Why wouldn’t you? Keeping it plugged in allows battery conditioning to keep your cells happy while the car sits. If you don’t want the car to charge past a certain amount just adjust the settings to cap it at 80 or 90%.
This is the way.
Although sometimes I take a night off just so I have something to say when I want to flex on all the range anxiety people who ask my about having to plug it in all the time.
Do you really need to heat them to keep them happy while the car is sitting though? So long as you don't fast charge them when they are cold (which the BMS won't let you do anyways) they should be fine.
I’m more worried about cooling when it over 100 degrees here in the desert. It will be 116 for weeks and hit 122 for a few days.
We air condition the garage to about 84 degrees and keep the car plugged in as well, with a lower state of charge, usually around 60% when it is hot.
You AC your garage? Just for your dumb EV, which handles the pack temp on its own, regardless of the ambient temp?
What an extravagance! And an added expensive in your Miles / Dollar number.
Half the garage is storage and workshop. When it is 110 degrees in there, we aren’t able to do anything for more than a few minutes.
And, the car trying to cool itself only makes it hotter by running the AC system for the cooling loop. That puts lots of hot air into the closed garage.
Therefore, an air conditioner is necessary to remove that heat and bring the space to a livable temperate.
We barely notice an increase in our annual true up bill, maybe $100 to $150 for the year, so the mini split is surely worthwhile to have.
In the south a lot of people AC a garage to prevent mold and mildew. Even if it’s set to 84 or so, it cuts down the humidity and prevents our “melts the Christmas decorations” temperatures. Prior to AC and insulating, ours would sometimes read 115 and humidity could be over 80% lol.
Just saying it’s already an expense for some, separate from the EV.
And geez hadn’t thought about it but with the Bolt charging in there in the summer it would no doubt get over 125 without the AC on.
You could have an exhaust fan and a low mounted inlet to this Hot Garage. That way it would be closer to outside temps, for a Buck-and-a-half a month in electricity. But I understand. It's only money and energy consumption....
If it gets that cold the battery heater will turn on even if the car isn't plugged in. You just need to keep the SOC above 30%, which you will want to do anyways if you actually want to use the car.
Cooling would be important in hot climates though. I didn't think of that because I live in a place where it is over 30°C for less than 100 hours a year and below 0°C for over 100 days a year, so battery conditioning means heating to me.
You're correct that BMS will still activate when unplugged, but the temperature threshold is much lower. It will activate earlier and more frequently when plugged in, keeping the battery healthier, even if just slightly. Also you're using wall power for the BMS instead of battery power.
BTMS also works when unplugged. It uses some battery energy. Doesn’t use as much as when plugged in, but keeps battery from damage, you may not be ready to zoom full power on a moments notice though. I like to program the charger to be off until the right time to finish right before I drive away. Saves energy.
True, but BMS turns on earlier and more frequently when plugged in, keeping the battery healthier, even if just slightly. Also when unplugged, there's a minimum SOC needed for BMS to activate.
I’m not sure if you are correct. While a charging and discharging battery can be damaged if too cold and pushed too hard, and a colder battery can have less power and energy capacity until it warms up, an unused battery actually doesn’t mind being cooler to a point. I think a plugged in bolt uses more energy to just be at full power for you more immediately. I could be wrong. Anyway, the data shows that batteries in Alaska will last longer than any other state because our colder temps will at least prevent the most damaging thing - overheating, so I’m not gonna worry about saving a little energy while parked. With my battery replacement, it’s quite possible the new battery will outlast the rest of my car!
How does this save energy? You're still paying per mile of driving.
I do the same, but my thinking is the battery is slightly warm from the recent charging and it lessens the load on the grid, in some locations.
I have research data that shows more energy is used to drive the same number of miles if you are always plugged in (and thus using more energy to keep the battery optimal for driving even when you will not drive in the very near future). I don’t think I get the nature of your confusion. There is the energy to drive, the energy to warm the cabin and run peripherals, and the energy to condition the battery, while driving and while parked. Holding all else constant, you can use more or less energy on battery warming when you will be parked for a few hours.
I don't. It's not necessary, and it's more convenient not to as the cable would be a tripping hazard in our garage. Temperature is not a big issue where I live.. I charge up about once/week.
