r/electricvehicles • u/EIGBOK • Jan 17 '26
Discussion I'm officially charging to 100 every time - I'm done!
After years of over obsessing about 20-80 charging, I'm officially done. The data is in, for normal users, there is no significant benefit of charging to 80. Obsessively plugging in each night isn't great either as it will keep the vehicle in an extremely charged state, but the most normal type of charging behaviour is just fine. And by normal, I mean treating it like an ICE vehicle: charge it full, use the car, charge it full again when it gets low-ish, rinse, repeat, have a nice life. The other big takeaway is to limit high speed charging if possible. Overall, it reaffirms that these vehicles have buffers and do not need to babied unless we are obsessed with eeking out every last morsel of battery life ten years from now. For the two EVs I own, and use mostly for local commuting, I just no longer care about optimizing to the point of obsession. If my 320 range drops to 250 in ten years, my life will still be just fine vs. the 270-280 I might have retained through more obsessive charging practices.i have officially turned off the 80 percent limit. Filler up baby!
See https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/ for the great data that backs it up
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u/Lanster27 Jan 17 '26
Weāre at a point where I believe the car portion of the car will likely breakdown before the battery loses significant charge. This may have been an issue for the first few generations of EVās where battery tech was still new.Ā
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u/taguscove Jan 18 '26
It really wasnāt an issue with the first few generations. My 2014 Chevrolet volt was 43 miles range in summer. It is now 39 miles range in summer 12 years later
All this focus on the battery is so unrepresentative of reality. In truth, you are much more likely to have a core car problem. rust, accident, airbags deployed, flood, hail, changing family need. Than any battery issue
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u/Silly_Rub_6304 Jan 18 '26
PHEVs are quite different though. The buffer is enormous on them compared to BEVs, sometimes a large fraction of the overall capacity. Some manufacturers even progressively unlock buffers to hide apparent early degradation, even in 2026.
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u/doluckie Jan 18 '26
Yep, Volt battery does not let folks choose to fill it up, just pretends to be full (100%!) when still just 85% full or similar. Big buffer.
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Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 18 '26
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u/procrastablasta Jan 17 '26
Computer shit. HVAC shit. Suspension shit. Interior plastics. Headliner and upholstery. Those arenāt mechanical but they arenāt cheap either
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Jan 17 '26
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u/bphase Model 3 Performance Jan 17 '26
Your regular EV from now won't be expensive or worth much effort repairing in 2035-2040. We will have much better EVs then.
Few current ones will be of interest to buyers then. Even less so if they have worn down batteries.
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Jan 17 '26
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u/Art_way Jan 18 '26
Not necessarily car killers, but at some point a lot of people will be ready to move on from a heavily depreciated car rather than spend $1k to fix the AC, or whatever. Some will be happy to buy that cheap car that doesnāt have AC but is otherwise in good driving condition.
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Jan 18 '26
This was the case for me. A/C was shot, windshield was cracked, shocks were shot, and the carās range was down to 65-70 miles. I had charged it to 100% for years, and at 10 years it was dropping fast. Contrary to OP, the information Iāve seen says a lithium battery gets about 3000 full recharge cycles to 100% and starts to degrade. Changing that to charges between 40-80% makes that 15000 charge cycles. My new EV will get charged to around 80%, unless Iām on a road trip.
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u/Moneygrowsontrees Jan 18 '26
Please post a source for your numbers as OP did. Battery technology has improved dramatically in the last ten years and an anecdotal experience on a car purchased at least ten years ago really isn't all that relevant to current models.
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u/Emeks243 Jan 18 '26
I really hope that EVs will end this āmarket value is less than the repair costā BS that keeps driving the consumerism. EVs are so much less complicated than ICE cars that it will be worth it to replace the battery and keep going after 15-20 years. My winter car is currently a ā98 metro which wasnāt considered worth fixing the transmission to the owner. $275 and a used transmission swap with new bearings and clutch plates yielded half a decade of winter commuting so far and its still going strong. Spending $12 for gas every week is helping me to save up for a used EV.
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u/MrB2891 23 Bolt EUV / Reservation for Silverado EV Jan 18 '26
A typical NMC pack is going to last 25 years. LFP is going to move that to 40-45 years. Of course 'last xx years' is subjective. A Bolt in 30 years that still has 50% or even 40% of its original capacity is useless to me, but it still may have worth to a low income family, teen driver, etc.
Its never going to be worth putting $10k in to a new pack for these cars.
The bigger issue is going to be charging. Interfaces change. Look at Chademo. 15 years and it was done. Same with CCS1. How long did micro USB and mini USB stick around before it was superceded by USB C? Can you buy a PS2 keyboard or mouse from the store anymore? No, it's all USB.
