Battery performance

[Cliff Mitchell]

I have had my ZSEV for nearing two years. I have always charged the car at home and generally to 80-88%. Over the two year period (35000 kms) I have balanced the battery about one a month. Yesterday after the balance the car registered 251 Kms (N) and 263 (E). I have read on this forum that some people charge their cars to 100% all the time. If there is someone out there who charges to 100% most of the time and has had the vehicle for about 2 years or 35000 kms, give me an indication of how many miles/kilometers registers on the vehicle when fully charged.

I ask the question to simply determine whether I need to change my charging practice or leave it as it is, although I would like to increase the charge percentage if it doesn't create any issues.

 

[Cocijo]

Unfortunately your predicted range will not provide an accurate answer to the battery state of health. The predicted range is based on historic usage data. You can zero the trips and get an indication of battery health but it’s not always that accurate.

You might (of course dependent on battery health and also other factors) show the range as given by the manufacturer under the test cycle with all trips zero’d and any drain off - others I’m sure will say what this should be - I seem to remember 162 miles on the mk1 ZS was the figure.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with charging all the time to 100%.
Leaving the battery at 100% or very low for a period of time is not advised, but the pack is designed to be charged to 100% and has buffers built in. So charging fully and using is fine. Also what you do is find. Charging fully and leaving for long periods is not advised.

If you really want to get more data on your battery you can get a OBD reader and see the SOH etc. and SOC for each cell in the pack. There’s lots of information on here about doing that.

 

[Cliff Mitchell]

Thanks Cocijo,

The car is used every day by my better half. Normally she only travels to between 120 and 200 kms. It will be handy to charge to 100% from time to time (on a more regular basis) to assist with home charging. Some days the sun refuses to play and it would be nice to have a little extra stowed away.

I'm not particularly technically minded. I monitor my odometer reading against the predicted range and I have found over quite a long time that the predicted range is quite accurate. I don't know what that means about the SOH of the battery, but over the two years I have lost about 5% of original distance of 263 Kms. On the other hand the car is used mostly in Eco mode and the range in that mode is 263 kms.

Thanks again for the info.