[i74js]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

ZS EV, XUV 400, Creta EV, Ioniq 5, EV6 and practically anything else coming from Europe

All of them come with NMC batteries

These should be pretty much OK with *only* fast charging due to slightly more battery degradation than usual.

.

Incorrect, MG ZS EV sold in India with 50.3 kWh battery is LFP and not NMC. The 72 kWh option in Australia is NMC.

BluSmart MG ZS EVs are constantly charged on DC chargers i.e. 30 kW and beyond, there is absolutely no issue with battery health. This has been confirmed by BluSmart drivers.

[Jazzybala]

Originally Posted by GS300

Ours is a slightly complicated arrangement where we plan to spend working days at the apartment and visit our house in the outskirts once in two weeks or something. So, slow charging once in two weeks is possible.

With access to AC charging every 2-3 weeks, i dont think you have any issues at all. You can do a DC top up session as and when you require and then do a full charge to 100% once you are at your home setup.

Unless you have return commute of over 45kms, the ZS can easily last you for a whole week on a full charge and just heading to your home with a quick 10-15 minutes top up is all you would require, every week.

Even if you go back every alternate week you could easily do two 20-80% top up as and when required in the fortnight and still have some juice left to get back to your outskirts home and do a full AC charging there.

[ramradcliff]

Let me share what I heard from EV cab drivers in my office. They use 60kw chargers in office for free almost daily once they drop employees and use slow chargers only when range drops significantly at 100%. Their explanation is that the balancing might not be great when car is on fast charging. In those cases, they slow charge their car. In terms of numbers, there are just 2 slow chargers vs. 12-13 fast ones. Drivers didnt face any issues in their cars of ages 3-5 years. On an average, they do 1 slow charge after 7-8 fast charges. After hearing that, I stopped tracking this and use fast charge mostly in my Punch that is 4 months old

[VSEV85]

Originally Posted by GS300

I wanted to check if we have EV owners who are exclusive fast charger users?

In other words, do we have people here who have EV cars but do not have any way of slow charging at home?

We are in a situation where we were living in an independent house where we had the 7.2KW wall charger. But due to some work situation we have to move to an apartment where there is no way to have a home charger

(it is a 20+ years old apartment - so installing a home charger is next to impossible due to many factors)

We have an MG ZS EV (2024). There are commercial chargers from Zeon and Statiq in the vicinity. So fast charging is not a problem.

Is it harmful for battery life? Are there any observation that frequent fast charging creates problem for battery management system? Any other observed problems?

Any input from people who might be in a similar situation, or anyone who may have information about this, would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

You will not see that much of a difference in battery degradation as your vehicle is a LFP battery which can withstand higher temperatures for longer duration compared to Lithium battery in my 2021 ZS ev. I have have travelled in taxi's in china recently which have covered more the 500000 kms. the drivers there use only fast chargers. Their car batteries have degraded by around 35 to 40% is what they told me. Their cars used to cover 400 - 420kms when fully charged when it was new. Now they cover around 250kms - 260kms after 500000 kms which transalates to around 35 - 40% degradation. Keep your charging limited to 80% when using fast charging. Another option is to use BOLT chargers which use the portable car chargers twice a month to charge your car to help balance the cells. I have covered around 140000 kms in my 2021 zs ev. My batteries have degraded around 13% so far.

[fivespeedmanual]

I was in a similar situation where installing the charger at my new place was next to impossible. I ended up charging at a JIO Bp pulse charger nearby. They usually have a type 2 7.2 kw AC charger at all their charging points in Mumbai Atleast. Try locating such chargers in your vicinity.

[prasi55]

I have a slightly different opinion on this. A friend in my apartment recently purchased the Windsor EV and did not bother installing a home charger because MG is offering free fast charging. I went through the Windsor EV manual available online and noted two statements:
- It is mandatory to do one slow charge after every 4 fast charging/opportunity charging cycles
- The warranty may not be honored in case of failure to follow the manufacturer's recommendations

I recommended that he get the slow AC charger installed and use it at least occasionally.

Heat is the biggest enemy of batteries. Fast charging invariably produces more heat and degrades the battery, even if by only a little. Assume the car gives a realistic 80% range of 240 km, would you be fine if after a year, it gives 220 km and after 2 years, 200 km? The battery warranty will cover defects but not natural degradation -- and fast charging it regularly, you're just allowing increased natural degradation.

I think it's best to install or find AC/slow chargers nearby where one can regularly AC/slow charge one's electric car. This allows the most important component and the fuel of an electric car to function best.

[vijay.s]

Asking the below on behalf of my brother who stays in blore.

My brothers intends to buy an EV car on account of huge petrol expenses and he has charging options at his office. He is looking at the Creta EV and has a few questions that has been looming around.