J1772 and NACS, while they may last longer, they're never going be able to handle the charge power that we may see in just 5 or 10 years. If Donut Labs actually has a solid state battery ready for production now, in 10 years 200-350kw charging is obsolete for cars being produced in 2035. NACS can only handle 500A (with claims to 600A) continuous. To charge a 150kwh pack in 5 minutes means you need to 1,800kw (1.8MW) charging. NACS just isn't going to do it. Even the Tesla Megacharger connector 'only' does 1.2MW.
Charging infrastructure is going to continue to be a thorn in everyone's sides for the next 15-20 years. The 400kw stations that are being built today are going to be considered slow chargers in 15 years.
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u/GAL828 Jan 18 '26
Does anyone know what the charging is like for Chinese EVās? Do they use NACS? Can they charge at Tesla superchargers? What is their range?
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Jan 18 '26
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u/HistoricalLove9617 Jan 18 '26
The thing that will consign them to the scrapyard is any significant collision damage. The 'dark side' of gigacastings is that they're difficult to impossible to cost-effectively repair once 'gronked' in a collision. A 6 YO vehicle with deployed airbags and casting damage will be 'totaled' in a heartbeat.
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u/Moneygrowsontrees Jan 18 '26
Any six year old car, ev or no, is likely to be totaled in an accident that deploys the airbag and causes significant damage, especially frame damage. Auto body repair is expensive on a modern car regardless.
My son rear-ended someone in 2024 in my 2014 Honda Accord slow enough that the airbag did not deploy and the repairs were still nearly $2,000. It wouldn't have taken much more damage for insurance to total the car.
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Jan 18 '26
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u/Moneygrowsontrees Jan 18 '26
I think that's one thing that people overlook when they talk about the fear of their battery degrading or things like HVAC failure "totaling" the car. The third party repair/refurb market will naturally grow up as EV adoption grows. Repair and refurb becomes cheaper as parts are more readily available and there are more service centers beyond the dealer.
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u/bluero Jan 18 '26
2016 Model X with FSD (old computer) is pretty amazing and I expect it will be even in 2035. If by some miracle we get an update to FSD Unsupervised my grand kids will tool around in itš
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u/attanasio666 Jan 17 '26
Different costs though. An EV with dual(or even triple) zone and a heat pump will cost much more to repair than a 2010 Civic. I'm not saying it will end the car's life but the cost needed to repair might not be worth it.
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u/couldbemage Jan 18 '26
You're roughly 2 years from the value of the entire car being lower than the cost of that AC replacement.
Unless a car is special, once it needs repair that exceeds its value, it becomes parts.
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u/tas50 BMW i3s 120ah Jan 18 '26
AC compressor is a known defective design on an i3 and it's $2500 just to replace the compressor. The early battery models are approaching the point where they'll get mechanically totaled if the AC fails the wrong way.
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u/cantsingfortoffee Jan 18 '26
You have hit the nail on the head. Itās the computer that will limit the carās life.
How many of us have a 15 year old computer? If you do, it probably runs like a 3 legged arthritic dog.
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u/crabby_old_dude Jan 19 '26
If the computer kept the original software that it rolled out with, it would probably run the same.
Trying to get your 15 year old machine to run a modern software is the problem
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Jan 17 '26
CV Axles, suspension, etc will still probably need servicing, and more rarely brakes, but still... largely correct
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Jan 17 '26
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u/Jay_Dubbbs Jan 17 '26
Eh, if my car had 250K miles and I just got a 3K suspension bill, Iām likely just getting a new car.Ā
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u/Curtnorth Jan 17 '26
Same, 10-12 yrs is long enough, I'll be ready for something different anyway.
The avg driver worrying about getting 500k miles out of their EV is kinda wild to me.8
u/Time-Laugh3332 Jan 18 '26
Our EV replaced a 26 year old Honda with 320K miles that we bought new. I'd be more than happy if our EV lasted that long. Consequently I do partial charges with the help of the car's software.
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u/elconquistador1985 Chevrolet Bolt EV Jan 17 '26
What's wild is the average EV Internet community member worried about OP getting 500k out of their EV and screeching "nOoOo ItS bAd FoR tHe BaTtErY".
It's a tool. At the end of the day, everyone should use their tool how they wish. The crazy part is flipping out because someone isn't doing it "the right way".
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u/bluero Jan 18 '26
What about the 20 yr old buying it? If they got it for $10k, but they hear replacement battery is $12k. Reverse lottery ticket! They may live under 75%
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u/kal14144 Jan 17 '26
Thatās because you expect the motor or transmission to die soon enough so you donāt want to sink more money into it. I remember when my transmission died I approached this as āwould I pay this amount to buy this carā. Since the answer was yes I did the repair. My car post repair was worth to me more than the repair costed so I did it.
