how many cars are in front of you, since they each take about 5 minutes (more for a big truck). You might sit behind a sedan charging for 5 minutes or 50 minutes. Who knows. Better to have ample plugs available.

This is why I like the idea of putting smaller (say 50 kW) stalls at restaurants. Less expensive than the big guys, and you can add more plugs to accommodate more EVs.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

So if let's say your daily routine takes 20% then if you charge every day then the level of your charge would always be between 70-90 it would never go below 70 unless you drive far. Does it affect the battery in any way in comparison with always discharging it to 10-20 and charging to 90

Lots of small charges very, very slightly changes the battery's lifetime compared with fewer, bigger charges. But it's not enough to stress about. These are not lead-acid batteries, so charging to full like we used to have to do with those batteries is not required. A major aspect of the development of lithium batteries was to do away with that memory effect because people didn't like having to worry about their lead-acid laptop batteries and just wanted to plug in when convenient.

 

[RickMachE]

That's actually a kicker for me. I don't want to wait for a charge plug. I'll wait 5 minutes, but not longer. Gas stations do have that advantage: you can tell about how long your wait will be (if there is one at all) by how many cars are in front of you, since they each take about 5 minutes (more for a big truck). You might sit behind a sedan charging for 5 minutes or 50 minutes. Who knows. Better to have ample plugs available.

This is why I like the idea of putting smaller (say 50 kW) stalls at restaurants. Less expensive than the big guys, and you can add more plugs to accommodate more EVs.

I'll bet 75% or more of EV owners in the next few years will be too unaware / ignorant to know that they are supposed to unplug their car when it's done charging so others can charge, and will be sitting eating their dinner while fuming drivers [insert dml105 here] are waiting to park so they can eat also.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

If we're talking IDEAL ideal, then I'd like to use induction charging and to have every parking spot be a charging station.

 

[Schmetsky]

With the new Ford E Division they may be trying to avoid dealerships, but.. I would not be surprised if Automakers do not start investing in charging stations at dealerships. Basic infrastructure is there and they tend to be near major highways...

 

[WheresMyCar]

I'll bet 75% or more of EV owners in the next few years will be too unaware / ignorant to know that they are supposed to unplug their car when it's done charging so others can charge, and will be sitting eating their dinner while fuming drivers [insert dml105 here] are waiting to park so they can eat also.

This is what I am afraid of also. Just the other day, I was cursing at the people at Wawa because all the pumps were taken and people had the nerve to go inside without moving their cars.

 

[RickMachE]

This is what I am afraid of also. Just the other day, I was cursing at the people at Wawa because all the pumps were taken and people had the nerve to go inside without moving their cars.

Gotta get that big 64 oz soda.

 

[dml105]

I'll bet 75% or more of EV owners in the next few years will be too unaware / ignorant to know that they are supposed to unplug their car when it's done charging so others can charge, and will be sitting eating their dinner while fuming drivers [insert dml105 here] are waiting to park so they can eat also.

If there are enough plugs, it doesn't matter if they're taking a long time to eat. It doesn't even matter to the charge supplier because it does not increase the amount of simultaneous charging. When a car is full, it's done.

If we're talking IDEAL ideal, then I'd like to use induction charging and to have every parking spot be a charging station.

It doesn't have to be induction based to have a charge port at every parking spot. Cables work fine.

 

[Mach-E GT PE Jim]

I'll bet 75% or more of EV owners in the next few years will be too unaware / ignorant to know that they are supposed to unplug their car when it's done charging so others can charge, and will be sitting eating their dinner while fuming drivers [insert dml105 here] are waiting to park so they can eat also.

I think this problem will solve itself when users realize that they pay by the minute for charging and when the car is at 80% charge the cost vs the amount of charge you get is very high.
I learned from my first charge that wait time is billed by the minute.

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