Home Charging vs. Electrify America

[Luckyismydog]

Since we get free charging for 2-3 years, does it even make sense to charge at home?

 

[Ksa23]

Since we get free charging for 2-3 years, does it even make sense to charge at home?

Depends what you value your time at! Otherwise, no reason other than trying to stay within Lucid's vague definition of "reasonable use". I bet its a very lenient use of 15k+ miles per yr of average driving anyway.

 

[julianevjourney]

IMO charging at home with a level 2 charger is still by far your best daily option. You can do it overnight or whenever it’s convenient for you. You don’t want to DC Fast charge your car all the time because it degrades the battery more. EA chargers like other public charging stations can be unreliable.

 

[E LUCID 8]

Since we get free charging for 2-3 years, does it even make sense to charge at home?

i charged at home the first time just to see how it would be. It charged overnight at adding about 35 miles per hour of charge. There is a EA station in good condition near my office and I was able to add 250 miles in 35 minutes (i did not precondition the batteries, it may have been faster if I did). Last night I added about 150+ miles in 20 minutes. I may just do this once a week or so and charge at home when necessary.

 

[magesh]

Since we get free charging for 2-3 years, does it even make sense to charge at home?

Your time. Your convenience. Your money. It boils down to that,

You will save $ at EA; but lose the convenience of time & home. However, if like me, you read a book or take a nap or finish errands at the nearby mall/shops, then yeah, EA or Supercharging is the way to go. Some of my friends, detest the mall/shops, office location, etc .. and they prefer the convenience of home, and pay the rates, to charge it at home. Yet others, me sometimes included, do a mix & match.

No right/wrong answer. Just your preference.

 

[joec]

Your time. Your convenience. Your money. It boils down to that,

You will save $ at EA; but lose the convenience of time & home. However, if like me, you read a book or take a nap or finish errands at the nearby mall/shops, then yeah, EA or Supercharging is the way to go. Some of my friends, detest the mall/shops, office location, etc .. and they prefer the convenience of home, and pay the rates, to charge it at home. Yet others, me sometimes included, do a mix & match.

No right/wrong answer. Just your preference.

Absolutely no right answer to this one. But for me, charging at home is one of the top reasons to have an EV in the first place. Just plug it in and forget about it. I use charging networks about three times a year. Otherwise, I simply never think about my state of charge, because there's always enough juice in my car for wherever I have to go that day.

And I don't have to touch any public yucky bits that other people are manhandling all day.

 

[Luckyismydog]

These are all fantastic responses. Thank you. Do you have any wisdom that can be shared about always keeping the car charged (e.g. charging every night and keeping the car plugged in) versus running it down to 20%?

 

[DeaneG]

These are all fantastic responses. Thank you. Do you have any wisdom that can be shared about always keeping the car charged (e.g. charging every night and keeping the car plugged in) versus running it down to 20%?

Keep it charged to 80%. Running the car down to 20% does nothing useful.

 

[pam4_AGT]

Since we get free charging for 2-3 years, does it even make sense to charge at home?

I have used DC fast charging (both EA and at work) about 10 times so far. I have had the car since early May. Most of my charging now is using the 6kW Chargepoint charger at work. There are plenty of those at my work. I pretty much leave it plugged in the entire day (about once a week). They used to have time limits but those limits were removed due to the reduced employee count at work (COVID and all that).

 

[julianevjourney]

These are all fantastic responses. Thank you. Do you have any wisdom that can be shared about always keeping the car charged (e.g. charging every night and keeping the car plugged in) versus running it down to 20%?

What @DeaneG said! Normally you want to just keep it at 80%. That will give your battery its longest life. Only charge to 100% and go down to a low SOC for long trips to reduce stop time. Obviously the best thing is just to enjoy your EV. If from time to time you need to hit up your local EA Charging Station that’s not a problem. You just want to avoid always DC Fast charging. Now, I don’t even own an EV. My Lucid Air will be my first one. I’ve just been reading up on this topic a lot and these are the conclusions I’ve drawn. I’m paying close attention to the responses from others to your question as well.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Keep it charged to 80%. Running the car down to 20% does nothing useful.

And you never know when you suddenly have to take a trip (to a hospital; to visit a sick relative; etc. etc.) so what is the harm in keeping it at 80%?