1. Are there concerns with Opportunity charging - i.e. drive from home to office - plug the car to charge - Ensure charing never dips below 80%? (Its a slow charger). Are there any downsides to it. Is fully charging from 0-100% required?

2. Should the charge on the battery drop to 10-20% for it to go through a full cycle of charging? Since that would take more than 10-12 hours to fully charge (its slow charging), he will have to leave the vehicle at office overnight.

[Sentau]

Originally Posted by vijay.s

Asking the below on behalf of my brother who stays in blore.

My brothers intends to buy an EV car on account of huge petrol expenses and he has charging options at his office. He is looking at the Creta EV and has a few questions that has been looming around.

1. Are there concerns with Opportunity charging - i.e. drive from home to office - plug the car to charge - Ensure charing never dips below 80%? (Its a slow charger). Are there any downsides to it. Is fully charging from 0-100% required?

2. Should the charge on the battery drop to 10-20% for it to go through a full cycle of charging? Since that would take more than 10-12 hours to fully charge (its slow charging), he will have to leave the vehicle at office overnight.

With the Creta EV which packs a NMC battery, he is better off maintaining the battery below 80% (from 60%-80% instead of 80% to 100%). Opportunity charging is not that big of issue with NMC (and well calibrated BMSs on LFP). Hyundai vehicles have an option to set a charging limit to 80% and he can use it to limit charging during daily use.

As to your query about getting the battery low (10-20%) for a full charge cycle, he need not worry about it. It will happen organically if he takes his car out during the weekend/company holidays. While 0-100% is not that essential for NMCs, it will be good to charge to 100% once a month for cell balancing purposes. If he finds his car at a lower percentage after a weekend, he can bypass the charge limit and charge to 100% - he doesn't need to go out of way. Charging from >20% to 100% should not take more than 8 hours on a 7.2kW charger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31x5JW361k

- This is a great talk by Dr. Dahn, a leading battery scientist who has been doing research on behalf of Tesla for batteries since like 2012, on best practices for NMC batteries. I follow his recommendations religiously for my iQube.

[Usb101]

I've a 2023 Kia EV6 and have been reading about EVs, battery life and degradation for a number of years before I took the plunge.

Two or three points for consideration:
1. 'Fast' charger is not enough to get a sense of the problem - how fast? If you're using a 20-30KWh charger, which many people consider fast, the risks are very different compared to using 150+ KWh chargers.
2. If you operate within the range of 20-80% charge, you're generally okay, even with 150+ kWh chargers. While there is a lot of gyaan and fear mongering about how the battery will degrade by 20% every year, there is no data to support this in the real world. And again, current gen batteries have only been around for a few years, there IS no data about what will happen 8 years later (therefore the warranty so your financial risks are covered). But for what it's worth, they've tested these batteries for more than 1mn miles equivalent in a variety of charging scenarios, and that's where the 20-80% charging rules came from - don't let it fall below 20, don't charge above 80. And these also have buffers built into them - actual limits are more like 10-90, but things start getting risky by that point and they'd rather not have end users getting close to those limits.
3. Vehicles protect themselves when you start getting close to the actual limits. You'll find that they automatically go into eco mode and switch off ACs and heating when you fall below 10, and fast chargers automatically slow down once you cross 80%. The EV6, which charges at 150 KWh on a charger rated at that speed, comes to 120 and progressively slows itself down as the battery nears 100%. And somebody else has already said that you can set it up to automatically stop charging at 80.
4. Technology has recommendations and cushions/buffers. Laptop processors aren't supposed to be used above 35 deg C. Phone batteries aren't supposed to be charged overnight. You aren't supposed to run the AC in a parked car... And we know there are good reasons for each of them. But if you understand why a certain recommendation is given and the exact conditions that one must avoid, you can bend the rules without any consequences. Equally certainly, if you don't understand the tech or the 'why', you should follow the rules.

Long story short? Charge in the 20-80% band on fast chargers without giving it a second thought. Prefer slow charging because it's cheaper and it helps condition the battery (you can charge it all the way up to 100, which is useful to remind it that there's life beyond 80!), but that's not worth worrying about. You own the vehicle, rather than the converse, and the tech has come far enough along that that's true in the real world as well.

[Rajgir]

Originally Posted by navinmra

I can’t seem to get a hold of it now but there is a circular from the govt of Karnataka to the effect that no RWA (resident welfare association) can bar a resident from charging their EV on premise. That means you should be able to install a 16A plug in your car park and no one can stop you.

I am in a similar situation and unable to charge my EV in the apartment. It has been a year but I have not done any realization charge. It has affected the battery capacity also. If you can find the circular, it will greatly help me.

[navinmra]

Originally Posted by Rajgir

I am in a similar situation and unable to charge my EV in the apartment. It has been a year but I have not done any realization charge. It has affected the battery capacity also. If you can find the circular, it will greatly help me.

Here’s the ET article I found: https://m.economictimes.com/industry.../112215547.cms