What’s REALLY Ruining Your EV Battery // Stop Stressing

What's really ruining your EV battery life is calendar aging, so today I'm going to give you practical advice on electric vehicle battery care so you can stop stressing.

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Venmo: @thelimitingfactor

*Timeline*
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Where did my battery capacity go?
03:49 Calendar Life – The Geotab Data
08:08 Practical Battery Care // The Big 3 and Storage
09:35 Practical Battery Care // LFP
11:36 Practical Battery Care // NCA and NMC
12:33 Supercharging
13:29 The EV Brand Matters!
14:53 Reference Material
15:09 Summary

Intro Music by Dyalla: Homer Said

[thelimitingfactor]

Note: There was one YouTuber that brought up calendar life and the fact that batteries are use it or lose it, and that's Will Prowse.

However, this video is focused on EV batteries, and Will focuses more on home energy storage

I would have mentioned all this in the video, but I try to keep the scripts aa tight as possible.

Either way, I highly recommend Will's channel!

[tonydeveyra]

8:04 batteries being "use it or lose it" also means that rideshare and robotaxi use cases get even more value out of the battery resource than we think.

[brianbradford]

For ~ 10 years I've been waiting for this data!
Thanks for providing! 🙏

[АзирекТабалдиев]

To maximize utility of evs, drive short trips more
To maximize utility of ice cars, drive short trips less

[kevtheobald]

Just finished the 13 hour long battery health check test that Tesla has built-in to the my 2023 Model 3 RWD. It was built in May of 2023 and has the CATL battery. I am at 25, 833 miles and if you can trust the Tesla health test, I am down 8%. Rarely use Tesla super chargers, mostly hope charging with 240 volt connect via Tesla home charger. My target for ownership is to hit 250, 000 miles. My previous vehicle, Toyota Camry basically died at 243, 000 miles. This is my only vehicle and gets used daily.

Very useful info for anyone considering or already owning an EV. Great work as usual Jordan.

[skipondowntheroad]

I have not read the article THE CLOSING LONGEVITY GAP BETWEEN EV'S AND ICE that you reference, but most studies seem to conclude that an EV is dead (at end of life) when the battery still has a very useable 80 percent capacity. So an average Tesla would be considered dead at 204k miles while still having much life left in the battery, while an average ICE vehicle would REALLY be at end of life with 204k miles and a completely useless trans/engine. I'm sure there are a few ICE makes and models that will exceed those numbers and you will have anecdotes of people getting 300K and 400K miles on an ICE car, but those are exceptions and not the average.

[evkx]

Great content, really appreciate the compact format!

When it comes to preventing long-term damage from high SOC (state of charge), I believe it's the total time spent at high SOC that matters most—not just how long the car sits unused. For example, if you drive to work every day from 9 to 5, plug in at 5:30 PM, and charging finishes by 8 PM, the battery stays at a high SOC for 12 hours before the next use. Over a year, that adds up to about 6 months at high SOC!

That’s why I think it’s important—even for people who use their EVs daily—to delay charging as much as possible, not just those leaving their car unused for weeks or months.

[pgiatrakis]

Thanks I love your channel and after careful review of many YouTube videos I only found a few that said similar things, but yours was by far the best.
I have a plug-in Prius, a Nissan Leaf and a Tesla model Y and I am going to use the advice you just gave and I appreciate everything. I’m even going to apply it to my AA/AAA batteries for flashlights once I get them “all out onto a tray. “
Thanks again

[jwstolk]

Very interesting, I have a Tesla Model 3 LR (not LFP) and was charging about twice a week to 78% to reduce the number of charging cycles. I did try to charge it in the middel of the week, so it would be around 50% during the weekend, but it may be better to set it to an even lower charge and charging it every day. I could also park it indoors in the summer, since my garage is cooler.

[davidmenasco]

The first data sets that I saw for degredation, a few years ago, did strongly suggest that time is a key factor independent from other factors. I was surprised at the time that most channels failed to pick it up, but my recollection is that it was quite clear from the raw data presented.

It's nice to finally see a serious discussion of this. Also interesting to see that difference between Tesla and others.

[rlme]

Most clear and complete collection of battery information I’ve come across, thank you.

[JeffMcJunkin]

I didn't expect the "nice" joke there. It got me 😆

[epcalderhead]

2019 LR RWD Model 3. I started tracking my battery with ScanMyTesla at 6k miles when it reported 77.6 kWh. 3.5 kWh were dedicated to the Energy Buffer.

I'm just at 37K miles exactly 6 years, putting me at 6, 200 miles a year. I drove a Leaf around town for work and errands. Now I have a 2018 Bolt with a new pack that's my local runner. The Tesla is our road tripper. 40% of all charging has been done with DCFC. I stored the car at 50% SOC for the first few years between drives and mostly cycled back and forth between 70-30% SOC even on road trips. The last few years I've been storing the car around 35% SOC between drives.

A few times a year I go to 90% and let the car sleep 4-6 hours for the BMS to calibrate and sometimes try to return home ~ 15% SOC and let sleep there over night for a low-end reading.

Today I'm around 71 kWh nominal full pack and the Energy Buffer is down to 3.2 kWh. My full rated range fluctuates between 296-305 miles depending on the day. My car showed 325 miles when new.

[marklefler]

looking at the curves, for people living in hot areas like Florida, keeping the battery at 70% or less most of the time seems like a good way to cut some of the degredation. Since I was using 80%, I will make that change.

[deej]

Cool thing about having a performance is if you downsize wheels you can gain some of the lost miles per charge due to the inevitable degradation. Plus you get better ride quality and cheaper tire replacements!

[briannewman]

LiFePO batteries appear to be the best option for battery cycle longevity.
The impact of time on LiFePO longevity would be useful to know.

[chrisbe]

hi Jordan, I dont have any technical way to measure my tesla Model S 70D from 2015. But I mainly had my Tesla parked in a underground Garage with temperatures ranging between 5-20 degrees Celcius with a Charging limit of 60%. On the first day the real range in the Tesla showed 330 km. In two months my Tesla will be 10 years old with 80'000km driven and I am happy to report the car still shows over 330km (probably due to software update optimization the range increased a little). As a consumer to me it looks like 0% of battery degradation :-) ... I know reality is probably a few percent.

[Doctorbasss]

10:30, Totally right! I think the main reason LFP is recommanded to recharge at 100% is to make the BMS to read SOC with more precision and better balance the cells.. eventhough is it degrade a bit more, the OVERAL result is a benefit.

[Dli]

Great to see more data to reenforce what old school BEV conversions community has known for decades from accumulated first hand knowledge.

[patrickirish]

Great show. Is always great information. I look forward to your next video.😊😊