Battery Longevity Strategies

[dbrk]

I'm hoping better informed EV owners here will know if this is true.
Preface: I started driving my Taycan with the usual "range anxiety" issues that come with EV ownership. I have long since calmed down. My commute is about 100 miles round trip.
Query: Is it true that battery life will be extended if I charge to the minimum over 50% and get home with about 35%. The idea (as it was explained to me) is that the battery will remain healthier the closer it is to 50%. Thus I need not be charging daily to 85%, which was my habit, but trying to keep those electrons closer to neutral (50/50). I charge to 60% and get home with about 30%. Is this somehow "better" for the battery? Further, keep the battery also from charging from any red zone percentage, thus easing the charge cycles. Any truth, opinion, ideas about this?

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[Scandinavian]

Welcome!

Looks like the advice you have got and follow is one that is recommended. Check out the video by Jeff Dahn in this thread and you might get more information. A lot of thoughts and facts in this thread as well.

There is so much talk about how to best treat your battery, but it seems Porsche’s BMS is very capable. If you charge mainly at home with ac, it might not really matter if you charge to 60 or 80%. Evidently the best for charging is frequent shallow charging 25 - 40 % rather than deep charges, 70 - 80%.

Good luck

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/baseline-for-hv-battery-soh-performance.12815/

 

[alexsas]

My non-scientific view (which seems to be supported by a graph of state of health topic) is that no matter what you do the battery loses 10% in the first year, and then it all stabilizes... and if it goes lower than 80% in 3 years or 70% in 3-8 years it's a warranty claim...

 

[DoctorLife]

For convenience, I previously charged weekly, daily commute 12 miles round trip. Watching battery degradation videos, and intending to keep the car for >5 years, I now charge 3 x weekly from 45% to 60% soc. Best battery preservation strategy for regular charging is to charge small amounts rather than large amounts.

From memory, the battery degradation curves suggest charging from 47 to 52% is best for degradation, whereas what I used to do, 30-85% weekly is not as good.

For your usage, charging to 50% might be risky with a 100 mile round trip if only because of weather, and traffic unpredictability, unless you have a charging station en route (hopefully not EA ). You may therefore have no choice but to charge between 30-80% in which case forget the deg and just enjoy your beautiful car.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Good topic. Discussed plenty with much data available.

Quick answer, your way of doing it appears to be the best way supported by available data.

My first uneducated guess was to treat it like a phone or laptop battery, discharge deep, and then charge to 85% for daily use. The chemistry of the batteries is different and battery management system is not comparable to a phone/laptop so the recommendation is to keep it centered around 50% with top 65% and bottom 35% if I know I have a short daily route, but if I have a long daily route (extra trips) then I go to 85%. My target is 50% if the car is not driven for a few days, which seems to be recommended at rest SoC.

I am measuring my SoH regularly and due to for another reading at 5k miles next, but at 4k miles my SoH was 93.85% down from 99.95% level at delivery.

The other metric that I am tracking for myself is SoH against warranty levels of degradation as shown below for 2023 model and participating in the efforts by @ciaranob in the link shared earlier in the post:

 

[snstevens]

I'm hoping better informed EV owners here will know if this is true.
Preface: I started driving my Taycan with the usual "range anxiety" issues that come with EV ownership. I have long since calmed down. My commute is about 100 miles round trip.
Query: Is it true that battery life will be extended if I charge to the minimum over 50% and get home with about 35%. The idea (as it was explained to me) is that the battery will remain healthier the closer it is to 50%. Thus I need not be charging daily to 85%, which was my habit, but trying to keep those electrons closer to neutral (50/50). I charge to 60% and get home with about 30%. Is this somehow "better" for the battery? Further, keep the battery also from charging from any red zone percentage, thus easing the charge cycles. Any truth, opinion, ideas about this?

I suggest reading this thread, or if you like, go to this post that summarizes the video recommendations.

 

[dbrk]

That is an incredible thread---and the videos really answered all my questions. Thanks for all of the help!

 

[Remedy234]

When I picked mine to I asked about the 20% / 80% theory and was told it’s no issue to charge to 100% every charge if I so wished so that’s what I do.

 

[Scandinavian]

When I picked mine to I asked about the 20% / 80% theory and was told it’s no issue to charge to 100% every charge if I so wished so that’s what I do.

Who gave that advise? A battery specialist or the ill informed sales man?

I am amazed that people do Not take onboard the information that specialist, designers and developers of battery technology give. These guys surely have tested so much different chemistry and charging methods to be listened to.

 

[Remedy234]

Who gave that advise? A battery specialist or the ill informed sales man?

I am amazed that people do Not take onboard the information that specialist, designers and developers of battery technology give. These guys surely have tested so much different chemistry and charging methods to be listened to.

Yes the sales advisor so maybe not the most reliable. I’m only keeping it 4 years so not too worried.

 

[snstevens]

Yes the sales advisor so maybe not the most reliable. I’m only keeping it 4 years so not too worried.

When I first bought my Taycan I thought I'd go to 100% all the time. Then I read that 85% was better and so with some reluctance I changed the Profile.

In hindsight I was more worried about range then I should have been. Currently I follow the guidance I mentioned above (frequent charging and narrow range of discharge-to-charge) and I never even think about 100%. Now if I had a 100 mile commute each way, that would be different.

 

[AmpedUp]

The closer your battery is to 50% at all times, the better. So for daily driving, I plug in below 45% and charge to 60% (I rarely go more than 10 miles away and work from home). BUT certain features like launch control only work above something like 75% SoC, so if I'm going for a spirited drive, I charge to at least 80-85% to get better performance. I have an 80amp charger, so I can get from 60-80% with as little as 45 minutes advanced planning.

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