Hey all, I ended up picking the Kona over the Model 3. We are very happy with our choice. I just got it last week i think these are the new LiPo batteries? The car is primarily used for short trips up to 10km per day in total (groceries, daycare) Is it better to charge the car to 80% everynight or go down to 20% then charge it? Thank you!
Congrats on your new Kona! You're driving even less than me as it happens. I'd still pick the Kona over a Model 3 and I've owned mine for 3.5 years. Mostly it doesn't matter where the charge level sits but generally battery life is maximised if you avoid leaving the car for days under 20% or over 80%. The battery is happiest at mid-charge levels between 40 and 60% and that's where I keep mine, sometimes going up to 70 or 90+ if going on a trip. When I drop under 45% I usually charge it back to 60%. On a trip I'll charge up once I hit about 30%. One consideration is if you suddenly had to use the car for a long trip and needed to maintain a certain charge level because you have no alternative transportation. If you have a DC fast charger nearby (as I do) then it's not so important because you can bump it up quickly in 20 minutes. You get about 1% per minute on a 50kW DC fast charger. It doesn't matter how often you charge because the battery life is based on going fully from 0 to 100%, what's called a "full-charge cycle". So, you can go half of that twice (say 30 to 80%) and that counts as one "full-charge cycle". The battery is rated to cover at least 1200 full-charge cycles down to 80% of the original capacity. If you multiply that by the range that's a very long distance.
Details on the chemistry here. You have not disclosed your location, as European cells are supplied by SKI not LG Energy Solution. There are lots of discussions on this forum on SOC (state of charge), but (as mentioned by @KiwiME) I would more be inclined not to leave it below 20% and above 80% for long periods. Enjoy your new Kona EV and welcome to the forum
Your typical suggested usage is so light, you could consider an additional/alternative approach, which is to make choices based on minimising your charge costs. So, for example, I have a one-hour charging window in off-peak periods, at zero cost, which has provided me with 3 years free local running. I switched providers in order to do this..
Generally @KiwiME boiled it down perfectly. Since you are really not driving a lot you can lower your top SOC to probably around 60% without any issues and make your battery a super-happy camper. As mentioned in the middle, the battery is the happiest.
I generally plug in my car when it gets down to 10-20%, but I don't think it matters too much. I also charge up to 100%. Charging to 100% semi-regularly is actually healthy for the battery because it helps the battery cells re-balance. It might be marginally sub-optimal to charge to 100% every time, vs 80% or 90%, but from what I can tell, the impact on battery life/range is fairly negligible.
