Max charge?

[LexiRN]

What should I routinely charge my car to? 80% or 90%? I know Ford built in a fail safe so to speak. I've only had my car a few days so I'm new to charging. Any tips would be appreciated. I did notice that yesterday when I plugged into my 110v outlet, it would charge for a few minutes and then stop. I had to unplug and plug it back in 3x. I noticed that the issue stopped when I turned the location back on on my phone. No clue if it's related but it worked.

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[generaltso]

The owners manual recommends 90% for daily charging.

 

[RickMachE]

Right. Download the PDF from the Ford site to all your devices, and spend some time reading it. You will find out how to set a Home location, and set that location to charge to 90%, and what hours to charge.

As to what you experienced, since you don't specify what level the battery was at, it's hard to say what happened when you played with Location.

 

[LexiRN]

Right. Download the PDF from the Ford site to all your devices, and spend some time reading it. You will find out how to set a Home location, and set that location to charge to 90%, and what hours to charge.

As to what you experienced, since you don't specify what level the battery was at, it's hard to say what happened when you played with Location.

I did eventually get the home location set. It was showing plugged it but not charging. It started at 60% and is currently at 80% but I just bumped max charge to 90% so it's charging again. I've been skimming over the pdf but I will give it a better read through. Thanks!

 

[mikeynags]

So I found the text in the user manual:

" CHARGING YOUR VEHICLE HINTS
We recommend limiting the amount of DC charges, and ending DC charges at 80% state of charge as charging between 80 and 100% can incur high charging costs due to the time to completion. Frequent use of DC charging could result in reducing your battery’s efficiency and lifespan. This is more pronounced on the standard range battery pack versus the extended range battery pack "

So it's DC charging past 80% over time isn't a good thing. If your are primarily charging at home with a Chargepoint, is charging past 80% still a bad idea?

 

[timbop]

There's a lot to it, but here are the highlights:

• As the battery gets closer to "full" there is more internal resistance when charging. That makes the battery warmer, which wastes energy, which in turn makes charging go slower because energy being sent from the charger is being wasted. This effect is much more pronounced greater than 90%, and also more pronounced when DC fast charging versus AC charging.
• Since the point of DCFC is fast charging, you are far better off stopping a DCFC charge at 80% and moving on down the road rather than waiting for it to charge to 100%. In fact, 2 stops going from 25% to 75% will take FAR less time than 1 stop going from 1% to 100%
• It is "less good" for the battery to constantly charge it to 100% than it is to charge to 80% or 90%. The amount of "damage" is hard to say as it depends upon how long you leave it sitting at a 100% charge (more than a few days is not good). Occasionally charging to 100% the night before a long trip is fine; it's a case of how often you do it rather than never doing it. It's sort of like getting pass out drunk: every once in a while is OK, but every weekend is not.
• By the same token letting the car go down to below 15% should also be done sparingly, and DEFINITELY do not let it sit for more than a few hours at that level of charge. It's actually much worse for the battery to let it sit at a low charge than at a high charge.
• Finally, DCFC should also be reserved for when you need it instead of all the time. It generates more heat than AC charging, and that heat can also do a small amount of damage over time. To mix up the metaphors, it is like listening to really loud music. Going to a few concerts a year is fine, but going all the time will damage your hearing

 

[Keyk4]

So I found the text in the user manual:

" CHARGING YOUR VEHICLE HINTS
We recommend limiting the amount of DC charges, and ending DC charges at 80% state of charge as charging between 80 and 100% can incur high charging costs due to the time to completion. Frequent use of DC charging could result in reducing your battery’s efficiency and lifespan. This is more pronounced on the standard range battery pack versus the extended range battery pack "

So it's DC charging past 80% over time isn't a good thing. If your are primarily charging at home with a Chargepoint, is charging past 80% still a bad idea?

DC charging is not the same as charging at home (AC). Your Chargepoint is a Level 2 AC charger. Charging to 90% or even 100% when you need it is perfectly fine.

 

[RickMachE]

So I found the text in the user manual:

" CHARGING YOUR VEHICLE HINTS
We recommend limiting the amount of DC charges, and ending DC charges at 80% state of charge as charging between 80 and 100% can incur high charging costs due to the time to completion. Frequent use of DC charging could result in reducing your battery’s efficiency and lifespan. This is more pronounced on the standard range battery pack versus the extended range battery pack "

So it's DC charging past 80% over time isn't a good thing. If your are primarily charging at home with a Chargepoint, is charging past 80% still a bad idea?

You are conflating two different issues.

First, the reference in the manual to end DC charging at 80% is mostly outdated, and clearly refers to COST , not to any impact on the battery. Ford used to slow DC charging at 80% to 14kW. Now, they've increased that to 44kW, and at 90% to 34kW. If you're paying by the kWh, then there is zero cost (except time) to going over 80%. If you're paying by the minute, then yes, it does cost more.

Second, AC charging at home can be done to 90% regularly, and 100% before you depart on a trip. It can be done to 100% all the time, but at some point in the far future you will have less battery capacity by doing so - like years and years down the road.

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