glc888

Not recommended to totally discharge or constantly trickle charge to 100% on battery. That said, Audi hides the upper and lower ends of the battery via the software to help avoiding damaging the battery so just plug it in to keep it at fully charged whenever possible.

FWIW, you should look at your utility bill to see what your rates are. Spending on a 220V outlet or Level 2 charger will let you charge in 2-1/2 hours and may off-set the cost to install the charging equipment if you can charge at a lower rate. You have to do your own math.....

DMcDnald

There are also tax incentives for installing home chargers. Take advantage before the incentives are phased out.

Sandroad

I'd be interested in reading more about your statement that deep discharge-charge cycles are harder on lithium batteries. Do you have source of information on that issue? I presume you mean harder on them than shallow discharge-charge cycles. I'm converting some solar systems to lithium batteries and want to make sure I size the battery bank correctly. The battery manufacturers I work with all claim that overall KWh throughput is similar for either discharge-charge scenario and of course the deep discharge-charge cycles means the battery is used more per charge. However, the alternative is buying more batteries to shorten the cycle depth, so cost and KWh throughput remains very close to the same. Their claims of similarity are not applicable to abuse......going to 0VDC repeatedly!

Tesla1856

Welcome to the forum.

1. Similar to what I see here with mine charging at 120v

2. I charge whenever it needs it or after running and errand or two. Yeah, usually ends up being depleted less than 50%.
No battery chemistry likes to be over-charged.
Lithium batteries especially don't like low charge (and prolonged no-charge or very low-volts-per-cell can kill them).

neuro0

I used the included charger plug into 240V. It takes about 2.5hrs to fully charge mine. My commute will take almost all of the battery charge every day. By the time I return home, it show 1 miles range left/ down to last Bar on the battery. Then I fully recharge it for next day.


Is it bad for the battery?

DMcDnald

I'm jealous that you have solar and may be getting a battery storage system. In general, as you mentioned shallow discharge cycles (40-80%) are easier on batteries than deep (5-100%). For home use, though, I'd just go with the kWh the manufacturer recommends. Batteries are expensive, so I'm sure there is an optimal storage capacity, based upon your energy needs. I'm sure that like EVs, the home systems have buffers at the top and bottom to prolong the life of the batteries.

dcaf

No, that is more or less what Audi designed these vehicles for (and why there is reserve in the battery not available for our normal use or display). This is where the cars battery maintenance systems design handle keep the batteries in the best shape for as long as possible kicks in.

dcaf

Here is a reasonably straight forward write up around battery maintenance in EVs. Please keep in mind that an EV and a PHEV have some different usage designs in their systems and manufactures should be taking into account more frequent full recharge cycles with a PHEV vs an EV (I do hope Audi took that into consideration, time will tell, as will their battery warranty of 8 years/100K miles):

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ev-l...tricks-advice/

Tesla1856

Old thread, but I remember when we first got it and I was wondering how the 12v battery got re-charged.
So, now we charge our Q5-e in a few hours with supplied 240v-Level-2 charger.

Wife casually drives down to the local store occasionally ... I don't think ICE ever starts.
I had to re-link the key user. It's cold so I left it in garage (I had door open for better signal).
I turned car on fully and was using the MMI for quite a while and even had some heat going (including seats).
High-Voltage Battery drained a bit, but ICE never started.

Conceivably, you can use this vehicle without running the ICE. Obviously, that would not be a good idea, but it's possible.
Anyway, like after my use above and maybe listening to some loud music in the driveway
... the vehicle still does everything it's suppose to do and none of the batteries got drained-down too low.
Pretty cool.