[340driver]

I've been experimenting with charge settings, initially charging at 90% since that is what Volvo started recommending back in July after first recommending 80% and for this reason:
Updates in software version 1.4
Preheating of the battery when charging to 90% and 100%, gives improved range. No preheating when charging under 90%.

So I normally have car always plugged in now and have charge in car set to 90% and normally use app to tell car to preheat about 30 mins before I plan on leaving and this works well with battery warmed up and car always nice and cozy warm and my initial battery use close to normal.

I've just spent the past week with temperatures here hovering around 5c-10c or mid 30's to mid 40'sF and tried to use charging to 80% to see if I could get same result even though Volvo 1.4 update said I couldn't.
I found that normally when I told app to preheat 30 mins before departure it would show heating sent to car and then I would see the red interior warming the car but within 1-3 mins this would stop and sometime I would goto car and check and sure enough heat was off. I've tried this a few times and found it was erratic, sometime I found the fan blowing but no heat and steering wheel heat not on also never noticed any preheating of battery. Also I found setting charge level to 80% gave me anywhere from 78% to 85% but 90% always gives me 90%.

So now I feel forced to keep car plugged in and charge set to 90% if I want a nice cozy car for departure just like update 1.4 mentions.

Anyone else playing with these numbers that have different results?

 

[He Keith]

I don’t preheat the car, but have flipped back and forth between 90% and 80% charging. While I like the idea of 80% right now I am back to 90% until I see how the efficiency and battery do as temps drop.

 

[Maribo]

my efficiency went from about 32 - 34 kWh/100 mi in the summer to 42 kWh/100 mi with temperatures in the 30s to 40s F over the same route.

 

[He Keith]

Hmm, I don’t have enough data yet, but since my car is in the garage when I went to work in the AM with temps in upper 30’s low 40’s I did not see a big drop. On the way home temps were in the 50-60s. In ATL it will be another month or so for cold temps morning and afternoon and then January for low 30s all day.

 

[shawkinaw]

I was charging to 90% for a while, since 1.7 have gone back to 80%. Some combination of the 1.7 update and/or the colder temps has resulted in the car occasionally overshooting the limit, and I’d rather accidentally charge to 83% than 93%.

 

[afung]

I've been charging to 80%. Feels kind of conservative, but I only need to charge once or twice a week in any case.

 

[vantablack]

i charge to 80% given what I've read about keeping the battery closer to 50% for long term battery health.

 

[SeattleCat]

This reminds me of the turn the computer of or leave it on for longevity debates

I do 90 when I have time other than that it gets 80 or less as it gets to those percentages quickly.

I also level three charge my P8 so I am probably shortening the life of my battery but no options for now.

For level three charging it is probably better to keep it topped off so you can avoid the full 150 charge rate. I alas do not do this as I refuse to let the car control when I charge. I charge when it is too low or I happen to have access to a convenient charger.

 

[He Keith]

This reminds me of the turn the computer of or leave it on for longevity debates

I do 90 when I have time other than that it gets 80 or less as it gets to those percentages quickly.

I also level three charge my P8 so I am probably shortening the life of my battery but no options for now.

For level three charging it is probably better to keep it topped off so you can avoid the full 150 charge rate. I alas do not do this as I refuse to let the car control when I charge. I charge when it is too low or I happen to have access to a convenient charger.

Did you buy or lease? If you bought is this a long term buy or like 3-e years then flip?

 

[SeattleCat]

Long term buy.

I recon it will be functional at least as a short range car for spouse1 to get to the transit parking lot or a run around town for the family.

 

[He Keith]

You know even if you have to replace battery pack of cell sin 6 years still worth it.

 

[SeattleCat]

Agreed. Hoping it ages well. But if not we will be fine. I do not regret buying it at all. Quite the opposite. I feel fortunate every time I get in it.

 

[santellavision]

Question, if you're just leasing a car and always charge to 100%, when you turn it in, can the dealer check the computer to see if you 'over-charged' to 100% all the time and ding you for that?

 

[He Keith]

Question, if you're just leasing a car and always charge to 100%, when you turn it in, can the dealer check the computer to see if you 'over-charged' to 100% all the time and ding you for that?

I do not believe they can ding you for that. The battery is warranted for 8 year 100K miles I believe to be at least 70% or new. I do not believe there is any requirement to charge to anything less than 100%. Heck you should be able to fast DC charge it to 100% all the time and be covered. If you own the care following the recommendation or actually staying in the 20-80% range will get you best battery life.

 

[SeattleCat]

There are so many ways to abuse a car they cannot test for. I would not worry about it.

 

[Homer]

Everything you may want to know about EV and battery SOC

EV Battery Health - What 6,000 Batteries Tell Us | Geotab

The EV Battery Degradation Tool, based on real-world data, lets you compare the average battery degradation for different vehicle makes and models.

www.geotab.com

Based on the Volvo battery maintenance system, even with rapid charging and utilizing a full charge, one would expect 90% SOC at 4 years.

As they say, don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[Nomas]

On a daily basis we've been charging to 70% which gets us a min of 100 miles to run around town and still keep the SOC charge above 20%. In the rare event that we need more mileage I'll charge it 1) between our daily runs, or 2) charge to 90%-100% if I can't do #1. I fully expect the battery to outlast the car. There are Tesla's running around with over 200,000 miles with a max SOC still over 93%.

 

[Greg S]

OK, I had the charge limit set at 80% and went out today to see car still happily charging away at 89%...I’m sure this happened once before after we had charged to 90%...for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to obey the charge limit being dropped back to 80%. Will watch it closer next time. Odd. Still on pre-V1.7 as we haven’t gotten any OTA in AUS yet.

 

[Nomas]

OK, I had the charge limit set at 80% and went out today to see car still happily charging away at 89%...I’m sure this happened once before after we had charged to 90%...for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to obey the charge limit being dropped back to 80%. Will watch it closer next time. Odd. Still on pre-V1.7 as we haven’t gotten any OTA in AUS yet.

That is odd. Our 2022 XC40 is on version 1.7 though. I usually set the value between 70-90 depending on what the next drive is going to be, and it is always at that charge when I return to the car. Has anyone else had that issue with versions before 1.7. I hear version 1.8 is out now, but we haven't received that update here in Texas yet.

 

[cav8tor]

I had the opposite problem where I as charging to 90% but it stopped at 86%. Seems like there are examples of both over and under shooting the charge limit.