Keeping your electric vehicle healthy during lock down!
While we are in lockdown we should all be giving ourselves some self love but also your poor electric vehicles (EV’s) are looking a touch lonely on the drive, and not enjoying being driven. They need some love too.
Without a bit of love your EV may be unhappy when the time comes to drive it again. Here are some handy tips to keep your EV happy during lock down.
Keep it plugged in If you can keep your EV plugged in when your not using it. EVs are clever and will only pull a charge when they need it so just leave the charge connected and let it look after itself.
Take it for a short drive once a weekJust like we humans should be stretching our legs and giving ourselves some exercise our EVs need it too! This is for a number of reasons: Your car has two batteries, the big one that drives the car along and a smaller 12v battery. The smaller 12v is only charged while the car is moving on most EVs. To make sure it doesn’t go flat take your car for a 30 minute drive at least once a week to keep it topped up (you can do this with any petrol or diesel cars you have too). The other reason is your tyres- EVs are heavier than combustion engine cars and if they sit unmoved for a long time your tyres can get flat spots, which will cause a vibration while driving.
Set your charge limitSet your car to charge to between 50-80% max, batteries don’t like being kept full so keep your cars charger limit set so a nice middle ground, even if you keep in plugged in. Your car will cycle through which parts of the battery to fill and which to leave empty.
Cycle the Air ConditioningNo one likes a smelly AC system, get it running once a week to make sure its not letting moisture build up, you can do this on your 30 minute drive from step two, or if your EV can turn it on from the app every now and again. (if you have a non EV I'd recommend doing it with that car too).
Give your EV a bathKeep it clean, it may not be going anywhere but its going to get a bit dirty. Bird droppings can cause damage to paintwork. Plus, it gives you something to do during lock down, and everyone loves a clean car. Make sure you use a soft cloth or wash mitt (never a plastic based sponge) and a car shampoo (not washing up liquid!). If you don’t have any car shampoo check out our Instagramand see how Charlie made his own to give the Octopus Model 3 a good scrub!
Join an EV owners forumBecause if you can’t talk about how amazing your EV is to people in the real world you may as well do it online.
Keep in touch
Send us photos of your newly cleaned EV, let us know any tips you have, or for all you Tesla owners let us know how many hours you’ve spent hiding from the kids playing arcade games on the drive way! Tweet us @OctopusEV or send us a DM on Instagram @Octopus_EV
