[BadgerGreg]

I don't let myself go any lower than 40% or so now, just in case. Overkill? Maybe. But I'd rather overkill than to regret it later.

I think 40% is a very reasonable "minimum" for a charge up. I generally plug in at night when I get down to 35%-40%, because I never know what the next day will bring.

 

[cjbeckmann]

I thought I had got down to 3% one time, but after checking my data, I see it was only 7%, and it looks like I've gone below 10% maybe a dozen times after 2 years of ownership.

as for the the battery health I don’t think “abusing” (that is go at 100% or 0%) the battery isn’t going to do much, it’s more if you do it constantly.

I think it's not so much about how often you discharge deeply, but rather the integration time you spend there. As long as you recharge quickly, no problem!

I once had a 1959 VW Beetle. That model had no fuel guage, rather a lever on the floor that you could kick over to transfer to the “reserve tank”. It was not a separate tank, but a fuel tap that was lower than the normal one.

Wow, that brings back the memories! My parents had a beetle when I was little in the 60s, and I remember my father having to pull that lever once or twice...

 

[Fish Fingers]

I had a situation a few weeks ago that has changed my perspective on this. It was about midnight on a Friday night and my son called me and said his tire blew out. He's 18 and has never dealt with this sort of thing before, and it was on a major highway, so I decided that I'd prefer to go help him with it. He was about 30 miles away, so 60ish round trip. If my car was sitting at 15% or something like that, I'd have a real problem – I'd need to go to the closest level 3 charger, about 20 minutes away in the wrong direction, or sit and wait for my level 2 charger at home.

Now imagine it was something more serious – maybe one of your parents had a stroke, your kid was in a serious car accident, etc. Unlike an EV, I can get gas practically anywhere in about five minutes. I'm certainly not using this to make an argument against EVs, but I am making the argument that it might be prudent to change our fueling habits until range improves and/or charging becomes faster and more plentiful. I don't let myself go any lower than 40% or so now, just in case. Overkill? Maybe. But I'd rather overkill than to regret it later.

I have been called by the wife twice for her vehicle being hit and totalled, and too many times for her car being hit in less significant accidents. Had a couple/few mad dashes to an emergency room, as well. Plenty of reason to keep the car at 80% as much as possible. YMMV

This is why I charge every time the car is used, back up to 80%. I have also had unexpected emergencies to deal with.

And t literally takes about 5 seconds for me to plug it in when I get home.

Also, I get 6 hours cheap rate electricity overnight. If I let the SOC get too low, some will be out of the cheap charging window and cost 4x as much.

So this system works for me for the past 4 years of EV ownership. Ymmv

 

[wekebu]

I rarely let a vehicle go below half, if possible. I lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake (6.9) and a wildfire that took out the town and surrounding communities in a few hours (CampFire). I know these catastrophes aren't often, but it's a learned experience for me.

 

[i4.phil]

Oh yeah at least twice when they announced big storms coming up (that means power failure in the city/area here) I quickly went into the garage and plugged it in lol.

 

[Gil]

I got the car a few weeks ago, and figured I'd see how many miles I can go on a charge.

Oddy, I do have a bit of range anxiety. Not sure why. I allow my ICE cars to go down to E before I fill up. Now I'm at 19% on the i4 and thinking I might plug in tonight.....

But, I think I'll wait and charge at work. I use about 4% of my range to get to work and about 6% to get home.

How low have you gone?

On a long trip I rolled into the garage at 0%. I was banking on Consumer Reports’ article that suggested the i4M50 range was actually about 315 miles. They were right. Still a bit anxious but I didn’t have many choices but to make it home.

 

[cruzer666]

On a long trip I rolled into the garage at 0%. I was banking on Consumer Reports’ article that suggested the i4M50 range was actually about 315 miles. They were right. Still a bit anxious but I didn’t have many choices but to make it home.

It can be 330 miles or 80 miles, depending how you drive it and the wheels/tires it's got on.

 

[robertfishman0]

That sounds like a lot of work. The proof is in the pudding. I just had my battery evaluated (2022 I4 40 with 24k miles) and it came back totally excellent(still shows range of 302 miles) I charge to 80% and let it get down to 25 or 30%. When not using the car for periods of time I let it sit with 50% charge.

 

[i4m50Norway]

It can be 330 miles or 80 miles, depending how you drive it and the wheels/tires it's got on.

Nurburgring is 20832 meters - 3 times around and a little bit extra - and you have a range of 80 km -> 50 Miles.

 

[Bingo]

Over the past 5 yrs I have had my EVs (i4 & Tesla) SoC% go down to 1-3% on road trips around 5 times now but always made it to a charging station. The first time was nerve-racking! It was in the winter of 2020 and was traveling from California to Washington (about 900 miles) in my Tesla 3 LR for the Christmas holidays. The Supercharger station past Mount Shasta was out of commission due to a recent winter storm and the next available DC chargers were beyond my range and I did not have a CCS1 to Tesla adapter (but had a J1772 to Tesla adapter which had come with the car). I slowed down to the minimum speed allowed on the freeway, turned off temp control and had my son who was in Washington on the phone tracking my location and checking online for other available charging alternatives. He located a ChargePoint J1772 AC destination charger in a small medical facility where I charged for 30 mins to make it to the next Supercharger station along my route. A somewhat similar situation happened on my drive back to California around Ashland, Oregon when my Nav appeared to have lost cellular signal and failed to have me exit to charge. By the time the low battery warnings came on I was well over 20 miles past the target Supercharger station and did not have enough charge to make it to the next. This time I doubled back and made it with 1% SoC.

