Electric car anyone?
76 watchers
5 Feb
7:42am, 5 Feb 2025
2,054 posts
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Gromit
I know I can use the supercharger ones only but haven’t tried it yet … Here’s a newbie question … the consensus is to regularly only charge up to 80% although the Volvo says 90% However when I know I’m doing a long trip I’ve charged to 100% .. assume this is the right thing to do 🤷♀️ If the battery is never charged beyond 90% that’s surely equally not good for the battery ? |
5 Feb
8:19am, 5 Feb 2025
26,559 posts
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larkim
I think broadly that that advice about limiting battery charge is a bit "old fashioned". It's certainly true that leaving batteries at 100% for prolonged periods of time is (depending on the battery type) bad for battery health, but the battery management stuff in the current breeds of EVs makes it far, far less of an issue. For both of the EVs I've owned I charge to 100% daily. Battery health doesn't seem to be affected in any way. |
5 Feb
8:37am, 5 Feb 2025
23,037 posts
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DeeGee
Only certain Tesla chargers are open to non-Tesla vehicles. You'll need the app to use one, and if you set up the app it will show you which Tesla chargers you can use. For instance, I have to put 79p/kw power from Gridserve into my car at Grantham North services, even though there's a massive bank of unused Tesla stuff right next door. The most convenient one for my regular travel purposes is at Trumpington P&R near Cambridge, but travelling with the family, hanging around a park and ride car park isn't really something that will make the journey fun, so we try somewhere else instead. What I am enjoying is trying to keep away from the Services where we used to always stop in an ICE car at Peterborough or Cambridge, as when we're doing a long drive everyone else also seems to be and there's more often than not no charger available there, and there are much more pleasant places to hang around... |
5 Feb
8:38am, 5 Feb 2025
51,910 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I'm with larks, what I've read is that the battery management circuitry controls the optimum charging speeds and total in order to protect the battery. I go down to nearly zero and up to 100% when I am doing long journeys away from home. When I am just travelling from and back to home, it is probably between 50 and 100% all the time. But home charging is slow charging and does the battery no harm at all, is my understanding.  G
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5 Feb
8:45am, 5 Feb 2025
18,422 posts
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jda
The 100% thing is a mix of old myth and perhaps some reference to charging speed which generally slows dramatically as you approach 100%. Not an issue for overnight charging but may be when out on a trip. Planning on charging between 20% and 80% is a reasonable target for long drives going beyond one full battery.
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5 Feb
8:47am, 5 Feb 2025
18,423 posts
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jda
Batteries are damaged either by cell reversal when charge gets very close to zero, or by overheating when fast charging close to full capacity. Decent charging software should avoid both of these issues.
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5 Feb
9:13am, 5 Feb 2025
11,696 posts
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MabelMoonface
Thank you. I'd seen that not all are available to non-Tesla drivers but couldn't work out how to find which they were. I've got the app but can't see where to filter to find available chargers for non Teslas. Can you help @DeeGee
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5 Feb
9:20am, 5 Feb 2025
8,130 posts
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ThorntonRunner
I tend to keep between 20% and 80%. I do charge (on my home 7kW charger) to 100% every so often as this is supposed to balance the cells.
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5 Feb
9:26am, 5 Feb 2025
51,911 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
MabelMoonface wrote: Thank you. I'd seen that not all are available to non-Tesla drivers but couldn't work out how to find which they were. I've got the app but can't see where to filter to find available chargers for non Teslas. Can you help @DeeGee I think... (think, but not tested!) that if the app shows it, you can use it. If there is a Tesla charger that you can't use, it won't show on the app. I was standing at a Tesla charger, could see it in Google, but Tesla app didn't show it, hence, not avail for me to charge. Think that's how it works? G
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5 Feb
9:45am, 5 Feb 2025
26,560 posts
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larkim
I might be completely wrong about this, but it feels like the 100% battery charge thing is a bit like the old "engine needs to warm up" issue that cars had before synthetic oils etc became really good at operating across temperature ranges. That said, Google has recently introduced a new 80% battery charge cap facility on phones to preserve battery life... |
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