100% charge how long can you leave it

[ccooke01]

Hi,

I have had my Taycan for nearly 3 years and normally charge to 85%, if I do charge to 100% I always drive it immediately once it it fully charged, however I am wondering if its possible to leave it standing 100% for a couple of hours.

The logical is I have cheap overnight charging between 00:30 - 04:30 and I am going on a trip and plan to leave at 7am, therefore should I charge to 100% up until 04:30 and leave it standing, or only charge to 85% until 04:30 and have a second timer set for 100% at 07:00 ?

Thanks

Carl.

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[sergey_ja]

it honestly feels like one should not overstress about it. E.g. you do not charge 100% all the time, if you do so once in a while and leave for a few hours (or a day), it should not create any issues. If it really did, that would render the car overly fragile for everyday use.

 

[mutanthands]

If it's only once in a while, I don't think leaving it at 100% for a few hours will make much difference.

 

[ccooke01]

Thanks for the quick replies, I was of the same opinion that occasionally shouldn’t make a difference.

Carl.

 

[McgR]

In general I charge to 85%. Sometimes I set a timer just before departure to 100% for longer trips.

and sometimes I just charge to 100% like today. Sun was shining. Car was at home. Lots of solar energy. Home battery already charged and I just couldn’t resist.

or sometimes during a road trip and I want to charge 100% on a public charger the day before we return home.

 

[fika]

Charging to 100% isn't inherently bad. Keeping the car plugged in every day/night and keeping it topped up at 100% is. I charge my EV's to 100% on AC (home) when I need to "fill up". If I had to keep the car "topped up" every day I would leave it at 90%.

 

[kort]

Hi,

I have had my Taycan for nearly 3 years and normally charge to 85%, if I do charge to 100% I always drive it immediately once it it fully charged, however I am wondering if its possible to leave it standing 100% for a couple of hours.

The logical is I have cheap overnight charging between 00:30 - 04:30 and I am going on a trip and plan to leave at 7am, therefore should I charge to 100% up until 04:30 and leave it standing, or only charge to 85% until 04:30 and have a second timer set for 100% at 07:00 ?

Thanks

Carl.

a couple of hours shouldn't be a problem.

 

[JRNJTAYCAN]

Hi,

I have had my Taycan for nearly 3 years and normally charge to 85%, if I do charge to 100% I always drive it immediately once it it fully charged, however I am wondering if its possible to leave it standing 100% for a couple of hours.

The logical is I have cheap overnight charging between 00:30 - 04:30 and I am going on a trip and plan to leave at 7am, therefore should I charge to 100% up until 04:30 and leave it standing, or only charge to 85% until 04:30 and have a second timer set for 100% at 07:00 ?

Thanks

Carl.

I charge mine to 100% when needed from time to time as well and it has sat in my garage for two days before I used it. Our car has a built in reserve so we are never really hitting 100% on the battery anyway.

 

[Miketaycan]

100% shown to you is more like 90%,
In the same way 0 is more like 10%.
There is just capacity you cannot access, reserved.

The battery is made up of 100's of battey cells all managed independently. So I really wouldn't worry, most battery management systems will actively drain themselves if left for a long period of time. It's the softwares job to manage battery health, not yours.

 

[Persuader]

I do exactly this. I normally set my Taycan to charge to 80%/85% by 04.30 but for the odd long journey I have it charged to 95%/100% at 04.30 and I leave it standing for 4 hours or so.

Bear in mind that during the 4 hour cheap period, from a typical 7kw/h home charger you only have time to increase the battery %age by about 30% so you should consider what your start charge is also as If it needs more than 4 hours to reach your designed %age it will commence charging before 00.30 anyway.

 

[Ferdinand]

Before a long trip I charge to 95%, but I’m sure 100% is fine. For what it’s worth, recurrentauto.com now can track individual Taycans and give the owner a monthly report. I signed up and it’s interesting. Their general advice for charging is to keep the battery charge no lower than 30% and no higher than 80% for best long-term battery health, but obviously there have to be variations from that.

 

[annieland]

I have to stop reading battery threads I think. Even just questioning leaving the car charged at 100% for a few hours is freaking me out. I've accidentally charged my car to 100% a few times and I definitely didn't hop in and circle the block for an hour. It seems there are more charging rule of thumbs than I have fingers for. I think I'm going to finally file battery health under "Don't worry guys, it's just a car" along with automatic car washes, slamming the doors, and eventually curbing a wheel just for my OWN mental health.

 

[007]

There as a lot of worriers here. Just use it, charge it, have fun with it. As long as it’s under warranty, what’s all the fuss?

 

[DougFrisk]

I have to stop reading battery threads I think. Even just questioning leaving the car charged at 100% for a few hours is freaking me out. I've accidentally charged my car to 100% a few times and I definitely didn't hop in and circle the block for an hour. It seems there are more charging rule of thumbs than I have fingers for. I think I'm going to finally file battery health under "Don't worry guys, it's just a car" along with automatic car washes, slamming the doors, and eventually curbing a wheel just for my OWN mental health.

I sort of think of the battery cathode and anode as a couple of stadiums, one has a rock concert, the other a football game. The Lithium moves from one to the other when charging or discharging. The more filled each stadium is, the more likely altercations break out between the patrons/lithium ions causing damage. Charging to 100% (which is really more like 95%) and leaving it is like filling the stadium and then delaying the opening act at the concert. The lithium ions get anxious, fights break out here and there which causes minor damage to the stadium. Increase the temp from 75 degrees to 95 degrees and the fights will break out more often and be more damaging. Increase the temperature enough and you get a full scale riot.

Over time though seats break (the mechanical structure of the cathode gets damaged) and patrons die in fights (lithium binds to the battery casing or reacts with the battery's electrolyte) reducing the capacity of the stadium/battery over time.

Eventually, no matter what you do, the stadiums/battery needs replacing. As the concert promoter/stadium owner there's a couple of things you can do to reduce the wear, but you can never fully eliminate it.

The two big ones are don't pack them in then keep them waiting and to keep the temperature comfortable.

In the end, the battery is a component that will wear, but it's like the engine in an ICE car, sure you can do things to keep it pristine by never using it but that defeats the entire point of the car. Instead you can do things like changing the oil on schedule and not making every shift at the red-line to prolong the life.

Or you can take the attitude that you don't care long term because you can thrash it and get a new car in a year or two anyway. Though, from a resale point of view, it's easier to attach an OBDII reader and see the state of the battery than it is to see the state of a gas engine and transmission.

 

[Porsche-Guru]

Known acquaintance: 2 years+ ownership of a Taycan 4S.

Has charged it every working weekday (except when he is on holidays) to 100% - as his office building offers free charging.

He has not even put a EVSE charger at home - as he doesn't need one !

Charging everyday to 100% at 11kW rate (It is a 3phase charger, but his car does not have the 22kW option, so only charges around 11kW).
Other charging is on DC usually at fast chargers.

He is a tech nerd, understand batteries for a living (has spent his life designing battery models and worked on both large and small batteries, has designed batteries that last 18 years in a gas meter, etc...).

He keeps a track of his batteries very closely... and I spoke to him when I got my Taycan... his batteries have exhibited no problem; and he is not looking to change his charging habits... and he will keep his car for at least 10 years.

His advice was charge when you can, as much as you can, at whatever rate you can - chances of damaging the battery - practically none.

Battery management software on even small microprocessors is today far advanced than 10 years back; and with cars - the battery management (especially the cars that have heating/ cooling mechanisms) is far superior to anything the user can likely throw at it.

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