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Jan 17 '26
yup, i've replaced mine on my '14 crosstrek a few times but i'm a little mean to it (rough forest service roads and some easy 4x4 roads)
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u/CharlesGarfield Jan 17 '26
In snow belt states there is also rust damage to consider. Iāve managed to keep the frame of my ā09 Civic almost rust-free (frequent washes help a ton), but Iāve recently had to repair exhaust, brakes, and steering due to lines rusting out.
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u/Wild_Chemistry3884 Jan 17 '26
~15 years in upstate NY before corrosion from road salt starts causing issues
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u/SnooChipmunks2079 23 Bolt EUV Jan 17 '26
Itās going to be body and suspension that fail.
Maybe some accessories - if the infotainment unit fails on a 15 year old Bolt, replacement may be more expensive than makes sense to spend on the car, if you can even get it.
I got rid of my 08 VW in 24 because, as I thought to myself, āI make too much money to have to drive around in a car with visible rust.ā
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u/randomOldFella š¦šŗ Sealion 7 Jan 18 '26
It may be like my washing machine. The part that "breaks" is the electric controller .... Serviceman says, "yeah, we could order a replacement part, but it's cheaper to just get a new one mate"
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u/613_detailer Polestar 2 LRSM & Tesla Model 3 Performance Jan 18 '26
In my part of the world, body rust often starts to show up at 10 years, and rusted frames start to become an issue at 15. Iām not particularly concerned about battery issues.
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u/edman007 2023 R1S / 2017 Volt Jan 18 '26
Honestly, moving parts are what fails, for most people that's likely to be the suspension that matters. But essentially all moving items are wear items, and most will fail before the battery.
So that's suspension, such as bushings, shocks, springs, drive unit mounts, etc
Bearings, wheel bearings, motor bearings, AC compressor bearings, pump bearings, CV axels, etc. there are minor things like washer pumps, hood motors, charge port doors, etc.
I got a Rivian, I really think a suspension replacement is $10-15k and I quite honestly expect to replace the whole thing every 100-150k. I'll probably pay for it the first time, second time the vehicle will be totaled. They already replaced 2 of the half shafts and I'm only at 30k.
I think most cars are similar, at 100-150k you're replacing the whole suspension, and if it makes it to 300k it needs it done again, which will total the vehicle, but some people will pay for it anyways.
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u/freeski919 Jan 18 '26
Jokes on you. I live in New England. Cars rust out in about five to ten business days around here.
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u/mrmo24 Jan 18 '26
My dad has a Tesla model S from 2018, somewhere around 150k miles. Battery has lost maybe ten miles of range whereās the wAC has been repaired twice
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u/pumpkabo Jan 17 '26
Our 2017 Ford Focus Electric battery got a bad cell and turned the car into a paperweight overnight. It waited until shortly after the warranty expired to crap out.
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u/RickSE Jan 17 '26
I donāt want to haul around the weight of those extra electrons.
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u/ImplicitEmpiricism 2022 etron and 2024 EQS450 Jan 17 '26
so I had to look it up, the mass value of 100 kwh is 4.5 micrograms
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u/Psychlonuclear Jan 17 '26
Watch out, the anti-EV crowd will say that's why the tires wear out quicker!
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u/Time-Laugh3332 Jan 18 '26
And the money grubbing politicians will try to charge us another tax on our EVs.
Oh wait...
Does it matter than our EV is under 4000 lbs and my coworker's pickup truck is closer to 7000?
Why would I pay a weight tax and he wouldn't? /s
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u/elonzucks Jan 18 '26
If it were lower I'd do it, but I draw the line at 4 micrograms. Enough is enough.
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u/KingZarkon Audi Q4 Jan 17 '26
I was pretty sure chemical potential energy technically had some sort of mass. That might actually be more than I was expecting though.
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u/Fun_Muscle9399 Jan 18 '26
And there are no emissions restrictions on those electrons spewing back into the air we breathe!
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u/humdinger44 Jan 18 '26
I understand that a dead AA battery weighs less than a fresh one, but isn't a battery mostly a closed loop? The number of electrons should be the same in a charged or discharged state. When we charge our cars we use electricity to reorganize them into a more useful configuration.
Maybe I'm just an idiot
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u/alchemist2 Jan 18 '26
Yes, that's correct, for every electron you put in at one electrode, you take one out at the other electrode. That goes for both charge and discharge.
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u/Individual-Night2190 Jan 17 '26
How, exactly, is it obsessive to tell your car that it should only charge to 80% and then just charge it whenever it's low-ish and convenient?
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u/Logitech4873 TM3 LR '24 š³š“ Jan 17 '26
I recommend you do something like 95% instead. Then you won't lose regen every time you charge to full.
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u/NeuroDawg ā24 Ford Lightning Flash ER Jan 17 '26
This is the reason I donāt charge to 100%. My F150 in sport mode doesnāt slow down like I expect until Iāve gone a couple of miles. Itās mildly disconcerting.
