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Battery Charging Level

3.4K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Electric Tire Shredder  
#1 ·
Most information I read about BEVs talk about only charging to 80% and not dropping below 20%. There is nothing in the owner’s manual about such a recommendation. The Fiat Genius I spoke with says 100% is fine. I’m leary. To what level are you all charging to maintain battery performance and avoid degradation?

And wouldn’t it be great if they did a “percent charge” capability to the scheduling system instead of just timing?
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
I think you may find a number of existing threads on this topic. They don't necessarily provide consistently helpful answers to your question, though.

My view is that what Fiat app and dash readings report as 100% is some way short of the true maximum capacity of the battery thus charging to 100% might not be harmful.

Nevertheless, my habit is to charge my La Prima (now over 3 years old) overnight to a level of charge sufficient to do the mileage which I anticipate doing the following day. Most nights I will charge to 60% sometimes more.

So I will only charge to 100% if I'm expecting to do 130 or more miles the following day. For info, I am getting ~3.8 miles / kWh in winter and ~4.1 in summer. Taking the effective capacity as 37kWh that equates to 140 or 150 miles.

I rarely let the battery go below 20%.

I have used a public charger only a handful of times in the life of the car as I have solar panels and an intelligent charger capable of 7kW at home.

My charging arrangements allow me to define what charge level I require by the morning and to stop charging when that is reached. I make use of Home Assistant for this. Happy to provide full details if of interest.
THANKS. I love the new little guy, but am frustrated that dealers here are clueless about the bits and pieces. I’ll continue to shoot for 80%-90% but this an overnight crap shoot.