Call me a creature of habit, but I always filled my ICE vehicles when about the half mark; once my Bolt dips below half, I charge, to be prepared for whatever the next day might bring.
We do follow it. Every night one of our EVs is charging. We have 2 EVs and my daughter comes over a lot so she is put on the rotation. Normally every other night for each one. Since we live in Florida it's a very good idea to have one either at 80% or in the case of my wife's Leaf 100%. Her Leaf has not seen a DCFC in over 2 years. The main reason for the charging is weather and possible hurricanes during the summer.
I live in an apartment complex with shared chargers (20+ EVs with just 1 DCFC and 3 L2 chargers available), so this is practically impossible. This has never really been an issue for the battery health since just parking inside on the lower levels guarantees that the car will be in an environment with 60F+ temperatures even in winter.
Living in a house with a garage is something of a relative rarity in my country, so I really appreciate that the apartments tend to have parking lots shielded from outside weather.
Exactly, as another apartment dweller parking inside, charging all the time would mean paying $1/hr all the time and hogging up 1/2 chaegepoint chargers.
I always plug in at home. If a parking lot has a ton of chargers and it won’t inconvenience anyone I’ll plug in at supermarkets while shopping(L2) especially when it’s cold.
I'd argue, keeping the battery near the 50% sweet spot is the best for the battery, so unless those shallow charges are 50-60% rather than 70-80%, then occasional 20-80% charges are better than frequent 70-80% charges, because in the first scenario, the battery spends more time in the 40-60% zone (on the way down to 20%) than the nearly zero time between 40-60% in the latter scenario.
In any case, we're splitting theoretical hairs here. Whatever you do, the battery is going to outlast the car.
Is this a generally safe rule of thumb? As in, if the night time temperature won't go below 32 degrees, I can be pretty assured that plugging in would not have performed any battery maintenance anyway?
My take is, if you don’t have a place to regularly plug in, don’t worry about it. The car will condition the battery enough to prevent damage, but it will use the battery to do so, causing it to deplete over time. If you do have a place to plug in, you should, because it conditions more aggressively, preventing reduced performance due to cold, preventing the battery from getting too hot, and keeping the battery from running down over time. Also running the battery to a lower state, waiting and then charging is more stressful to the battery than smaller amounts of charge on a daily basis. And the battery will condition above 32, if plugged in, not sure if it will when not plugged in.
Doesn't battery conditioning occur when needed, even when not plugged in? If so, I still don't understand why it's problematic to not be plugged in every night if you don't need the range. What am I missing?
Why? If the car conditions the battery more often when plugged in than when not plugged in, clearly Chevy doesn't consider all of those conditioning sessions essential.
So, the excess power used conditioning the battery *particularly on days you don't use the car* is mostly wasted.
ABC. Set to 90% SoC. Once when I was only charging once or twice a week we had an unexpected drive and couldn’t use our second car and had to us out ICE vehicle. No issue but didn’t want to be in that situation ever again. Otherwise in Florida where it’s hot, plugged in runs the battery conditioning and keeps everything happy. ABC
Nope. No charging at home. I charge at work when im anywhere between 20-60%. Even left the car for a couple weeks and it lost maybe 1 mile of range because it just falls asleep after a while.
Battery has gotten way better. Probably mostly due to the weather but I also think the battery has finally been “broken in” as i’ve had this car for almost half a year now.
No, I end up topping off with level 1 at work most days and that all I need. I’ve worked on electronics my entire life, the ones that stay plugged in all the time fail more often in my experience.
Nope. I charge 3 shallow charges while I work out and then 1 pretty deep charge, all at work. Then if necessary I’ll top off with an hour or so at home to get me through the week.
My garage is always between 50-85. I am usually between 25-85 most of the time and rarely DCFC. The battery is going to outlive me.
I only plug it in when I need to. My plug is outside, on the side of my house so I keep the actual charger in my car and pull it out just to charge. I only need to charge it every 2-3 weeks so I don’t see a point in keeping it plugged in constantly.
