How much energy does the Ford Mobile Charger use when not connected to the car?

[mkazen]

What's your reasoning for not plugging in nightly and charging to 90%?

- Charger is a pain to use / reach the vehicle
- Don't see the benefit of charging nightly (Ford recommends keeping the car plugged in)
- Have some belief that going from 40 to 90% in one night is better than going from 80 to 90% 5 nights?

Just curious why people don't do what is recommended, and their reasoning. Clearly you can do what you want of course.

Mostly because of a ton of articles I've read that says every time you plug in you're putting a bit of stress on the battery to charge. Articles like these:

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/3-reasons-stop-charging-ev-every-night/
Or
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/w...ing-your-electric-car-every-night-11625253027

However I do see a number of articles (besides the one you quoted) which do recommend charging every night. I think there is a lot of conflicting information. People know they shouldn't charge to 100% if it can be avoided, and I remember the Ford instructions saying to charge to 90% as long as you don't need 100%, but I don't remember the owner's manual saying to plug in every night. In fact, I just looked at the 2023 owner's manual, and besides recommending not DCFC the battery above 80%, there's nothing about charging every night (unless I just missed it).

Regardless, I think it might be 6 of one and a half dozen of the other when it comes to charging.

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[Mach-Lee]

Mostly because of a ton of articles I've read that says every time you plug in you're putting a bit of stress on the battery to charge. Articles like these:

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/3-reasons-stop-charging-ev-every-night/
Or
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/w...ing-your-electric-car-every-night-11625253027

However I do see a number of articles (besides the one you quoted) which do recommend charging every night. I think there is a lot of conflicting information. People know they shouldn't charge to 100% if it can be avoided, and I remember the Ford instructions saying to charge to 90% as long as you don't need 100%, but I don't remember the owner's manual saying to plug in every night. In fact, I just looked at the 2023 owner's manual, and besides recommending not DCFC the battery above 80%, there's nothing about charging every night (unless I just missed it).

Regardless, I think it might be 6 of one and a half dozen of the other when it comes to charging.

Those articles aren't correct because the authors don't understand a charge cycle:

1 charge cycle = 0-100% charge
1 charge cycle ≠ Every time the car is charged some

Charging from 60% to 80% is 0.2 charge cycles.

Therefore you can't really minimize charge cycles unless you minimize usage. But you can minimize Depth of Discharge, which is the key concept here. Charging more often IS better for the battery.

All I can say is there is a lot of EV charging misinformation out there, due to lack of understanding or negative intent. The people that write news articles can just copy from each other blindly, and are far from battery experts.

 

[mkazen]

Those articles aren't correct because the authors don't understand a charge cycle:

1 charge cycle = 0-100% charge
1 charge cycle ≠ Every time the car is charged some

Charging from 60% to 80% is 0.2 charge cycles.

Therefore you can't really minimize charge cycles unless you minimize usage. But you can minimize Depth of Discharge, which is the key concept here. Charging more often IS better for the battery.

All I can say is there is a lot of EV charging misinformation out there, due to lack of understanding or negative intent. The people that write news articles can just copy from each other blindly, and are far from battery experts.

No doubt and I appreciate your input. I probably will switch to charging every night.

 

[circatee]

Those articles aren't correct because the authors don't understand a charge cycle:

1 charge cycle = 0-100% charge
1 charge cycle ≠ Every time the car is charged some

Charging from 60% to 80% is 0.2 charge cycles.

Therefore you can't really minimize charge cycles unless you minimize usage. But you can minimize Depth of Discharge, which is the key concept here. Charging more often IS better for the battery.

All I can say is there is a lot of EV charging misinformation out there, due to lack of understanding or negative intent. The people that write news articles can just copy from each other blindly, and are far from battery experts.

...thanks for your detailed response. These sort of responses, will really help newcomers to the EV market!

 

[mattadata]

I monitor each breaker in my house. It is very low because it always says zero when not charging my car. I am sure it using something, but probably less than 1 watt.

 

[Maquis]

No doubt and I appreciate your input. I probably will switch to charging every night.

FWIW, there’s a guy on the Lightning forum who works in a lab testing battery cells for a living. He plugs in every night and charges to 85%.

 

[JeffGo]

Just checked my Emporia monitor which does have a sensor on the charger outlet (mobile charger). Shows no usage. It can usually sense my 6W loads, so less than that.

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