 

[hydbob]

What @DeaneG said! Normally you want to just keep it at 80%. That will give your battery its longest life. Only charge to 100% and go down to a low SOC for long trips to reduce stop time. Obviously the best thing is just to enjoy your EV. If from time to time you need to hit up your local EA Charging Station that’s not a problem. You just want to avoid always DC Fast charging. Now, I don’t even own an EV. My Lucid Air will be my first one. I’ve just been reading up on this topic a lot and these are the conclusions I’ve drawn. I’m paying close attention to the responses from others to your question as well.

I think the longest life was somewhere around keeping it constant around 65%

 

[DeaneG]

Don't get too hung up on it unless you are planning to keep your car for more than ten years. Get the most utility out of your purchase. The most I've done with my four previous EVs is to avoid having the car sit above 90% or below 10% for long periods of time - this is enough to keep battery degradation to a very reasonable level for a decade or two.

 

[zkhan2]

These are all fantastic responses. Thank you. Do you have any wisdom that can be shared about always keeping the car charged (e.g. charging every night and keeping the car plugged in) versus running it down to 20%?

Lucid recommends 80% and to have it plugged into the charger when the car is not in use. I have the Autel Maxicharger wall charger and it is awesome with lots of options. Very nice app, long chord and you can program RFID cards to give to others in your house hold that or friends that have EV and need to charge when they come over.

 

[Luckyismydog]

Don't get too hung up on it unless you are planning to keep your car for more than ten years. Get the most utility out of your purchase. The most I've done with my four previous EVs is to avoid having the car sit above 90% or below 10% for long periods of time - this is enough to keep battery degradation to a very reasonable level for a decade or two.

Do you like the idea of not having it charged at home overnight and charging at an EA whenever it gets to 20-30%?

 

[WildRide47]

Since we get free charging for 2-3 years, does it even make sense to charge at home?

Since I am retired and the EA charging station is 1 mile away. I use the fast charging exclusively, taking advantage of the first free 3 years

I go when it is in the low 20% range. Put the 150KW charger in, walk over to the Target store, look at birthday cards and roam around and come back 30 minutes later with my charge set at 82%. I do this about every 10 days.

I plan on replacing my Lucid(hopefully with another one) before the 4 year warranty runs out, so I am not concerned with longevity of the battery.

 

[larry]

I've had my GT since May and just had my home EVSE installed this week (Chargepoint Home Flex). There's an EA at a gas station only a mile from my house. It's always been reliable and never been full. I really don't mind swinging by for 20 minutes, adding ~200 miles, getting a massage, and reading my email. Also, I can be oddly cheap, and the EA charging is "free". That being said...
Realizing that filling the car up would cost about $6 really undercuts my cheap-fiscal need to use EA every time. Second, before our first trip in the Lucid I tried to charge all the way but it took 35+ minutes to go from 75% to 90%. It would have taken forever to get to 100% at the EA. Third, fall is coming, likely followed by winter, and I suspect my willingness to charge at EA will degrade in foul weather.
So you probably don't "need" to charge at home (but know that Level 1 charging the Lucid probably won't work). However, you're spending six figures on a car; it's probably worth that extra $1500 to give yourself all the possibilities when it comes to charging.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

Since I am retired and the EA charging station is 1 mile away. I use the fast charging exclusively, taking advantage of the first free 3 years

I go when it is in the low 20% range. Put the 150KW charger in, walk over to the Target store, look at birthday cards and roam around and come back 30 minutes later with my charge set at 82%. I do this about every 10 days.

I plan on replacing my Lucid(hopefully with another one) before the 4 year warranty runs out, so I am not concerned with longevity of the battery.

Almost exactly the same for me except I plan on keeping mine for the long haul. I listen to my book on tape. EA is 3 miles away. Car gets down to 20% then charge to 80%. Takes about 30 minutes on 150kw charger. Occasionally I charge at home to top off before a ride.

 

[borski]

I charge at home because it's convenient and I don't need to worry about it. And if I forget to plug in, who cares.

But when on road trips or even day trips (like today, I went to Napa), I charge close to home at an EA station, because why not.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

My approach is utterly random, but do plan on keeping the car past the battery warranty. The one thing I don't do is DCFC to a very high SOC then leave the car parked after a short drive. I think L2 charging as much as possible as opposed to DCFC is better though simply because the BMS doesn't have to work as hard, and less heat = less battery wear over time. But if you need it charged faster then just DCFC, the car can handle it. I just got solar installed also so I'm deliberately using the home L2 charger as much as possible because I want to see whether my solar system is in fact meeting my kW needs predicted by the solar company.