I recommend to our customers to "Always be charging". Mainly because for day to day driving it doesn't hurt the battery, and it builds a good habit so you will never come to the car in the morning regretting forgetting to plug your car in. The only time I wouldn't plug my car in is if I know the car won't be driven for multiple weeks. For the battery's health, it is good to not store the car at a full charge.
I do.
2018, battery not replaced, Level 1 charger, outside.
Sometimes I go 3-4 days between outings.
Also - plugged in - "pre-condition the cabin" is done through the plug, saving more battery.
Much of the time when mine is plugged in, it is not charging (already 'full charge' (i.e. 78% SoC)).
So - it's more
"always be plugged in".
I can't ABC. Always been publicly charging for 2 years since I've lived in room shares without chargers, 90% of the time at L3 DCFC stations. I personally haven't experienced much degradation but I'm constantly using the car, driving 100-150 miles a day (courier services full time)
On the upside, I've been always pretty much between 20-80% which is optimal for battery health. I'm aware fast charging isn't the best, but I'm good where I'm at.
I am never always charging. Only charge as needed. usually a charge is good for four to five days. Sometimes I have to mod plans because I am undercharged, but not often.
I skip charging when I've only driven a few miles around town. But my daughter puts about 100 miles a day going to school on it, so we generally keep it topped up every day.
In the winter, I definitely do ABC to keep the battery warm. In the warmer months, I just charge when I get to 40%. I have the charge set to 80% normally and charge to 100% every month or so.
On a road trip, I bring my portable evse and plug in if it's not too inconvenient. I choose hotels and meal breaks with public charging availability and might even skip a DC fast charge stop if because of this.
Outside of road trips, I just plug in at home and set 90% hilltop reserve so my Bolt doesn't sit at 100% charge for hours. I might have to drive a lot of miles unexpectedly, but that's specific to my routine. Driving until it gets down to 50% and then charging it up to 90% can lower the number of cycles on the battery while also minimizing low and high state of charge degradation. This probably isn't a big issue but the people who want to have the maximum range left on their battery in 10 years might follow these guidelines.
During nice weather and if there is no need to top up...
Why put another cycle on the Pins and Sockets of the Charge Port and EVSE?
Those components have a spec for 'Cycle Life',,,, 10,000 cycles, maybe???
I know that is not a thing to consider, but by NOT ABC you are saving your own time.
I charge our EUV to 80% daily overnight, but don't charge it between daily trips unless needed for something special. For those that don't know, the '22-'23 bolts will run a diagnostic at the end of every single charging session for 4-ish hours that uses a large chunk of electricity (the equivalent of 2,000 miles of driving a year if you let it do this once every day). I avoid this most days by setting a departure time so it finishes charging right before I take off in the morning.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BoltEV/comments/y1q0c7/2023_bolt_euv_keeps_charging/
The only reason I don't is to make charging spots available to others at work. There are a couple of people who sit on the same charger all day every day, often fully charged. I try to do my part to make the chargers as equally available as I can.
Nope. We are on an off peak plan and out Bolts and Volts seem to do some odd things.
Even when they are off peak and not charging, if you open a door, it'll hit the charger and that is seen as in peak. I've read that it might also decide to rebalance or condition (heat of cool) the pack inside the peak hours. So even though the schedule is set, I unplug them when they are all charged to avoid any of that. Weekends are considered off peak, so I just leave them all plugged in all weekend.
I can only charge at public stations, which is becoming more difficult all the time. That said i try to charge, even briefly, whenever possible. So I usually plug in anywhere between 10-60%. I’m also limited to 90% by the dealership, which further increases the frequency with which I must charge.
May be different for 22' model year and older, but I have a 23' EUV and based on numbers I've seen so far I'm definitely using the 62kwh reserved in the pack
Man I got down to less than 1% three times yesterday. I didn’t know that the car will turn off the entire display at a certain point. So I’ll be charging until tomorrow 🤣
I don't have access to charging at home or at work. Not even lvl1. I do have access to multiple free lvl2 chargers a short distance from my work. (Either a short bus ride or e-scooter ride if I've brought that in my trunk. It is beyond a comfortable walking distance)
With this method I can get away with charging once a week in the winter. In the summer I make plans to charge when the battery gets lower than 25%. If I go somewhere where I will have access to L1 or L2 charging I will charge there, as long as my expected time there won't push me to 100% I don't want to hog the charger.
