[aarons978]

Hello,

I tired to search the forums but could not locate a thread about charge limiting the volt. I read online and heard in review videos of Tesla's that you should avoid constant 100% charges as it will degrade the battery.

https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit (here's an example)

"Elon Musk has reportedly stated that it is best to keep the battery between 50% and 80% of full charge, but occasional full(range)charges are not harmful. The difference in battery degradation between storing at 80% vs. 90% of full charge is likely to be minimal."

I charge my volt to 100% every chance I can....what do you guys think/know?

 

[frith01]

The core system restricts your ability to manage this target % charge. Even if the interface shows "100%" charge, it is actually not fully 100% of the hardware. You only get to manage the user range (something like 30%-80%) of actual charge. This is very good from a lifetime management scenario because you do not have to worry about it.

 

[bjrosen]

Hello,

I tired to search the forums but could not locate a thread about charge limiting the volt. I read online and heard in review videos of Tesla's that you should avoid constant 100% charges as it will degrade the battery.

https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit (here's an example)

"Elon Musk has reportedly stated that it is best to keep the battery between 50% and 80% of full charge, but occasional full(range)charges are not harmful. The difference in battery degradation between storing at 80% vs. 90% of full charge is likely to be minimal."

I charge my volt to 100% every chance I can....what do you guys think/know?

The guard bands are built in to the Volt. The battery is speced at 18.4KWh but you only see 14.4, the other 4KWh is used for the guard bands so when the Volt says it's full or empty that only applies to the usable portion of the battery. Bottom line is that you don't have to worry about it.

 

[BAZINGA]

The guard bands are built in to the Volt. The battery is speced at 18.4KWh but you only see 14.4, the other 4KWh is used for the guard bands so when the Volt says it's full or empty that only applies to the usable portion of the battery. Bottom line is that you don't have to worry about it.

Correct, GM is overly protective of the Volt's battery, the Volt can be FULLY charged and dis-charged without fear.

 

[jsmay311]

GM is overly protective of the Volt's battery

It's important to keep in mind that EREV's are fundamentally different creatures than BEV's when it comes to comparing their percentage of usable battery capacity.

Since many EREV owners will drain the entire usable battery capacity on a daily basis (or even multiple times per day), the usable capacity of an EREV necessarily has to be much more conservative than a BEV.

In contrast, most BEV owners will LITERALLY NEVER fully drain their battery, because, if they do, they'll be stranded on the side of the road and need a tow.

 

[srmarti]

It's unnecessary with the Volt. The charging system already takes this into account. The battery never charges to 100% capacity nor does it discharge to 0%

Just drive it. The car knows how to take care of itself.

 

[llninja]

When I was a newb, I even contacted my volt advisor as I was worried about charging L2 vs. L1 and they told me the system was designed to handle both just fine - no need to avoid L2 for battery longevity. So as other said, don't worry about it and enjoy the ride.

 

[viking79]

As others say, just charge it fully unless you plan on storing it. The Volt is designed to last thousands of cycles (some already have on the order 2500 cycles with minimal loss). The Bolt EV maybe only needs up to 1000 cycles or so (which would be around 238000 miles). Point is, Bolt EV charges for max range, Volt for max cycles. I also think the Volt and other extended range EVs leave some space for when the engine is running to prevent overcharging.

 

[canehdian]

Point is, Bolt EV charges for max range, Volt for max cycles.

And to continue on this, I would do best of both worlds in a Bolt, unless you absolutely need maximum range.
It apparently has a 90% 'hilltop' charge mode - I would use this in daily driving as a max top end and never discharge below 20% if it can be avoided.
You get significantly longer life and likely no compromise to daily driving ability as you're still looking at 165+ miles.