Tesla saying charging to 100% is fine

[OttawaGuy]

Not sure if this has been posted or not

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[Popeye]

Not sure if this has been posted or not

With all of the software and technology advances, you would think that the vehicles would be smart enough to recognize your driving habits and essentially optimize your charging for you. Basically, plug in the car nightly and let the software determine what charge level the battery should be at. Whether it be 70% or 95% or whatever. And the software determine when it’s time to get it to 100% when it hasn’t been done for a 2-3 months to get that recalibration.
Basically I am shocked it is not more plug and play. So everyone doesn’t have to know all the in and outs of a lithium battery and proper charging habits for optimal battery maintenance.
I could be wrong, but isn’t this why Ford is limiting the battery charging capacity to 80% of the actual battery capacity? So basically it is a no-brainer that charging charging to 100% will not cause degradation?
To me if you want to go mainstream with BEV’s, you have to dumb it down for people like me who truly don’t have a clue on battery maintenance, nor do I want the hassle of knowing what I have to charge it to every night.
Just my two cents.

 

[OttawaGuy]

Totally agree with you

All this technology onboard but Tesla can't make their system more intelligent hopefully with over the air updates there might be a time where such system intelligence will be brought to the systems

Will see how Ford fixed up the MME

 

[Popeye]

I forgot that Ford is using AI for its “Intelligent Range” factoring. From what I just read, it is basically taking into account driving habits, temperature, elevation changes of your route, etc.

In the Jay Leno’s garage but on the MME, Farley mentions it will be the most accurate range estimator out there. So it seems to me a lot of the data it needs to determine the best charging maintenance for the battery is already available for the internal software.

Sadly though, I can’t find any information on charging controls for battery maintenance optimization.

Side note best guesstimates I have seen online indicate 90% of total battery capacity will be usable, not 80% as I noted in my last entry. Which actually make sense as that aligns with the 90-95% charging for optimal maintenance according to Elon Musks tweets in the video you provided.

 

[machefan]

Not sure if this has been posted or not

Confusing video for sure, however what is good for Tesla might not be good for all. Still says not to charge to 100% and to 90%, this is also in the MME manual.

 

[agoldman]

So if you charge to 100% normally, what will happen? Shorter battery life? I don't keep my cars that long if that's the only worry.

 

[OttawaGuy]

So if you charge to 100% normally, what will happen? Shorter battery life? I don't keep my cars that long if that's the only worry.

Yes reduced battery life and the performance of the battery will shorten quicker but if you charge to 100% and leave right away it wouldn't be much of a problem from what I read because you'll use the energy right away

But for the MME, Ford had limited the usable battery... So you might never be able to charge to 100%... To be confirmed

 

[EVer]

So if you charge to 100% normally, what will happen? Shorter battery life? I don't keep my cars that long if that's the only worry.

Yes, it will limit the life. However, charging to 100% isn’t particularly concerning provided you done store the car at that SOC.

 

[Marcel]

Best battery charging practise is charge to 60% discharge to 40%, because that is not practical generally advise is 80-20.
Ford has not made the whole battery available and keeps approximately 10% reserve, most likely more on the bottem value because completely empty is much worse for the battery, so charge to 100% is very near real 100% and should only been done if you are immediatly going for a long trip.

 

[agoldman]

based on my long commuting miles and plenty of unknowns, I will probably (level 2 charge 40 amp home charger) charge as full as it will let me charge at least 5 days a week. I only keep my car a year or two. Once I calm down about range anxiety (which may be never) then I might relax that stance.

 

[zhackwyatt]

Yes reduced battery life and the performance of the battery will shorten quicker but if you charge to 100% and leave right away it wouldn't be much of a problem from what I read because you'll use the energy right away

But for the MME, Ford had limited the usable battery... So you might never be able to charge to 100%... To be confirmed

Even with the buffer, Ford still recommends charging no greater than 90% most of the time. That is 90% of the usable battery. They don't expect the average consumer to even know about the buffer. 100% on the car display is 100% of the usable battery, not 100% of the battery itself. They want you to charge to 90% which ends up being about 80% of the actual battery capacity.

 

[ab13]

One of the issues is still the down the mountain issue. I believe the Bolt has a hilltop mode, but having to manually select something is not really for the mainstream consumer. Tesla says to charge to 90% as a partial method to resolve the issue.

The issue being, if you charge to 100% at the top of the mountain (ski resort, etc...) then you may run out of regenerative braking when going downhill.

Hopefully Ford can include automatic charge SOC limiting when users go to much higher elevations. Or at least provide recommended suggestions at the next charging times when it senses this situation.

 

[SnBGC]

With all of the software and technology advances, you would think that the vehicles would be smart enough to recognize your driving habits and essentially optimize your charging for you.

That concept wouldn't work for me. Some days I only drive about 45 miles. Some days I drive 145 miles. Never really know what my needs are going to be when I start my day.

So basically it is a no-brainer that charging charging to 100% will not cause degradation?

Correct. If your primary method of charging is AC L1 or L2.
I charge my Ford BEV to 100% every day. Been doing that since day one. No degradation observed.
When we talk about a Ford BEV.....we are not allowed to fully charge the battery. We are allowed to charge to 100% of what the software has allocated for use. The actual physical capacity of the battery is something greater but since that extra capacity isn't available to the user it doesn't matter.

AC Level 2 charging is the primary method of charging that I use. Very rarely use DCFC but when I do it's just a splash and go.

 

[SnBGC]

Even with the buffer, Ford still recommends charging no greater than 90% most of the time. That is 90% of the usable battery. They don't expect the average consumer to even know about the buffer. 100% on the car display is 100% of the usable battery, not 100% of the battery itself. They want you to charge to 90% which ends up being about 80% of the actual battery capacity.

Yeah, I saw that in the manual too.
I won't even bother with that setting. I'll leave it at 100% and never touch it for the entire life of the vehicle.

 

[Jyak]

Wife has a model 3-- we set it to charge to 80% and charge it to that at night. I think we've charged it to 100 twice in the 6 months that we've owned it-- before a trip. In any case, it is best to charge it and leave it plugged in each night. We only had a 110v outlet available when we bought the car and planned to install something else later. After having the vehicle for half a year, I don't think we will bother. The 110v easily covers our daily driving. We will see if the winter changes this idea, but for now the 4 or 5 mile an hour charging more than covers 99% of our driving. When we go on longer trips out of town we top up at a super charger.

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