I can extend the battery life on my cell phones by disabling the fast charging negotiation - a switch on the Aptera would be convenient (and maybe useful?) ... might this be an option when plugged into a high current station?
Sure it would be nice if it costs nothing to add, but I wouldn't worry about it, especially with the larger batteries.
It's good to limit phone charge speed because their other aging factors are often pretty harsh, being uncooled, deep-cycled (sometimes to 0%!), & left on charge all night sitting at 100%.
If all else is kept equal (temperature, cycle depth, etc), battery life isn't extended much by lowering the charge speed below about 1C, which is basically the rate which would theoretically add 100% per hour. Aptera's most recent DC charge speed spec is "100 miles in 10 minutes". That's 600 miles in an hour, which is:
- 0.6C with the 1000-mile battery
- 1C with the 600-mile battery
- 1.5C with the 400-mile battery (still not very harsh)
- 2.4C for the 250-mile battery, but it can only subject to this rate for an absolute maximum of 20 minutes before it's at 80% & auto-slowed.
Unless you use DC daily, I believe bigger aging factors will be daily peak charge voltage & daily depth of discharge, which is why there are apps for phones/laptops to alert you to plug in when it drops to 30% (or whatever you set it to), & to unplug when it reaches 70% (or whatever). Many BEVs now have an adjustable charge % auto-stop feature.
Bottom line: Charging at 2.4C a few hours a month isn't going to hurt much. It should easily be offset by the average person setting an Aptera's daily charging limit to 60%, which wouldn't even drop their smallest battery to 40% daily. I believe those are NASA's "last forever" charge setting for satellites where battery replacement is basically impossible.
Since Aptera uses so little power, just make sure you start your drive with a fully charged phone. When the Aptera runs out, just plug in your phone as a backup.
LOL. I actually started to calculate how far Aptera could go on the power of a jumpstarter, before I realized how extremely unlikely it would be for me to ever run out of power in a car that goes 625% of the US average daily drive.
Simpler answer: Aptera specs indicate only 60kW DC charging. My Fiat 500e's current gauge shows more than that under heavy braking regen, & the battery still only loses about 2.3% per 10k mi.
Sure it would be nice if it costs nothing to add, but I wouldn't worry about it, especially with the larger batteries.
It's good to limit phone charge speed because their other aging factors are often pretty harsh, being uncooled, deep-cycled (sometimes to 0%!), & left on charge all night sitting at 100%.
If all else is kept equal (temperature, cycle depth, etc), battery life isn't extended much by lowering the charge speed below about 1C, which is basically the rate which would theoretically add 100% per hour. Aptera's most recent DC charge speed spec is "100 miles in 10 minutes". That's 600 miles in an hour, which is:
- 0.6C with the 1000-mile battery
- 1C with the 600-mile battery
- 1.5C with the 400-mile battery (still not very harsh)
- 2.4C for the 250-mile battery, but it can only subject to this rate for an absolute maximum of 20 minutes before it's at 80% & auto-slowed.
Unless you use DC daily, I believe bigger aging factors will be daily peak charge voltage & daily depth of discharge, which is why there are apps for phones/laptops to alert you to plug in when it drops to 30% (or whatever you set it to), & to unplug when it reaches 70% (or whatever). Many BEVs now have an adjustable charge % auto-stop feature.
Bottom line: Charging at 2.4C a few hours a month isn't going to hurt much. It should easily be offset by the average person setting an Aptera's daily charging limit to 60%, which wouldn't even drop their smallest battery to 40% daily. I believe those are NASA's "last forever" charge setting for satellites where battery replacement is basically impossible.
Since Aptera uses so little power, just make sure you start your drive with a fully charged phone. When the Aptera runs out, just plug in your phone as a backup.
LOL. I actually started to calculate how far Aptera could go on the power of a jumpstarter, before I realized how extremely unlikely it would be for me to ever run out of power in a car that goes 625% of the US average daily drive.
Simpler answer: Aptera specs indicate only 60kW DC charging. My Fiat 500e's current gauge shows more than that under heavy braking regen, & the battery still only loses about 2.3% per 10k mi.