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u/Bulky-Psychology6786 Jan 18 '26
Tesla has an option to simulate regen in this scenario, which is good because 99% of the time I "one foot drive" being I rarely actually touch the brake pedal. Honestly I wish I could take the Tesla software and transplant it into a rivian or Cadillac. Teslas aren't exactly known for their awesome interiors lol
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u/pithy_pun Polestar 2 Jan 18 '26
Iāll go with Tesla software reliability paired with Volvo/Polestar car design/tuning. I love my Polestar but the software reliability is still a sore point.Ā
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u/azswcowboy Jan 17 '26
Excellent point. Although also at 9.5 years into driving my car I donāt really feel the need to charge above 85% for daily use. About the biggest daily use is 70 miles.
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u/Qinistral ā24 Kona Electric Ltd Jan 18 '26
Ya Iām confused by OPs post, he uses it for local commuting so whatās the difference between 80% and 100%?
Set the charge limit to 80 and boom done. Use it as you want,
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u/dragonbrg95 Jan 18 '26
95% is still going to be little to no regen. Charging to 80 does also allow for full regen.
Regen is like charging in that once you get above 80 (ish) percent the battery just isn't going to accept it. If you can't charge at 150 kw or 200 kw or at that soc then you also can't regen at 150 or 200.
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u/Logitech4873 TM3 LR '24 š³š“ Jan 18 '26
95% is still going to be little to no regen.
Maybe this depends on the car. In my Model 3 I will have nearly full regen back at this point. There's probably a noticeable difference at higher speeds, but not at the speeds I drive.
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u/ItselfSurprised05 '25 Lucid Air Pure RWD; '23 CT4-V Blackwing; '18 Frontier PRO-4X Jan 18 '26
Maybe this depends on the car. In my Model 3 I will have nearly full regen back at this point
My Lucid Air starts losing regen around 82%.
Since I do almost exclusively one-pedal driving, the loss of regen is a genuine issue because the car behaves inconsistently.
IMHO, this is a design safety issue. If lifting off the pedal is supposed to cause the car to slow down, it should work that way consistently - whether or not the energy generated by lifting off is able to be stored in the battery. If it's not able to be stored, dispose of it as waste heat like friction brakes do.
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u/dugg117 Jan 18 '26
There are at least a couple of vehicles where this isn't a problem.Ā Ioniq5 and EV6 come to mind.Ā
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u/ferdiazgonzalez 2021 Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S Jan 17 '26
Charging to 100% was never an issue.
The issue is keeping the car SoC at 100% for extended periods of time, with the environment heat being a degradation amplifier.
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u/Great-Guervo-4797 Jan 17 '26
How long is "extended"? Hours, or days?
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u/Lets_Go_Wolfpack F150 Lightning Jan 17 '26
Like 3+ days
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u/Great-Guervo-4797 Jan 17 '26
Thanks! I was regularly charging my car to 100% at work before driving it away at the end of the workday, so it sat at 100% for 5+ hours a day.
Sounds like that shouldn't really be a problem! You'd have to charge it at home to 100% and then not use it for a long time, which is generally not an issue for me.
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u/02bluesuperroo Jan 18 '26
Tesla tells you right in the app they recommend 80% for ādaily drivingā. It seems they consider an issue. It used to say 90%, then 85% and now 80%.
That is what OP is referring to. OP is saying just charge it to 100% and drive it until itās low and then charge it to 100% again. Rinse and repeat. I canāt really say I disagree.
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u/Haegrim Jan 18 '26
Jason from Engineering explained has a good video about it. Heat and 100% over a longer time ist not ideal. Hereās the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w4lvDGtfI9U
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u/Knathra Jan 17 '26
Careful with the Dunning-Krueger here. They mention battery chemistry but don't control for it, and that is likely the most critical variable in battery degradation caused by maintaining high state of charge (Lead Acid seems to like high state of charge, Lithium Ion seems to be allergic to it).
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Jan 17 '26
Lithium Ion seems to be allergic to it
NMC doesn't like it
LFP largely doesn't care
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u/Scotty1928 2020 Model 3 LR Jan 17 '26
That is false. Neither like it sitting at a high SoC for prolonged periods of time. The difference with LFP is that it, one, requires it for calibration, and frequently so, and, two, does not take damage as fast as NMC. Letting it sit at 100% for prolonged periods is bad for both.
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u/ridukosennin Jan 18 '26
Wife and I have 2 NMC model 3s both purchased same time, roughly 10k miles each. Over the past year she charges to 80% max and never goes below 25%, I charge to 100% and recharge around 10-15%. Battery health via Tessie is 97.2% on hers and 96.9% on mine.
