charging question is frequent charging damaging

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by JKroll, Feb 25, 2018.

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  1. JKroll

    JKroll Member

    so my car is at 60% charge level should i recharge?

    I know on the iphones they would say u shouldnt be charging unless its reasonably discharged. To prevent excessive number of charging cycles.

    Is that an issue with the PHEV batteries? Does Honda recommend something?
     
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  3. Ken7

    Ken7 Active Member

    I don’t think there’s any harm in charging it. Tesla recommends keeping their cars plugged in all the time. I’m sure Honda would have a warning about charging partially charged batteries if it caused any issues. So I have both the Clarity and my Tesla always fully charged.
     
  4. PHEV Newbie

    PHEV Newbie Well-Known Member

    When you're driving the car in either EV or HV mode, you'll notice that the battery is discharging and recharging constantly (could be several times a minute) so no, short charge cycles do not hurt the battery. In fact, to my understanding the most harmful thing you can do to Li ion batteries is to fully charge them and fully discharge them. For that reason, the electronic controllers never allow the battery to be fully charged or discharged. The debate is whether it would be beneficial for the battery if you only charged it to 80% and discharged to no less than 20%. That's not clear to me but someone had mentioned that Teslas provide this option during their charging cycles so there must be some truth to it. Also, for phones, the fast charging that you get these days does decrease battery life.
     
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  5. Ken7

    Ken7 Active Member

    Yes, Tesla gives you a % of full charge setting that's available for the charging cycles. I set mine to 90%, so each time I charge, the battery is automatically charged to 90% of capacity. If we're going on a long trip, I'll set it to 100% for that type of usage. I'm sure the Clarity is not allowing a full 100% each time, as that would shorten battery life. Likewise, the car doesn't allow a fully discharged battery.
     
  6. MarkClarity

    MarkClarity Active Member

    As I understand it, to maximize the life span of the batteries, you should avoid letting the batteries sit in a discharged state, or a fully charged state for very long. So it is probably best to normally charge to 80% or so, unless you need 100% for your drive that day. Also remember the manufacturers leave a buffer at the top and bottom. So 100% charge is not fully charged.

    Here are some tips I found https://www.teslarati.com/top-5-tips-to-maintaining-ev-battery/
     
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  8. I don't believe there's harm in frequent shallow charging.
     

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