Hi Have 2 questions
What are the implications of using the Ather Grid as the Primary Charging source daily?
Is there documented battery degradation at a significantly higher rate vs the normal degradation when charging using a mix of Home & Grid charging by Ather ?
I say from what I have seen/heard from the online meets and reading stuff on the forum. Rest, I am not sure why CS says so.
Which is why I’ve posted this question here… since it needs clarity…Has Ather observed a significant disadvantage of using Fast charging primarily or has it just been hearsay?
AFAIK, there has not been a battery replacement even in the 450’s. Many may not use Grid daily since everyone has a charger and do want to take care of the battery and since are using EV’s, have the knack of calculated rides and stuff.
Someone from the team should be in a better position to answer this but the availability of data has slim chances.
This isn’t specific to Ather, rather, this is normal behavior with lithium ion batteries. Every time you try to push more power into a battery, it degrades the cell.
Once in a while topping up your battery at a fast charger isn’t going to cause too much degradation, but frequently using the fast charger as your primary source of charging will reduce battery life significantly.
The ideal to charge your 450/450X would be at home, using a 20-80-20 charging pattern. This ensure maximum battery longevity. If you use Ather Grid’s fast chargers, then yes; your battery degrades faster. Fast charging on an occasional basis will have little impact on battery life, but repeated fast charging will degrade your battery much faster than regular charging on a daily basis. The Ather Grid serves as a helping hand in situations where you desperately need charge when you’re out, and so shouldn’t serve as your primary charging source. You could charge at home using Ather’s portable charge if you can’t install a full-blown home charger.
@prateek.gulli I use the Grid as a main source of charge, due to apartment issues, I use the app extensively to see if a charger is free and go there. I usually top up the charge on the way to work, and top it up on the way back. I never charge more than 82% and usually plug in at 44%, It seems fine, it charges well, and holds the charge well too.
Battery technology has come a long way to combat the effects of fast charging, besides battery life is calculated on “charge cycles” regardless of how its charges. 0-100 fast charge, slow charge, etc… will still use the same amount of cycles. Ather batteries are rated upto 2000 cycles, roughly equates to 0-100 * 2000 times.
Use the Grid ethically, wait your turn, don’t try to hit 100% on the grid (it takes forever, in the time you reach a 100%, 4 other people can do 80%) be responsible and respectful. Other than that go for it bud.
Realistic charging time is from around 1.2% to 1.5% per minute (450x). Ather Grid 2.0 is slightly faster.
Hope this helps.
Since how many months you are using Ather public charging as main source
Ideally you should charge to 100%. Charging to 80% will result in cells not getting balanced leading to faster battery degradation. You can check with the technical team. I’m sure they have designed the software to take care of proper charging.
Ather has self-balancing BMS. Do not spread misinformation. Charging to 100% on NMC battery chemistry is stupid.
Occasionally you should charge up to 100% And occasionally you should run the battery down to 0%
It helps the BMS understand the upper limit and lower limit of the cells, and calculate the remaining %, SoH accurately. Staying between 40-80 would very slowly but certainly make the BMS loose touch with the cells and there may or may not be a minor difference in the displayed SoC vs actual SoC.
Anyway there’s no sure-shot way of actually knowing the actual amount of energy present in the cell, it is all a calculation and an assumption based on the amount of current flowing in and out of the cell.
Would love to be corrected if I’m wrong!
Yes, even if the BMS is self correcting, this is occasionally needed. But charging to 100% everytime and making it stay on that high percentage is harmful for NMC. For LFP its no big deal.
Please check your facts. Does Ather mention anywhere in the owners manual not to charge to 100%?
You do realise a feature called “Optimized Charging” exists solely for this purpose. This is common knowledge in the world of Lithium batteries.
When you charge 100% of your scooter, it doesn’t charge 100% of your battery. It charges to 3.3kWh of your 3.7kWh battery.
Optimized charging is just a placebo kept to make users charge less and ride less.
Yes and that buffer will help give you similar range even after 5 years with negligible degradation to the true range. And it’s not just a buffer for the higher end (ie. Above 100%) but also a buffer for the lower end below 0%. {hence the cases of errors due to deep discharge are low as well}
Now that you mention it. I stand corrected.