But the degradation will happen even if you nurse the battery like you say. It’s part of the chemistry. If you don’t charge to 100% all the time it will help. The battery is best between 20 and 80%. Don’t leave it at 100% for a long time either.

But if this is the case than why did Renault not build in a charge to 80% setting? The biggest thing that will kill the battery is temperature. If you use a lot of rapid chargers in one day I guess you will heat the battery a lot. The level of charge only matters if you KEEP it at 100% all the time. Dropping it to <10% every day could be just as harmful.

Battery degradation is part of owning an EV. Personally, I would not worry about it because of the battery lease. And you probably won’t find Renault replacing just a few cells as it’s easier to drop and replace the whole battery unit. The Zoe was designed with this in mind. Replacing cells requires specialised electric work and they won’t/can’t do that in the garage.

I’m sorry but if you own a Zoe you pay a battery lease so the battery degradation should not be a worry. If the battery goes below 75% you get a new one. At 100% you get the full range and the best out of the car.

That may be a good ‘feel factor’, but if you nurse your battery until it does become aged and depleted and in need of replacement then you will have had proportionately more life out of it whilst it is able to deliver a bigger range.

You’ll also have to argue and haggle with Renault who will tell you your battery is just fine even when you know it is already degraded to 70%. and then when you have had it replaced you’ll find they have replaced a few modules and it is now 80% of original capacity.

I want the best battery I can manage it to be, for as long as I can. Like anything in life, treat it nicely and do not abuse it unnecessarily and it will last longer in a better condition. If you need 100% charge then you need it, so charge to 100%. If you don’t need 100% charge and want to keep the battery in its best health, then don’t charge to 100%. But do charge to 100% every week or two and give it a full overnight charge to let the cell balancing happen.

This is common to Li battery technology, is well known, and is easy to find reading on it on the internet. Li-ion literally transfers lithium ions into a carbon electrode, and it physically swells and changes phase as you stuff more Li in. It is called ‘intercalation’ which is the physical placement of atoms into a structure. Like a spring, if you are always stretching a cell to its limits it will not last as long as of you stretch it only a little.

The causes of temperature ageing are somewhat different and relate more to the chemistry of the electrolyte rather than the physics of the electrodes, but there’s not much you can control about the temperature. In general, UK has the perfect climate for nursing Li batteries to their maximum longevity so you are already doing the best you can for your EV battery by living in the UK!

I’m sorry but if you own a Zoe you pay a battery lease so the battery degradation should not be a worry. If the battery goes below 75% you get a new one. At 100% you get the full range and the best out of the car.

No is the answer to this question 🙂

yes – thanks Donald. We get it. How come you know all this stuff? Is it by trial and error?

We asked our EV salesperson about how to look after the battery life and tips …he didn’t know and we asked him to find out the bottom line from Renault. New buyers shouldn’t be left in a position of not knowing and to pick up on hearsay.

Hello Simon

I love my Zoe ZE Dynamique to bits and have had her for just short of 12 months and have completed 7,500 miles there for I am throwing my opinion into the ring based on my experience so far
No it would not be wise to have an electric car whether or not it’s a Zoe to do your wife’s journey they can all do it in warm weather (I traveled 75 miles yesterday on the M1 average 65 miles per hour with no problem) but as you mention 60 miles no that’s to many for them lights , heater , cold battery and motorway speed no I am afraid to say it just not wise to do in the winter unless you have a charger on your journey I use my Zoe on the Motorway a lot but always give lots of time to use the chargers

Hope this helps Simon as for the Zoe what a car it is as a shrink I would love to buy all my clients one
Dr Steel

If your journey tomorrow is 50 miles, you do not need to charge 100%. You can charge 80% and come home with 20%. Then charge back to 80% for the next day of 50 miles.

If your journeys tomorrow are likely to be more than 50 miles, better to charge to 100% as you might need all the charge.

During winter your range will drop and you may need to charge to 100% more often so you get home with over 10% left, just in case. It’s fine!

It’s fine to charge to 100%. No problem. But if you don’t *have* to charge to 100% then you will help the battery live longer if you don’t.

Do not make it a religion avoiding charging to 100%, the battery will not be ‘harmed’, but avoiding it helps overall life of the battery. If you do need to charge to 100%, then that’s absolutely fine, but try to time your charge so you drive away straight after it reaches 100%. The longer the battery sits with 100% charge, the more it will age. If you do not need the car for a few days, leave it discharged until you need to charge it up. If you do not need the car for a few weeks, charge it to just under 50% and then there is no chance any cells will go flat while you are away.

Hope that helps.

So charging to 100% ages the battery much more than charging to 80%? Really?

Yes. That is by no means to suggest the battery will not last within its warranty terms if you charge often to 100%. But you will have plenty of opportunity to charge it to 100% when the battery capacity decreases and you find that you have to. The longer you delay that moment, the longer you will have a battery with a greater range. It is not a concern when you lease the battery and it has a range great enough for your purposes even when aged, but if you want your battery to have the longest life and highest capacity, charge to 100% only once a week or so.

The factors that affect battery ageing are, in turn, heat, SOC and then number of recharges. Rapid charging is fine so long as it does not lead to undue heating of the cells.

Donald – So charging to 100% ages the battery much more than charging to 80%? Really?

I think to attempt to drive a Zoe whist trying not to age the battery is impractical and a defensive tactic. Would you also following this logic avoid fast and rapid chargers too? At the end of the day we lease the battery so our battery is covered.