Just a small matter really, but I figure I should alert anyone that has or is thinking of buying an electric vehicle. One thing that helps the milage for EVs is that they, most of them, pump electricity back into the batteries when slowing or going downhill. Even on my short trips, my car will generally put 1 or 2 miles back in the battery while slowing. So if I drive 10 miles, I might only pay for 8 or 9 of them.

However, that can’t happen if your battery is already fully charged. The is another good reason to refrain from fully charging your battery. Naturally, if you are on a cross-country trip, this very well may not apply.

Personally, I try to keep my battery between 35 and 90%. Because a full charge on my car is approximately 200 miles, I just double the percent to determine my range. Nissan has told me that I should let it go down to 20%. However, I don’t like being limited to 40 miles should there be an emergency. Worse, it would take me at least two full days to recharge my car from 20 up to 80% on 110 volts. If I need to drive every day, that means interruptions in charging with discharges, which is also not recommended.

Sometimes reality does get in the way of those ideals.

On the speculation front… I wonder how long it will take before people start selling auxiliary battery packs to give cars, maybe those extra few 40 miles. Now doubt in my mind, it will happen. It is just a matter of what form it will take.