TIL plugging in right when you get home might not be the best for battery health

I was talking to this retired electrical engineer at a ChargePoint station in Denver last week. He told me he always waits at least an hour after driving before plugging in, especially in hot weather, to let the battery cool down first. Said charging a hot battery speeds up degradation over time. Has anyone else heard about this or adjusted when they plug in based on battery temp?

2 comments

2 Comments

coleman.jamie1mo ago

Oh man, that's funny you say that. I used to charge my old Leaf at the same time every night - right after my commute. Then I started noticing the battery temp gauge was always in the red zone during summer. My buddy who works at a salvage yard told me he's seen way more battery pack failures from people who charge right after a long highway drive. I'm not sure if it's a huge deal or just one of those things that adds up over years. I switched to setting a timer to charge at 2 AM and my battery seems to run cooler now, but your mileage may vary.

joelthomas1mo ago

Funny you bring that up. A buddy of mine had a Tesla Model 3 and he always plugged it in as soon as he got home from work. He lived in Arizona, so summers were brutal. After about two years, his battery range started dropping fast. The service center told him the constant heat from charging right after driving was probably cooking the cells over time. He started waiting a few hours before charging, and his next battery held up much better.