What's your charging routine?
Discussion
It's a noob question, but for those who have home chargers - do you plug in every night?
I've owned my 38kWh Ioniq for about a month and have been plugging in when it gets down to around 20%, charging to 80%. This has been every other day, possibly every three days.
After a nightmare journey back from north London on Sunday (bad planning on my part, less range than indicated on the motorway, closed charger locations, multiple vandalised chargers) where we finally rolled up to a working charger with 3% remaining, I'm tempted to plug in every night to keep it as close to 80% (I realise this may not be a rational response!) Is this sensible/worth it, or is it harmful for the battery to frequently top up to 80%?
BTW I hope the b
ds who stole the cables from the vandalised chargers in Bromsgrove (2 locations, 7 chargers in total) get bloody electrocuted the next time they try it.
I've owned my 38kWh Ioniq for about a month and have been plugging in when it gets down to around 20%, charging to 80%. This has been every other day, possibly every three days.
After a nightmare journey back from north London on Sunday (bad planning on my part, less range than indicated on the motorway, closed charger locations, multiple vandalised chargers) where we finally rolled up to a working charger with 3% remaining, I'm tempted to plug in every night to keep it as close to 80% (I realise this may not be a rational response!) Is this sensible/worth it, or is it harmful for the battery to frequently top up to 80%?
BTW I hope the b

underwhelmist said:
It's a noob question, but for those who have home chargers - do you plug in every night?
I've owned my 38kWh Ioniq for about a month and have been plugging in when it gets down to around 20%, charging to 80%. This has been every other day, possibly every three days.
After a nightmare journey back from north London on Sunday (bad planning on my part, less range than indicated on the motorway, closed charger locations, multiple vandalised chargers) where we finally rolled up to a working charger with 3% remaining, I'm tempted to plug in every night to keep it as close to 80% (I realise this may not be a rational response!) Is this sensible/worth it, or is it harmful for the battery to frequently top up to 80%?
BTW I hope the b
ds who stole the cables from the vandalised chargers in Bromsgrove (2 locations, 7 chargers in total) get bloody electrocuted the next time they try it.
Start every day with 80%. No problem. At all.I've owned my 38kWh Ioniq for about a month and have been plugging in when it gets down to around 20%, charging to 80%. This has been every other day, possibly every three days.
After a nightmare journey back from north London on Sunday (bad planning on my part, less range than indicated on the motorway, closed charger locations, multiple vandalised chargers) where we finally rolled up to a working charger with 3% remaining, I'm tempted to plug in every night to keep it as close to 80% (I realise this may not be a rational response!) Is this sensible/worth it, or is it harmful for the battery to frequently top up to 80%?
BTW I hope the b

Or even a 100% on weekdays if commuting every day.
Our BMW has been charged to 100% every time its been plugged in since new (3 years and 30k miles) and no noticeable change in range.
Edited by Discombobulate on Tuesday 29th July 23:07
I lease mine, so I don't care about the battery. I put mine on charge whenever I get home, and leave it until it's at 100%. I've had it for a bit over 2 years and have only lost about 10 miles from its max-declared range (222 down to 212).
Mine charges from the granny charger only but I don't use it everyday. This time of year I plug it in only during the day so that it charges off my solar panels.
Mine charges from the granny charger only but I don't use it everyday. This time of year I plug it in only during the day so that it charges off my solar panels.
underwhelmist said:
It's a noob question, but for those who have home chargers - do you plug in every night?
I've owned my 38kWh Ioniq for about a month and have been plugging in when it gets down to around 20%, charging to 80%. This has been every other day, possibly every three days.
After a nightmare journey back from north London on Sunday (bad planning on my part, less range than indicated on the motorway, closed charger locations, multiple vandalised chargers) where we finally rolled up to a working charger with 3% remaining, I'm tempted to plug in every night to keep it as close to 80% (I realise this may not be a rational response!) Is this sensible/worth it, or is it harmful for the battery to frequently top up to 80%?
BTW I hope the b
ds who stole the cables from the vandalised chargers in Bromsgrove (2 locations, 7 chargers in total) get bloody electrocuted the next time they try it.
I'd keep the battery close to 80% and not worry too much about it, and I occasionally pretend to be a rational being. I've owned my 38kWh Ioniq for about a month and have been plugging in when it gets down to around 20%, charging to 80%. This has been every other day, possibly every three days.
After a nightmare journey back from north London on Sunday (bad planning on my part, less range than indicated on the motorway, closed charger locations, multiple vandalised chargers) where we finally rolled up to a working charger with 3% remaining, I'm tempted to plug in every night to keep it as close to 80% (I realise this may not be a rational response!) Is this sensible/worth it, or is it harmful for the battery to frequently top up to 80%?
BTW I hope the b


