the video is 1 hour long and goes deep into chemistry and physics but the good news is you don’t have to watch it because i have summarized it for you:
TLDR:
1 - don’t charge over 75%
2 - keep discharge cycles shallow ( ideally charge to 70 and discharge to 40 percent )
3 - when storing the car for long periods of time in hot weather keep state of charge low, at about 30%
that last one was a shock to me, because i thought warm weather was good for EVs but actually yes EVs have longer range in warm weather but the battery will last longer in cold climate ( will not degrade as rapidly over the years ).
this would seem to favor Boston over Florida.
the other interesting point raised in the video is that there is a technology, that is actually used in some cars, that can take an almost infinite number of charge discharge cycles at any depth ( like 0-100% ) with virtually no degradation at all …
and yet the consumers don’t know which cars have it because manufacturers don’t reveal what chemistry is in their car’s battery.
i agree with Dr. Dahn that this is fucking bullshit. people have the right to know what they’re buying, and yet even the dealers do not have this information.
only Tesla actually discloses what chemistry is in their batteries, but the actual technology mentioned above isn’t about chemistry per se but crystal structure … which is something Tesla doesn’t reveal ( nobody does )
LiFePo batteries are also basically unkillable regardless of crystal structure and are used in in base ( short range ) Model 3 … which is a bummer because nobody wants that car obviously. But there is a good reason for this - LiFePo are heavy and have short range, which is why they aren’t used in premium EVs. The base Model 3 with LiFePo is a great value proposition though - the battery should outlast the car.
theoretically since EV range isn’t critical in PHEVs they could be made with LiFePo batteries BUT they are not, since chemistry isn’t revealed and NMC gives higher range which nobody needs but looks good for marketing because idiots want MOAR RANGE ! even in PHEVs where it doesn’t matter.
in any case, what you actually want is single crystal NMC not LiFePo because that way you get the best of both worlds - range AND unkillability. but the only way to find out which cars have it is to ask a chinese battery supplier who their clients are and they will just tell you to go fuck yourself.
bottom line - we live in a time where we already have the tech to make EVs viable - but we are too stupid to use that tech or even when it is used to let anybody know it is used - and for the ones that don’t have the tech to properly manage the limitations of that inferior tech.
reminds me of Kubrick movie Dr. Strangelove where Soviets built a Doomsday Machine that automatically destroys planet earth if USSR is attacked but didn’t tell anybody about it …
you would think crucial information like that would be shared but no because FUCK LOGIC. you’re buying a car in which it costs $40,000 to replace the battery but not even the dealer even knows what that battery in your car actually is made of.
