iDriver said:
.... The car is actually never charged to 100% of the battery capacity. ....Mitsubishi intentionally limited the amount of voltage each battery can take. .... to ensure a long life and limit the rate of pack degradation.
So good news. Charge the car as much as you want!
I had my annual maintenance done about 4 months ago. ..... only ever charging to 92% of "full". Pretty cool!.....
Thanks iDriver,
Yeah, I think most of us here knew that the onboard charger is configured to protect the battery longevity that way. Not sure your calculation of 92% is right. Think it might be a bit less than that we're capped at as the total kilowatt-hours stored isn't exactly proportinal to voltage level charged to.
Still everything I read and think I understand suggests that for maximum life ideally you'd keep the battery charged somewhere in mid capacity, not fully charged.
I realize that's not always practical, and no, occassional or even modertely frequent fully charging isn't a cardinal sin. But if your driving style permits you'd be better off for long life never charging to more than two bars short of full.
It's also my understanding that if 8 year from now you come into a dealer complaining that your maximum ranges is down 20% and that's intolerable they can reprogram it to allow 100% charging to stretch your useful full range life a bit further down the calendar before you have to ditch those batteries.
Finally: Three questions which I will post under the cost of operation topic (so please don't answer here):
1) You didn't show the price on what you were charged for your annual inspection. What was it?
2) Is there an "annual inspection?" I only see offhand something due at about 15,000 miles.
3) Anyone know if you don't bring it in on the required schedule can and will Mitsubishi use that to wiggle out of covering something that otherwise would be on warrenty coverage?
Alex