Charging to 90% as mentioned in Manual or 80% like others?

[cvalue13]

can improve the high voltage battery's longevity by delaying the start of charging and setting a maximum charging limit. We recommend you set your preferred charging times to be at least 2-3 hours after your typical plug in time. This allows the battery to cool before charging begins.

this is an interesting tidbit for us newbies, esp because nowhere else does Ford appear to mention this in connection with charging schedules. EG in the FordPass app, where it offers to guide you through good times to charge, the only metric it suggests is utility cost curves

Sponsored

 

[Marcoux]

I mean, technically speaking 90% of 131 is 117.9, which would actually be 82% of the battery.

I'm thinking if you want to follow the golden 30-80% rule, you should mathematically keep your battery between 32-87%.

That's rounding down as well, so you could say 33-88% which is a few weird numbers and I'm thinking this is why Ford decided to simply round up to 90%.

 

[RickLightning]

this is an interesting tidbit for us newbies, esp because nowhere else does Ford appear to mention this in connection with charging schedules. EG in the FordPass app, where it offers to guide you through good times to charge, the only metric it suggests is utility cost curves

The reality is that MOST utility discounts are overnight, and that MOST that utilize these discounts plug in hours before, and the vehicle waits to charge. Therefore, these people are inadvertently following the advice.

The other reality is that MOST vehicles aren't getting batteries heated up to the point that they need to cool off before charging or suffer noticeable impact to battery life.

And, the true reality is that a huge percentage of EV owners a) don't read the manual, and b) just plug in all the time and charge to 100%.

 

[cvalue13]

don't read the manual,

manual?

 

[metroshot]

While that is true, Ford tells people to charge to "less than 100%". Given that you rarely need 100% of the battery, I find it best to tell people to follow the manual, and only charge to 100% the night before the trip.

The reality is that no one is monitoring use and battery life to any point such that even 10 years down the road they'll be able to know the impact with any certainty. And most people, IMO, will sell these EVs well before 10 years because of changing technology and range.

My thinking is that if Ford gives you a 8 year warranty on the battery, it's a sign that they have designed it to last. L2 charging is slow enough that combined with the 10% buffer, it's safe to charge to 100% once a week.

My other EV has a 10 year battery warranty and it has not shown a bit of battery degradation in the past 4 years charging to 100% on L2.

You are correct about battery life, my Lightning may end up being sold way before the warranty ever gets used.

I am looking at replacing my Lightning and getting the GM EV WT for $40K which is more in line with my use & budget...

 

[sotek2345]

I charge mine to 100% once a week (only drive 25 miles/day).

When I saw the actual battery capacity of the Lightning, it shows 10% more than the capacity that Ford advertises.

This means that the battery can never go truly 100% as there is an approx 10% buffer built in.

So charging to what we see as "100%" is actually less than the true capacity - it's actually about 90%.

IMO, don't waste your time and underutilize your battery as the SOC buffers never will let you get to a true 100%.

Charging to 90% will cheat you out by another 10% of the capacity (80% true charge).

ER Battery sticker showing true capacity: 143.4 kWH.

SR battery showing
107.6 kWh

10% reserve doesn't mean you are using 0-90% of the battery, more like 6% to 96%. The buffer is split between the top and the bottom. I still wouldn't use 100% indicated unless I was just about to leave on a long trip.

 

[Maxx]

Maybe 47.5% and 52.5%.

This makes me wonder if 50% is the true middle. There seem to be evidence that there is 8%-10% buffer (depending on pack size). We know that the truck does not Stop at zero so zero is not the true zero. We also know that 100% leaves some room for safety but what we don’t know is how much of that 10% goes to the bottom and how much of it to the top. If 4% goes to the bottom and 6% to the top, you should charge 48.5% to 53.5%.

Edit: 1% of 98 KWh is not the same size as 1% of 107.6 KWh so the numbers would be slightly different but my head may explode if I try to get more accurate so I stop right here for safety reasons.

 

[RickLightning]

My thinking is that if Ford gives you a 8 year warranty on the battery, it's a sign that they have designed it to last. L2 charging is slow enough that combined with the 10% buffer, it's safe to charge to 100% once a week.

My other EV has a 10 year battery warranty and it has not shown a bit of battery degradation in the past 4 years charging to 100% on L2.

You are correct about battery life, my Lightning may end up being sold way before the warranty ever gets used.

I am looking at replacing my Lightning and getting the GM EV WT for $40K which is more in line with my use & budget...