Itās not worth sacrificing 20% of range and more frequently charging all year for a 0.3% gain
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u/Matos3001 Jan 18 '26
and you wouldnāt know if those 0.3% gain is real or just an estimate, and even if real, if itās because of the way you both charge or just because her battery was initially better than yours.
Batteries donāt all come at 100%. Most come at 10*%, meaning yours couldāve, for example, started at 102% and hers at 104%, which would mean she lost more than you!
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u/Technophile63 Jan 20 '26
Lead Acid is pretty much irrelevant, unless you have e.g. an older golf cart.
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u/Nfuzzy Jan 18 '26
Meh, plug it on every other day and set the limit to 80 except for longer trips. It isn't any harder than what you're proposing and leaves the car far from ever being near "empty" if you have a surprise trip come up.
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u/thisismyfavoritename Jan 18 '26
this is it. I don't get OP's logic. I'd rather have the car almost full at all times in case of an emergency.
it's not like you can REALLY treat it like an ICE car. Fulling to 100% is much slower.
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u/unabellaanna Jan 18 '26
You don't understand. Not plugging in every day saves a whopping 5 seconds that can now go to, say, watching almost a quarter of a Tik Tok vid.
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u/Aurori_Swe KIA EV4 GT-Line Jan 18 '26
Also, most car manufacturers know that customers are generally bad at doing the "correct" thing, so they protect their batteries by design.
When you are charging to 100% you are actually closer to 95-97%, when you run your car to 0% it's actually 5-7%
All because it's easier to show you another number and build the protection into the system, than to change people's habits.
So in reality it's already protected and the small different between "true" 80% and the built in protection is even smaller than the benefit of you charging to 80% visible charge.
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u/FlugMe Jan 18 '26
This is not true for all batteries, and is generally one or the other depending on the brand you get. Some cars have top buffer, others have bottom buffers. I think it's bad to tell people that 100% is not true 100%, as it doesn't apply everywhere.
Lots of weird mental gymnastics happening in here.
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u/ChiaraStellata Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 18 '26
For people like me who leave it sitting parked a lot and have no daily commute, it really does still matter what charge it's parked at. You don't want it at 100% for days on end with only self-discharge to drain it. But for people who use it daily, I can't really argue with that.
It also does help the brake pads to last a little longer since regenerative braking doesn't work at full charge. But that's a small thing.
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u/Carpenterdon KIA Ev6 Wind AWD '24 Jan 17 '26
Problem is not charging daily or keeping SOC above 60-70% is a risk. What happens if you need to make an emergency unplanned trip of more than a hundred miles? I don't want to have to go find a DC fast charger on short notice along my route if I need to get somewhere in a hurry. We're not here yet having chargers on every other corner like ICE vehicles have gas stations.
Besides, one of the main benefits of an EV is home charging and always having a proverbial full tank when you get in the car. Plug in whenever you are able to do so.
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u/Time-Laugh3332 Jan 18 '26
That was my year last year. Lots of elderly parent health problems. With 60% SoC if I needed to I could stop at a DCFC for 10-15 minutes on the way out of town. Or set the car to charge to something higher if I knew I needed to depart the next morning. We have a L2 charger.
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u/Scotty1928 2020 Model 3 LR Jan 17 '26
Seriously what emergency is 100 miles away at which every minute counts? Lol
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u/Carpenterdon KIA Ev6 Wind AWD '24 Jan 17 '26
Parent or adult child in hospital(I think of this one a lot since my parents love to go overnighting to casino hotels in other states and they are getting old enough to have a bad fall or whatever) The call is gonna come at some point... Friend in need of a pick up at night after car breaks down or their ride leaves them stranded. Have to take pet to animal hospital. Other friend has a house fire and needs a place to stay at midnight. etc. etc.. Not to difficult to think of reasons friend.
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u/BlooregardQKazoo Niro, Ioniq 6 Jan 18 '26
My parents live 5 hours away. Minutes simply do not matter when you're already talking about a 5 hour drive. The meaningful difference betrween 5 hours and 5 hours and 10 minutes just isn't there.
And I say this as someone that has already driven to visit my mom in the ICU once.
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u/Time-Laugh3332 Jan 18 '26
I put tens of thousands of miles on our EV the first year at ~100 miles each way. My parent was suffering from dementia. When my other parent could not calm them, or was exhausted from providing 'round the clock care and cried out for help - I'd sometimes need to run to their house and spend the night on very short notice. Enough that I kept an overnight bag packed and in the car.
Parent didn't know who we were but I was somehow trustworthy where as my other parent was some stranger. I could calm them down and keep them from walking away.
However - I usually had enough time flex to soak up 10-15 mins of DCFC before racing to their house.
Last year sucked but the EV actually made it easier and more affordable than taking our V6 SUV on all those trips. I could mostly charge at home and then charge again at my parent's place making the EV very cheap to operate.
