Proper battery care

[Haynstyln]

Tomorrow is delivery day so no previous experience with charging her plus am a first time EV owner. Have researched proper battery care etc as best as I could but a question remains. Likely for any battery officianatos out there. I'll be jumping into the max battery config and understand for typical daily commuting, to only charge to 70-80%. The likelihood of a long trip is very slim so I am curious if would be in the best interest of the battery's health to occasionally charge to 100%. If so, what should that full charge frequency be? Once a quarter, twice a year, once a year? Thanks in advance.

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[mudito]

Tomorrow is delivery day so no previous experience with charging her plus am a first time EV owner. Have researched proper battery care etc as best as I could but a question remains. Likely for any battery officianatos out there. I'll be jumping into the max battery config and understand for typical daily commuting, to only charge to 70-80%. The likelihood of a long trip is very slim so I am curious if would be in the best interest of the battery's health to occasionally charge to 100%. If so, what should that full charge frequency be? Once a quarter, twice a year, once a year? Thanks in advance.

Don't overstress about battery care. The basic is to NOT keep your batteries either at a very high or very low State of Charge (SoC) over an extended period of time. Everything else is nitpicking

So charge to 100% when you need to do so. Use it all the way to the bottom 0% when you need to do so.

My normal everyday SoC is between 30 and 70% (when reaches 30-ish, I plug in with a 70% limit), but you can feel free to charge every day to 70% and you'll be just perfect.

 

[Haynstyln]

Don't overstress about battery care. The basic is to NOT keep your batteries either at a very high or very low State of Charge (SoC) over an extended period of time. Everything else is nitpicking

So charge to 100% when you need to do so. Use it all the way to the bottom 0% when you need to do so.

My normal everyday SoC is between 30 and 70% (when reaches 30-ish, I plug in with a 70% limit), but you can feel free to charge every day to 70% and you'll be just perfect.

Gotcha. Thank you!

 

[COdogman]

I second that. The battery has an excellent warranty, so use it how you need to in your daily life and don’t worry too much about it. As long as you don’t try to keep it at 100% all the time you will be ok.

Welcome!

 

[mikehmb]

Biggest enemy of lithium batteries is that the chemistry does not like being at a high state of charge for long periods at higher temps. So ... if you need to crank it up to 100%, go for it, just don't let it sit around in high temps for an extended period of time.

Generally guidance is charge to 70% unless you need more. (this is pretty consistent across all EVs)

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Tomorrow is delivery day so no previous experience with charging her plus am a first time EV owner. Have researched proper battery care etc as best as I could but a question remains. Likely for any battery officianatos out there. I'll be jumping into the max battery config and understand for typical daily commuting, to only charge to 70-80%. The likelihood of a long trip is very slim so I am curious if would be in the best interest of the battery's health to occasionally charge to 100%. If so, what should that full charge frequency be? Once a quarter, twice a year, once a year? Thanks in advance.

If you got standard pack (Lithium Iron Phosphate), watch this and take notes:



If you got large or max pack (Nickel Manganese Cobalt), watch this and take notes:



With standard pack (LFP), you need to charge to 100% from time to time to help software calibrate capacity and range. First video explains why and how often.

With Large/Max (NMC) general rule of thumb is to strive to keep state-of-charge (SOC) between 20%~80%. Officially, and conservatively, Rivian recommends 70% as the upper limit. You can charge to 100% if that's what you need to get to your destination or charging stop. However, If you're going to charge to full or near full, don't keep it at that high SOC for extend periods of time. And, any charging past 85% the charging curve de-rates significantly; i.e. the closer you are to full the slower it gets. This not only prolong your charging session*, you are also wasting energy in form of heat build-up. For long trips with multiple charging stops, it's been proven that it's better to keep each leg between charging stops shorter and thus keep your sessions shorter.

*At public fast chargers, time literally is money. De-rated, you're essentially paying more for each of those final electrons.

 

[DayTripping]

A lot of good advice so far. You don't live in a super hot climate so normal advice will work well. As mentioned high temps are bad for lithium batteries. I live in Texas and I keep my max SoC (state of charge) when resting to 50% and only charge up just before I leave to minimize the time at higher charge level and high temps. In the winter, it really doesn't matter that much but you really have no winter to speak of.

My thought is why should I charge higher than I need and just let it sit there? Also, smaller discharge cycles are easier on the battery. So recharge when it is down to 40% rather than waiting to 20% if you can.

 

[Haynstyln]

If you got standard pack (Lithium Iron Phosphate), watch this and take notes:



If you got large or max pack (Nickel Manganese Cobalt), watch this and take notes:



With standard pack (LFP), you need to charge to 100% from time to time to help software calibrate capacity and range. First video explains why and how often.

