[agorski]

EV Battery Health

TL DR summary for preserving battery health:

Max SOC 75% unless traveling
Charge often rather than infrequently. Shoot for 25% increase in SOC, like from 45% to 70%
Long term storage at 30% SOC.
Cold ambient temperatures are great. With hot ambient temperatures keep the SOC lower.

[G35c6MT]

Alternative approach: Lease!

[spatel19]

Originally Posted by g35c6mt

alternative approach: Lease!

🤣🤣🤣

[Bklyn]

Originally Posted by G35c6MT

Alternative approach: Lease!

Exactly charge to 100% every time.

[Scrapula]

I generally stay around 50% and then charge up to 80% for a longer trip, like today. When I got back home, I was at 55%. That should get me through another couple of days. I never go below 30%.

[Trevor G]

100 miles a day for work. Start at 80% get home at about 40% and charge every night. Hopefully when it gets warmer I will end the day with more of a charge and then cut back to 75% full.

[SkykingUSA]

Thanks for the video, I'll have to make time to watch it soon. I'm not sure if this agrees with the conclusions in your video, but I found this video to be useful too and much shorter. I wonder if it concludes the same as the OP video.

[AP]

Have a read of this, more applicable to phone batteries but believe the basics apply to cars even though they are more sophisticated

I’ve applied this regime to my iPhone and 4 years later it’s still on 98% health


https://batteryuniversity.com/articl...ased-batteries


Harry’s garage talked about EVs of late he mentioned a very god point that the health of the battery should be displayed on the instrument cluster like we have a mikeometer on cars today.
Makes valuing a used EV difficult as you have no idea how healthy the battery really is.

[RichardInCA]

I agree - it would be great too have more battery data (health, temperature etc) available on screen - given how many other things are built into idrive, it seems like a pretty simple add.

I’ve found a lot of these videos really helpful for explaining battery technology. Next gen tech seems to support the idea that we’ll have more robust batteries that could be routinely charged to higher state without degradation. Battery chemistry seems key here - at higher temperature, chemical reactions accelerate (disclosure: started my career as a chemist) so higher SOC creates more chemical “pressure” that can degraded the battery structure. Similarly, big swings in SoC can create chemical and physical changes in battery cells (a bit like a brittle balloon that is routinely deflated and reinflated, if you will) - so the more one rapid charges from v low to v high state of charge the more cracking and degradation one would see.

What that all means in real world use/experience is debatable, and it does seem that this is only apparent only over the long haul (hence the “hey, lease for 3yrs and then it’s someone else’s problem” logic), but as a science geek at heart, I find this stuff really interesting.

[Scrapula]

I agree, but it can only be displayed when your battery has warmed up to operating temperature. Then you need to convert your mi/kWh to watts per mile. Then multiply that by your calculated remaining range. Now divide that by 1,000 which gives you your available kWh. And then, divide that by the battery percentage displayed. The difference between that and the actual capacity is the degradation.

I think it’s not done because when the battery is cold that it will look as if it has degraded and they don’t want the phone calls. But, they could put ‘unavailable’ or something to that effect, until the temperature has been reached.

[Theophilus]

Originally Posted by G35c6MT

Alternative approach: Lease!

Just thought I'd offer another opinion on this. Has anyone ever considered what happens to those lease returns? Eventually, they get sold to other people, many of whom probably couldn't afford or justify buying a car like this new. If that is the reality, then what we're saying essentially is, "Let me abuse the car and pass the problem down to the next guy to deal with after the car is out of warranty."

That doesn't seem right or moral to me.

I'm not saying I'm better than anyone, but I've always believed in taking care of whatever God has given me and treating it as a gift. Even when I get loaner cars, I treat them as my own. Maybe the dealer doesn't care and trashes them, but I know better and should do what's right regardless of what others do.

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching.

[RichardInCA]

Originally Posted by Theophilus

Just thought I'd offer another opinion on this. Has anyone ever considered what happens to those lease returns? Eventually, they get sold to other people, many of whom probably couldn't afford or justify buying a car like this new. If that is the reality, then what we're saying essentially is, "Let me abuse the car and pass the problem down to the next guy to deal with after the car is out of warranty."

That doesn't seem right or moral to me.

I'm not saying I'm better than anyone, but I've always believed in taking care of whatever God has given me and treating it as a gift. Even when I get loaner cars, I treat them as my own. Maybe the dealer doesn't care and trashes them, but I know better and should do what's right regardless of what others do.

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching.

I agree with the sentiment….but this is also the internet.

I will say, I asked my SA about charging before I took delivery and he said that you might want to charge to 80% and use L2, but then when he saw I had a 3yr lease he said “oh just use DCFC and charge what you want”….so even dealers can come out with this perspective!

I do wonder at some point, they might wise up to the health of the battery as a key driver of resale value. The crazy thing to me right now is they’re more worried about dents than whether you’ve trashed your battery for 3yrs. As we know, one of those things is MUCH cheaper to fix than the other.

[Scrapula]

I think with EV leases, that they should look at the degradation as well as mileage when the car is turned back in.

[agorski]

Originally Posted by Scrapula

I think with EV leases, that they should look at the degradation as well as mileage when the car is turned back in.

By the time these leases expire, they probably will.

[G35c6MT]

Originally Posted by Theophilus

Just thought I'd offer another opinion on this. Has anyone ever considered what happens to those lease returns? Eventually, they get sold to other people, many of whom probably couldn't afford or justify buying a car like this new. If that is the reality, then what we're saying essentially is, "Let me abuse the car and pass the problem down to the next guy to deal with after the car is out of warranty."

That doesn't seem right or moral to me.

I'm not saying I'm better than anyone, but I've always believed in taking care of whatever God has given me and treating it as a gift. Even when I get loaner cars, I treat them as my own. Maybe the dealer doesn't care and trashes them, but I know better and should do what's right regardless of what others do.

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching.

I said this half-joking but I’ve always advised people to thoroughly inspect any car you purchase. I drive all my cars hard, never hold back, and do all maintenance b/c I enjoy it.

But the reality is if you’re buying an EV today you’re buying a developing product. We already know that BMW has a next gen product being developed that will tank values on any EV bought today. So leasing seems to be the best path for now.

[Windshieldfarmer]

Originally Posted by Theophilus

Just thought I'd offer another opinion on this. Has anyone ever considered what happens to those lease returns? Eventually, they get sold to other people, many of whom probably couldn't afford or justify buying a car like this new. If that is the reality, then what we're saying essentially is, "Let me abuse the car and pass the problem down to the next guy to deal with after the car is out of warranty."

That doesn't seem right or moral to me.

I'm not saying I'm better than anyone, but I've always believed in taking care of whatever God has given me and treating it as a gift. Even when I get loaner cars, I treat them as my own. Maybe the dealer doesn't care and trashes them, but I know better and should do what's right regardless of what others do.

Integrity is what you do when no one is watching.

I found your comments refreshing. Thank you for sharing.