

I’ve previously written about my preference of keeping our car between around 30% and 70%, or 20% and 80%. (Been there, done that.) Don’t want to forget to charge? Plug in every day when you get home and make it something you don’t even think about.Īnother benefit of charging your EV every night is that if something unexpected does come up and you need to drive much more than previously planned, your car should have a good state of charge for that abnormal day. If you don’t charge every day, it’s much easier to forget to charge on a night when you need to. If you do plug your car in every night, it becomes a strong habit and you are much less likely to forget to charge when you need to. Not having home charging can complicate things.) While it’s the norm to not charge every day, there’s no harm in doing so. (Note: This discussion is assuming access to home charging. They plug in every other day or every third day.
#Car battery charger overnight drivers
And from my experience covering this industry for a decade and talking to countless EV owners, most EV drivers don’t plug in every day. In that case, it really doesn’t make sense to plug in and charge every day. The average in the US, though, is to drive 40 miles a day. If you have a car with 200 miles of range and you drive 100+ miles a day, you surely want to plug in and charge every day. Think of it like your air conditioner - when the house is too hot, the AC turns on and sucks up electricity when the house is cool enough, it shuts off again.Īs far as the “ Should I charge my EV every night?” question, well, that really just depends on how much you drive and how much range your car has. And once the car reaches the battery level you’ve set the car to charge to, it will simply stop drawing electricity. Neither concern is worth spending any mental energy on, though. One could worry about fire risk, or about the chance that the car could keep drawing power and wasting money if you leave it plugged in.

It’s understandable that many people (most people?) initially wonder whether it’s okay to keep the car plugged in while you sleep. The answer to the first question is variable, depending on one’s circumstances and preferences, while the second question is a simple yes/no question and the answer is: yes - you can certainly leave your EV plugged in overnight, and most people do. The following are two common questions from new electric car owners and potential electric car owners: “ Should I charge my EV every night?” and “ Can I leave my EV plugged in overnight?” I’m going to tackle them both in a special BOGO/two-for-the-price-of-one article.