With Large/Max (NMC) general rule of thumb is to strive to keep state-of-charge (SOC) between 20%~80%. Officially, and conservatively, Rivian recommends 70% as the upper limit. You can charge to 100% if that's what you need to get to your destination or charging stop. However, If you're going to charge to full or near full, don't keep it at that high SOC for extend periods of time. And, any charging past 85% the charging curve de-rates significantly; i.e. the closer you are to full the slower it gets. This not only prolong your charging session*, you are also wasting energy in form of heat build-up. For long trips with multiple charging stops, it's been proven that it's better to keep each leg between charging stops shorter and thus keep your sessions shorter.

*At public fast chargers, time literally is money. De-rated, you're essentially paying more for each of those final electrons.

Makes sense. Thank you!

 

[Haynstyln]

A lot of good advice so far. You don't live in a super hot climate so normal advice will work well. As mentioned high temps are bad for lithium batteries. I live in Texas and I keep my max SoC (state of charge) when resting to 50% and only charge up just before I leave to minimize the time at higher charge level and high temps. In the winter, it really doesn't matter that much but you really have no winter to speak of.

My thought is why should I charge higher than I need and just let it sit there? Also, smaller discharge cycles are easier on the battery. So recharge when it is down to 40% rather than waiting to 20% if you can.

Appreciate the explanation.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

@Haynstyln, I remember reading that the NMC batteries need calibrating to a full state of charge occasionally.

Ideal frequency for occasional 100% charging of an NMC battery may be every six months or so.

***

LFP seems to like to spend as much time as possible close to 100%.

NMC likes to spend as much time as possible close to 50%, especially when it's hot.

You bought the car to use it, though.

Some days you can prioritize battery health, and other days you should prioritize your own convenience.

***

If I'm missing something, I trust others will correct me.

Thanks and best wishes to all!

 

[md2023]

Good advice so far. Try not to stress too much about it. Same with range. I am still working on that one. I follow the same advice as others above except that I charge to 80% a few times a week.
I set the schedule to charge to 100% around departure time for a longer road trip so it is ready or very nearly ready when I Ieave.
I follow the advice of not leaving it at very high or very low SoC, but often wonder what is a 'reasonable' amount of time. I understand time is a continuum, but are we talking 3 hrs, 6, 48?

 

[DayTripping]

You can really go deep into if you want to and I have. The most expensive part of your EV currently is the battery pack. Why not preserve it? At some point, battery degradation levels will be a major selling point and impact resale value. While I drive my truck and will use the battery as necessary, good battery hygiene can have long term benefits. I'll maintain my rated range longer at a minimum. Recycling these batteries is hazardous and costly. So I don't want to have to recycle them any sooner than necessary.

If you really want to know a lot, watch the vid I linked below. Cliff notes slide at 42:38 in. Look for other videos by Jeff Dahn. He did a lot of research funded by Tesla. I'll just drop an excerpt from his bio and see if you think he is worth listening to.

"Jeff Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers, cell-phones and electric vehicles. Dahn's recent work has concentrated on increasing the energy density, improving the lifetime and lowering the cost of lithium-ion batteries. He is the author of over 820 refereed journal papers and co-inventor of 78 inventions with patents issued or filed."



Another good link is:

https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

@Haynstyln, I remember reading that the NMC batteries need calibrating to a full state of charge occasionally.

Ideal frequency for occasional 100% charging of an NMC battery may be every six months or so.

***

LFP seems to like to spend as much time as possible close to 100%.

NMC likes to spend as much time as possible close to 50%, especially when it's hot.

You bought the car to use it, though.

Some days you can prioritize battery health, and other days you should prioritize your own convenience.

***

If I'm missing something, I trust others will correct me.

Thanks and best wishes to all!

LFP (standard pack) is the one that needs occasional full charge for sake of calibration. Reason being range estimation involves pack voltage reading. If you chart LPF voltage vs SOC the curve is less steep. So software needs to be “reminded” of voltage when full to be able to predict range more accurately.

 

[Haynstyln]

You can really go deep into if you want to and I have. The most expensive part of your EV currently is the battery pack. Why not preserve it? At some point, battery degradation levels will be a major selling point and impact resale value. While I drive my truck and will use the battery as necessary, good battery hygiene can have long term benefits. I'll maintain my rated range longer at a minimum. Recycling these batteries is hazardous and costly. So I don't want to have to recycle them any sooner than necessary.

If you really want to know a lot, watch the vid I linked below. Cliff notes slide at 42:38 in. Look for other videos by Jeff Dahn. He did a lot of research funded by Tesla. I'll just drop an excerpt from his bio and see if you think he is worth listening to.

"Jeff Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers, cell-phones and electric vehicles. Dahn's recent work has concentrated on increasing the energy density, improving the lifetime and lowering the cost of lithium-ion batteries. He is the author of over 820 refereed journal papers and co-inventor of 78 inventions with patents issued or filed."



Another good link is:

https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries

Good stuff thanks

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