New owner charging query

[wessexbill]

Hi All,
I am a new owner to a 2022 LR Exclusive. It has done almost 50k and has 95% battery health. It replaces a very old but reliable Skoda estate. I do an almost 70mi round trip commute. 20 mi on urban roads (with heavy traffic), 20mi on national speed limit dual carriageway and 30 mi on either winding country lanes or single carriageway trunk roads.

Apart from all the driving options seeming a bit unnecessarily complicated (cruise control and it wanting to automate everything) I am really enjoying it. Particularly that my commute costs about £4.50 compared to £11.00. Won’t get tired of that!

I have a Indra charger which is v convenient (though struggling to set up the App) and also a granny charger in the boot.

So expecting to add some serious mileage onto the car over the coming years with the commute and then the family runarounds at the weekends (rear seat now has two massive child seats strapped in).

As such I am keen to maximise battery life. A friend has a newish Kia. He has it set up so it doesn’t charge up over 85%. I understand that the MG5 I have will just charge up to full if allowed to.

Is there any issue in that if it is done repeatedly? Or should I aim to stop the charging when tje battery reaches 85/90%?

Also is it better to try and recharge after each commute? It uses about 30%, so in theory I could do 2 days of commute, start at 85% and get down to around 20% after the second day and then charge.

I am minded to charge each evening - but more to be ‘ready’ for any need to go further afield at the drop of a hat (highly unlikely…).

Also I read in the manual, I think, about the benefit/need to do a slow charge periodically to regenerate the battery. Is slow here the granny cable or does the 7kw charger count?

Thanks in advance and thanks for the forum as it has been really useful as a new ev driver.

 

[salty]

 

[Verdigris]

Welcome to the forum. Your model has an NMC chemistry battery. It is OK to charge it to 100% but it is not advisable to leave it for prolonged periods at full SOC, as that can encourage dendrites to form, which will reduce the battery capacity. Overnight charging to 100% and then using it in the morning is fine.

If you have to use a public DC rapid charger then there is no point charging beyond 80%, because the charge rate reduces dramatically. It takes less time to make a an additional "splash and dash" top-up later in the journey, if your destination is beyond the 80% range.

Cars with LFP chemistry can be charged to 100% and left, although the DC charging "80% rule" still applies.

 

[Jomarkh]

Welcome to the forum.
I do a similar 66 miles round trip commute of a mix of motorway and A roads.
I keep the battery between 50-80%.
I add about 35% each night using a Zappi and IOG and it costs about £2.
You can balance monthly with any AC type2 EVSE.

 

[Gomev]

...

Also is it better to try and recharge after each commute? It uses about 30%, so in theory I could do 2 days of commute, start at 85% and get down to around 20% after the second day and then charge.

..

Also I read in the manual, I think, about the benefit/need to do a slow charge periodically to regenerate the battery. Is slow here the granny cable or does the 7kw charger count?

Thanks in advance and thanks for the forum as it has been really useful as a new ev driver.

Yes the 7kW counts as a slow charge for the battery. Every now and then, maybe every month you should charge to 100% on the 7kW or granny and leave it charging after it reaches 100%. This will balance the cells and in theory maintain range.
Personally I would charge every 2 days initially in you example. You will learn about your own car's traits and get a feel for how it uses energy and how you feel about 'going low' as you will inevitably need to at some point on a long journey.

 

[5teep]

Don't worry about charging to 100% on the home wallbox or granny charger, you'll not be doing the battery any harm. I charge to 100% every night and battery health on my car is a bit better than yours at higher mileage.

The 80% 'rule' is more for DC rapid chargers and mostly because once you get to 80% they slow down a lot to protect the battery which a) might take you over the time limit on public chargers and b) annoys people waiting to use the charger

 

[wessexbill]

Thanks all for the advice

 

[kevin ellard]

Don't worry about charging to 100% on the home wallbox or granny charger, you'll not be doing the battery any harm. I charge to 100% every night and battery health on my car is a bit better than yours at higher mileage.

The 80% 'rule' is more for DC rapid chargers and mostly because once you get to 80% they slow down a lot to protect the battery which a) might take you over the time limit on public chargers and b) annoys people waiting to use the charger

Its not a problem for the battery charging to 100% at home or away but, as you say, on a rapid charger it will be very slow for the last few percent. The other thing to consider is that batteries don't like being left at 100% without being used. I have mine set to charge to 80% which is more range than I would normally use in a day but I set it to 100% whenever I'm planning a trip.

 

[5teep]

I could say that you'd have to leave it at 100% for a very long time to do any harm.
But.
I realise that the car is a big investment for a lot of people and why take risks you don't need to take, so for anyone, do whatever you think is best for your car. I drive a leased company car and I don't have the same investment in it that most folk have so I'm less concerned about the little things.

 

[Alibro]

I set mine to charge overnight and have no way to stop it at 80% so I don't worry about it.
I don't like to leave it at 100% for more than a day or two though so try to not charge it unless I plan to use it the next day.