The other times I found myself in a similar situation in my i4 during a road trip to Yosemite and the other one to Texas. In those occasions I did not feel any anxiety despite the flashing red alerts and repeated audio notifications that I could not make it to the next charging destination with my current charge. With the help of the i4 Nav I was able to find other non-EA or AC charging stations. Over the past 5 years more charging stations have been added here in the US western and southwestern states so I make it a point to set my next charging stops before my SoC gets below 10%. I have the ABRP and PlugShare apps in my i4 and Tesla Y LR just in case but have not needed to refer to them. Mastering the use of the i4 Nav has helped me a lot to overcome range anxiety.

At home I always keep my cars above 50% SoC just in case I have an unplanned drive the following day since I am retired and do not have a daily set commute schedule.

 

[rollermonkey]

That sounds like a lot of work. The proof is in the pudding. I just had my battery evaluated (2022 I4 40 with 24k miles) and it came back totally excellent(still shows range of 302 miles) I charge to 80% and let it get down to 25 or 30%. When not using the car for periods of time I let it sit with 50% charge.

Is your home charger powered by a generator connected to your exercise equipment or something? That's the only way I can imagine calling home charging "a lot of work", and I plug my car in almost every day.

I mean, I'm pretty lazy, and I don't find the extra 15 or 20 steps per day all that arduous.

 

[toddggg]

Checking in - I just drive non-stop from Charlotte to Pooler Ga, 3:45 hrs. Started at home at 99%, arrived with 15%.
I was averaging 4.4-4.5 mi/kwh in the first half of the trip, but it dropped down to 4.1 by the end. I guess I sped up 😎

What kind of speeds were you driving? I can barely do better than 3.5 in the best of weather.

I was trying to figure this out in my head yesterday. So leaving Charlotte, for 100 mi or so I had it pegged at 4.5 mi/kwh. We had very heavy slow traffic for the first 25 minutes or so. When it abated I drove ~77mph (70 mph limit + my usual 7mph).
Over the next 100 miles I drove about 80-ish, + or - depending on traffic. The efficiency steadily dropped to 4.0 by the first charging stop at 253 mi.
Which means I was getting much less than 4.0 for a while if the AVERAGE ended there. This is what puzzled me.
Factors may be altitude drop from Charlotte to Columbia of over 400 ft, the stop and go traffic coming out of Charlotte which may have given me some regen, and a slightly slower average speed once I got moving.
In the past I've seen differences like this depending on temperature and use of HVAC, me driving versus my wife, or rain.

 

[bbgator]

Try to keep it between 10 - 80 percent,
Except when arriving home, or other private places with a charging possibility (not fast chargers). 2 - 3 percent.
Or when leaving home for longer distances (99%).

Exact same. Multiple times < %3 on my way home or to a family members house where I'll be for a while and not worried about being stuck.

I don't let myself go any lower than 40% or so now, just in case. Overkill? Maybe. But I'd rather overkill than to regret it later.

Wow, a lot of people agree! Cannot worry about everything. Cars can break down too. It is good to be prepared.

Realistically anything serious would probably be a 911 or Emergency services first. Very few things in life a few minutes makes a difference unless you're been bitten by a poisonous snake and need to be driven to the hospital. Even still you will wait in the waiting room unless you call an ambulance and get rushed in. Unless you're bleeding on the floor, you're going to wait. Even heart attack, unless you currently have the symptoms and on the floor, you're going to wait. A lot of people also have more than one car per household or neighbor to drive you. You probably have enough charge to get to a hospital. I live in a rural area and it still is only a few minutes away. I think I could get there with a 0% charge. If someone in your family has a health issue and is local, then that is different. There is always a Taxi in dire need.

Even car wrecks, how far away is reasonable for you to rescue someone. 100 miles? Any major wreck I've been in, it takes an hour or two for the police to show up and multiple for the tow truck. If I'm sitting at 40%, that still is close to 100 miles and I could charge on my way home when the pressure is off. You do you, but I wouldn’t over prep for the once in a blue moon scenario, that you probably would be okay anyways.

 

[morkjt]

I honestly got to 0% was late night back into the city, car was under 6 months old hence my inexperience. It was sub zero and I had the heating on full blast. Was shocked as the miles ticked away slower than the soc. Did last 2 or so miles at 0%. It had gone into some kind of restricted mode but it got me home.

 

[cruzer666]

It’s important not to rely on the buffer. BMS recalibrates frequently and 10% remaining might turn into 0% in no time. This does happen.

I see the BMS recalibrating all the time. It recalibrates up and down. Sometimes it “finds” extra charge, other times it “loses” SoC%.

 

[Paul]

Drive from Toronto to Sarasota, FL.

This was my first really long trip in the i4, so I definitely had initial range anxiety. I left Toronto with a loaded car and a 100% charged battery in -10C temperatures. I drove 315km to Tilbury, ON for my first charge and had only 5% left. Needless to say, that really had me on the edge of my seat!!

 

[rollermonkey]

Be careful! I wonder how many countries have issued travel warnings about going to the US.

 

[i4.phil]

I'm at 13% now. My new low!

 

[Paul]

Be careful! I wonder how many countries have issued travel warnings about going to the US.

Many.

 

[i4m50Norway]

Here is the official advice to Norwegians :

Norwegian Ministry Updates Travel Guidance for Visits to the U.S.

Norway issues a travel update on stricter U.S. entry rules, warning citizens of challenges for Europeans at borders. Stay informed for smooth travel.

www.visaverge.com

But I think the major issue is that most people don't want to go anymore.
Big question is for all the people that are planning to go to the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

Norwegian prime minister and foreign minister - will probably be allowed to cross border :

PM Jonas Gahr Støre to meet Trump

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg will reportedly meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.

euroweeklynews.com