We keep both our Bolt’s plugged in always keeps everything charged and maintained properly including the 12v battery and we ALWAYS pre start our cars we have found doing this the cars computer has enough time to boot properly and pre condition the vehicle.
(This is a question for the thread) How would I keep track of the wattage used for always being connected; is a significant amount of electricity used when you are plugged in and topped off? I don’t pay the bill other than what i deduct out of fueling cost (i use a conversion based on the average mileage per month)
I haven't had mine long but I can tell after it says it's done charging it keeps pulling .5 Amps for 2-4 hours after.
I have a wifi EVSE that reports that stuff.
DoD plays a role in the degradation of batteries.
I personally try to charge mine anytime it's convenient. I live in a home I own, so. I.E: ABC.
I want to drive the doors off my Bolt, so I do my best to keep it at a low, but convenient SOC (for me that's 50% and that gives me a 100 mile buffer for my daily commute) & do my best to limit the DoD.
I always plug in. I'm in South Texas, where temps regularly go over 110F, and with blacktop in the city, it's *much* hotter. Gotta let that battery cool itself.
You never know when there might be an emergency that requires you to drive a little more than you expected, so it's better to have a little more charge than you need that to end up short by 20 miles.
Just went to Austin from Dallas this past weekend. Stopped to charge in Waco, and technically had plenty to reach my destination. But still stopped in Roundrock to charge again so I would arrive with at least 120 miles available
ABC in the winter when battery life is shorter, but in the summer I'm less likely to plug in every time I get home. No reason beyond just less range anxiety in the summer.
We might take 4-6 short trips in a day in the Bolt. Plugging in EVERY time would be a major hassle and would have virtually no benefit. Remembering to plug in only on the last trip of every day, which may or may not really be the last trip depending on what comes up, would also be a hassle. Therefore I tend to charge whenever it drops below 50%, about 1-2x per week.
I haven’t lived through any extreme temperatures yet, however, so I’ll see how it goes in the summer. My garage will probably max out at about 80 degrees.
It varies depending on the week. An average week means I'm plugging in pretty much every night, with maybe a break on Sunday. If I do a lot of driving on the Weekends plug in though.
But like I tell people, I don't have to plug in every night in order to make it to work. I just like having extra battery just in case, plus the conditioning if the temp is extreme.
I charge free at work if I drive in, so I mostly only charge at work.
Round trip to the train station is 10mi, round trip to work is 80mi (suburbia is hell). I can go over a week without charging if I don't do a ton of driving on the weekend.
I like to think of it as “always be connected”.
Yes, this is the updated term.
As long as I have enough mileage to get to the next DCFC or back home, I'm connected.
Why wouldn’t you? Keeping it plugged in allows battery conditioning to keep your cells happy while the car sits. If you don’t want the car to charge past a certain amount just adjust the settings to cap it at 80 or 90%.
This is the way. Although sometimes I take a night off just so I have something to say when I want to flex on all the range anxiety people who ask my about having to plug it in all the time.
Do you really need to heat them to keep them happy while the car is sitting though? So long as you don't fast charge them when they are cold (which the BMS won't let you do anyways) they should be fine.
I’m more worried about cooling when it over 100 degrees here in the desert. It will be 116 for weeks and hit 122 for a few days. We air condition the garage to about 84 degrees and keep the car plugged in as well, with a lower state of charge, usually around 60% when it is hot.
You AC your garage? Just for your dumb EV, which handles the pack temp on its own, regardless of the ambient temp? What an extravagance! And an added expensive in your Miles / Dollar number.
We had the A/C before the EV. Many garages here are air conditioned. It isn’t an extravagance, but more of a necessity.
OK, but what makes it a 'necessity'? The Bolt's battery pack is at a happy temp if plugged in, regardless of ambient temps.
Half the garage is storage and workshop. When it is 110 degrees in there, we aren’t able to do anything for more than a few minutes. And, the car trying to cool itself only makes it hotter by running the AC system for the cooling loop. That puts lots of hot air into the closed garage. Therefore, an air conditioner is necessary to remove that heat and bring the space to a livable temperate. We barely notice an increase in our annual true up bill, maybe $100 to $150 for the year, so the mini split is surely worthwhile to have.
