Should i charge to 100%?

[BingBong]

Hi, I am a low mileage driver. I picked up my trophy at 99%, went down to 30% and then charged to 80%. The dealer told me that i need to go to 10% at the first time and then charge to 100% for balance charging.

The reason that I only charged to 80% its because someone said at MG community Facebook that the car also does a balance charge at 80%. Is it true? There is a difference between 80% balance charging to 100%?

 

[halogen]

if u have SR. its fine to charge to 100%
but if u have LR or extended range.. 80%

 

[VAG]

For the day to day it is better to charge at maximum 80%. Once per month or so, you should go to 100% to balance the battery.

 

[pecker]

It does balance at 80%, mine did this yesterday

 

[fnegroni]

what the dealer told you is correct.
True the car will balance at the percentage you specify.
But every once I a while it’s good for the Battery Management System to be told what 10% and 100% voltages are, for all cells.
Which can only happen at the real 100% rather than a guessed 80%.

 

[Ian Key]

It does balance at 80%, mine did this yesterday

The idea of doing a balance charge is to get any cells that are not charging to their full potential of 100% to do so. If you never balance at 100% then 80% will become the batteries maximum capacity.

 

[fnegroni]

The idea of doing a balance charge is to get any cells that are not charging to their full potential of 100% to do so. If you never balance at 100% then 80% will become the batteries maximum capacity.

And more over, what the BMS believes to be 80%.

 

[Matt x power]

I do mine to 90%, and the lowest I go is 40%ish, occasionally to 100% to balance the battery.

 

[BingBong]

The idea of doing a balance charge is to get any cells that are not charging to their full potential of 100% to do so. If you never balance at 100% then 80% will become the batteries maximum capacity.

So do you recommend to wait until 10% and go to 100% (186 total mileage)?

 

[siteguru]

Once in a while (every 6 months or so) - yes. (<10% to 100% and balance)

Every month take it to 100% (from wherever it was at) so it can balance.

Normal day-to-day driving - charge to 80% or whatever you feel comfortable with.

(The above applies for LR and ER models only ... SR model can simply be charged to 100% every time [on an AC charger]).

 

[BingBong]

Once in a while (every 6 months or so) - yes. (<10% to 100% and balance)

Every month take it to 100% (from wherever it was at) so it can balance.

Normal day-to-day driving - charge to 80% or whatever you feel comfortable with.

(The above applies for LR and ER models only ... SR model can simply be charged to 100% every time [on an AC charger]).

Yes its the LR. Should i do the 10 to 100 now for a new car or in 6 months from now?

 

[fnegroni]

I’d do it sooner otherwise you might potentially get sudden drops in % charge remaining when going lower than say 30%

 

[Deanicus]

I've just recently become aware of the ABC concept (Always Be Charging)

The idea is that it is better for the battery to be topped up every day to 70-80%. So topping up from 60-80% every night is better than topping up from 20-80% every 4 days etc. The once a month 100% charge should also be done

This applies to the LR models of course, advice for LFP is different

By coincidence, this video was released yesterday explaining the concept



It also suits me as I get a special rate between 2am and 4am. Doing ABC then means I only need to charge for those hours, saving me money overall

 

[siteguru]

I’d do it sooner otherwise you might potentially get sudden drops in % charge remaining when going lower than say 30%

Agreed. It also means you know you're starting from a good baseline.

 

[Rolfe]

I got my car (SR) in April, did the <10% to 100% for the first time in September, and then again last week. I've never had any nasty surprises from the GOM. But then I let the car balance at 100% every time I charge.

I think the 100% balancing is good for the battery, but you don't want to leave the LR battery at 100% charge for too long, so once a month before you're planning a drive that will take it below 80% the following day is recommended.

 

[tsedge]

I've just recently become aware of the ABC concept (Always Be Charging)

The idea is that it is better for the battery to be topped up every day to 70-80%. So topping up from 60-80% every night is better than topping up from 20-80% every 4 days etc. The once a month 100% charge should also be done

This applies to the LR models of course, advice for LFP is different

By coincidence, this video was released yesterday explaining the concept



It also suits me as I get a special rate between 2am and 4am. Doing ABC then means I only need to charge for those hours, saving me money overall

While there's nothing wrong with the recommendations in the video, it strikes me that we are well past the point that people need to worry about longevity. These conversations are the equivalent of babying an ICE engine until it warms up or revving before switching off - they were needed once, nothing wrong with doing them (they will help) but they are not things the average person needs to know or care about as the car will last fine without them.

 

[Deanicus]

While there's nothing wrong with the recommendations in the video, it strikes me that we are well past the point that people need to worry about longevity. These conversations are the equivalent of babying an ICE engine until it warms up or revving before switching off - they were needed once, nothing wrong with doing them (they will help) but they are not things the average person needs to know or care about as the car will last fine without them.

I generally agree with this sentiment and they also say pretty much the same in the video

I only came across ABC as I was looking to see if doing small charges like this were harmful as I wanted to to take more advantage of the reduced rate during the night

Seems it's actually beneficial and has added benefit of you having decent range available every morning

 

[Rolfe]

I've just recently become aware of the ABC concept (Always Be Charging)

The idea is that it is better for the battery to be topped up every day to 70-80%. So topping up from 60-80% every night is better than topping up from 20-80% every 4 days etc. The once a month 100% charge should also be done

This applies to the LR models of course, advice for LFP is different

By coincidence, this video was released yesterday explaining the concept



It also suits me as I get a special rate between 2am and 4am. Doing ABC then means I only need to charge for those hours, saving me money overall

Sounds a bit like a translation into American of this.

 

[Rolfe]

It would be nice if someone would do a similar video focussing on the LFP battery. I mean, it might just come down to "do what the hell you like, the battery won't care" but it would be nice to have some reassurance given the doom and gloom that's been peddled in some quarters, and also to understand why the batteries are so resilient.

Also, I'd be surprised if there were no "doing this is better than doing that" points at all, even if it's relatively academic.

One thing I sometimes think about, as I charge on a granny lead, is, "is it OK to charge back to 100% when the car is only at 60-70%?" Doing that takes nine to twelve hours and so is a convenient overnight charge. It's handy in that the car is always sitting with a decent amount of charge, and when it's charged it's done by morning.

Euan McTurk advised quite strongly against "shallow cycles" like this for NMC batteries, but then in an almost throaway line he simply confirmed he was talking about NMC only. (I don't think he had any objection to shallow cycles that top out at 80%, which is what the American video is recommending.)

 

[Corindikev]

I watched that US presentation a few days ago, but compared with Euan McTurk his presentation was muddled & boring & he didn't really explain the practicalities suggesting the best charging routine was something like between 60% & 80% based on lab tests. That is just impractical for most people & as Euan explained in Laymans terms 50-80 will give you the most cycles but 20 to 80 will give you by far the most miles driven.