You gotta love the logic: "You should always charge your vehicle to 50% because the battery could eventually degrade and create the inconvenience of only be able to charge to 50%." Wait, what?
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Should the MYLR be charged to 50% only?
- Thread starter canbonbon
- Start date
OxBrew
Active Member
That's a pretty thoughtless take. I want to make the battery last as long as I can, just for fun.
I charge to 90-95 when ever I go in a long trip, about 2x per month on average.
Why not keep it at 50-60 the rest of the time? It's easy and free.
I also plug in every night, mostly so I can bump the charge up if I need to, as plans change.
Drinyth
Member
It's about maintaining the maximum capacity of your battery for as long as possible.
Say for example a new vehicle gives an owner 300 miles of range.
If someone charges at 90% all the time and their battery degrades by 20% after 8 years, their maximum range is now 240 miles.
If someone charges at 50% all the time and their battery degrades by 10% after 8 years, their maximum range is now 270 miles.
That's an extra 30 miles of maximum range for the owner that mostly maintained at 50% over those 8 years. For the daily life of someone that is able to get around on 50%, will it make a difference in their normal daily schedule? No. But when that person goes to take a longer trip, it's more range that they get to enjoy when they will use it.
The above degradation numbers are totally arbitrary and are just used as examples. They could be higher or lower. But the max range for the user after 8 years will be higher for the person that charged at 50% than it will be for the person that charged at 90%.
Whenever I have had a new engine...be it in a car, boat, bike or lawnmower...I have always read the manual (not with the Tesla, I have no concept of just how big the Tesla manual is
)...and I have always followed the manufacturers guide for running in the engine (if there is one)...and I do it to the letter. There is very little chance that I will gain any benefit from this...as I would have sold it long before any increase in life expectancy appears. And yet I do it...OCD?...possibly. A Tesla is different in that the information is harder to get...cutting-edge technology, what can you expect. But for whatever reason...mechanical sympathy or mental health...I try to do the best I can for my car...and wouldn’t it be nice to know, that when you buy that used car, the previous owner was just like me?
)...and I have always followed the manufacturers guide for running in the engine (if there is one)...and I do it to the letter. There is very little chance that I will gain any benefit from this...as I would have sold it long before any increase in life expectancy appears. And yet I do it...OCD?...possibly. A Tesla is different in that the information is harder to get...cutting-edge technology, what can you expect. But for whatever reason...mechanical sympathy or mental health...I try to do the best I can for my car...and wouldn’t it be nice to know, that when you buy that used car, the previous owner was just like me?If your daily commute only requires 10-20% of the battery, it doesn't matter what you're charging to. But charging to 50% preserves the battery so that when you need to do a trip that requires 90% of the battery 10 years from now, you can charge to 100% and do the entire trip without stopping. Otherwise you will be stuck running to a supercharger because of excessive degradation.
Even if you floor it...its for like 10 seconds before you get arrested. Its not like you are Supercharging it for 30 minutes at a time at power. Flooring it probably does nothing.
The difference between a 0.2C and 0.5C discharge rate doesn't really matter for the life of the battery. > 1C probably does, but at that point, you're doing something like 130-155 mph sustained.
Full throttle acceleration runs involve much higher momentary discharge of several hundred kW, 2C+
That's true but short bursts of 2C+ don't really stress the battery that much. It's really sustained high discharge/charge rates that create a lot of chemical stresses (like when you are supercharging).
I generally charge to 80-90% before a road trip. I do a lot of road trips. I'll often hit up a Supercharger for 90% on trips. About 44% of our charges are Superchargers.
But at home, I only charge to 60% ... lately only 50%. It's all I need for my daily commute.
Seventeen months and 35,000 miles in, I have about 7-8% degradation. Not too bad.
If you have a very predictable travel schedule and can sleep better at night with just a 50% charge, do what makes you happy. I personally don't always know what my travel day will entail and would be very frustrated if I didn't have enough range if plans change. Yesterday was a perfect example, I ran some errands in the morning and then tried to think of something to to do once it started to rain. My wife and I decided to head off to the local Indian casino to play some blackjack. Had I only charged to 50%, there is no way I would have had enough roundtrip range for the day. Sure, I could have topped off at the nearby Supercharger, but we all know that fast charging method will degrade the car battery more than a Level 2 wall connector. Only charging at 50% puts your car in a higher risk of needing to use the high speed Supercharger network when plans change.
I do try to minimize battery degradation and rarely charge more than 80% (or use below 20%), but a 50% charge limit is simply excessive. Tesla stands by their battery degradation warranty and recommends regularly charging to 90%. One of the reasons why I purchased a MYLR is because my 330 miles of range will still surpass most other EVs even after seeing significant battery degradation. Some examples of competing dual motor vehicles, with their range, include the Audi Q4 eTron 265 miles, VW ID.4 255 miles, Genesis GV60 248 miles, Volvo C40 Recharge 226 miles, Ford Mach-E 224 miles. So even if my battery degraded 20% over the next 10 years, which I don't think will happen, my MYLR will still have about 265 miles of range - exceeding virtually all other EVs in their original "brand new" condition.
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E90alex
Active Member
Remember Teslas rated numbers are highly inflated. The other manufacturers are closer to real world numbers or even pessimistic and actually get higher range in the real world.
Tesla 330mi rated is more like 280mi in reality.
And of course if your daily schedule is not regular and predictable then don’t follow the 50% rule. But there’s many people where it *does* work for. Charge to whatever % works for you without inconveniencing yourself.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Nope.
All manufacturers in America quote EPA-rated mileage.
All manufacturers actual mileage are similarly less than EPA-rated.
JCLJ's summary was accurate.
E90alex
Active Member
Nope. There’s different test methods for EPA range and also a voluntary manufacturer deduction further from the test results. So no, EPA rated range is not equal and can’t be directly compared. Case in point the Taycan is normally lambasted for its minuscule EPA range when in reality it gets *significantly* higher.
What's The Real World Highway Range Of Today's Electric Cars? We Test To Find Out
We take the most popular electric cars, fully charge them, and then drive them at 70 mph to find out just how far they will go. Which one goes the furthest?
I don't have a 100% predictable schedule but the farthest I can really see going on a completely unplanned trip is to San Francisco. I can probably do this (perhaps with white knuckles on the way back) on 50% SoC, but would prefer to have at least 60-70% SoC just in case there are additional unplanned stops on the way there or back. But the thing is, I can get from 50% to 70% in about 90-110 minutes, and even for an unplanned trip, that's usually enough. If not...I can always just take my PHEV (but that's not happened even once).
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