Do you really charge the battery to 100% when going on vacation?

I did say roughly equivalent, meaning it protects the battery from overcharging. There's a lot of charging behaviors people have adopted due to Tesla recommendations, because Tesla essentially created the market. But the SE is not a Tesla—MINI has chosen to build in all protections so the SE can be charged to 100% all the time and the owners don't have to worry about battery subtleties. This is evidenced by the fact that there is no "charge to XX%" setting in the SE, and the fact that the Motorer's Guide recommends leaving the SE at 100% for long term storage.

 

In earlier generations, Tesla was utilizing NCA across the entire product line for high energy density but also shorter battery lifespan. The percentage restriction was recommended to maximize battery health for NCA which can degrade significantly faster than NCM 622 after ~500+ cycles. With the introduction of the less energy dense LFP for the 3/Y platform, mainstream buyers will be able to get the premium Tesla experience without having to worry about damaging their internal organs.

 

Nissan also doesn't offer that feature on the Leaf and look how that turned out for them...

Engineering is finding an acceptable compromise between many different variables and the balance of that compromise is mostly decided by marketing, finance, and "product line management" (aka marketing with a technical background).

Maybe I'm too pessimistic but I've been responsible for writing technical documents for products in a previous job and have been instructed by marketing to put in statements that embellished/stretched the truth more than I was personally comfortable with. But that's ultimately what all marketing is and is the lense that I view these types of documents through

 

I'm not familiar with the Leaf issue. Is there a short version of that story? Related to battery tech?

 

Nissan chose passive thermal management for the Leaf battery (no liquid cooling/heating, just ambient air) which has caused significant degradation. Fast charging or charging to 100% frequently (especially in hot temperatures) can make that worse.

At least in the earlier models, Nissan specifically said that damaged caused by “Charging the Li-ion battery full on a daily basis, despite the battery keeping a high state of charge level (98-100%)” was not covered by the battery warranty

 

Yup, I also noticed that so I also gave instructions to the car i.e. open/close to activate the status.

 

Interesting. Does sound like cost cutting, then CYA with a statement after the fact. Bummer. Since we have thermal management at least there's a leg up in that regard. I'm going to continue not having my car sit at a full charge when possible, can't hurt it if anything...

 

Another factor is the range of the SE. If you sit at 80% charge you're giving up as much as 20 miles, or almost 1/5 the total range. If that fits your use then nothing to worry about, but for me I drive over 85 miles per day so I couldn't get by with that.

 

I'll put in some minimal amount of effort to not leave my SE sitting at 100% and not floor it with low battery but I don't think it's worth going overboard trying to avoid degradation.

If I end up below the warranty limit before 8 years, then I get a free battery! If not, there will most likely be upgraded packs available by 2030.

 

My attitude as well! Drive it to enjoy it, that's what I say.