I've understood that the closer you are to 50% (or 40%, depending a bit on the source), the better. So 80% should be as good as 20%.
For what it is worth, the Ioniq 5 manual recommends topping up to 100% if the SoC has dropped below 20% to help the battery management system balance the cells. The manual doesn't say anything about keeping the charge at 100% for extended periods of time (days/weeks), but other sources do. But I don't think that occasionally charging to 100% before the daily commute should cause any measurable wear.
We usually start charging when running errands (no home charging) at around 40-45% SoC until we end up somewhere around 80-85%. Unless we realise we have ignored the "occasional 100% charge" rule for a month or two (or we're on a road trip). Haven't checked the battery health, but there's no reduction of range over 70,000km.
flight147z said:
Why are you not charging it to 100%...?
Because I've bought it, not leasing, and the plan is to keep it for a long time. I've read that always charging to 100% can harm battery longevity. I did charge to 100% before leaving for the big smoke, it was only later that day that my incompetence kicked in!Discombobulate said:
Start every day with 80%. No problem. At all.
Or even a 100% on weekdays if commuting every day.
Our BMW has been charged to 100% every time its been plugged in since new (3 years and 30k miles) and no noticeable change in range.
Good to know, thank you.Or even a 100% on weekdays if commuting every day.
Our BMW has been charged to 100% every time its been plugged in since new (3 years and 30k miles) and no noticeable change in range.
Edited by Discombobulate on Tuesday 29th July 23:07
Danm1les said:
We have 2 ev s, regardless of SOC, one of them is always plugged in over night, even if it s for a little top up.
I think this might be the way.PetrolHeadInRecovery said:
I'd keep the battery close to 80% and not worry too much about it, and I occasionally pretend to be a rational being. 
I've understood that the closer you are to 50% (or 40%, depending a bit on the source), the better. So 80% should be as good as 20%.
For what it is worth, the Ioniq 5 manual recommends topping up to 100% if the SoC has dropped below 20% to help the battery management system balance the cells. The manual doesn't say anything about keeping the charge at 100% for extended periods of time (days/weeks), but other sources do. But I don't think that occasionally charging to 100% before the daily commute should cause any measurable wear.
We usually start charging when running errands (no home charging) at around 40-45% SoC until we end up somewhere around 80-85%. Unless we realise we have ignored the "occasional 100% charge" rule for a month or two (or we're on a road trip). Haven't checked the battery health, but there's no reduction of range over 70,000km.
Yeah I've read a lot about the 20%-80% rule but I don't know if it's still applicable with more recent batteries and management systems (the car is three years old, so not bang up to date, but still). I haven't seen any mention of charging to 100% occasionally in my manual but I'll take another look.
I've understood that the closer you are to 50% (or 40%, depending a bit on the source), the better. So 80% should be as good as 20%.
For what it is worth, the Ioniq 5 manual recommends topping up to 100% if the SoC has dropped below 20% to help the battery management system balance the cells. The manual doesn't say anything about keeping the charge at 100% for extended periods of time (days/weeks), but other sources do. But I don't think that occasionally charging to 100% before the daily commute should cause any measurable wear.
We usually start charging when running errands (no home charging) at around 40-45% SoC until we end up somewhere around 80-85%. Unless we realise we have ignored the "occasional 100% charge" rule for a month or two (or we're on a road trip). Haven't checked the battery health, but there's no reduction of range over 70,000km.
Thanks all for the responses, I think I'll get in the habit of topping up to 80% every night even though I'm probably only using 15% on normal commuting days.
edit: Shout out to the staff (and a few regulars) at the Swan in Fairfield, Bromsgrove, location of a bunch of lobotomised chargers. Even though they'd officially closed they let us in and advised us where to find a working charger. We'll be back for lunch!
Edited by underwhelmist on Wednesday 30th July 00:25
We have two EVs, not a chance we charge one everynight, that would turn into a massive pain the arse.
The Polestar is charged once a week (200 mile range), and the i3 probably twice a week, once at home and once at work (140 mile range).
Both charged to 100% everytime, I really couldnt give a monkeys about the life span of the car, it won't be my problem
The Polestar is charged once a week (200 mile range), and the i3 probably twice a week, once at home and once at work (140 mile range).
Both charged to 100% everytime, I really couldnt give a monkeys about the life span of the car, it won't be my problem

kambites said:
We plug in overnight if the car is below about 50%, with the car set to stop at 80%. In practice that generally means a couple of times a week for us.
If we have a long trip then next day we'll set the car to charge to 100%, obviously.
We've only had ours for a few weeks, but so far it's the same for us, usually means just once a week at the moment.If we have a long trip then next day we'll set the car to charge to 100%, obviously.
My (albeit limited) understanding is that it is proportionally more expensive to get that final 80-100% charge which is why I won't bother unless needed.
Zetec-S said:
We've only had ours for a few weeks, but so far it's the same for us, usually means just once a week at the moment.
My (albeit limited) understanding is that it is proportionally more expensive to get that final 80-100% charge which is why I won't bother unless needed.
It's no more expensive. Just slower if using a fast charger as the car / charger throttles back once it gets past 80%/My (albeit limited) understanding is that it is proportionally more expensive to get that final 80-100% charge which is why I won't bother unless needed.
Zetec-S said:
My (albeit limited) understanding is that it is proportionally more expensive to get that final 80-100% charge which is why I won't bother unless needed.
I don't think charging efficiency drops at the top end of the capacity. It just gets slower and wears the battery out slightly faster. Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff