Does the 80% Charging Rule Still Matter? | EV Basics

If you own an electric car, it’s wise to follow the 80% charging rule. But as technology evolves, infrastructure improves, and drivers become more educated about the ins and outs of EVs, does the 80% rule still matter? We'll explain what the rule is and whether you should break it when juicing up your electric vehicle. You might be surprised!

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⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:30 What is the 80% Rule?
1:20 Why Unplug?
2:19 The Road Trip Exception
3:54 Lessons in Chemistry
5:09 Who Should Pay Attention?
6:30 Manufacturer Recommendations
8:04 About DC Fast Charging

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[heromixzen]

LFP battery is not good to be charged 💯. but only if they are charged occasionally up to 100 the car can approximate what autonomy it can have, to effectively show the percentage of the battery.

[PassportBrosBusinessClass]

So let’s examine what happens in real life:

Someone pulls up to the charger, plugs the car in and then walks off to go into a store. In my case, the EVgo chargers are located next to a target. I’ll go into the target and do some grocery shopping. Come back and still have to wait for the car to finish charging.

Tesla charges a fee for idling. If you don’t come back in the appropriate amount of time you’re going to end up paying more than you expected because you were idling.

Electrify America is experimenting with stopping the charge at 85%. I’m not sure if they’re going to charge an idling fee.

EVgo allows you to charge up to 100% and has no talk about limiting the charge to 85%.

I think the smarter thing to do for psychological reasons is the 85% battery charge Mark to 100% and every percent above that make the indicator claim that you’re at 110% or 120%.

Most people want to believe that they have “a full battery” when they leave the charger.

But that would also require these companies to stop lying about the range.

Imagine being sold a car that promises you up to 307 miles range only for them to tell you that you should only charge to 285 miles range.

[yome]

Actually, LFP should not be charged to 100% on a regular basis neither. Manufacturers do ask you to do it but for entirely different reasons: it's the only way for the car to "know for sure" in which percentage of charge it is. This is because in the case of LFP is more difficult for the car to keep track of the battery percentage in the long term of not charged to 100% from time to time. But in reality both battery chemistries experience faster degradation when regularly exposed to higher levels of battery charge

[davidroberts]

Incorrect on LFP. This is just regurgitating old and bad info. Poorly timed given a new study just came out.

The worst way to charge LFP is in small increments between 80-100%.

LFP needs to be charged to 100% occasionally due to its low voltage curve so that range estimation can be more accurate.

The degradation increase is however estimated to not be massive. Current estimate is worst case charging will leave you at 90% after 200k miles on a car with 250 miles range and 98% for that same car if charging is kept at low SOC. There's some nuance in there.

[PassportBrosBusinessClass]

When there is someone waiting behind me to charge or the lines are long, I will typically try to reduce my amount of charge if I can. Otherwise: I usually go to the charging station early or late so that I can avoid lines of people.

[dwnrange]

Sorry, but LFPs will also suffer accelerated degradation like NMCs if charged to 100% regularly.

[cbotten]

The 80% rule still matters. Cramming that last 20% in generates a lot of heat. Keep it over 10% and under 80% is the "rule of thumb" for current battery tech. Perhaps new batteries will bring new rules but if you've got the range and charging options and dare I say discipline to pull that off your batteries should last longer. Good luck EV fans and save that last plug for me!

[PassportBrosBusinessClass]

Charging to 80% isn’t a rule.

It’s etiquette. 😉

[billjohnson]

Missed a key point - regen isn't possible at high SOC. If you charge to 100%, that first part of your drive will use friction brakes and have limited to no regen - until SOC is dropped down. So that is another key reason to avoid 100% except when needed. And info on recommending LFP charging to 100% is incorrect. Should only do that periodically to reset range calculation, and not charge to 100% daily for same reason as NMC. Check Engineering Explained for more detailed info.

[begley]

So what about the Toyota BZ4X? Toyota recommends to charge to 100% with no issues...

[solidome]

9 days and this video is already old. LFP cannot be fully charge without any problem in long period.

[dgurevich]

My opinion is as battery capacities improve, to make 80% the new 100%. And make a 'range boost' option available when slow charging, which would charge the battery to 100%.
That would also decrease degradation.

[AndreCRZ]

I have a Renault Zoe, NCM battery, did 90k km last year driving Uber and charging everyday to 100%. There is no degradation since day 1🤷🏻‍♂️

[GerthebearBrady.]

LFP is not good to charge to 100% either. Manufacturers recommend to charge to 100% more regularly because LFP has a different power consumption curve that is not linear and without a charge to 100% it is hard for the system to determine vehicle range and SOC.

[antonio_fosnjar]

New research has shown than even LFPs degrade if you charge them to 100% but less. Best charging is still a bit different than regular batteries, apparently it's best to discharge them to around 5% and them fully charge them to 80% with 100% once every 2 weeks, less cycles the better. Only reason manufacturers recommend that you charge to 100% once in a while is to calibrate battery capacity because LFPs have a pretty flat voltage curve so it's difficult to know exact percentage of charge.

[MrDebranjandutta]

Being a relatively recent EV owner this channel is a gift that keeps on giving. I was wondering if brand new EVs initially don't give the rated range. For example I have a Tata Motors Punch EV, with a 35 kwh LFP battery with a rated 300 km per charge. However I got 200 km on my last charge (had driven very aggressively during the last use) I was told range will go up after a few charging cycles. Is this true?

[carlwhitney]

Cadillac 2023 LYRIQ Charging 19.2 KWH CHARGER.
I typically charge to 50-60% using a Level 1 charger. Objective slowest charging as possible while maintaining 50% SOC adjusting pending anticipated driving needs( some days no charging needed). Fast charging only for long distances planning not to exceed 80% if possible. I have a 19.2 KWH CHARGER with a 11.5 kwh EVSE.
What charging recommendation would you recommend for my situation?

[WH]

I leased my Tesla and absolutely screw the charging limit recommendation. I’m paying the full leasing premium every month so I expect a car that can do 349miles. Why would I charge only up to 280 miles? Fucking joke that business model. It’ll be Tesla’s problem after the lease terminates.

[wambam]

It really only seems to apply to DC fast charging.

[yesloow]

I think this “rule” is just etiquette on a public charger. But until the charging networks are flawless, I don’t blame people for going beyond 80% at a public charger. I’ve been nearly stranded before when I roll up to the next charging stop and the machines are out of order. Really nice to have enough charge left over to get you out of a bind like that!

The argument about battery degradation is kinda dumb to me. It’s the car company putting a 10-year warranty on the battery pack they sold you and then trying to reduce their costs to fulfill that warranty. Stop trying to sell us cars with false advertising then…if you want to say the range is 260 miles, don’t tell me to only charge to 208 miles! I mostly charge at home and go full every time. Why not?