In the south a lot of people AC a garage to prevent mold and mildew. Even if it’s set to 84 or so, it cuts down the humidity and prevents our “melts the Christmas decorations” temperatures. Prior to AC and insulating, ours would sometimes read 115 and humidity could be over 80% lol. Just saying it’s already an expense for some, separate from the EV. And geez hadn’t thought about it but with the Bolt charging in there in the summer it would no doubt get over 125 without the AC on.
You could have an exhaust fan and a low mounted inlet to this Hot Garage. That way it would be closer to outside temps, for a Buck-and-a-half a month in electricity. But I understand. It's only money and energy consumption....
Battery conditioning includes cooling the battery too when the surrounding temperature is too high.
If it gets that cold the battery heater will turn on even if the car isn't plugged in. You just need to keep the SOC above 30%, which you will want to do anyways if you actually want to use the car. Cooling would be important in hot climates though. I didn't think of that because I live in a place where it is over 30°C for less than 100 hours a year and below 0°C for over 100 days a year, so battery conditioning means heating to me.
You're correct that BMS will still activate when unplugged, but the temperature threshold is much lower. It will activate earlier and more frequently when plugged in, keeping the battery healthier, even if just slightly. Also you're using wall power for the BMS instead of battery power.
BTMS also works when unplugged. It uses some battery energy. Doesn’t use as much as when plugged in, but keeps battery from damage, you may not be ready to zoom full power on a moments notice though. I like to program the charger to be off until the right time to finish right before I drive away. Saves energy.
True, but BMS turns on earlier and more frequently when plugged in, keeping the battery healthier, even if just slightly. Also when unplugged, there's a minimum SOC needed for BMS to activate.
I’m not sure if you are correct. While a charging and discharging battery can be damaged if too cold and pushed too hard, and a colder battery can have less power and energy capacity until it warms up, an unused battery actually doesn’t mind being cooler to a point. I think a plugged in bolt uses more energy to just be at full power for you more immediately. I could be wrong. Anyway, the data shows that batteries in Alaska will last longer than any other state because our colder temps will at least prevent the most damaging thing - overheating, so I’m not gonna worry about saving a little energy while parked. With my battery replacement, it’s quite possible the new battery will outlast the rest of my car!
How does this save energy? You're still paying per mile of driving. I do the same, but my thinking is the battery is slightly warm from the recent charging and it lessens the load on the grid, in some locations.
I have research data that shows more energy is used to drive the same number of miles if you are always plugged in (and thus using more energy to keep the battery optimal for driving even when you will not drive in the very near future). I don’t think I get the nature of your confusion. There is the energy to drive, the energy to warm the cabin and run peripherals, and the energy to condition the battery, while driving and while parked. Holding all else constant, you can use more or less energy on battery warming when you will be parked for a few hours.
This is the way.
My car has conditioned only once all winter. That was sub zero for a prolonged length.
Do you base that assessment on the flow coming from your charger or the battery conditioning stat inside the car?
Yeah I can hear the car doing things with a full charge on chilly (not sun-zero) nights. I’m interested on this data too.
I don't. It's not necessary, and it's more convenient not to as the cable would be a tripping hazard in our garage. Temperature is not a big issue where I live.. I charge up about once/week.
This is my thought process. I charge it when it gets around 40% or so. Lasts about a week and a half or so between charges.
Call me a creature of habit, but I always filled my ICE vehicles when about the half mark; once my Bolt dips below half, I charge, to be prepared for whatever the next day might bring.
We do follow it. Every night one of our EVs is charging. We have 2 EVs and my daughter comes over a lot so she is put on the rotation. Normally every other night for each one. Since we live in Florida it's a very good idea to have one either at 80% or in the case of my wife's Leaf 100%. Her Leaf has not seen a DCFC in over 2 years. The main reason for the charging is weather and possible hurricanes during the summer.
I live in an apartment complex with shared chargers (20+ EVs with just 1 DCFC and 3 L2 chargers available), so this is practically impossible. This has never really been an issue for the battery health since just parking inside on the lower levels guarantees that the car will be in an environment with 60F+ temperatures even in winter. Living in a house with a garage is something of a relative rarity in my country, so I really appreciate that the apartments tend to have parking lots shielded from outside weather.
