Honest opinions on commuting please

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Garth
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Post by Garth »

Hello all.
So I'm about to invest in a born. Just the v1. It will save me a lot of money as a company car.
My only worry is real world range. I travel 120 miles every day, motorway miles, and I don't hang about.
Anyone have an honest experience of range at proper motorway speeds. I don't drive at 55 all the way, nor do I want to.
Everything else looks great about the car. Apologies for the direct approach :|

davmatjo
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Post by davmatjo »

I drive 200 miles to work at 70mph (more like 10mph on the M25 though :lol:). On the 100 mile trip there I leave at 60% and arrive anywhere between 5% and 15% depending on the weather. Generally the colder and windier the worse it is. In the recent cold snap the 100 mile journey back did take me from 97% to 30% but that was probably pretty much worst case as I wasn't plugged in to preheat the car and it was -3 and night. Realistically you'll never have any issues doing 120 miles if you leave at say 80%. You could even charge it a bit higher on cold days just to be safe. This is assuming of course you can charge your car at home overnight.
Garth
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Post by Garth »

I see a lot of people saying they charge to 80%. Is there a reason people don't charge to 100% every night? Seems strange.
davmatjo
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Post by davmatjo »

Lithium Ion batteries wear more quickly at high and low states of charge. Keeping SoC between 20% and 80% most of the time will make the battery last longer. You will see the UI of the car does try discourage you from charging past 80% unless you definitely need it, and when you do, the recommendation is to drive off as soon as it reaches 100% so that it's not sitting at full charge for a long period of time.

Theoretically the worst thing you could do for battery lifespan would be to constantly DC fast charge the car to 100%, drive right down to 0% and continually do that.

In the real world this stuff has an effect, but your car isn't going to become useless if you leave the car at 100% one night. It would take years of repeated bad treatment to start impacting range significantly, and the VW battery warranty for example is 70% capacity over 8 years/160,000km. You'd think that VW would make sure that even mistreated batteries would meet that benchmark so they have to replace as few batteries as possible under that warranty
Last edited by davmatjo on Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
monkeyhanger
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Post by monkeyhanger »

Garth wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:39 pm I see a lot of people saying they charge to 80%. Is there a reason people don't charge to 100% every night? Seems strange.
VAG recommend it so the battery isn't over capacity if it gets to 100% in the cold and becomes 101-102% if it warms up while standing. They cite battery longevity. They're basically trying to cover their own arses for battery warranty liabilities by making you treat the battery kinder than you are obligated to in use. If you need 100% then charge to that, I just wouldn't leave it above 95% for more than a day. Or you could take the approach that you don't care what battery health is like once you get rid.

I have charged my car to 80% on a cold Summer's morning and seen the rate of charge increase to 82% just sat on my drive as the sun came up to warm things through.
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Daveion
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Post by Daveion »

VAG recommend that you try to keep the battery charge between 20%-80%. That's why lots of posts are centred on 80%. If you charge to 100% you should drive off immediately. Running at 100% has some impact on the life of batteries but to what extent seems more slippery to grasp than a bar of soap in a bath.
This state of charge debate is discussed a lot. I try to put some perspective on it by thinking about my ICE. Do I start every journey with a full tank of fuel?
Am I happy to run around on short journeys below qtr full? An EV takes a bit of adjustment but the approach to fuel/charge level are very similar.
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davmatjo
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Post by davmatjo »

monkeyhanger wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:50 pm I have charged my car to 80% on a cold Summer's morning and seen the rate of charge increase to 82% just sat on my drive as the sun came up to warm things through.
This is a whole other discussion, as measuring the state of charge of a lithium ion battery is actually an incredibly difficult thing to do. It's not as simple as just reading the voltage, as a lithium ion battery actually decreases in voltage very little for the most part whilst discharging, and the voltage is affected by multiple external factors including temperature which can throw estimations totally out of whack.
Garth
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Post by Garth »

Wow, I assumed I would charge to 100% every night ( never had an ev).
I'm a full battery person with everything so that'll take some getting used to. To be honest, it's a bit annoying that you can't set off every day with 100% battery. So, full range is 270, if you drive slow, and you have 80% battery, which is less than full range. Then it gets cold.
There will defo be an adjustment period :D
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Daveion
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Post by Daveion »

Garth wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:23 pm Wow, I assumed I would charge to 100% every night ( never had an ev).
I'm a full battery person with everything so that'll take some getting used to. To be honest, it's a bit annoying that you can't set off every day with 100% battery. So, full range is 270, if you drive slow, and you have 80% battery, which is less than full range. Then it gets cold.
There will defo be an adjustment period :D
Bottom line is I would happily do 120 miles daily on 80% knowing I have a destination charger.
Might have to be frugal with the Climate sometimes. Speed is a big enemy of range.
Power consumption increases close to the velocity squared so travelling at 70mph+ takes twice the power of travelling at say 55mph. Only you know if the extra speed is worth the range reduction.
Born V2-Tech L collected June 22
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Garth
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Post by Garth »

Thank you all, you have given me an insight that I needed. Much appreciated.
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