Summary
Electric vehicles run on batteries that are basically just larger versions of the ones that power our phones. However, few of us actually take good care of our phone battery. As electric vehicles become more popular, it will be important to know how to treat your battery.
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The most important component of an electric vehicle is the battery. The battery is as critical to an electric car as fuel is to a gas powered vehicle. As more people switch to EVs, understanding how to take care of your battery is crucial. If you have an electric vehicle, here are four tips to care for your battery.
For Personal Tech Media, this is Two Minute Tech. I’m Jim Herman.
Electric cars use a larger version of the same batteries that operate your phone or computer. But when it comes to our phones, most of us don’t typically take very good care of our batteries. In fact, I did an episode last May on how you can take better care of your phone’s battery.
So how can you best protect your car’s battery?
First, keep the battery charged between 20 and 80 percent whenever possible. Charging it all the way up to 100 percent or letting it run down to empty can harm the battery, especially if it’s done repeatedly. Don’t charge your battery daily unless you need a full charge for each day.
Second, do your best to avoid extreme temperatures. Extreme hot and cold temperatures can hurt your battery’s life and its capacity. You obviously can’t control your region’s daily weather or the climate, but avoid extremes whenever you can.
Third, try to avoid using fast charging whenever possible. Fast charging is OK if you need a quick charge, but over time, it will put added strain on your battery.
And fourth, if you won’t be driving for a while, don’t leave your car’s battery close to fully charged or fully depleted. You’ll get the best life from your battery if it’s stored while it’s between 20 and 80 percent.