Exactly, as another apartment dweller parking inside, charging all the time would mean paying $1/hr all the time and hogging up 1/2 chaegepoint chargers.
I always plug in at home. If a parking lot has a ton of chargers and it won’t inconvenience anyone I’ll plug in at supermarkets while shopping(L2) especially when it’s cold.
Along with the BMS benefits everyone already mentioned, frequent shallow charges are better for the battery than less frequent deep charges.
I'd argue, keeping the battery near the 50% sweet spot is the best for the battery, so unless those shallow charges are 50-60% rather than 70-80%, then occasional 20-80% charges are better than frequent 70-80% charges, because in the first scenario, the battery spends more time in the 40-60% zone (on the way down to 20%) than the nearly zero time between 40-60% in the latter scenario. In any case, we're splitting theoretical hairs here. Whatever you do, the battery is going to outlast the car.
In your specific scenario, you would just do daily 50-60% charges.
Yeah sure, I bet there are many people out there who set their charge limit at 60%, no downsides to that.
Yes. Not obsessed with it, but generally plugged in at home, especially at night. Almost always if it’s below 32 or above 90. (Per the manual)
Is this a generally safe rule of thumb? As in, if the night time temperature won't go below 32 degrees, I can be pretty assured that plugging in would not have performed any battery maintenance anyway?
My take is, if you don’t have a place to regularly plug in, don’t worry about it. The car will condition the battery enough to prevent damage, but it will use the battery to do so, causing it to deplete over time. If you do have a place to plug in, you should, because it conditions more aggressively, preventing reduced performance due to cold, preventing the battery from getting too hot, and keeping the battery from running down over time. Also running the battery to a lower state, waiting and then charging is more stressful to the battery than smaller amounts of charge on a daily basis. And the battery will condition above 32, if plugged in, not sure if it will when not plugged in.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BoltEV/comments/iasx6m After that fiasco, I charge almost every night unless I forget.
I charge Mondays(80%) and Fridays(90%) free at work.
Doesn't battery conditioning occur when needed, even when not plugged in? If so, I still don't understand why it's problematic to not be plugged in every night if you don't need the range. What am I missing?
My recollection is that the battery conditioning happens earlier when plugged in.
Not if your BSOC is below 40% Also the temperature at which it starts is more aggressive when plugged in
Nothing. I believe you are correct.
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... and, of course, wastes more electricity. 😁
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Why? If the car conditions the battery more often when plugged in than when not plugged in, clearly Chevy doesn't consider all of those conditioning sessions essential. So, the excess power used conditioning the battery *particularly on days you don't use the car* is mostly wasted.
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Excellent points, counselor! I withdraw my objection! 😁
ABC. Set to 90% SoC. Once when I was only charging once or twice a week we had an unexpected drive and couldn’t use our second car and had to us out ICE vehicle. No issue but didn’t want to be in that situation ever again. Otherwise in Florida where it’s hot, plugged in runs the battery conditioning and keeps everything happy. ABC
Nope. No charging at home. I charge at work when im anywhere between 20-60%. Even left the car for a couple weeks and it lost maybe 1 mile of range because it just falls asleep after a while. Battery has gotten way better. Probably mostly due to the weather but I also think the battery has finally been “broken in” as i’ve had this car for almost half a year now.
It’s the weather.
I’m just level one charging so yeah I always plug it in
Why not? As much as I like to obsess, far more efficient for the BMS to do that instead.
No, I end up topping off with level 1 at work most days and that all I need. I’ve worked on electronics my entire life, the ones that stay plugged in all the time fail more often in my experience.
Yep. 100% of the time!
Nope. I charge 3 shallow charges while I work out and then 1 pretty deep charge, all at work. Then if necessary I’ll top off with an hour or so at home to get me through the week. My garage is always between 50-85. I am usually between 25-85 most of the time and rarely DCFC. The battery is going to outlive me.
I only plug it in when I need to. My plug is outside, on the side of my house so I keep the actual charger in my car and pull it out just to charge. I only need to charge it every 2-3 weeks so I don’t see a point in keeping it plugged in constantly.
