Electric Vehicle Owners Disagree How to Charge Their EV

This can be a very divisive topic amongst EV owners. Some say 80% is the right amount, others ignore this and charge regularly to 100%. Here are my thoughts on the topic.

[@gerhardk98]

I have a 40 kWh LEAF and normally charge to 75 to 80%, I use the screen that gives the estimated time to charge to 75%. I also know that an hour of charging adds 16% to my battery so I can use that fact for calculating the time required to charge. Once you get in the habit it requires less than 30 seconds to set. In my case a lot of days my driving is similar distance so it isn’t really necessary to change the settings daily.

[@pv2b]

Manufacturers should set 100% to be the maximum level the battery can take without risking degradation (same as 80% today in most cars). But still allow the owner to enable "Trip Boost", "Road Trip Mode", "Overcharge", "Extended Range Mode" to allow you to charge to 125% when you need it.
I think that would make communicating this easier to customers.

[@rp9674]

So many questions, better to charge your car right before you drive it, or let the battery cool down first. I think most of us assume the less amperage the better, maybe we're babying it too much. Hopefully I have more capabilities with my next evse maybe a profile where you charge at a higher rate for an hour and then it lowers, so you get a quick hit of emergency power and then charge more slowly to baby the battery. Smart charger that your consumption for a daily Drive based on temperature, adjust your charged accordingly, or it knows when to start charging to charge during the coldest part of the night

[@RobertRose-ri8tn]

On my bolt euv I can set the charge level on the screen. Normally l charge to 65 percent and run no lower than 30 percent.

[@GreenwayElectric]

Thanks for letting me know, I wonder what other EVs can also set the charge limit.

[@robinwinslow7242]

I do the same 65% - 45% with our Bolt EUV as it's our local use vehicle, and I find we seldom use our ICE vehicle any more... I also read on the Chevy Bolt forum that the 12 volt battery only gets charged when the Bolt is on a 120v or 240v ac EVSE... Not sure if thats true, but just in case I tend to leave the Bolt plugged in to our 240v line most of the time... Apparently a dead 12v battery can be a real nuisance...

[@Aerostealth]

We charge 90% to 10% or 20%. All this frenetic charging is ridiculous. There is no difference between charging every three days and 2,000 cycles, taking 18 years to complete and charging every day at 6,000 cycles, which takes 18 years.

[@rp9674]

Bolt EV too, not Fiat 500e or bmw i3, annoyingly

[@Aerostealth]

@@RobertRose-ri8tn kind of pedantic.