I'd suggest that 99.9% of all owners lack the instrumentation to accurate determine whether they have any batter degradation or not.

Sure, in normal driving, you may not notice it.

 

[adoublee]

manual?

Exactly - It should probably be called a wiki.

 

[PV2EV]

I will keep it at 90%. I would feel like an idiot when the grid power goes down, to not have enough battery to get through it.

 

[Theo1000]

Aha! The eternal dilemma of all EV types.

The #1 source of premature degradation for EV batteries is not having a good liquid cooling system. The Leaf folks took one for the team and proved that his was a key no no.

The #2 problem we have seen is actual charging esp. DCFC at high temperature's. Talking 120f type temps. Again hats off to the Leaf folks took one for the team and proved that his was a key no no.

The next is leaving a very small buffer anything under 5% has proven to be another key no no.

Another is leaving it at high SoC or very low Soc for long periods, certainly more than 24 hours.

Final one is poor Q.C. which is the Bolt folks issue.

So far the Lightning is not affected by any of these items. I charge to 100% once or twice a week L2 in cool garage. I don't let it set at high or low for more than a few hours at most. In fact I do this for all my EV's. Not seen any major issues. Have lot of confidence in the engineering that backs up these cars.

 

[p52Ranch]

My SR Lightning is my first EV. I have set up the Lightning to only charge to 90% on my home charger.

I have developed an internal quandary on the minimum SoC I should maintain.

Daily driving is only 10 to 20 miles so daily charging isn't necessary. We live in a rural area so a trip to Tulsa is usually 100 miles round trip. I find when my SoC dips below 60% and range is around 130 miles I start getting antsy and end up charging it. I keep thinking I should allow my SoC to drop further but end up staying prepared for a 100 mile round trip that probably won't happen.

How do others cope with the: What if I need to jump in my Lightning for a longer than expected driving distance scenario?

 

[FlasherZ]

Rule #1: Drive the damn thing and don't worry about it.

2016 Model X, 165,000 miles - 90% of the time it's sitting at a 90% charge limit. If we're going to be driving more, we'll set it at 100%. We've accidentally let it sit at 100% limit for 3-7 days before. It charged to 285ish when we got it, it now charges to 260ish. Less than 10% degradation over 6 1/2 years and 165,000 miles isn't bad at all, and the rate of degradation seems to be decreasing. It lines up with many/most other owners' degradation curves.

Simply put: we don't worry.

There are some people who are absolutely religious about getting up at 3:30 am so they can set it to the full charge for a 6 am departure, ensuring that it never sits at 100% a moment more than is necessary.

These people will have ulcers. You don't want ulcers.

If you are one of those people, then you should charge only to the level you need. Some owners on TMC set theirs to 60% because they only have a 20 mile round trip work commute and they never diverge from that. Not a problem, their battery will last longer - but they never have to worry about needing more range because they don't have unexpected trips (or use another car).

So, in summary - 90% is a good number with good balance for range, set it to 100 when needed, and DON'T WORRY. If you can live with 80% or 85%, you might get a few more miles out of the truck when you reach 300,000 miles or so, perhaps in exchange for the occasional range worry if you have unexpected drives to do. If you like ulcers, then you can fret over it a bit more.

 

[sotek2345]

My SR Lightning is my first EV. I have set up the Lightning to only charge to 90% on my home charger.

I have developed an internal quandary on the minimum SoC I should maintain.

Daily driving is only 10 to 20 miles so daily charging isn't necessary. We live in a rural area so a trip to Tulsa is usually 100 miles round trip. I find when my SoC dips below 60% and range is around 130 miles I start getting antsy and end up charging it. I keep thinking I should allow my SoC to drop further but end up staying prepared for a 100 mile round trip that probably won't happen.

How do others cope with the: What if I need to jump in my Lightning for a longer than expected driving distance scenario?

I would just plug in every day regardless of what you used. No reason not to if you are limiting to 90%, that is what we do with our Mach-e. Staying plugged in will help the truck regulate battery temp as needed too.

 

[LightningShow]

The DC fast charge probably does more damage to the battery than keeping it at 90%. Folks stress out about this way to much. Keep it 80% to 90% for daily use, plug in every day, and go to 100% before a long trip. Relax and Enjoy

My thinking was that it would be extremely rate that i’d need to fast charge unexpectedly to get extra range. Maybe once a year? Will keeping the battery, on average, at 50% instead of 70% make a difference vs an extra DCFC session once a year? I have no clue but it takes virtually no effort for me to do it, so why not?

Sponsored