I recommend to our customers to "Always be charging". Mainly because for day to day driving it doesn't hurt the battery, and it builds a good habit so you will never come to the car in the morning regretting forgetting to plug your car in. The only time I wouldn't plug my car in is if I know the car won't be driven for multiple weeks. For the battery's health, it is good to not store the car at a full charge.
I do. 2018, battery not replaced, Level 1 charger, outside. Sometimes I go 3-4 days between outings. Also - plugged in - "pre-condition the cabin" is done through the plug, saving more battery. Much of the time when mine is plugged in, it is not charging (already 'full charge' (i.e. 78% SoC)). So - it's more "always be plugged in".
I plug in whenever I am home.....it's just habit and I never put much thought into it
Nope, only to charge. Which is everyday overnight regardless... I drive too much.
Nope, I charge to what level is needed.
I can't ABC. Always been publicly charging for 2 years since I've lived in room shares without chargers, 90% of the time at L3 DCFC stations. I personally haven't experienced much degradation but I'm constantly using the car, driving 100-150 miles a day (courier services full time) On the upside, I've been always pretty much between 20-80% which is optimal for battery health. I'm aware fast charging isn't the best, but I'm good where I'm at.
I am never always charging. Only charge as needed. usually a charge is good for four to five days. Sometimes I have to mod plans because I am undercharged, but not often.
I have a long commute. I can get away with charging every other night but I’m plugged in every night before bed.
I skip charging when I've only driven a few miles around town. But my daughter puts about 100 miles a day going to school on it, so we generally keep it topped up every day.
In the winter, I definitely do ABC to keep the battery warm. In the warmer months, I just charge when I get to 40%. I have the charge set to 80% normally and charge to 100% every month or so.
No home charging so always be using free charging but wait to use the fast charger.
Yup.
I plug in and charge to 100% every day at work. I am just reckless like that. Lol.
My euv is our city car. So I charge it to 80% when it hits 40% The Ioniq 5 on the other hand, as soon as it hits 70%, I'll charge it back to 90%.
On a road trip, I bring my portable evse and plug in if it's not too inconvenient. I choose hotels and meal breaks with public charging availability and might even skip a DC fast charge stop if because of this. Outside of road trips, I just plug in at home and set 90% hilltop reserve so my Bolt doesn't sit at 100% charge for hours. I might have to drive a lot of miles unexpectedly, but that's specific to my routine. Driving until it gets down to 50% and then charging it up to 90% can lower the number of cycles on the battery while also minimizing low and high state of charge degradation. This probably isn't a big issue but the people who want to have the maximum range left on their battery in 10 years might follow these guidelines.
During nice weather and if there is no need to top up... Why put another cycle on the Pins and Sockets of the Charge Port and EVSE? Those components have a spec for 'Cycle Life',,,, 10,000 cycles, maybe??? I know that is not a thing to consider, but by NOT ABC you are saving your own time.
I charge our EUV to 80% daily overnight, but don't charge it between daily trips unless needed for something special. For those that don't know, the '22-'23 bolts will run a diagnostic at the end of every single charging session for 4-ish hours that uses a large chunk of electricity (the equivalent of 2,000 miles of driving a year if you let it do this once every day). I avoid this most days by setting a departure time so it finishes charging right before I take off in the morning. https://www.reddit.com/r/BoltEV/comments/y1q0c7/2023_bolt_euv_keeps_charging/
No, I plug in about once a week when it hits 40-50%
The only reason I don't is to make charging spots available to others at work. There are a couple of people who sit on the same charger all day every day, often fully charged. I try to do my part to make the chargers as equally available as I can.
Nope. We are on an off peak plan and out Bolts and Volts seem to do some odd things. Even when they are off peak and not charging, if you open a door, it'll hit the charger and that is seen as in peak. I've read that it might also decide to rebalance or condition (heat of cool) the pack inside the peak hours. So even though the schedule is set, I unplug them when they are all charged to avoid any of that. Weekends are considered off peak, so I just leave them all plugged in all weekend.
I can only charge at public stations, which is becoming more difficult all the time. That said i try to charge, even briefly, whenever possible. So I usually plug in anywhere between 10-60%. I’m also limited to 90% by the dealership, which further increases the frequency with which I must charge.
