el4 said:
I have always parked my gasoline powered cars in a locked garage for 5-6 months each summer with the battery disconnected. My garage is in a hot area of Florida.I haven't gotten a definitive answer as to whether I can do the same with My Leaf. I need to know if this will harm the lithium-ion battery , and if not, should I charge the car, unplug it or not. Disconnect the 12-volt battery or not. Also what other precautions do I take. I spoke to a rep at Nissan (the 800 number) who told me if I don't charge the li-ion every 14 to 30 days it could "brick." (his terminology.) Anyone know the answer?
drees said:
What I would do:
1. Ideally leave the car charged to somewhere between 2-5 bars. Certainly no more than 80% (10 bars), but anywhere above 1 bar and 10 or below (80% charge) is OK. Lower SOC is better for storage and longevity. The main traction battery will not lose any appreciable charge for many months.
2. Store the car in the coolest place you can. Lower battery temperature is better for storage and longevity.
3. Unplug the 12V battery, put it on a battery tender.
4. Do not leave it plugged in to charge (not that it should do anything with the 12V battery disconnected).
Based on the situation that you describe I would do the following.
1. If you don't typically charge to 100%, then I would do so a few days before storing the car. This will allow some cell equalization to occur.
2. When ready to store the car I would discharge the battery pack to ~50% (~6 bars). I believe the car is shipped with a 40% charge.
3. If you can park near your EVSE or an outlet do so, but leave the car unplugged. This may come in very handy in a few months.
4. If you plan on locking all the car doors, at this point lock the back doors and unlock the driver and front passenger doors. If you plan on leaving the doors unlocked, then unlock all doors.
5. I would disconnect the 12v battery, tape and secure the leads, and wait 10 minutes before continuing. If not disconnected, then the car will try to charge the 12 volt battery from the traction battery every few days. I would not connect a battery maintainer unless the battery is removed from the car.
6. You may want to consider disconnecting the battery pack. If you do, follow the instructions for disconnecting the traction battery (starts on page 22). http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/refgh0v/og/FRG/2011-Nissan-LEAF-FRG.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I don't have instructions for replacing the plug. Others may have opinions on this step.
7. If you are locking all doors, then I would remove the key from the remote and manual lock the driver's door with the key. Check to make sure that the key will unlock the door, then relock it. If everything works you can now lock the passenger door. At least one person has had problems with the physical key.
Other considerations would be whether to set the parking brake or not, raising the car up and lowering the air pressure in the tires, turning off the power to the EVSE. All in all, I don’t think it will be much different from what you have done in the past.