Is the 2 hour charger worthwhile?

[Peter2204]

I've been thinking about this since getting my new Wrangler 4XE. Is it a worthwhile investment for someone who usually drives under 20 miles a day? I'd love to know what it does to your electric bill too.

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[morph860]

If you use your Jeep several times per day, a quicker charge in between trips would be more beneficial. If it's just sitting in your driveway/garage for 12+ hours after your 20 mile day is over, the Level 1 Charger will do just fine. A Level 2 charger that's connected to WiFi will use a little more power than a Level 1 that you just plug-in when needed, but the overall electricity used for actual charging should be the same. ~17kwh from empty to full. My electric company charges $0.11146/kwh for the first 1,000 per month and $0.127 for anything over that. I'm usually slightly over, so I'm estimating it'll cost me about $2.20 for a full charge. Cheaper than a gallon of gas right now so I figure I'm ahead.

 

[Peter2204]

That's really helpful. Thanks Morph860.

 

[Mgg253]

13 kWh is about the most you’ll ever charge it. Ignore my charge times, that’s how long the vehicle was plugged in not necessarily charge times.

the level 1 suited me fine for awhile, but I like having a level 2. Plus my garage was already wired for it, so after tax credits and everything I was only in it for under $400

 

[evo8904]

It’s absolutely worth it. I don’t even notice an increase in my bill. There are some days that I charge it 3 times at home. I love the extra power too. For low end torque, it’s more than the 392.

 

[TrentYoung]

I've been thinking about this since getting my new Wrangler 4XE. Is it a worthwhile investment for someone who usually drives under 20 miles a day? I'd love to know what it does to your electric bill too.

Absolutely 100% worth it. At a 20 mile commute per day you will not use gas . Best charger I found (and everyone has their own favorite) and I got is the WallBox at Costco... the kind you plug into the wall. Then, if something should fail on the charger (which has not yet) you joust unplug it from the wall and change it out at Costco. Another plus for WallBox... the associated App is awesome.

 

[Bandit59]

I've been thinking about this since getting my new Wrangler 4XE. Is it a worthwhile investment for someone who usually drives under 20 miles a day? I'd love to know what it does to your electric bill too.

Doubt you will notice a difference with either one. As long as you have 12-16 hr for a complete charge level 1 is fine

 

[redracer]

I will add one comment to this... A lot of the newer EVs have options to slow their charging to prolong their battery life. Fast charging is always hard on batteries.

I have a Autel Level 2 40A EVSE and can change the charge current on the fly through the app. Lately, I have been choosing to charge at 10A, basically giving an 8 hour charge time, unless I know that I will be back out on another trip for the day, then I'll bump it back up to 40A (32A max for our jeeps) for just that charge cycle. I wish that the scheduling app in either our Jeeps or the Autel would let me schedule charge current, but so far no such luck.

 

[Mgg253]

I will add one comment to this... A lot of the newer EVs have options to slow their charging to prolong their battery life. Fast charging is always hard on batteries.

I have a Autel Level 2 40A EVSE and can change the charge current on the fly through the app. Lately, I have been choosing to charge at 10A, basically giving an 8 hour charge time, unless I know that I will be back out on another trip for the day, then I'll bump it back up to 40A (32A max for our jeeps) for just that charge cycle. I wish that the scheduling app in either our Jeeps or the Autel would let me schedule charge current, but so far no such luck.

I use the same charger… funny cause I do kind of the same thing, except I leave mine at 15A and bump it higher when needed only

 

[DewHawk]

I will add one comment to this... A lot of the newer EVs have options to slow their charging to prolong their battery life. Fast charging is always hard on batteries.

This brings up a great point to keep in mind as well; the battery warranty does not cover age/wear/worn out charge capacity related symptoms. Unless your battery literally is dying 2 years into ownership with a 15% charge capacity (obviously exaggerating here but you get the idea), Jeep is basically gonna make you pay for a replacement if you want one. Simply going in in the future and saying your 8-10 year old battery only holds a 50% charge compared to when it was new isn't their problem.

