Patent ID: 7518340

Claim:
A method of managing charge rates for a battery to reduce total battery charge capacity degradation over time, comprising: for a first charge cycle, determining a first charge current (R) for a battery to charge the battery to a percentage (X) of a total battery charge capacity (C) for the battery in an amount of time (T) according to a relationship R=XC/T; utilizing the first charge current to charge the battery toward the total battery charge capacity (C) for the battery in the first charge cycle; for a subsequent charge cycle, determining a reduction in the total battery charge capacity for the battery to a reduced total battery charge capacity (C NEW ) and determining a new charge current (R NEW )for the battery to charge the battery to the percentage (X) of the reduced total battery charge capacity (C NEW ) for the battery in the amount of time (T) according to a relationship R NEW =X(C NEW /C)C/T; charging the battery toward the reduced total battery charge capacity (C NEW ) for the battery in the subsequent charge cycle with the new charge current (R NEW ), the new charge current (R NEW ) being applied in the subsequent charge cycle to reduce a rate of charge for the battery.