Charging Strategy?

[cstrickland]

I have preordered my Mach E and hopefully will have it in the spring. I wanted to get some suggestions on my Charging Strategy. Currently my drive is about 100 miles each way and my employer has charging locations on site. My question is would I charge on site at work and then plug in when I get home? I order the Premium Trim with RW drive and has a suggested range of 300 miles. But I pretty sure I won't really have range depending on driving habits and weather conditions. I wanted to see if anyone would know think with amount of charging cycles I would damage the battery? Or should I just charge at home after the round trip? I am looking forward to suggestions and comments.

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[generaltso]

Is charging at work free? Is it fast enough to fully charge the car during a typical work day? Is it usually available (not in use)? If so, I'd try to charge there as much as possible and only plug in at home when you need the miles. That's what I do, but my office is only 10 miles away, not 100.

 

[RickMachE]

Numerous threads cover your questions.

In short, you're going to want to take advantage of all the free charging you can. In the summer, you'll be fine to charge to 100% at work, then drive home and back again, and then charge.

In the winter, you'll likely not be able to do that, as 200 miles of range isn't likely. So, you'll charge at home to give you a safe buffer to make it back to work.

Your battery doesn't care if it charges from 60 to 80% 3 times, or charges from 20 to 80% one time.

 

[hybrid2bev]

I have preordered my Mach E and hopefully will have it in the spring. I wanted to get some suggestions on my Charging Strategy. Currently my drive is about 100 miles each way and my employer has charging locations on site. My question is would I charge on site at work and then plug in when I get home? I order the Premium Trim with RW drive and has a suggested range of 300 miles. But I pretty sure I won't really have range depending on driving habits and weather conditions. I wanted to see if anyone would know think with amount of charging cycles I would damage the battery? Or should I just charge at home after the round trip? I am looking forward to suggestions and comments.

If I had reliable level 2 charging at work and home I would set my charge level max at both places to 80%. Plug in at both locations. Go about my day and enjoy the drive.

If you have a consistent schedule then also set up departure times for home and work.

 

[vinny2487]

I have preordered my Mach E and hopefully will have it in the spring. I wanted to get some suggestions on my Charging Strategy. Currently my drive is about 100 miles each way and my employer has charging locations on site. My question is would I charge on site at work and then plug in when I get home? I order the Premium Trim with RW drive and has a suggested range of 300 miles. But I pretty sure I won't really have range depending on driving habits and weather conditions. I wanted to see if anyone would know think with amount of charging cycles I would damage the battery? Or should I just charge at home after the round trip? I am looking forward to suggestions and comments.

The biggest question will be: is charging at work free? If not, is it cheaper than what you pay per KWh at home? Also, is it a DCFC or level 2? Since your commute is 100 miles, I would plug in at work if it's a level 2 charger and at home and set your charging limit to 90%. Constant use of DCFC will quickly degrade your battery.

As to charging cycles, here's an article from Apple that explains it. The batteries in your smartphone is more or less identical to the ones found in EVs.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/
" You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity "

 

[cstrickland]

Numerous threads cover your questions.

In short, you're going to want to take advantage of all the free charging you can. In the summer, you'll be fine to charge to 100% at work, then drive home and back again, and then charge.

In the winter, you'll likely not be able to do that, as 200 miles of range isn't likely. So, you'll charge at home to give you a safe buffer to make it back to work.

Your battery doesn't care if it charges from 60 to 80% 3 times, or charges from 20 to 80% one time.

Thanks RickMachE for the info. I was kind of thinking the same for winter to charge at and home. But was worried about battery damage. Thanks Again

 

[RickMachE]

Thanks RickMachE for the info. I was kind of thinking the same for winter to charge at and home. But was worried about battery damage. Thanks Again

You should spend the time before delivery reading the forum. In short, unless you plan on keeping the vehicle for 10 years, or you do stupid things (like always using DC high speed charging), you're not going to shorten the life of your battery that you'll ever notice. And, you can't really damage it.

 

[shutterbug]

Is charging at work free? Is it fast enough to fully charge the car during a typical work day? Is it usually available (not in use)? If so, I'd try to charge there as much as possible and only plug in at home when you need the miles. That's what I do, but my office is only 10 miles away, not 100.

If I had reliable level 2 charging at work and home I would set my charge level max at both places to 80%. Plug in at both locations. Go about my day and enjoy the drive.

Keeping in mind that you can set different charging limits at each location. I can charge at work for free and my commute is only 5.5 miles each way. I set work to 90% and only plug in there once a week (but could every day if commute was longer). At home I set it to 50% and plug in every day. That way, if I need to drive further I can set charge to 100% through the app. By plugging in and not charging, you are allowing the HVB to maintain LVB in extreme conditions.

