Been experimenting a bit with fully switching to HV mode from EV, mostly due to the 50% higher per mile cost on EV currently ($0.28/kWh vs $3.35/gal gas and thats not even the cheapest), and was curious if I should still make sure my battery is fully charged. I've only done this the last two days so far, and in both cases, battery charge was around 85% at EOD, and I've charged them to full at night (did switch my auto start to midnight from 11 PM). My usual daily trip is just slightly below 30 miles, so I can usually get back to full battery even if charging from 11 PM to 6 or 7 AM on L1. I'm still debating on whether I will do this "permanently" - or at least until the gas/electric numbers change in the summer, but right now a 50% difference is just too big to ignore. I do prefer the Much quieter EV ride, no emission, etc but one thing I wanted to ask is if I should be topping off the battery still every night or just leave it off until it gets too low - and what point would "too low" be? TIA!
The manual says, "To help extend the lifespan of the battery, it is recommended that you fully charge the battery each time prior to driving." That said, as long as you don't regularly run it until the engine comes on automatically at 0 EV miles, you're probably fine. It is a good idea to fully charge up to allow for cell balancing, which only happens once the battery is fully charged. If I were in your shoes, I would probably not go longer than a week between full charges. But if you leave it for a few days in between, it should be fine.
If you really intend to run nothing but HV, I'd say leave it unless it gets below 50%, then estimate how long to charge it to get back to around 50%. Supposedly that ensures the longest life.
Thank you, both! In that case - especially the manual part that I must have missed, I'll probably go ahead and just top it off every night. I'll still be saving Some money by keeping the charging during the off peak time (and likely no more than 2 hours worth)
