Best Battery Practice?

[NC-Rivian]

Hi Everyone! I took delivery on Tuesday so I'm a whole 3-days into my first EV ownership experience and I have a question about best battery practice. I charge to 70% as recommended and even though I'm averaging about 15% usage each day, I'm charging every evening. Should I be doing this? Or should I wait a few days and charge back up to 70% when I'm in the 20-something-% window? I'm hearing a lot about how many cycles a battery pack can endure before it starts to seriously degrade and I'm not sure I understand it all. Oh ... and someone seriously needs to come up with a running board solution for us short(er) peeps.

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[astonius]

Hi Everyone! I took delivery on Tuesday so I'm a whole 3-days into my first EV ownership experience and I have a question about best battery practice. I charge to 70% as recommended and even though I'm averaging about 15% usage each day, I'm charging every evening. Should I be doing this? Or should I wait a few days and charge back up to 70% when I'm in the 20-something-% window? I'm hearing a lot about how many cycles a battery pack can endure before it starts to seriously degrade and I'm not sure I understand it all. Oh ... and someone seriously needs to come up with a running board solution for us short(er) peeps.

A 10% -> 70% charge uses the same "cycles" as 4x 55% -> 70% charges. IMO you should stick with the ABC rule: Always Be Charging. This has the added benefit of reducing vampire drain. That said, I wouldn't worry if it's not convenient to charge every day.

 

[nc10]

Hi Everyone! I took delivery on Tuesday so I'm a whole 3-days into my first EV ownership experience and I have a question about best battery practice.

Déjà vu.....
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/do-you-charge-the-r1t-every-night.7012/

I'd vote for keeping it in the 30-70% range, but extrordinary efforts not required. I charge ~3 times/week, at night.

Oh ... and someone seriously needs to come up with a running board solution for us short(er) peeps.

What he said.... I'm not that short, but I keep kicking off the bumper seal at the bottom of the door when I get out even at the lowest height. I can hear my wife asking if it the truck is at the lowest setting in my dreams now.

 

[Siguy90]

It's funny how all these best practices for EVs pretty much replicate the same debates people have with ICE cars (like how long you need to idle on a cold engine before driving off, how long to break in an engine, etc...).

My opinion is that the worst things you can do is full charge to 100% every single day and to push the truck hard at a low state of charge. Maybe DC fast charging often instead of L2 charging might also make a difference, but I'm not sure. The difference between charging to 70% in one big charge session vs. daily smaller sessions may or may not make a difference but even if it did I wouldn't imaging it being measurable even after 10+ years of ownership.

Again just my 2 cents but I am not an expert on battery management. When I get my truck I plan on setting a 70% daily limit and charging anywhere from 30-50% depending on what I may be doing the next day. I am still not sure how long I am planning on keeping my R1T but I am interested in moving to a R2 depending on what that's like so I doubt I will keep it longer than 10 years to really see a difference in battery degradation.

 

[Budman]

50% is the sweet spot from what I’ve read. That is my goal for daily driving. But I don’t worry about it too much. 30% to 70% is ok for me.

 

[mgc0216]

This is a religious debate.

 

[Arky]

For capacity retention it has typically been shown that lower storage voltages are better. They're arguably not so usable though and there's not a huge benefit to going below 50% for something regularly used.

Storing for an extended period of time at low voltages can raise internal resistance of cells however, which can reduce max deliverable power and efficiency (not a giant issue for a car as they never deplete batteries so quickly but for RC cars, power tools, etc it may matter more.)

If you just leave it plugged in set to 70% you could do much worse than that and it requires 0 thinking.

 

[Taycanfrank]

Don't leave your car at 100% charge for prolonged periods, or charge to 100% every day, but charging to 100% before a daytrip is fine.

That's it. Anything else is just going further than you need to.

There are certainly ways to baby a battery but it's a car. The battery has a warranty. Don't overthink it.

 

[FirstStateR1T]

Charge to 70% unless required for whatever your day may have, go to 85% should you need more... Live in the 20-70% window. Charge in the evenings when the temps are cooler and if your power company offers a reduced EV rate. It's DCFC that will reduce a batteries life span. I drive a lot and this is my scheme, never any issues and life is easy so far. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...-daily-commute-in-r1t-125-150-miles-day.7553/

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