EV Trickle Charging

[Doofus]

Presumably you can leave an EV plugged in even after the battery is full. If you do so for, say, several weeks at a time, will it cause damage, or discharge or something, or will it trickle charge as needed?

[Scrump]

I left my PHEV connected to the charger on my drive for many long periods without issue.
When the battery is full the charge is switched off.

[PKLD]

Don’t leave it full for ‘several’ weeks at a time if you’re keeping it for a few years and/or want to be sympathetic to the next owners!

My Leaf will top up the 12V battery automatically and think most EVs do if left for a while.

If you’re planning to not drive it for a while I’d be leaving it between 30-80% charged

[Doofus]

OK, thanks. It's probably make/model specific, but can you tell a car to stop charging when it reaches, say, 50%?

[FurtiveFreddy]

Yes, it's all well managed. You can tell it when to start and what state of charge you want it to reach with most if not all EVs.

[Evanivitch]

PKLD said:

Don’t leave it full for ‘several’ weeks at a time if you’re keeping it for a few years and/or want to be sympathetic to the next owners!

My Leaf will top up the 12V battery automatically and think most EVs do if left for a while.

If you’re planning to not drive it for a while I’d be leaving it between 30-80% charged

Whilst that is true, you would still leave the car plugged in, especially in extreme weather conditions in a car with active thermal management.

The Ampera for example doesn't fully charge the battery anyway, but in the winter last year I could hear the battery heater clicking on from time to time, and it would do the same in 40+ C Deg weather too.

[Doofus]

Lovely, thanks all.