Good Home/Level 2 Charging Practices. At what SOC do you Plug in?

[Ajax]

For daily driving I only charge up when it's <45-50% in Minnesota winters, in summer I can go down to 20% without sweating it too much. Most of our driving is around town, maybe 10-20 miles per day max, so even when getting 1.5-2.0m/kwH (winter) I don't worry too much.

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[MachEMaster]

I plug in every night after work. Charge schedule from 12am-6am to 90% state of charge. Have departure schedule set for 6:10am weekdays. When it was colder this Winter, I charged to 100% to maximize my 70kwh battery.

 

[SnBGC]

I plug in every time I pull into the driveway.
I have a charge schedule set so charging occurs when my rates are lowest.
I charge to 100% displayed every day.

 

[Aggie PT]

Is there any benefit to ever getting down to close to 0% or fully charging to 100% if not needed? Or are both of those damaging in the long term?

 

[kdonnel]

Is there any benefit to ever getting down to close to 0% or fully charging to 100% if not needed?

Not with the battery chemistry currently found in the MME.

 

[Larry Paul]

As someone who has driven almost 350K miles on battery power for more than 24 years, I try to keep my car between 70-30 most of the time. Sometimes I may push to 80 or 85% on the high end when I am about to go for a medium drive and so far have never gone below 25% on the MME.

Only on super rare occasions when I take a long road trip do I ever go to 90% at the start of the trip. I doubt I will ever charge with DCFC over 75%. I would rather stop more often for less time and not push the battery, but in the last decade, I have not used DCFC more than once.

My intent is to go 150,000+ miles on this pack. LiOn will be able to meet the Ford warranty of 8yr, 100,000 miles with at least 70% SOC remaining. I expect to be at 150K miles at 80% capacity from when it was new by being a bit more moderate with the battery charging.

I also don't need to keep my car charged up that can go more than 200 miles on any given day when I almost always drive 50-80 miles per day and have access to many DCFC stations if I have a surprise. When I take a road trip, then I will charge more.

 

[Blue highway]

Is there any benefit to ever getting down to close to 0% or fully charging to 100% if not needed? Or are both of those damaging in the long term?

There are no benefits to this.

 

[The Electric Duo]

I plug in every night. I've had a couple of rare times when I needed to hop in my car and go on a long trip for an emergency. I want to avoid having to add a DCFC stop in those rare situations. It doesn't hurt the battery so why not?

 

[HondaRacer]

In another thread, it was mentioned that an occasional charge to 100% will help to calibrate the BMS. Can anyone verify whether that is indeed true or not?

 

[DadzBoyz]

In another thread, it was mentioned that an occasional charge to 100% will help to calibrate the BMS. Can anyone verify whether that is indeed true or not?

Good question.
Curious to see if anyone can answer.

 

[devmach-e]

In winter I have been plugging in everynight, regardless of SOC, so that I can precondition and have a warm toasty car. Charges to 90%.

In summer, when in commuting to work mode (48 miles one way)I tend to run the car down to somewhere between 10% and 20% before plugging in. That's assuming we don't have plans the next day that might take us out of the area. If we have plans, I plug in.

 

[jeffdawgfan]

I charge to 100% just about every night (which is really only about 90% with buffer). This battery will last much longer than I own the car. I usually buy new about every 4 years as technology upgrades. There have been a few times when I needed to make a unexpected drive of a couple of hundred miles (due to health concerns of parents) and I want to be prepared for anything or everything unexpected. After 25K miles still getting about 250 mile range in winter and >300 miles in summer. (Premium AWD ER).

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I used to charge to 90% every day, no matter what. But now I charge to 80% (I saw that someone I trust a lot on the forum does that and I figured if it's good enough for him....), and I tend to plug in when it's below 70%. I don't have a daily commute and as such my driving distances can be highly variable. Sometimes I might use 10% in a week, and other times 200% or more (not counting road trips). So keeping the battery in the 70-80% range works for me.

 

[HGxxx]

I drive about 30 miles a day on average, I plug in every night , max limit of 80%, battery and I set it to charge from 4-7 am so that the battery is a bit warm when I usually drive at 8 am

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

btw: who ever wrote the poll; the 30 - 40% one was Funny!!! I got a chuckle, thanks....

I echo the sentiment about driving it like an ice car. I charge when I start to get around the 20% level; currently up to 85%. In owning the car for 20 months, I have only had to fast charge it to get across town once. And in the big scheme of things if you figure 20 min fast charge (depending on how empty you are) v. 5 min gas fil up....I'd say no big deal and in fact I'm way ahead, since I have not had to stand at a gas pump for 5 min 52 weeks a year..................However, kind of miss Gas Pump TV ? ? ?.... no not really.

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