Do you charge the R1T every night?

[CommodoreAmiga]

No, no, no. That means "When you need to charge, use a Rivian charger whenever possible", as opposed to "Use your Rivian charger every chance you get". You should absolutely not charge every night (unless you're driving so much that you need to). This is the worst thing you can do for your battery life. Try to operate within 20-80% charge for daily driving. That is how you maximize your long-term battery life. Set your charge limit on 80%, and charge when you need to, not every chance you get. If you're going to road-trip for a long distance, set to 100% the night before, and charge fully. That "ABC" stuff is a great way to shorten the life of your battery, and is completely misinformed.

Are you aware of any reputable studies you may link to on best practices for battery health?

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[astonius]

No, no, no. That means "When you need to charge, use a Rivian charger whenever possible", as opposed to "Use your Rivian charger every chance you get". You should absolutely not charge every night (unless you're driving so much that you need to). This is the worst thing you can do for your battery life. Try to operate within 20-80% charge for daily driving. That is how you maximize your long-term battery life. Set your charge limit on 80%, and charge when you need to, not every chance you get. If you're going to road-trip for a long distance, set to 100% the night before, and charge fully. That "ABC" stuff is a great way to shorten the life of your battery, and is completely misinformed.

I don't think this is right for modern batteries... You don't want to charge to 100% all the time, but topping up to 70% every night and leaving the truck on the charger should be perfectly fine and maybe even preferred to assist with phantom drain.

 

[cbuckley]

I don't think this is right for modern batteries... You don't want to charge to 100% all the time, but topping up to 70% every night and leaving the truck on the charger should be perfectly fine and maybe even preferred to assist with phantom drain.

It’s contradictory to a lot of the other information in this thread and what the Rivian service advisors have told me but maybe they are part of an interstate conspiracy to squash battery life and drive up battery consumption.

I guess time will tell but there’s certainly a lot of dissenting opinions on the matter.

 

[nc10]

what the Rivian service advisors have told me

Can you share what the service advisors told you, that is different? Sry if I missed.

 

[ironpig]

I plug it in every night. it's a good habit. Did that for 8 years with a Tesla prior to the Rivian and that worked well and the battery only lost a few miles of estimated range over all those years.

 

[cbuckley]

Can you share what the service advisors told you, that is different? Sry if I missed.

Sorry - I wasn’t referring to anything you said in particular. They said similar to what you have posted regarding optimal charge percent of 70% unless more is needed for a planned drive. They also recommended not allowing battery to sink below 20-30% regularly and suggested connecting to charger nightly or whenever not driving in immediate future.

I’m no electrical engineer or battery expert and am following the lead of others which could very well be wrong. Based on the varied opinions in this thread, I bet I could call Rivian again and get different advice.

 

[nc10]

Sorry - I wasn’t referring to anything you said in particular.

I actually thought you were referring the the immediately previous post. Sry for the confusion.

 

[cbuckley]

I actually thought you were referring the the immediately previous post. Sry for the confusion.

I was referring to what ghostrider said and was piggybacking off of the immediately previous post by astonius .

My social media skills are weak…

 

[nc10]

My social media skills are weak…

I'm trying to get to mediocre....

 

[Ghostrider9667]

Are you aware of any reputable studies you may link to on best practices for battery health?

I refer only to page 124 of the vehicle manual, and what I was told by Rivian support. I guess one could say “What do the makers of the vehicle know?” But think about it: why on earth would Rivian tell us in writing that it is best not to use the full range capabilities of the battery every day for no reason? Answer: They wouldn’t. Because it makes the vehicle sound less capable than advertised. Now my “315 mile range” is only 70-80% of that for daily driving, and is only fully realized on the first leg of a long trip. Also, my range decreases every day of driving just like a gas tank, rather than “fill ‘er up” every night. Why would they shine that negative light on the vehicle unless it was important for the long-term health of the battery? This vehicle weighs 9,000 pounds. It ain’t a Tesla. Full disclosure: sometimes I charge mine up to 100% even though I’m not going on a long trip. Why? Because I want to, and I don’t think it will ruin my battery if I don’t make a habit of doing this every time, or charging the vehicle every night. So moderation in all things, but I think it’s a mistake to plug in every night. How big of a mistake? Time will tell, but I’m going with the manual and the tech’s advice until I find out different.

 

[astonius]

I refer only to page 124 of the vehicle manual, and what I was told by Rivian support. I guess one could say “What do the makers of the vehicle know?” But think about it: why on earth would Rivian tell us in writing that it is best not to use the full range capabilities of the battery every day for no reason? Answer: They wouldn’t. Because it makes the vehicle sound less capable than advertised. Now my “315 mile range” is only 70-80% of that for daily driving, and is only fully realized on the first leg of a long trip. Also, my range decreases every day of driving just like a gas tank, rather than “fill ‘er up” every night. Why would they shine that negative light on the vehicle unless it was important for the long-term health of the battery? This vehicle weighs 9,000 pounds. It ain’t a Tesla. Full disclosure: sometimes I charge mine up to 100% even though I’m not going on a long trip. Why? Because I want to, and I don’t think it will ruin my battery if I don’t make a habit of doing this every time, or charging the vehicle every night. So moderation in all things, but I think it’s a mistake to plug in every night. How big of a mistake? Time will tell, but I’m going with the manual and the tech’s advice until I find out different.

You seem to be conflating two different issues: charging to 100% and topping off each day to a lower cap like 70%. The former will wear the battery out faster. The latter will not.

 

[Ghostrider9667]

You seem to be conflating two different issues: charging to 100% and topping off each day to a lower cap like 70%. The former will wear the battery out faster. The latter will not.

On what are you basing this statement? It seems to me the issues are interrelated. I’m no electrical engineer, but The manual clearly states: “Leave the vehicle plugged in IF you don’t plan on driving it for a long time.” Not every day.

 

[astonius]

On what are you basing this statement? It seems to me the issues are interrelated. I’m no electrical engineer, but The manual clearly states: “Leave the vehicle plugged in IF you don’t plan on driving it for a long time.” Not every day.

First, "long time" is a completely subjective term. Could be 12 hours or 12 days.

Second, you're reading a counterpoint into that statement. No where here does it say "don't leave the vehicle plugged in if you plan on driving soon"

Third, the nature of lithium-ion charge cycles. As others have already stated, going from 60% -> 70% 10 times uses the same cycle capacity as going from 20% -> 70% twice.

Why would you want your truck to sit there unplugged phantom-draining when it could be plugged in and topped off at all times?

 

[DavesRIT]

We just got the car today…. wondering if we should be charging it nightly?

I share one charger with a Tesla Model Y so I cannot charge daily. When I bought my Tesla I was told that as far as battery health was concerned to charge to no more than 70-85% except for planned long trips the next day and to keep the vehicle plugged in whenever possible ("a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla"). I assume this also applies to the Rivian.

 

[nc10]

When I bought my Tesla I was told that as far as battery health was concerned to charge to no more than 70-85% except for planned long trips the next day and to keep the vehicle plugged in whenever possible ("a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla"). I assume this also applies to the Rivian.

Rivian doesn't seem to have strong feelings about charging daily vs every few days. As best I can tell, Rivian is not recommending (or discouroging) to keep it plugged in whenever possible.

AT HOME
Charging your Rivian at home is really no different from how you typically charge your cell phone. Plug in at the end of the day and wake up charged.
Instead of running down your vehicle towards empty before stopping to refuel, you can top off each night so you have plenty of charge for the next day. If you forget to charge or choose to skip a few days — it’s ok. A daily commute won’t come near the amount of range you’ll have.

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