Useful Battery Tips

[hmp10]

"Engineering Explained" recently posted a very good overview of how to increase the service life of your EV battery pack:

 

[HariK]

Good video but meant for techies. My wife who is a non-techie, figured out something simple. She drives typically 20 miles a day. Her car Ioniq 5 averages 4 miles per kWh given her driving monthly is about 70% surface streets and 30% highway and she drives at speed limit. She needs about 140miles a week. That is 35kWh or 45% battery in her car. So she can charge to 80% and then again charge when it dips to 35% knowing that the lower limit to prevent the 12V battery from not charging is 20%. 15% is 45 miles of range which is 2 days for her. She then noticed that charging from 35% to 80% on a typical EA charger was taking about 25min in her case. Then she looked at EA chargers close to her daily routine and decided that she can charge 2 times a week just 55 to 80 in less than 20 min of shopping. Her thinking was simple. She rarely needs more than 35% of battery for her longest drive. 55% to 20% is that. She has no more range anxiety and interesting that the video basically says that she is doing the right thing!

 

[hmp10]

Good video but meant for techies.

Yes, it does give the technical reasons for how batteries are best treated a certain way. But each segment ends with a straightforward "do" and "don't" to minimize the type of damage covered in that segment.

And the final wrap-up was simplicity itself: on a daily basis, set your charge limit around 75%; if you have home charging, keep the car plugged in at all times; and if you need to charge the battery fully to prepare for a trip or while on a trip, don't worry about it . . . as long as you don't let it sit at full charge for a prolonged period.

About the worst thing you can do, as least regarding the factors that are in your control, is to charge the car fully at a Level 3 charger, then park it at home, driving it for daily use until you run the battery down low, and then return to the Level 3 charger to do the same thing all over again.