Charging Frequency

[Joseph Hourigan]

We just got the 240V Ford charger installed at home. We set it up on Ford Pass to charge to 90% every night during off peak hours.
For battery life: Is it recommended to let battery go down to low %, say 30% - 40% before recharge to 90%, or is it ok to recharge to 90% from say, 70% - 80% on a regular basis?

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[flapjake314]

the general advice has been not letting it too low and not filling it up too high is best, so likely best to just do shorter more frequent charges

but then there is the problem over time of the BMS losing track of the capacity, so an infrequent (once per 1-3 months i'm guessing?) deep charge from low to high will help recalibrate that. might just naturally happen based on road trips etc

 

[hybrid2bev]

We just got the 240V Ford charger installed at home. We set it up on Ford Pass to charge to 90% every night during off peak hours.
For battery life: Is it recommended to let battery go down to low %, say 30% - 40% before recharge to 90%, or is it ok to recharge to 90% from say, 70% - 80% on a regular basis?

What you’re trying to avoid for battery health is heat. Heat kills batteries. So shorter charging cycles and lowering the charging amps will limit the heat buildup.

 

[AliRafiee]

I’ve been driving EVs since 2016. I charge every night. One benefit of EV is having a full “tank” everyday.
There is no harm. The battery is rated for X number of charge cycles. A charge cycle is from 0 to 100%. Adding 10% is 1/10 of a charge cycle.

 

[AKgrampy]

There are several threads on this so maybe some reading is in your future. It also depends on what battery type is in your car. I charge daily to 85%. I want my car ready just in case I need to drive a lot on any given day. I do not think it hurts the battery ay all.

 

[Reicher89]

As others mentioned, heat is a battery damager. That's one reasion why it is often recommended to limit Level 3 DCFC (direct-current fast-charging). But also to maintain battery health, lowering depth-of-discharge is a big factor. An example of lowering your depth of discharges is just plugging in as often as you can, rather than waiting for your battery to get down to a certain percentage before charging (e.g. charging from 50-70% instead of 10-90%)

Check out this super helpful explainer video:

 

[Teslaeata]

We just got the 240V Ford charger installed at home. We set it up on Ford Pass to charge to 90% every night during off peak hours.
For battery life: Is it recommended to let battery go down to low %, say 30% - 40% before recharge to 90%, or is it ok to recharge to 90% from say, 70% - 80% on a regular basis?

My advice with hundreds of 100% charges and hundreds more DCFC charges over 100k is don’t overthink it.

Charge when you like as often as you like but just don’t go to 100% unless you’re going almost straight out to run it off on a run when you need a load of range. 90% is ample for the “normal” daily usage.

Just enjoy the car and don’t worry too much?

 

[MachEMaster]

Always Be Plugged In. Charge to 90% every night off peak, and 100% for road trips or Winter.

 

[Phobosbag]

I have a similar question, but on DCFC.
I charge constantly from 15% to 90% each time on not very fast charging, it's about a 40-45kWh rate.
Does this seem normal, or should I be doing it 20%-85%?

 

[RickMachE]

I have a similar question, but on DCFC.
I charge constantly from 15% to 90% each time on not very fast charging, it's about a 40-45kWh rate.
Does this seem normal, or should I be doing it 20%-85%?

Why would you think that 20 to 85% is any different than 15 to 90%?

It doesn't matter.

 

[Phobosbag]

Why would you think that 20 to 85% is any different than 15 to 90%?

It doesn't matter.

Thanks

 

[PilotMark]

After I've read a lot of the science and users experiences so, I chose to setup my chargepoint at 32 amps and normally charge from 50% to 70% as often as needed at home. For trips I'll charge as high as is needed for that trip. I have one trip I take often of 210 miles so I charge to 90-95% and get home with 35%.

 

[Adventureboy]

After I've read a lot of the science and users experiences so, I chose to setup my chargepoint at 32 amps and normally charge from 50% to 70% as often as needed at home. For trips I'll charge as high as is needed for that trip. I have one trip I take often of 210 miles so I charge to 90-95% and get home with 35%.

You do need to charge to 100% once in a while to balance the pack. Once every month or two is needed for NMC batteries, a bit more often with LFP batteries. You'll find it may sit at 99% for a while - this is because it is balancing the cells/packs. Let it do this occasionally right to 100%.

 

[Blue highway]

I have a similar question, but on DCFC.
I charge constantly from 15% to 90% each time on not very fast charging, it's about a 40-45kWh rate.
Does this seem normal, or should I be doing it 20%-85%?

From an optimal for the car battery perspective, don't let it get so low... smaller depth of discharge is better

From an optimal for the human perspective, overall the battery will take a charge faster when charging from a low state of charge to ~80%... so less time waiting for the thing to charge. Unless the DCFC is limited to ~50kW, you should navigate to the charger in the Ford navigation... it will pre-condition the battery and will charge faster.... much faster than the 40kW at 15% you are seeing now.

From a sanity perspective, don't worry too much about this.

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