Daily charging to 50%

[Zoidz]

This being the internet, I KNOW someone will correct me regardless if I am wrong or not…

I believe the ideal is the battery stays closest to 50%. So, you should charge to 55% so that after your daily 10% draw, you’ve averaged the 50%.

IRL, you won’t be doing measurable damage by charging 1x / week up to 80% and charging at the end of the week. Add more for expected trips as needed. Fewer charges MAYBE will lead to less wear and tear on the charge port as others have pointed out.

Yes, there's not a lot of data online about various SOC ranges, but it seems that targeting an average 50% state of charge may be best. From the study below on LiFePO4 batteries, it's clear that 25%-50% vs. 50%-75% is a negligible difference, but the extremes should be avoided.

Personally, I follow Rivian's SOC range recommendations. They have studied this a lot more than any of us have! I see no reason to stop charging at 50%, and there are the potential problems of increased connector contact cycle count and no buffer range for unexpected road situations where you need spare capacity.

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[Foobar]

Don't drive yourself crazy over the battery. You have an 8 year 175,000 mile warranty.

For me, this is what it comes down to. I treat my EV's as vehicles with limited life, just like every other vehicle. Keeping your battery away from 0% and 100% definitely has a long term benefit, but so long as you've got a warranty on that battery pack (8 Years, 175K for my Quad/Large Pack R1T), you're only complicating things by worrying about it.

 

[NY_Rob]

All cells have a min and max voltage, the closer you get to max cell voltage the closer you get to the over-charge value and cell damage.
Rivian presently uses Samsung SDI 2170 Lithium-Ion cells that have the following voltage characteristics:
4.2V Max Charge Voltage
3.6V Nominal Voltage
2.5V Low voltage cutoff

Avoiding the max and minimum cell voltages should be avoided for max cell life. If your use case allows you to keep your pack SOC at/around the 50% you "should" get the longest possible life out of your pack.

 

[corndog]

Along with The Rivian I also have an Electric motorcycle and mountain bike. These two also state in the manuals to store the machine at 70% charge. This seems to be the number. As said earlier, these guys have much more knowledge about batteries than most of us, I'll go with the owners manual recommedation, charging daily to 70%. You are not going to wear out the plug.

 

[Aag12]

Yes, there's not a lot of data online about various SOC ranges, but it seems that targeting an average 50% state of charge may be best. From the study below on LiFePO4 batteries, it's clear that 25%-50% vs. 50%-75% is a negligible difference, but the extremes should be avoided.

Personally, I follow Rivian's SOC range recommendations. They have studied this a lot more than any of us have! I see no reason to stop charging at 50%, and there are the potential problems of increased connector contact cycle count and no buffer range for unexpected road situations where you need spare capacity.

I think this is all you need to know. Everyone else is just synthesizing info 3 or 4 degrees removed from this.

I always listen to Kyle conner as well. He keeps it close to 50% as well. I think he charges to 60% on a daily basis

 

[HJP1]

My first experience with a battery in a vehicle was a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid. The battery was warrantied for 8 years and I can't remember how many miles. I gave it to my son in 2010 and he drove it until the battery finally died in 2016, so battery lasted 12 years. The vehicle was driven hard in harsh winters and hot summers. I'm sure todays batteries in the latest EVs are much better designed and should easily last longer than the warranty. That being said Rivian service officially told me a charge between 30 and 80% will not materially degrade the battery and to keep it at 50% when leaving it plugged in when not in use for an extended period. Before the Rivian I had a Tesla 3 and Tesla basically told me the same thing.

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