How often do you charge up?
Discussion
I'm asking this from a point of complete ignorance not owning an EV and just out of curiosity.
A widespread use of EV's will obviously require a lot of charging.
It's widely stated that 'not everyone will be charging at once' as most vehicles will have enough charge for multiple journeys.
However in my mind if my car was 25% depleted after my days work I would just sling it on charge to top it up which would mean a lot of vehicles being charged up after work when the assumption is being made that they wouldn't be.
Am I correct? Do you plug your EV in when you come home as a matter of habit or do you wait till it's nearer requiring a charge?
We run two EV's, one doing 11k miles a year and the other 14k miles a year. One charger at home. Our Octopus Go Faster gives us five hours of cheap electricity from 00:30 to 05:30, and we never stray beyond that (unless essential). Typically we charge each car on alternate nights, regardless of charge level.
On a Sunday evening so 100% for work commute and then a top up for the weekend.
Drawweight said:
I'm asking this from a point of complete ignorance not owning an EV and just out of curiosity.
A widespread use of EV's will obviously require a lot of charging.
It's widely stated that 'not everyone will be charging at once' as most vehicles will have enough charge for multiple journeys.
However in my mind if my car was 25% depleted after my days work I would just sling it on charge to top it up which would mean a lot of vehicles being charged up after work when the assumption is being made that they wouldn't be.
Am I correct? Do you plug your EV in when you come home as a matter of habit or do you wait till it's nearer requiring a charge?
A widespread use of EV's will obviously require a lot of charging.
It's widely stated that 'not everyone will be charging at once' as most vehicles will have enough charge for multiple journeys.
However in my mind if my car was 25% depleted after my days work I would just sling it on charge to top it up which would mean a lot of vehicles being charged up after work when the assumption is being made that they wouldn't be.
Am I correct? Do you plug your EV in when you come home as a matter of habit or do you wait till it's nearer requiring a charge?
We keep ours topped up overnight to about 80% just in case of an emergency and most days that will mean no more than 5-10kWh is needed. We use a granny charger operating at 2.3kW.
Most peoples cars aren't going to b depleted to 25% after a days work as that would be 150-200 miles per day on average, or 40-50k miles per year. very few people are doing even 1/4 of that mileage annually.
Most peoples cars aren't going to b depleted to 25% after a days work as that would be 150-200 miles per day on average, or 40-50k miles per year. very few people are doing even 1/4 of that mileage annually.
Edited by SWoll on Friday 19th August 22:07
Tend to keep mine between 40 and 80%, to cover enough for call outs and to keep the battery healthy.
We get free charging at work so whenever I see a free charger I put it on.
If I charged it to 100% and running it to less than 10% it wouldnt need charging for a whole week. Assuming I didn't get called out or went to site.
Used a rapid about 3 times. Once because it was free and the other two on longer 250 mile + trips. I've only charged it at home twice too totalling about 30kwh, mainly before long trips to ensure I'm leaving with 100%.
MG ZS LR btw.
We get free charging at work so whenever I see a free charger I put it on.
If I charged it to 100% and running it to less than 10% it wouldnt need charging for a whole week. Assuming I didn't get called out or went to site.
Used a rapid about 3 times. Once because it was free and the other two on longer 250 mile + trips. I've only charged it at home twice too totalling about 30kwh, mainly before long trips to ensure I'm leaving with 100%.
MG ZS LR btw.
Drawweight said:
Do you plug your EV in when you come home as a matter of habit or do you wait till it's nearer requiring a charge?
I do... I tend to leave mine on charge 24/7, but once it's at 80%, it's only sipping volts. It is also scheduled to charge overnight, never during the day.Whenever it gets below 50%, and then it’s charged to 85%. This is around once per week at the moment (Tesla Model 3 Performance).
The PHEV gets charged every time it’s used, which is around 4 times a week.
During winter the Tesla will be plugged in every evening that precedes a commute, so as to be able to precondition without using the battery.
The PHEV gets charged every time it’s used, which is around 4 times a week.
During winter the Tesla will be plugged in every evening that precedes a commute, so as to be able to precondition without using the battery.
It's worth noting that on some of the newer cars, the "Always be charging" mantra actually caused the BMS to lose calibration and reduce the range prediction. Leaving the car on lower states of charge can be actually be good to prevent it, and reverse it if its happened. (At least thats the view in the Tesla world, but presumably it might apply elsewhere).
There's little point asking for individuals routines when you're asking a question about charging capacity for 'everyone'.
Averages are all that matter. And the average driver does about 10k a year, which in a fairly typical 200m real world full charge range, throughout the year in an average EV would equate to approx 50 full charges a year - obviously many of those will be split into partial charges but that makes no difference overall.
You could refine that figure with a load of maths and googling for sure, but it's got to be about one full charge per week on average, in reality 2-3 partial charges per week l, virtually all done at home overnight when capacity is at its highest.
Averages are all that matter. And the average driver does about 10k a year, which in a fairly typical 200m real world full charge range, throughout the year in an average EV would equate to approx 50 full charges a year - obviously many of those will be split into partial charges but that makes no difference overall.
You could refine that figure with a load of maths and googling for sure, but it's got to be about one full charge per week on average, in reality 2-3 partial charges per week l, virtually all done at home overnight when capacity is at its highest.
paradigital said:
During winter the Tesla will be plugged in every evening that precedes a commute, so as to be able to precondition without using the battery.
My threads arrived 
I'm 650 odd miles into EV ownership and I'm finding my feet. I did read 20-80% is the sweet spot for running between although after a lifetime of full, run out, fill I'm finding it odd topping up
Currently plugging in around 30% left and can pretty much fully charge it in the cheap tariff window. Not sure what it's doing long term to the battery life though. Did one long run and made sure it was 100%.
I'm 650 odd miles into EV ownership and I'm finding my feet. I did read 20-80% is the sweet spot for running between although after a lifetime of full, run out, fill I'm finding it odd topping up
Currently plugging in around 30% left and can pretty much fully charge it in the cheap tariff window. Not sure what it's doing long term to the battery life though. Did one long run and made sure it was 100%.
JonnyVTEC said:
paradigital said:
During winter the Tesla will be plugged in every evening that precedes a commute, so as to be able to precondition without using the battery.
Cheaper still to use the battery stored cheap energy to precondition but I'm guessing this guy just wants to know the battery is topped up for range.
JonnyVTEC said:
Why are you answering his question?
It’s a flawed logic when you don’t need full range for the day and simply serves to add to the UK peak power demand aswell as costing you more money. That’s all.
It's a forum, people tend to interject on others comments.It’s a flawed logic when you don’t need full range for the day and simply serves to add to the UK peak power demand aswell as costing you more money. That’s all.
How is nighttime peak power demand? How do we know if he may need full range, especially in the winter when range drops.
There's also a question of charger/car scheduling limitations. If the car is set to charge during cheaper hours and then he activates preconditioning in the morning, the car will probably take power from the socket unless he's gone out to unplug which kinda undermines the convenience of remote/preset preconditioning.
I'm just giving examples, I don't know the exact requirement or arrangement a stranger has for charging.
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