What % Do You Charge Your EV To, And Why?

[ChehRob]

Right now, 100% and asked the dealer to deliver the car at that level. Actually the highest I have charged it subsequently is 98%, and that only once. Our month late condo EV charging system will likely be finished this week, and I will then set maximum at 90%. An occasional 100% charge does not have much effect on battery health.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

When at home on
L2:
Summer: 85%
Winter: 90%

L1:
100%

When on the road:
At L3/DCFC: whatever seems prudent, but never above 90%.
On L1 or L2: let it get to 100% whenever it can.

 

[dtbaker61]

I've heard online that you should charge to 80%. I understand it's something about holding more charge being bad for the battery?

I'm posting a poll here to see, but I'd also love any links that people have that point to rationale for what % to use, if anyone has any!

I normally keep my charge between 50%-90%... which means charging only once or twice a week when I am working a couple hours in the garage. most of my days are <50miles per day

OCCASIONALLY, when I know I have a 100+ mile day coming up, I will charge to 100% the night before. Its good to charge to 100% once in a while to make sure cells are top-balanced and amp-hour counters are reset for accurate capacity measurement.

 

[MachEMaster]

'22 Select AWD. It's Winter, I go to 100% every night.

 

[Blue highway]

80% daily - regular daily schedule drops it to ~60% . (We could go a few days between charges, but shallow depth of discharge is easier on the cells than deep depth of discharge so its charged every day and takes me no time)

100% for departure on a road trip - for obvious reasons.

80% for DCFC depending on distance to the next charger... maybe less to optimize time... maybe more if the next charger is a long ways or I think it is less than reliable.

Why not charge to 90% or more? Mostly because I don't need to for my daily use case... And I know that high SOC at high temps reduce cell capacity... its physics. With the SR battery I'd still like 150 mile highway legs when it is 10 years old. Coming up on 3 years and have no plans for it to be traded.

I've also seen the dark side of Lithium batteries...

I've been abusing lithium batteries in UAVs for about 15 years... you really see the effects of high discharge rates (30C+) high temps and regular deep discharges... cells can be down to 70% capacity in a few months of use... (that is really aggravating) I have other cells that are given much lighter duty and a few of these are just at 10 years old and still around 85% of original capacity.

I don't obsess over battery care, but asserting that it doesn't matter how you treat lithium batteries is wishful thinking.

 

[George Knighton]

90% most of the time because that’s what Ford said.

100% if I need it.

I don’t worry about it much.

 

[Fremont Kid]

Several conditions:
Charge using L2 in garage. Normally 80% overnight unless SOC is above 60% then don't plug it in.
Winter I plug it in every night to help maintain battery temperature.
100% when traveling a long trip.

 

[roguemustang]

I charge to 90% overnight. Then drive to work and plug it in and charge to 90% to get home. Rinse and repeat. In theory, I could probably make it to work and back on a charge, but I wouldn’t want to try it, especially in the winter. I don’t dare take an electric car on a trip so I very rarely charge to 100% but I have a couple times. I don’t use public chargers so I don’t use DCFC at this point (I have only used a DCFC once in my 4 months/11k miles).

 

[HuntingPudel]

85% indicated, which is very close to 80% actual.

 

[leehinde]

I've heard online that you should charge to 80%. I understand it's something about holding more charge being bad for the battery?

I'm posting a poll here to see, but I'd also love any links that people have that point to rationale for what % to use, if anyone has any!

Your poll, but I'd add an option for just 90%, since that's the official recommendation. (at least for the Extended Range batteries.)

I charge to 90% on those days I fall below 80%. And to 100% ahead of days I go visit my daughters, who are 90 miles away.

 

[CTZ]

I go to 85%. Will probably drop to 80% in the summer except before a road trip and I'll do 100%.

 

[SashaLondon]

I realised that its a lease car so I don't care and charge it to 100%

 

[PilotMark]

70% most of the time and I'm starting to leave the car plugged in the garage when it's cold. Then 90 to 100 when starting a trip the next day.

 

[voxel]

Daily? 60-70% That's a tad above storage charge voltage of 40-50%

The car has been below 20% only once also and at 90+% only on road trips

Li-ion batteries survive longest within storage charge range.

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