If my commute was 100 miles, I would set the home % to be high enough for a round trip with some room to spare, just in case work charger was out of service or otherwise not available.

 

[CHeil402]

Another thing to consider in the winter is the route speed and elevation changes. I just took a road trip for Thanksgiving at ~30 deg F averaging 75 mph and was able to get to my charger with 14% left (starting from 100%) which was 186 miles but it was a net uphill of about 3k feet. Going home on that same route I was able to get more range and going down a several mile 9% grade resulted in a gain of 2% battery at the bottom.

If I drove slower, had less cargo (4 passengers and suitcases), and/or drove a flatter route it would have extended that range. I think 200 miles would be doable, but not ideal if you have unfavorable variables.

If you can, I would charge at work and home in case you're depending on the work charger working and it being broken, full, etc. where you'd be stuck.

 

[cstrickland]

If I had reliable level 2 charging at work and home I would set my charge level max at both places to 80%. Plug in at both locations. Go about my day and enjoy the drive.

If you have a consistent schedule then also set up departure times for home and work.

Thanks @hybrid2bev I found out our chargers at work are all level 2 and I have a 240 V circuit installed at home. So that might not be a bad way to go. Thanks Again for the tip.

 

[EELinneman]

Keeping in mind that you can set different charging limits at each location. I can charge at work for free and my commute is only 5.5 miles each way. I set work to 90% and only plug in there once a week (but could every day if commute was longer). At home I set it to 50% and plug in every day. That way, if I need to drive further I can set charge to 100% through the app. By plugging in and not charging, you are allowing the HVB to maintain LVB in extreme conditions.

If my commute was 100 miles, I would set the home % to be high enough for a round trip with some room to spare, just in case work charger was out of service or otherwise not available.

Joseph,

Is this limit setting working for you? I've only had my car for a few days, but have set the 90% limit for my home location and verified this both in the car and the phone, but it is ignored. I just checked and my car charged to 99% last night despite the 90% limit. I've set charging times to avoid the 4:00 to 8:00 PM penalty that my utility charges. I'm trying to understand if this is working for others, why is it not working for me.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[RickMachE]

Joseph,

Is this limit setting working for you? I've only had my car for a few days, but have set the 90% limit for my home location and verified this both in the car and the phone, but it is ignored. I just checked and my car charged to 99% last night despite the 90% limit. I've set charging times to avoid the 4:00 to 8:00 PM penalty that my utility charges. I'm trying to understand if this is working for others, why is it not working for me.

Thanks,
Eric

Make sure you're not set to "charge when plugged in". Numerous posts on that.

 

[EELinneman]

Make sure you're not set to "charge when plugged in". Numerous posts on that.

I verified I am set to "Use preferred charge settings" and max charge level is set to 90%. It still charged to 100% last night.

 

[shutterbug]

Joseph,

Is this limit setting working for you? I've only had my car for a few days, but have set the 90% limit for my home location and verified this both in the car and the phone, but it is ignored. I just checked and my car charged to 99% last night despite the 90% limit. I've set charging times to avoid the 4:00 to 8:00 PM penalty that my utility charges. I'm trying to understand if this is working for others, why is it not working for me.

Thanks,
Eric

It does work. Both at home and and at work. Here is what it's showing now. Notice, it's showing target charge of 50% and 170 miles, and current SOC of 235 miles, so not charging. If your settings are correct, you should see target charge level the moment you plug in.

 

[hybrid2bev]

I verified I am set to "Use preferred charge settings" and max charge level is set to 90%. It still charged to 100% last night.

Mine has done the same thing for the last two nights (or at least it tried to charge to 100%). It's been working fine for a while until now. The last OTA I had was 1.7.1 in September.

Two nights ago I checked FP before going to bed. FP said the target charge level was 100%. I checked my charging schedule was still set to 80%. I unplugged the car, closed the charge port door, started it up. Looking at the charging schedule in the car and the toggle (on/off) button was gone. What? It's like the car forgot where it was (at home). I put my foot on the brake and changed the gear shifter out of park but did not actually move the car, just shifting gears (reverse then drive). Put it back into park and navigate back to the charging menu, the charging location toggle was now back. Schedule still set to 80%. Turned off the car and plugged in. Walked back into the house and checked FP.... now target charge level is 80% again. Charged as it should and departure time still worked in the morning.

Last night I got a FP alert at around 9:30 PM that my scheduled charge time did not begin. It's set to start at 11 PM. What? I check the FP target charge level...yep 100% again. What? Went out to the car unplugged it, I started the car. Checked the charging menu and the charging schedule toggle switch was still there this time. I shifted through the gears for a few seconds each without actually moving. Turned off the car. Plugged in. FP back to normal at 80% target charge. Charged as expected to 80%, departure times still worked this morning.

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