[GizmoMac]

I have just had a ChargeMaster home charger installed and am getting my new Renault Zoe on Monday.

I wanted to ask about the charge level / percentage. All / most of my charging will be done at home and do around 200 miles a week.

I have seen references of 20/80 percentage charge levels.

What is best for charging, should I charge to 100% as the car will not be left unused for long?

Or is it because the 80 to 100% charging is slow?

I probably wouldn't let it go below 30% anyway as each day is a 40 mile round trip, i'm just unsure whether to charge to 80 or 100%

 

[80698]

I don't think the Zoe has a charge limit option anyways, so if you were doing that it would require you to make a custom charge timer around it. Also with the Zoe the cell balancing all takes place at 99%, so it's important to at least occasionally go to a full charge.

Personally I would just charge to full, then discharge it over time. Plug in every few days and go back to full again. As long as you don't leave it sat around with a very high or very low level of charge for days/weeks on end, you will be absolutely fine with that.

 

[sizzlechest]

I don't think the Zoe has a charge limit option anyways, so if you were doing that it would require you to make a custom charge timer around it. Also with the Zoe the cell balancing all takes place at 99%, so it's important to at least occasionally go to a full charge.

Personally I would just charge to full, then discharge it over time. Plug in every few days and go back to full again. As long as you don't leave it sat around with a very high or very low level of charge for days/weeks on end, you will be absolutely fine with that.

Like you, I am new to EV's as well and was somewhat disappointed to discover that my BEV would not afford me a charging limitation. When I access my state of 'battery consumption', and my SOC is presented, it declares on screen that it takes 'x' period of time the finish the charge. For me this meant 100% charge, which, as you point out, is not a particularly good thing to do on a regular basis. I have quickly ascertained that if I subtract 1 hour from the 'x'' figure given, I get an '80%' result. Mission accomplished! Hope this helps...

 

[barneyd]

My first LEAF had an option to limit charging to 80% but the subsequent two have not. I’m guessing that’s because the manufacturers don’t consider it necessary any more.
If you want to limit the charge, just limit the time the car is set to charge. It’s not difficult to calculate how long to leave it charging and as the rate of charge slows down towards the end, you will probably come in under the SoC rather than over.

 

[80698]

My first LEAF had an option to limit charging to 80% but the subsequent two have not. I’m guessing that’s because the manufacturers don’t consider it necessary any more.

There's 2 reasons. Having a charge limit affected the range quotes on the car on certain standardized test cycles. They removed it to make sure they could be as competitive as possible against other manufacturers. But also as the battery chemistry improved over the years, the newer models did see a bit less degradation.

It was removed as part of the late 2015 software change from the Carwings system to Connect EV.