Unethical charging question?

[BPoATL]

If I am leasing a car, what is my responsibility to maintain the battery health and only charge to 70-80%? I feel like I would be ruining the long term value of the car/battery for short term reward but is that on me knowing I'll give it back in 3 years?

I kind of equate this to an iPhone battery that drops battery life and then I turn it in every year.

Sponsored

 

[COdogman]

I think Rivian would expect you to charge as necessary. For all they know you have a long commute each week and need to charge above that regularly. Also, depending on which battery you get, charging to 100% would be the expectation (LFP).

 

[Ngkgb]

If I am leasing a car, what is my responsibility to maintain the battery health and only charge to 70-80%? I feel like I would be ruining the long term value of the car/battery for short term reward but is that on me knowing I'll give it back in 3 years?

I kind of equate this to an iPhone battery that drops battery life and then I turn it in every year.

How often are you going to be charging to 100% and what do you need to charge it so high? Do you not have a home charger?

 

[Redmond Chad]

If you need the full charge (or it's far more convenient because of an unusual charging situation), don't worry about it - charge away.

If you don't need it, it's probably not a huge deal either way...but if it's not a large burden to me I try to treat things nicely, especially if somebody else owns it.

 

[HaveBlue]

I don't think lfp can handle 0-100 much better than NMC but it requires 100% occasionally to recalibrate because of the flat voltage curve. Either way they are both engineered for a pretty long life charging to 100

 

[mkhuffman]

I think you should treat borrowed items better than you treat the items you own.

 

[RandomMcRandomFace]

A leased car isn’t borrowed - you are paying (a lot) for its use. Drive and charge it how you like w/o being abusive. There is little point to always charging to 100%, so don’t but don’t hesitate to when there is a need.

 

[SSteveEV]

When Tesla declined to take a lease back after my dad passed, I had zero regrets setting the charge limit to 100 and never looking back for the next 10 months. (This was during the pandemic when they could have made an easy 10-15k reselling it)

It is nice to treat things well generally but I wouldn't stress too hard over it. Just make sure not to pass within the last year of the lease.

 

[Whale Blubber]

Rivian's not going to care. The person who buys it from them after they resell it might, but probably won't either. But it's not the normal driver that really needs to keep the battery at 100% on the regular.

 

[jjswan33]

I would treat my leased Rivian the same way I treat my owned Rivian.

If I need to charge more than 70-80% then I do, If I don't then I don't.

 

[iansriv]

The fact that you're asking the question indicates that you know what the answer is.

 

[Bob R1T]

The fact that you're asking the question indicates that you know what the answer is.

The morals of some in this world are turning to krap. Why would one consider damaging something one doesn't own ??? Treat is as if it is yours, and do the future owner a favor.

 

[ads75]

What is the benefit of charging over 70%-80% if you aren't going to use it? Is it just to feel like a rebel, or an actual real world benefit?

I used to get warnings when I charged over 80% about reduced regen braking, so that would increase actual brake wear. One of the times I was in for service, the techs were talking about someone needing new brakes around 45k miles. Maybe that guy was charging over 80% frequently, maybe they went off roading a lot, maybe it was something else,

 

[dradam]

You never know what the future will bring. Perhaps you’re going to buy out the lease? Perhaps you’re going to buy it and flip it? Maybe you will just give it back. But why not keep your options open by treating it nicely. Even if it’s not you, someone else may appreciate that down the line.

 

[richguess]

If it was truly an issue for Rivian, they could build a fee into the return costs (like lease end fees, charges for wheel curb scuff, etc.) for charging history. But they don’t. My view is charge it as you like—it’s essentially built into the cost of the lease. I wouldn’t abuse it purposely, but would charge it as I needed to.

Sponsored