Winter is coming…

[BigMach-E]

21 Select AWD here. One of my job sites, that I commute to once a week, is 55 or so miles away. I’ve been easily making this round trip with 85 percent charge in the spring/summer. End up back at home above 30 percent, I charge at home mostly. I don’t like to charge over 85 percent to hopefully maintain the battery. I just discovered there’s an EVGo a 2 minute walk from my job site. I don’t want to make a stop in the commute to charge, so that’s great. When winter shows up, I don’t think I’ll make it comfortably with 85 percent charge (I don’t like to go below 20 percent).

For the sake of the battery, maybe charge to 95 percent that one day a week, or DCFC at the job site once a week? Thoughts?

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[generaltso]

Charge to 95% (or 100%) when you need to and don’t worry about it.

 

[AKgrampy]

My advice would be exactly what you propose but also precondition your batteries before leaving home. That will squeeze out the max. I would also suggest going to 100% for that day. Taking the battery to 100% and not keeping it there will not degrade battery life much from what I have read. I think a DCFC session may even impact the batteries more.

 

[Tampamike]

The night before you go, charge to 90%. It’s not going to hurt the car. Drive to the site and drive home. You should have a comfortable margin. Don’t worry about going below 20% - you know where your next charge stop is, that it works and that it’s available - the garage. That’s the one place you don’t care how much you arrive with because you don’t need a backup.

 

[Phil-Springs]

The night before you go, charge to 90%. It’s not going to hurt the car. Drive to the site and drive home. You should have a comfortable margin. Don’t worry about going below 20% - you know where your next charge stop is, that it works and that it’s available - the garage. That’s the one place you don’t care how much you arrive with because you don’t need a backup.

Definitely one of the harder concepts to get comfortable with . It almost doesn’t matter what battery charge you arrive at home with.. assuming you make it and you have a “level 2” charger.

 

[snowy_91]

When I head out of town I always charge to 100%...

 

[BigMach-E]

Definitely one of the harder concepts to get comfortable with . It almost doesn’t matter what battery charge you arrive at home with.. assuming you make it and you have a “level 2” charger.

I get this, but the battery doesn’t do well with having a low charge either.

 

[Up and Over]

What charger are you using at home?

 

[BMT1071]

I get this, but the battery doesn’t do well with having a low charge either.

Why did you bother posting a question when it's pretty clear you've already decided what you think is best for your battery?

 

[Phil-Springs]

Why did you bother posting a question when it's pretty clear you've already decided what you think is best for your battery?

Okay right .. it’s all context. It almost .. emphasis on almost. Does not matter. Can I amend if i said it doesn’t really matter if you return home with 5to 10 percent or don’t regularly return home on “e fumes”.

 

[MachEMaster]

I always charge to 100% before a journey. Set a departure time, Pre-heating the battery and cabin. Enjoy the electrons.

 

[tuminatr]

I always charge to 100% before a journey. Set a departure time, Pre-heating the battery and cabin. Enjoy the electrons.

Me too, I believe the idea is not to leave the battery at 100 for a long time. Today I went on a 100 mile trip (50 each way) I charged to 100% and preconditioned the battery

Using that method I went 220 miles at -40 and still had some range left. With winter tires on the car too

 

[BigMach-E]

What charger are you using at home?

FMC mobile, it had worked okay for me thus far. Good enough not to want to buy a different one.

 

[BigMach-E]

Why did you bother posting a question when it's pretty clear you've already decided what you think is best for your battery?

Sorry if that came off as snarky. It’s not what I’ve “decided” is best for my battery. It’s pretty widely known that going under 20 percent isn’t great for a NMC or NMA chemistry cell.

I am asking a legit question, going up to 90-100 on level 2 once a week, with almost immediate discharge, or DCFC once a week, what do you think is better for the longevity of the battery?

 

[azulejost]

Degradation is an issue at high SoC and very low particularly as a function of time. Charge to 95% overnight or set for precondition and departure at the time you’ll leave so it’s 95-100%.

Getting over some of the range/charge anxiety and allowing yourself to drop under 20% down to at least 10% is worthwhile as that’s 20-30 miles extra much like the “low fuel” light on ICE cars. I don’t advocate for pushing to 0-2%, in fact would try to stay over 5%, but there are buffers for a reason. Ford seems to have been conservative in all aspects to limit degradation and also the GoM is almost always less optimistic than reality ends up being in my case. I recommend making local drives at low SoC or drives to areas with charging stations readily available (every 10 miles or so over a 30-50 mile distance) to get comfortable using the lower quarter of the pack at times and knowing things aren’t going to suddenly go from 50 miles estimated to 2 miles and stranded.

With it being a route you drive frequently, you should get a good idea of the kWh/mi in both directions, know the effect of temperature, weather and climate control settings, and if you are halfway and have less than 10-20% buffer, DCFC for 5-10 minutes to double the buffer and gradually get comfortable so you don’t have to waste time doing the DCFC all of the time.

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