[Marno17]

Which is best for the car and what is best way.
3 pin plug , fast or rapid and am I right in saying keep charge between 20 and 80% ?

 

[80698]

Which is best for the car and what is best way.
3 pin plug , fast or rapid and am I right in saying keep charge between 20 and 80% ?

Don't leave the car fully charged or with a very low charge for any significant period of time. Charge on AC as much as you can (granny or up to 7kW are fine) and only rapid charge when you need to, to avoid unnecessary heat which causes degradation.

(For AC charging its also worth noting if you can charge at faster rates of around 7kW it is more efficient than slowly charging at 2-3kW for example so typically a little less energy goes to waste as a result. It also means you can squeeze more energy out of your off-peak tariff for cheaper charging, if you happen to have signed up to this)

Give the battery a full charge cycle every now and then (run it fairly low and then charge all the way to 100%) as this helps cell balancing, which is also quite important for keeping your battery pack healthy and getting the most range out of it.

 

[Marno17]

Thanks very informative 👍

 

[mikeselectricstuff]

Unlikely to be any difference between 7kw and granny cable, as both are way,way below rapid charge levels.

 

[cah197]

Give the battery a full charge cycle every now and then (run it fairly low and then charge all the way to 100%) as this helps cell balancing, which is also quite important for keeping your battery pack healthy and getting the most range out of it.

Of course this depends on what EV you have.

I understand more modern BMS’ do cell balancing on the fly.

 

[ColA]

Agree with that, for example, there is no need to keep the i3 partially charged, in fact if you are leaving it for any length of time BMW recommend keeping it on charge. Cell balancing is done using the 10% reserve battery capacity which is one reason for the headroom. Also. Lithium batteries have different characteristics to other cells and do not require to be deep cycled to retain full capacity.

Best to take the manufacturer’s advice which should be in the handbook rather than somebody with a different type of vehicle.

 

[80698]

Agree with that, for example, there is no need to keep the i3 partially charged, in fact if you are leaving it for any length of time BMW recommend keeping it on charge. Cell balancing is done using the 10% reserve battery capacity which is one reason for the headroom. Also. Lithium batteries have different characteristics to other cells and do not require to be deep cycled to retain full capacity.

Best to take the manufacturer’s advice which should be in the handbook rather than somebody with a different type of vehicle.

Going by other posts they have made, OP appears to own a 24kWh LEAF, Hence my earlier, rather cautious advice to do a little extra work to look after the battery. Unlike the i3 for example there isn't a great deal of reserve capacity, there is no battery cooling, and the earlier LEAFs are famous for rapid rates of degradation just from using it normally if you aren't careful.

With regards to the lithium batteries, correct. You don't need to do that to prevent capacity loss, BUT with the LEAF, I speak from experience of working with a fleet of them that if the cells become unbalanced, you do end up losing range (temporarily) and it seems that giving it a full charge from low SOC to full a couple of times seems to be the only way to help with this in a significant way.

Pretty much any other car and I would have just said not to leave the battery with a very low SOC, and to try charging on AC more than DC.