[bxd20]

We keep cars for a decade, at least. We bought the Bolt with the intension of it being our last car. The car needs to be plugged in for the onboard 12 volt charger to check the battery every 6 hours. We did that for over five years. But it meant the traction battery was always at ~90%/18 bars charge. A cell failed in the traction pack, so we ended up with a new battery. Since GM won't even sell us the newer software to allow charging to lower charge limits, we now disconnect when it gets to ~80%/16 bars, and keep the 12 volt on a maintainer.

I know this thread is a bit dated now.

Are you implying that you feel keeping the Bolt charged at 90% lead to a cell failure? I have a hard time believing that. I just traded in a 2014 Volt I owned since new, and always kept it plugged in. Even times such as… when we took the other car… and left for a three week vacation. Using MyGreenVolt not long ago, my cells had extremely small voltage deviation when discharged. I actually think that great pack health was due to it constantly being plugged in.

Maybe what happened to you was simply a manufacturing error with a bad cell?

Of course the maintainer isn’t hurting anything.

My thoughts and opinions.

 

[bxd20]

So - by what mechanism do you feel unplugging the EVSE benefits the battery longevity?