From 70 to 80% daily?

[dolvio]

Hey everyone,

my first post and I have a specific question. Wife has a new 2024 Mach and we basically only trickle charge. Works well for us. Very often she ends up at work with about 70% battery down from 80 leaving home. She parks in the EV station because it’s close to the door and trickles back to 80% before she comes home.

Does it make sense to charge these little amounts over and over or does it make more sense to bring it down to 40-50 and do longer charges?

TY

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[tbrumleve]

On AC, there’s no appreciable difference going from 5-90% or 80-90%. It’s more about cycles (0-100% is one cycle, so is 10x 80-90%). DC charging is a bit harsher on the battery with deep cycles. For AC (L1/2 charging), follow the ABC rule (Always Be Charging).

 

[Mach1E]

Hey everyone,

my first post and I have a specific question. Wife has a new 2024 Mach and we basically only trickle charge. Works well for us. Very often she ends up at work with about 70% battery down from 80 leaving home. She parks in the EV station because it’s close to the door and trickles back to 80% before she comes home.

Does it make sense to charge these little amounts over and over or does it make more sense to bring it down to 40-50 and do longer charges?

TY

Do whatever is best for your lifestyle.

Even if there is a slight difference between the two methods, would you really care if you have 1% less battery capacity at 150,000 miles if you do something different?

Charge to 100% all the time even if you need to.

Think of the irony of driving the car for hundreds of thousands of miles and purposefully reducing your range by only charging to 80% the whole time out of fear of having less range…… ?

 

[E90alex]

No point in running it down first. Continue doing what you’re doing. Or even consider lowering the charge limit even further (ie charging to 60 or 70 instead of 80).

 

[RickMachE]

What does trickle mean?

The car can be charged at 120v, 1.1kW per hour. Or, 240v. Neither of those is "trickle charging".

 

[areacode413]

I personally would not bother consuming a slot in the charge queue if the car does not need the juice. Like the others said, unless the power is free, I see no need to plug it in to trickle charge.

 

[kkgg]

I think its all good.
Batteries likes to be in 80% range.
except:
- its an LFP battery pack
- you are going to leave it for long time(few days)

 

[Guss-E 2021]

On AC, there’s no appreciable difference going from 5-90% or 80-90%. It’s more about cycles (0-100% is one cycle, so is 10x 80-90%). DC charging is a bit harsher on the battery with deep cycles. For AC (L1/2 charging), follow the ABC rule (Always Be Charging).

This will also help to assure the 12 volt battery always has an adequately SoC (state of charge).

 

[dolvio]

The is everyone for your replies!

 

[MadMatt]

I wouldn’t bother plugging in at work honestly.

when I get home with the battery at 70% (down from 80% that morning) I’ll hit a 3-4 hour delay on my L2 in my garage to let things settle and then slow 20a/240 back to 80%

as others have said, probably doesn’t really change anything in the long run how you handle it.

 

[MadMatt]

I think its all good.
Batteries likes to be in 80% range.
except:
- its an LFP battery pack
- you are going to leave it for long time(few days)

independent studies confirm LFP’s don’t like sitting at 100% either. They just handle it a little better. No matter the chemistry the 80% rule still applies. You may just wanna do a 100% a little more often with an LFP to re-calibrate. The key is getting to 100% and us using the battery shortly after, not letting it sit overnight or longer.

 

[AtomicInternet]

I work from home and don't even need a 240v (Level 2) charger, but I installed one because 2 phase wiring is fun for me.

The first year I did only 120v (Level 1) charging it was the same routine as you. I will say the car also charges the 12v battery when charging the HV, so you could argue your trickle charge helps keep the 12v battery healthy more than the quicker 240v would.

You could also argue the slower charge is easier on the battery, but now we're talking almost immeasurable differences as every study shows nonstop fast charging vs at home only results in little to no life difference in the battery. Ford engineers simply designed a good battery management system to tolerate all kinds of abuse, so how you choose to charge is handled.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Hey everyone,

my first post and I have a specific question. Wife has a new 2024 Mach and we basically only trickle charge. Works well for us. Very often she ends up at work with about 70% battery down from 80 leaving home. She parks in the EV station because it’s close to the door and trickles back to 80% before she comes home.

Does it make sense to charge these little amounts over and over or does it make more sense to bring it down to 40-50 and do longer charges?

TY

Don't worry about it. Daily 70-80 or 40-80 less frequently probably won't make any difference to your battery.

Here are the things to think about:

• Is charging free at her work? If so, that's great. Go for it. If not, how does the price compare to home charging? Charge wherever it's cheapest.
• How long does it take to get the 70-80 charge? It's probably just a couple of hours. Does she move the car once it's charged? She should, otherwise she's blocking the charger and preventing someone else to use it.
• Courtesy might be the best reason to charge less frequently. If she's not moving the car once it's charged, it would be more courteous to charge less frequently so someone else can use it on the other days. Figure out fast it charges each hour, how long she's at work, and you'll know how much charge she'll get in a full day of charging. That will tell you how often she should charge to keep the charge up and not hog the charger. She can probably just charge twice a week.

 

[Mach1E]

independent studies confirm LFP’s don’t like sitting at 100% either. They just handle it a little better. No matter the chemistry the 80% rule still applies. You may just wanna do a 100% a little more often with an LFP to re-calibrate. The key is getting to 100% and us using the battery shortly after, not letting it sit overnight or longer.

This is correct.

However, it’s probably why Ford made it impossible to charge to 100% in our cars.

Even when the display shows 100%, you’re really only about 90% of the battery full capacity.

One day I think new EV owners will stop obsessing about this.

Do people obsess about how they charge their cell phones? The same rules apply, except the car is way smarter with its charging and has more safety measures built in.

I doubt any of us will really see any benefit from “babying” the battery as the rest of the car will fall apart before the battery loses significant capacity.

In the EXTREMELY RARE cases of people having to repair/replace the battery, it was due to failed cells, not wear and tear from charging.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Do people obsess about how they charge their cell phones?

Yes, I know some people who do.

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