Elon Musk explains why you should never charge an electric car to 100% The last 20% is not a small ask. Elon: "getting from 80 to 100, it takes about as much time as getting from 0 to 80" It runs backwards from how people fuel a car. Elon: "it's a little counterintuitive, because for a gasoline car you would fill it up" Inside the battery, ions are looking for somewhere to go. Elon: "the lithium ions are trying to find a parking space" Elon: "when the parking lot's empty, they can zip right in there and find a spot, it's easy" Elon: "as the parking lot gets full, just like trying to find a parking space at a mall, you have to hunt around for a spot" So on a road trip the rule flips. Elon: "you actually want to charge to about 80%, and then run it down all the way to 10%, or less"