As a guideline, it is usually faster and cheaper to charge from 10-20% to 80-90% at each stop.

• To ensure you get the most life out of your battery, keep the charge level between 20% and 80%. This protects the battery from depletion and overcharging. It prevents overheating of the battery and helps to preserve battery life.
• Preheat (precool) your EV before unplugging. Once the cabin has been heated (or cooled) it takes much less energy to keep it at your preferred temperature.
• During winter, using heated seats to help stay warm uses far less power than heating the cabin. 
• Generally, a warm battery with a partial charge will charge faster than a battery that’s hot or cold, or close to fully charged, or almost fully discharged. Because of this, it is usually faster and cheaper to charge from 10-20% to 80-90% at each stop.
• Help the EV community by checking in on plugshare.com when you charge.
  • EV drivers looking to charge can tell at a glance which chargers are already in use.
  • If you have problems using a charger you can indicate that on plugshare.com which will warn other EV drivers.
  • Chargers can break down or have intermittent issues so seeing that a charger has had lots of recent successful check-in’s can be very reassuring.
  • Adding a comment or photo to the charging station on plugshare.com can help the next driver find and use the station especially if it has any special quirks.

Winter charging tips

When an EV is parked in the cold (especially below 0°C) it will use battery power to keep the battery itself from getting too cold. That means, if you do need to park in cold weather for an extended period, ex. days, then it’s a good idea to keep your EV plugged in.

To minimize the effects of temperatures extremes on range try these tips:

1. Warm up the cabin air before unplugging your EV from the charger.
2. In cold weather, schedule charging so that it finishes just before you leave since charging warms the battery.

Use these features freely as they use very little power:

1. Radio and/or sound
2. GPS
3. Phone
4. Electrically heated seats
5. Heated steering wheel