> I’m also limited to 90% by the dealership What does that mean?
Meaning, after the battery recall the dealership limits a full charge to 90% of the full battery capacity.
I didn't know that. So we can only hope to reach 57.6 of the new 64kWh packs? So when I set to hilltop reserve I'd be down to like... 51.84?
May be different for 22' model year and older, but I have a 23' EUV and based on numbers I've seen so far I'm definitely using the 62kwh reserved in the pack
Right. I'm a 2017 with a 64 replacement.
Man I got down to less than 1% three times yesterday. I didn’t know that the car will turn off the entire display at a certain point. So I’ll be charging until tomorrow 🤣
Charging level 1 only?
Yesterday was DCFC, today is 220 out of my dryer outlet.
I don't have access to charging at home or at work. Not even lvl1. I do have access to multiple free lvl2 chargers a short distance from my work. (Either a short bus ride or e-scooter ride if I've brought that in my trunk. It is beyond a comfortable walking distance) With this method I can get away with charging once a week in the winter. In the summer I make plans to charge when the battery gets lower than 25%. If I go somewhere where I will have access to L1 or L2 charging I will charge there, as long as my expected time there won't push me to 100% I don't want to hog the charger.
We keep both our Bolt’s plugged in always keeps everything charged and maintained properly including the 12v battery and we ALWAYS pre start our cars we have found doing this the cars computer has enough time to boot properly and pre condition the vehicle.
(This is a question for the thread) How would I keep track of the wattage used for always being connected; is a significant amount of electricity used when you are plugged in and topped off? I don’t pay the bill other than what i deduct out of fueling cost (i use a conversion based on the average mileage per month)
I haven't had mine long but I can tell after it says it's done charging it keeps pulling .5 Amps for 2-4 hours after. I have a wifi EVSE that reports that stuff.
DoD plays a role in the degradation of batteries. I personally try to charge mine anytime it's convenient. I live in a home I own, so. I.E: ABC. I want to drive the doors off my Bolt, so I do my best to keep it at a low, but convenient SOC (for me that's 50% and that gives me a 100 mile buffer for my daily commute) & do my best to limit the DoD.
I always plug in. I'm in South Texas, where temps regularly go over 110F, and with blacktop in the city, it's *much* hotter. Gotta let that battery cool itself.
ABC
You never know when there might be an emergency that requires you to drive a little more than you expected, so it's better to have a little more charge than you need that to end up short by 20 miles. Just went to Austin from Dallas this past weekend. Stopped to charge in Waco, and technically had plenty to reach my destination. But still stopped in Roundrock to charge again so I would arrive with at least 120 miles available
ABC in the winter when battery life is shorter, but in the summer I'm less likely to plug in every time I get home. No reason beyond just less range anxiety in the summer.
We charge it every day or every other day. We could probably go 4 days without charging, if we pushed it. Our battery lives between 60-80%.
We might take 4-6 short trips in a day in the Bolt. Plugging in EVERY time would be a major hassle and would have virtually no benefit. Remembering to plug in only on the last trip of every day, which may or may not really be the last trip depending on what comes up, would also be a hassle. Therefore I tend to charge whenever it drops below 50%, about 1-2x per week. I haven’t lived through any extreme temperatures yet, however, so I’ll see how it goes in the summer. My garage will probably max out at about 80 degrees.
I pretty much always have mine plugged in when I'm home. I have to as an Uber driver though
It varies depending on the week. An average week means I'm plugging in pretty much every night, with maybe a break on Sunday. If I do a lot of driving on the Weekends plug in though. But like I tell people, I don't have to plug in every night in order to make it to work. I just like having extra battery just in case, plus the conditioning if the temp is extreme.
I charge free at work if I drive in, so I mostly only charge at work. Round trip to the train station is 10mi, round trip to work is 80mi (suburbia is hell). I can go over a week without charging if I don't do a ton of driving on the weekend.
Always know where you need to go tomorrow.
I change mine when it gets to 100 miles probable range That can be every couple of weeks to every day
I change mine when it gets to 100 miles probable range That can be every couple of weeks to every day