As the most common means of transport in everyday life, the electric vehicle makes battery use and care a big topic. So what is damaging your electric vehicle battery? Let us look at the chief culprits!

Culprit 1: One-yuan fast charging

Standard electric vehicle batteries generally use a three-stage charger, with a maximum charging voltage of 56V and a current of about 2.5A. The so-called fast charge raises the voltage to around 60V while pushing the current up to 7 to 13A. In other words, fast charging is a charging method achieved at the cost of damaging the battery.

One-yuan fast charging has no entry threshold and requires no relevant technology; the equipment may even be unregistered no-name products. These carry serious safety hazards, and it is hard to defend your rights when problems occur. We earnestly remind consumers to use one-yuan fast charging with caution and, whenever possible, to charge with their own standard charger. As for the fast-charging stations, their original purpose is to serve the public, but real convenience is not easy to achieve; do not just plan to grab quick money and leave. Improving quality and regulating conduct is the right path.

Besides the common roadside one-yuan fast charging, what other charging components or habits are bad for battery care and use?

Culprit 2: No-name charger

For an electric vehicle battery to last, charger quality is crucial. Today a battery normally lasts about three years, and a life that ends early is very often caused by a poor-quality charger. Inferior chargers lead to undercharging or overcharging, and both can kill the battery. Undercharging leaves the lead sulfate on the positive and negative plates unable to fully convert into sponge lead and lead dioxide, so the discharge capacity is insufficient; long-term undercharging enlarges the lead sulfate crystals, sulfates the plates, and shortens battery life. An overcharging charger increases the battery's internal resistance and swells the case, and may even cause the vehicle to catch fire during charging.

Culprit 3: Electric vehicle mileage booster

In the past two years a wonder device called an electric vehicle mileage booster has appeared. It works by feeding a false voltage through the controller sensing line to deceive the controller into continuing to discharge the little power left in the battery so as to add mileage. To protect the battery from over-discharge, electric vehicles generally have an under-voltage protection device; when the battery reaches the under-voltage state the vehicle can no longer run, and the mileage booster forces out that remaining 10 percent of power. Discharging like this for a long time will deal fatal damage to the battery!