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EV6: Is this a good thing to do to maximise long term battery life?

14K views 32 replies 16 participants last post by  X4dow 
#1 ·
I have set my EV6 setting such that it stops charging at 90% as I don't really need a top up to the full 328 mile (summer) 240 mile (winter) range. I very rarely charge "on the road" and 95% plus of my charges are on a 7 kWh charger at home.

On those rare occasions where I have a very long journey I made a temporary change to 100%.

  • Is this still something that helps with battery life, or is this a thing of the past?
  • Any other tips for preserving battery life long term?
 
#3 ·
It's a bit of an urban myth. The battery management is so sophisticated that it looks after the battery better than a nanny with a newborn. The battery is rated at,say 77kw, and 100% charge is 77kw on the infotainment readout, but battery capacity is actually 85kw or thereabouts. The difference between the 2 is the buffer in order to preserve the battery life and save you having to figure out what 90% is. The best preserver of battery life is to NOT use fast chargers exclusively, if you must, then try and charge on a slow charger once every 6 weeks or so. This 'balances' the battery cells and prolongs the life, though if I'm honest, I think you might be over worrying, you won't need to think about the batteries for more than 15 years. Just plug, charge and enjoy the drive.
 
#4 ·
It's a bit of an urban myth. The battery management is so sophisticated that it looks after the battery better than a nanny with a newborn.
Just plug, charge and enjoy the drive.
To be fair that is exactly what I did with my 2017 Nissan Leaf. Charged to 100% every night and after 66,000 miles and 4 years of use the battery still had all 12 bars.

However this is the official guidance from the Kia manual.

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#9 ·
I'm doing exactly the same as you, Warwick.

But having said that we also have a 6 year old Leaf that we always charge to 100% (we need all of that 70 mile range!). We've never DC charged, only AC. The Leaf is still showing all 12 capacity bars.
And that battery technology is basically 10 years old, so must be better now.

Apparently frequent, fast DC charging is the worst thing for battery longevity..according to Kryten at Fully Charged.
 
#12 ·
The suggestion in the manual of the Kia e-Niro is to charge to 100% once a month. As far as I know the cells are only balanced when charging to 100%. I think the ideal is to charge to 80% if you do not need any more and to 100% once a month. But charge to 100% when you are going to use the top 20% the next day. As already mentioned the worst treatment of the battery is to leave it at 100% for a long period.
 
#13 ·
Modern battery management systems can balance cells at less than 100%/max voltage, I don’t know why people keep saying it.

Especially when they often also say that 100% isn’t 100% due to battery buffers. How can you charge to 100% when you can’t?!

Just charge it and use it how you need to, let the BMS do its job is my totally free ‘advice’. ;)
 
#28 ·
Prove that statement!

There is no evidence that these urban charging myths have any basis in fact on the latest EVs with better battery management systems.

Any suggestions in the vehicle handbook are provided entirely to reduce any possibility of a battery warranty claim and I would question the need to buy an EV with a larger battery than you need and only using 60% of it.

Even the advice not to leave the battery at a vey low or high level for a long period is probably not applicable due to the buffers at top and bottom. Again.where is the evidence to back up this advice?
 
#31 ·
I used to charge my I-Pace to 100% on the 7kW charger most times I plugged in. It was also occasionally run down to 5% or less. At 42,000 miles and 3 and a bit years it was giving same range as when it was new (adjusting for temperature).
However, I’d generally avoided going over 90% on rapid chargers. And those were the days when 50kW was rapid 😊
 
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