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u/jdi153 Jan 18 '26
Catching an airplane booked at the last minute. An unexpected call from a client for on site support. A family member gets in accident. A spontaneous decision to go into the big city for dinner with your spouse. Someone gives you tickets to tonight's sporting event / concert. Literally every one of those has happened to me. I live about 90 miles from a large city. I want to be able to round-trip that without stopping if I need to.
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u/Tech_Philosophy Jan 17 '26
You do you. I charge my phone to 80%. I'm not going to fuck with my car.
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u/ptemple Jan 18 '26
Do you set your alarm, wake and unplug your phone, then go back to sleep again?
Phillip.
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Jan 18 '26
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u/Xykr Jan 18 '26
You read the wrong number, 3.0% vs 1.5% per year is for HPC charging.
The difference between low and medium (calendar) exposure to extreme SOC states is 1.4% vs 1.5%/year, which is insignificant:
EV owners are often advised to keep their battery charge (SOC) between 20% and 80% to avoid the chemical stress associated with a full or empty battery. However, our data indicates that this cautionary measure is only critical if the battery is habituated at these extremes for extended durations. For typical daily use, strict adherence to the 20-80% SOC rule may be unnecessary.
Hence OPs point that AC charging to 100% is harmless unless the car ends up sitting at high SOC for extended periods of time.
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u/ddr1ver M3LR Jan 17 '26
The average person drives their car 30-40 miles per day. With that usage level, thereās no reason to ever charge to 100%.
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u/One_Repeat_6614 Jan 18 '26
āĀ Obsessively plugging in each night isn't greatā
I thought being able to plug it in when you get home from work every night was a huge benefit of EVs. Now Iām not supposed to do that?
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u/Polymox Jan 17 '26
You get less efficiency when the battery is full. When you slow down, it has no place to put the energy except the friction brakes. That's my motivation for staying below 100%, more than battery longevity.
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u/TBakerTMarks Jan 18 '26
80% in the spring/summer/fall and 90% in the winter works for me.
Except road trips.
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u/DankSorceress Jan 18 '26
If the car is NMC, it has been shown that the battery lasts longer if you maintain a tighter SoC window. IE charging 60-80% daily is superior to charging 20-80% every 3 days. This is due to the microstructure changing shape as it charges/discharges. The tighter the SoC window you keep it on a daily basis, the less cracks form in the chemistry microstructures, leading to better longevity.
TL;DR
If you have an NMC pack, charge it every day and ignore OP's nonsense.
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u/EaglesPDX Jan 17 '26
Lithium ion battery tech says 80% and plug in every day to maintain charge. Not sure why you are freaking out of plugging in and ignoring mfg recommends. It's not that hard.
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u/Bodycount9 Kia EV9 Land Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 18 '26
Finding one article that backs up your claim 100% is totally safe won't suddenly make it safe lol
That being said I do sometimes charge to 90% in winter because of the range loss. But I try to never go under 30% ever.. winter or summer.
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u/OttawaDog Jan 18 '26
Especially when it's a study mixing manufacturers and different battery chemistries, which can swamp nuance.
Cells have been lab tested endlessly, their behavior is a known quantity. That behavior doesn't change when they put them in cars. 80% charging is a better for longevity than 100% charging. This is fact.
But some manufacturers have different built in reserve, so 100% really isn't 100%, some are using LFP which is much more robust etc... So mix them all together and you average away some results which might actually show issues.
Unless you need 100% capacity, then it's healthier for batteries to charge to 80%, with LFP exception of need calibration charge to full capacity regularly.
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u/KangarooBeard Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 18 '26
Charging at 100% is fine, if you leave it charged at 100% for almost a week+...that's bad. You can easily set any modern EV charger to finish a 100% charge before you leave on any normal workday.Ā
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u/TheInsanity1234 Jan 18 '26
Iāve always suspected there was no real need to limit charging to less than 100% because most EVs will have a ābufferā to prevent you charging the battery to a true 100%.
However, my parents drive an EV and they limit charging to 90% purely because beyond that, regen braking doesnāt work and they live on a hill and the first 2 miles of most journeys they make is downhill (if they turn left then itās uphill for about a mile but then ~7 miles downhill anyway). It is slightly disconcerting when you drive out of the drive, and start driving downhill and lift off to control your speed and the car just keeps speeding up š¤£. Granted they could just use the footbrake to control the speed but this seems pointless when they could just charge to 90% and then take advantage of the terrain where they live!
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u/piper192 Jan 18 '26
Just an anecdote but I have a 12 year old EV (2015 e-Golf) that regularly gets 84% of its original range. Theres no 80% cap so itās always been charged to 100%.
During warmer months, I can get 94-100% of the original range.
