Am I charging too often

[Funsize]

I have a 2017 Soul EV and it was bought used. I had it a day and charged it overnight but it yielded only 80 of the 93 miles expected. I plug it in every night after any driving. Every trip gets less and now it’s stoppd at 16 miles expected. I’m losing my wits. Can it recalibrate by running it down to empty before I plug it in again?

 

[IanL]

Are you sure you have the charging option set to 100%? If it happens to be set to the start time/stop time option, that may explain your experience.

If you don't have the Owners Manual,, here's a link.

 

[Funsize]

thanks I’ll have to look. I appreciate the link too.

 

[EVDee]

How low is your battery when you're recharging?
Do you need the a 100% charge everyday?

 

[Funsize]

It’s often just down by 15-25%. Once in a while I have a 60 my le trip planned and need it at 100%

 

[notfred]

It is saying 16 miles expected range but you are still doing a 60 mile trip? That's weird.

 

[Funsize]

not today obviously

 

[notfred]

If it's reporting 16 miles and you aren't doing much more than that, then I think you have a battery that has gone bad.

I suspect that when you bought the car it had just had a BMS update which clears what the BMS knows about the battery so it reports full range. Over the next little while it then learns just how bad the battery is and reports what is actually correct.

If you have an Android phone then pick up a Konnwei KW902 OBD-II bluetooth adaptor, install Soul Spy and check out your battery before taking the car to the dealer.

 

[Funsize]

Thank you. I will check that out.
I was told by a serviceman at The dealership that charging every night to top it off is not necessary and may mess with the charging capacity

 

[MassDeduction]

Thank you. I will check that out.
I was told by a serviceman at The dealership that charging every night to top it off is not necessary and may mess with the charging capacity

I agree that charging to 100% every night is not only not necessary, but it's not desirable. You don't want the car sitting at 100% when it doesn't have to. I never charge higher than I think I need to for the next day, and I try to wait until the last convenient moment before I'll need it to put it on charge. For example, if I need 4 hours of charging to get it where I need it, I will either wait until about that time to put it on charge or set some kind of timer so that it doesn't start until 4 hours before hand (in that example, the number could be different every time).

 

[vtec26]

Counter point to most of the posts here.

I have a 2018 in the US. I have a 70mile round trip commute to work. I usually charge at work since it's free. I always charge to 100% and usually 5 times a week. Occasionally, there's no charger free at work and I limp home with single digit battery percentage left. In this case, I've driven about 105mi at about 50-75mph constant speed. I have a level 2 charger at home that I'll use to charge to 100%. I've done this for 3 years non-stop and 100% charged range in the summer still shows 130-134miles, winter shows 126-130miles. No drop off what so ever.

Not saying you should charge to 100%, just saying after 3 years of constantly doing so, I'm not seeing range degradation. I've also leased the car and don't intend to keep it, so if you bought it, not charging to 100% for piece of mind seems like a good bet.

 

[IanL]

It would be interesting to know in which part of the US you live, as ambient temperatures are said to have a big influence.

 

[vtec26]

I live in Southern California.

Summer temps are high 60's F at night and 80-105F during the day.

Winter temps are high 40's / low 50's at F at night and mid 60's F during the day.

 

[MassDeduction]

I'm glad you're having such good results. Are you usually charging to 100% shortly before using it again? If so, that significantly mitigates the disadvantages of charging to full. Charging to full increases the rate at which the lithium plates on the anode (which is bad), but being there for 8 minutes vs. 8 hours is a hugely significant difference! The shorter the period of time it's sitting at 100% before you get the car back on the road, the smaller the consequence of charging to 100%.