About 45 days into my new (to me) Lightning and had a charging question. If I drive it down to 42% every day, is it fine to charge it to 100% every night?
If you’re getting home with 42%, there’s really no need to charge to 100% unless you just want to.
Ford recommends charging to 90%, but a lot of people regularly charge to 100% without issues. There are different schools of thought—some folks follow ‘ABC’ (Always Be Charging) and top off daily, while others limit charging to extend battery life. The Lightning is still too new to have long-term data, but from what I’ve seen, you should be fine.
Just remember, 100% in a Lightning isn’t actually 100%.
Tully said:
Just remember, 100% in a Lightning isn’t actually 100%.
What do you mean?
Tully said:
Just remember, 100% in a Lightning isn’t actually 100%.
What do you mean?
It’s not exact, but the 132 kWh battery is actually 142 kWh. Ford rotates which cells get charged, so when you charge to ‘100%’, you’re really only using about 90% of the cells.
Short-term, it’s fine. Long-term, it could speed up battery degradation. Ford recommends sticking to 80-90% unless you’re prepping for a long trip.
Appreciate the input!
You can charge to 100% whenever you want—Ford warranties the battery for 8 years/100k miles, so they’re clearly confident in it.
That said, if you only use 58% daily, why charge to 100% every night? If you’re worried, set it to 90% and just roll in at 32% instead of 42%.
Also, 100% in a Tesla is actually 100%, but in a Ford, it’s really about 92%.