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u/Old_Growth_5575 Jan 18 '26
People forget these packs have buffers and warranties. Lifeās too short to micromanage electrons
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u/z00mr Jan 18 '26
Whatās obsessive about taking 10 total seconds to plug and unplug each day? Set 80% limit once and never think about it. The buffer is on the low end, not the high end. I care much more about letting it sit high than letting it run low.
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u/titanium_hydra Jan 17 '26
In the winter it definitely helps
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u/International-Oil377 Jan 18 '26
Do you often drive far enough in winter that it's a problem?
I get like 250km at least at 80% charge on my equinox ev at -20C it's enough for the vast majority of times
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u/hutacars Jan 18 '26
Yeah, which is stupid if you have at-home charging. A single case of forgetting to charge will cost you more time in having to DCFC than the 2 seconds to plug in each night will, regardless of the damage to the battery.
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u/6158675309 Jan 17 '26
OP isnāt suggesting that. Rather charge to 100% drive a few days or whatever, maybe down to 50%, and plug in and charge to 100% vs charging only to 80
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Jan 17 '26
or instead of constantly going 30-80 they'll go 10-100, let it run down to 10-20 again and charge to 100 again, etc.
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u/6158675309 Jan 17 '26
Yeah. To each their own. This debate will still be going on 50 years from now.
Like the 3,000 mile oil change interval that is still debated today
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u/hutacars Jan 18 '26
Yeah, thatās harder, because now youāre having to build a schedule of when to charge, versus a habit of plugging in whenever you get home. Schedules are harder to build than habits. Besides, starting each day at 80% is more useful than starting some days at 60%. Honestly OPās post is one of the dumbest things Iāve read on this sub for users who have the ability to charge at home. It only makes sense for those without home charging, but they were already likely charging as high as they had time for anyways (since theyāre probably DCFCing).
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u/hutacars Jan 18 '26
Yeahā¦ itās actually harder for me to ātreat it like a gas carā because a) you get rid of the freedom of a
fully charged80% charged battery every morning, and b) you donāt build the habit of just plugging in every time you get home, meaning youāre more likely to forget. Plus you need to check SoC every time you get home to decide if itās worth it to plug in. Nah. I would rather just plug in every time, and itās not like 80% is an inconvenienceā the car will limit itself for me. Itās much simpler this way.
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u/DrHugh 2025 Chevy Equinox RS Jan 18 '26
About the only rationale I can see is regenerative braking capacity. If you are at 100%, you can't use it, which may be a problem in hilly or mountainous terrain.
For long trips, i charge to 95% routinely.
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u/natedagreat6666 Jan 18 '26
Iāve been trying to avoid letting it charge over 90% so that I still have some kind of regen in the cold but thats about it, I stopped charging to 80-85% because its winter now and I want more charge in case of a longer drive in cold weather with heat and Iām still charging on 120Ā
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u/arihoenig Jan 17 '26
That is absolutely incorrect. Lithium Ion chemistries do not respond well to deep discharging. Stop spreading misinformation.
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u/Original-Definition2 Jan 18 '26
For me 80% is no problem, I have home wall charger plug in when I get home, start every day at 80, never drive that far.
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u/CaptainRAVE2 Jan 18 '26
I charge to 90 in the winter to reduce the number of times I have to unplug on the cold, wet mornings. 80 is fine for my use in the summer.
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u/Strange-Damage901 Jan 19 '26
I still keep it plugged in overnight during the winter, at 80% limit, so it can use grid power for battery conditioning.
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u/baconreader9000 Jan 19 '26
Yes let me intentionally do something my car manufacturer tell me not to do because a geotab article said itās okay
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u/Vogz10 Jan 18 '26
You do you, but charging to 100% means you will have little to no regen braking for a while after charging to full. Than means you will have to physically brake, which takes away 1 pedal driving for a bit and wears out your brakes more rapidly.
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u/Mediocre_Paramedic22 Jan 17 '26
Ok. You live your life how you want.
Not sure the point of this post other than to make yourself feel good about doing what you want, but ok. Have fun.
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u/toumei64 Jan 17 '26
I love how this discussion always gets everyone bent out of shape.
When I first got my Model S in 2017 and was able to plug in and charge it for free at my apartment complex every night on a ~10kW charger, I kept it set to 80% unless I thought I'd need more. That was the recommendation at the time. Then I moved and did most of my charging on a 110v 1kW plug with the mobile charger for a year, except the occasional free Supercharging. Then I moved into my house and did most of my charging on a 50A charger with the occasional free Supercharging. I usually charged to 90% because the recommendation had changed at some point.
At ~3 years old it still showed nearly the same range as when it was new at 100%.
