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I agree, Dr. K. That sounds totally wrong to me too. It's the high powered chargers that can damage batteries; not the low power ones.
In my personal experience, as well intentioned as they may be, most Hyundai dealer staff don't seem to know much about EVs. And Hyundai HQ is bafflingly stingy with information. No idea why. Here's what I've managed to dig up off the internet on the subject of charging:I just picked up my Kona last week, I texted my salesperson and she said its fine to charge to 100% regularly? In fact she said "Its better to keep at 100% charge."
I still think ill cap it at 80% unless I need the full range...
I just picked up my brand new 2020 Kona EV yesterday and as it is my first EV I'm trying to discover all the nuances as quickly as I can (and will get my baptism by fire next week as I am taking a 1200 mile trip to Florida!)I'm a mechanic at Hyundai and also working with the kona ev. If the HV battery is charged at 100% this is at 4.2v per cell. This is the maximum capacity for this type of battery (Lithium-ion polymer). 4.2v is 100%. not 80% charge.
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Like a cellphone battery charging to 100% all the time would shorten the lifespan of the battery pack to 300/500 charging cycles, but due to better temperature regulation this can be longer, in the link below it is explained.
Source: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University
I can think of two downsides. First is, the lower you run your reserve before planned refuelling, the more you risk running out entirely. For instance, suppose you schedule a charge stop when you expect to be down to say, 20%. You arrive at the the rechargers and find they aren't working. Judging from some reviews I've seen on YouTube, that does apparently happen, though I've never experienced it myself and sure don't want to. Regardless, if it does, you will have very limited reserve available to get you to another charger.I just picked up my brand new 2020 Kona EV yesterday and as it is my first EV I'm trying to discover all the nuances as quickly as I can (and will get my baptism by fire next week as I am taking a 1200 mile trip to Florida!)
I see a lot about the 80%-max-except-when-doing-long-distance-between-stops rule and plan on keeping to this rule as best I can. I see a little discussion about the low limit but not as much. Not that I want to get to this point, but what are the downsides to going below say 20%, and how low can you go without doing real damage?
Thanks for all of the above information.
Some new owners get confused between 80% being a practical fast-charging level (because the charge rate drops and cost/kWh may increase, or the charger stops automatically before 100%) and being kind to the battery by limiting charge to levels under 100% on a daily-driving basis. On a trip, best ignore the latter and charge as much as you feel you need in order to safely reach your next planned waypoint.I see a lot about the 80%-max-except-when-doing-long-distance-between-stops rule and plan on keeping to this rule as best I can. I see a little discussion about the low limit but not as much. Not that I want to get to this point, but what are the downsides to going below say 20%, and how low can you go without doing real damage
I did some testing with the local free Clipper Creek AC charger in town yesterday. 2020 Kona EV rated at 7.2 kWh max on AC charging.Instead I set at 90% for my home level 2 charging so that I gain a couple of miles of range on the way down the hill.
Interesting result. Just a nudge: The units of power/ROC are kW, not kWh. kWh is a unit of energy. Of course, I cannot try what you did since I have a 2019 waiting for a new battery, so SOC is limited to 80%. Yours must be outside the recall window. Can't wait to get my range back!I did some testing with the local free Clipper Creek AC charger in town yesterday. 2020 Kona EV rated at 7.2 kWh max on AC charging.
I normally get 7.4 kWh as indicated on the console and charge to 80%.
Yesterday i set max AC charge to 90% and watched the "gauge." As the SOC went past 82%, the ROC dropped from 7.4 kWh to 1.0 kWh.
I am a new Kona EV owner - had the car almost 3 weeks now. I know this is a topic that has been discussed but I can never find a black and white answer. I even emailed Hyundai and got some sort of canned email response about contacting my local dealership. The dealership was nice and all but when it came to this Kona EV they really didn't seem to much about the EV version. I knew way more than they knew. I would love to charge to 100% and I did it the 1st couple of Level 2 charges. Then got spooked and set the limit for 80%. I read a couple places (other forums - nothing from Hyundai) that Hyundai created a safety limit and when our cars say 100% that is actually 80% to protect the battery. If that is the case I'd love to charge to 100%. Does anyone actually know?
From the horse’s mouth: Hyundai advice on how to maximise battery life.I just picked up my new Kona EV (love it!!). The business manager at the dealership (who has Ioniq and Kona EVs) said charging to 100% is fine for trickle charger never more than 80% for level 3 chargers.
Since the exploding battery saga, Hyundai has revised software to pause at (about) 80% for a couple of minutes while it assesses the battery pack. Repeats pause at 90%.Yesterday i set max AC charge to 90% and watched the "gauge." As the SOC went past 82%, the ROC dropped from 7.4 kWh to 1.0 kWh.
...that loks like:I too have wandered the web looking for a definitive statement but even though electric cars have been around a few years there is no simple explanation or plan. If you need only 80% then it would be better to only charge to that amount because they say the sweet spot for battery longevity is between 20-80% but if you need 100% because of a longer trip then what I have read is go to 100% but do not leave it sitting for longer than 8hrs fully charged.
I wait till I am down around 20% then charge to 80%. If I am going a fair distance the next day I often Level 2 charge to 80% two days before then top it off to 100% using Level 1 the night before I leave - I am lucky I have both Level 1 and 2. If I don't drive a longer distance I still charge to 100% once a month but make sure I do not leave it at 100% - check out the Battery University online or this article is not bad, Battery charging: Full versus Partial - 🔋PushEVs
BTW some people charge to 100% every night and have no concerns!
Not exactly a black and white answer but most of the above appears in a fair number of places.