Tips for NMC battery health
Hi all,
I know this has been covered to death - and I've read a lot of the tips (dont charge above 80% or fall below 20%, slower charging is better for battery health) but was wondering if there was anything else for my specific circumstances... I'm also having a bit of a panic given I've never owned an EV before and am picking one up in the next few weeks!
So, my situation... about to pick up a new Renault 4, which I believe is an NMC battery, after my very old Corsa finally gave up the ghost. I live in London UK, I don't drive for a commute but do short drives once or twice a week for the food shop (5 mile round trip) or going out to Epping Forest or similar (~10 mile round trip). About once every 2 months I do a long round trip for work (anywhere from 150 to 350 mile round trip), and 3 or 4 times a year we drive down to the south west to see my folks (~500 mile round trip). We can't charge at home yet but have cheap public chargers at the end of our road (22kwh but I believe the R4 doesn't have accept 22kwh AC charging so would be charging at the 11kwh max instead).
Given the car will often only do a few miles a week between the longer trips, should I try to charge to around 50% usually then only top up when I've got a longer trip/get to around 20% battery to avoid it sitting with a higher level of charge for a while? How important is it to avoid charging to 100% in reality? I know LFP batteries can take it more than NMC but is it really as bad as some people suggest? And will charging at the public chargers, as opposed to slower home charging affect the battery much? Hoping to keep the car/battery going as long as we can!
Is there anything else I should consider?
Thanks all and sorry for having a pre-EV panic!