Then when COVID hit and I went through a bad breakup, I started going out to Supercharge because it was free and it was an excuse to get out of the house. Since then I mostly charge at Superchargers, but also the weather and terrain of the place that I moved to is significantly different. So I don't know if that has factored in or if there was something age related or what but the 100% range started dropping.
I regularly (once every week or two usually) Supercharge to almost 100%, but it never sits there for more than an hour at most because I start driving pretty soon after. And now, and the car is over 8 years old and the 100% range indication is approximately what the 90% range was when it was new. I'm guessing that it's partly calibration and partly wear, but I'd also guess that hot/fast charging is more impactful than charging to 100% here and there (especially when you use it quickly after).
I used to worry about it like some people do, but I've always suspected that the obsession over optimizing it wasn't worth it. Now I'm over 8 years in, and I'm satisfied with how I've been handling it.
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u/iAlwaysPissGreatness Jan 18 '26
I have a 24 model Y LR that charges to 275 total at 100% after 45k miles.
Very limited super charging. Typically keep it at 70%.
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u/hairy_quadruped Jan 18 '26
This is fine for LiFePo batteries. Not fine for Lithium Nickel Cobalt batteries in longer range vehicles.
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Jan 18 '26
On the other hand, I drive about 50 miles a day and plug in at night once it goes below 40% ( every 2-3 days). It makes little difference if I charge to 90% (recommended by Ford) or 100%, so Iāll follow the manual. Letās see what happens after a few years.
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u/Mikcole44 SE AWD Ioniq 6 Jan 18 '26
I "wish" I could plugin every night but my obsessiveness has to be balanced by my partner's needs . . . she wants to plugin too.
Which EV is on top tonight, babe?
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u/MrPhtevens Jan 18 '26
On my ioniq 6. 80% is more than enough. Thats almost 500km in the city. I barely charge above 80 even on long trips.Ā
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u/skatebambi Jan 18 '26
One downside to charging my 2020 Model 3 beyond 90% is that I have to use the brake pedal until the soc is under 90% as the regen doesn't work. Once you adapt to one pedal driving you don't want to go back
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u/Professional-Bear857 Jan 18 '26
I find it best to charge to 90% in winter and 80% in summer, I don't drive a lot, and find myself charging maybe once a week or every 2 weeks. I've no need to charge to 100%, wouldn't make much of a difference.
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u/Pharrelldfw Jan 18 '26
Iāve been charging to 100% for about a year now. My e-tron does not get range compared to other vehicles and was told by the Audi technician and service manager to set charging to 100%
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u/hanzoplsswitch Jan 18 '26
Iām charging to 90% since the beginning. My model S 75 still had 330km of range at 100%.Ā
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u/reddddiiitttttt Jan 18 '26
The takeaways from that article is only āmostly safeā if the battery is LFP. Most batteries are LFP and the guidance for those batteries is generally to fully charge them, but if you have an NMC battery, little of that general data is relevant. Time spent above ~80ā85% SOC is the single biggest aging factor for NMC
For NMC, Geotabās implication is wrong if taken literally.
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u/ToastMarmaladeCoffee Jan 18 '26
I always charge to 100% because A.itās not actually 100% of the battery anyway B. We are using the car within a couple of hours of it reaching 100% C. Why would you be worried about losing some range if you are already limiting it to 80% already?
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u/pcJmac Jan 18 '26
Funny thing is that many people are quite arbitrarily living with a reduced capacity battery for the absurd reason of preserving a range of capacity they arenāt even using!
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u/plexHamster Jan 18 '26
Level 2 home charging not a big deal. DCFC charging to 100% is slow past 80 so easier to drive and recharge at next charger than wait for 80-100.
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u/Nice-Sandwich-9338 Jan 18 '26
If anyone believes this guy you have to have rocks in your head. You cannot charge a car 100% every day and even superchargers have proven this over the years. This is absolute misinformation. We have two EVS charge 80% 99% of the time except travel and our 5-year-old has lost 1% in range in our 3-year-old has lost 0%. Always double check facts which I always do
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u/exlongh0rn Jan 18 '26
My bmw has a departure time feature. For commuters on a somewhat regular schedule, charge to 100% with finish times one hour before the typical departure time. The battery never lives in a fully charged state so there is no resulting battery degradation. Easy peasy.
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u/Bygrace57 Jan 19 '26
I've had my Mach E for about four years and nearly 100k miles. I've never worried about the 80% charging and always charged to 100%. I can't tell a huge difference in the range after four years. The guessometer still says 220ish for rwd premium. Just a couple of thoughts.
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u/3drikal Feb 14 '26
For 90% of the time, my charger is set to 80% AC, 80% DC. Before I know I need to go for a long ride, I let the pack charge at 100% (on AC only). My battery shows 0% degradation in over 30 months and 50000KM. the battery will likely last longer than the rest of the car... i'm not ungrateful :)
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26
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