Best-Lowest Maintenance Charging Speed

[medriver]

I think we had a thread in here that said faster charging is probably more efficient. Charging too fast and not driving your car enough also leaves the 12v battery behind. Would the optimum charging speed be 30A-32A to allow max power draw for preconditioning vs charge of the 12 volt then?

My theory here is to have the car charger for as long as possible while still allowing it to pull a decent load for the preconditioning, anyone figure out an optimum point?

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[bshaw]

I think you're overthinking it and been reading too many posts on this forum about 12V management. More important than trying to optimize your charging schedule/rate is how you use the car. Do you do longer drives of 30+ minutes regularly, or only short drives ~5-min around town?
Longer drives keep the 12V topped up just fine, but if you're only doing short drives maybe you do have to manage the 12V at home.

Preconditioning is about maximizing the range you have when leaving your house. Set your EVSE to the max charge rate your circuit can support and let the car do the rest. Preconditioning is anything but efficient, its just consuming your house electricity to warm the battery.

 

[medriver]

I think you're overthinking it and been reading too many posts on this forum about 12V management. More important than trying to optimize your charging schedule/rate is how you use the car. Do you do longer drives of 30+ minutes regularly, or only short drives ~5-min around town?
Longer drives keep the 12V topped up just fine, but if you're only doing short drives maybe you do have to manage the 12V at home.

Preconditioning is about maximizing the range you have when leaving your house. Set your EVSE to the max charge rate your circuit can support and let the car do the rest. Preconditioning is anything but efficient, its just consuming your house electricity to warm the battery.

I'm not so sure about this. You dont take care of the 12v and you don't get OTA's...short trips, paak wakeups, fast charging. It would seem most practical to me the slowest possible charging speed would be best.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I'm not so sure about this. You dont take care of the 12v and you don't get OTA's...short trips, paak wakeups, fast charging. It would seem most practical to me the slowest possible charging speed would be best.

I think what @bshaw is trying to say is that it depends on your particular situation. If you regularly drive for short periods, sure. Charge slow to keep the HV battery on charge longer to make sure the LV battery gets a longer charge. If you regularly drive for longer periods of time, don't sweat it. ??

 

[medriver]

I see no need to charge any faster than the maximum draw for preconditioning the battery or cabin, I figure the more time on charger the better chance my 12v will have while maximizing the benefits of the charger. I think lots of the problems people have with the 12v revolve around the atrocious battery management but what do I know. I do know my 12v went down to 75% after a week of sitting though. The one day I used paak the car was waking up constantly.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I see no need to charge any faster than the maximum draw for preconditioning the battery or cabin, I figure the more time on charger the better chance my 12v will have while maximizing the benefits of the charger. I think lots of the problems people have with the 12v revolve around the atrocious battery management but what do I know. I do know my 12v went down to 75% after a week of sitting though.

That would be 28 amps to cover the heater at full output.

 

[mkhuffman]

I'm not so sure about this. You dont take care of the 12v and you don't get OTA's...short trips, paak wakeups, fast charging. It would seem most practical to me the slowest possible charging speed would be best.

OTAs will be delivered regardless of your 12V status. It is the install process that may fail of the battery charge is too low.

 

[emichnov]

That would be 28 amps to cover the heater at full output.

+1

28 amps is 6.7 kW at 240 Volts. If you leave it plugged in overnight, say 10 hours, you'll add easily 60 kWh (OK, 65% as Ford insist on displaying it.) Way more than most of us use in a typical day, so no downside to charging at this rate. And it provides a nice balance of extending the charge time somewhat to help keep the 12V battery topped off - solving a significant problem I was having with this car. Now that my ChargePoint allows adjustable amperage, I almost never charge at the max rate of 48 amps - no need to, and it would offer the disadvantage of not keep the 12V topped off.

Another factor is if you have solar and can charge at peak solar output times, set the charge speed to match the solar output and reap the benefits of driving on sunshine (as my wife calls it).

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