 

[PatriotX]

This brings up a great point to keep in mind as well; the battery warranty does not cover age/wear/worn out charge capacity related symptoms. Unless your battery literally is dying 2 years into ownership with a 15% charge capacity (obviously exaggerating here but you get the idea), Jeep is basically gonna make you pay for a replacement if you want one. Simply going in in the future and saying your 8-10 year old battery only holds a 50% charge compared to when it was new isn't their problem.

Cite?

I can only find EOL charge stats from Samsung, not Jeep.

 

[DewHawk]

Cite?

I can only find EOL charge stats from Samsung, not Jeep.

Link
The 4xe forum is a great resource for the real 'nerd' focused stats on the hybrid tech. They pour over tons of data that they're pulling from their onboard modules and track trends for parts including the battery pack. I've seen no less than a dozen of these types of reports scattered through various forum posts and facebook group conversations showing maximum charge levels dropping by 20% or more in less than 3 years of use.

As far as the warranty goes, the hybrid battery is covered by a "limited" warranty anywhere from 8 years 80000 miles to 10 years 100000 miles (depending on what year your vehicle is. they changed the duration late in 22 I believe). Every service advisor I've talked to and every source I've dug into online for this has said there's nothing that's specifically in writing that states what an acceptable charge level at that point in it's life is supposed to be. The 'GOTCHA' here is that so long as there isn't a DTC or fault for anything that relates back to the battery pack itself, it's going to be assumed as operating "as designed" by the service department and STAR engineers if you go in complaining about having sub par range from an older battery regardless of still falling inside the warranty window or not.

 

[PatriotX]

Seems like speculation and conjecture. From the level of competency I’ve seen from the techs and service writers, if they said the sky was blue I’d have to check.

The only hard numbers I’ve seen on end of life charge levels come from Samsung, the pack mfr.

 

[Bzinsky]

I will add one comment to this... A lot of the newer EVs have options to slow their charging to prolong their battery life. Fast charging is always hard on batteries.

Pretty sure it’s the heat from charging or discharging that affects their life.

Real EV discharge 3-5 hours
Real EV rapid charge 20-30 minutes.

4xe EV discharge = 20-30 minutes
4xe rapid charge = 2 hours.

I don’t think the 4xe has to worry about with rapid charging, it is ridiculously slow compared to a tesla supercharger.

I would guess just driving the 4xe effects the battery life far more than the level 2 charger. 4xe consumes a ludicrous 0.8kw per mile.

I used to think by using the level 1 charger I was extending the battery life but I’ve changed my mind on that. It’s not a normal EV.

 

[JesseT]

Link
The 4xe forum is a great resource for the real 'nerd' focused stats on the hybrid tech. They pour over tons of data that they're pulling from their onboard modules and track trends for parts including the battery pack. I've seen no less than a dozen of these types of reports scattered through various forum posts and facebook group conversations showing maximum charge levels dropping by 20% or more in less than 3 years of use.

As far as the warranty goes, the hybrid battery is covered by a "limited" warranty anywhere from 8 years 80000 miles to 10 years 100000 miles (depending on what year your vehicle is. they changed the duration late in 22 I believe). Every service advisor I've talked to and every source I've dug into online for this has said there's nothing that's specifically in writing that states what an acceptable charge level at that point in it's life is supposed to be. The 'GOTCHA' here is that so long as there isn't a DTC or fault for anything that relates back to the battery pack itself, it's going to be assumed as operating "as designed" by the service department and STAR engineers if you go in complaining about having sub par range from an older battery regardless of still falling inside the warranty window or not.

I think that if the battery performance degrades significantly within the warranty period and their answer is essentially, "normal wear and tear," they're gonna be opening themselves up to serious litigation. The implicit point of the long battery warranty was to assuage concerns about EV battery life.

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