IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE... L2 OR QC CHARGING?

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powersurge

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
1,743
Location
Long Island, NY
I have a '15 with 30,000, and thankfully it is still at SOH 100%. I have always charged it with my home L2 30a charger, and a 30a CHARGEPOINT charger near work.

My question is this, .. On Long Island, they have made a free QC charger near my work also. Given the choice of DAILY charging with L2 OR QC, which one would you use.??
 
Personally I'd chose the L2, I guess if the battery weren't too hot and you didn't have the time the L3 would be OK but for daily charging the consensus seems to be slower is better for battery health. Because of inefficiencies though, the slower you go the less efficient your charging will be but it sounds like your getting free electricity anyway and it's not that L2 is all that inefficient, L1 can be but your not talking about L1.
 
Without any further details? L2. You're at work for hours anyway, and less heat stress for the pack. I'm assuming you have no competition for the L2 you're using now? Or you go move the car when it's done?
 
Yeah, I plug in the chargepoint L2 at the college near my job at lunch and drive away at 3pm.. The QC is tempting because it is also FREE!! However, I would like to keep my battery as healthy as possible..

YES, BOTH CHARGING IS FREE... That is why I am posing the question... I always will go for free charging, or I will charge at home for free.
 
powersurge said:
Yeah, I plug in the chargepoint L2 at the college near my job at lunch and drive away at 3pm.. The QC is tempting because it is also FREE!! However, I would like to keep my battery as healthy as possible..
So the Chargepoint isn't also free? if not is it kWh based? if so I might suggest L3 charging until it gets to ~80%(should only be 20 minutes or so depending on your starting SOC) and then move to the Chargepoint charger(if you need the extra range). That way it wouldn't cost that much at the Chargepoint and only charging to 80% on the QC shouldn't generate all that much heat.
Charging with a QC isn't all that bad if you park your vehicle shortly after, where it does most damage is someone traveling quickly between QCs where battery heat can build up to an unhealthy level. Living in NY I don't think you have much to worry about anyway, people in areas like AZ, TX or even So Cal are the ones who need to worry about heat and QCs.
 
Charging is all about heat rise. Given equals L2 will not heat up the battery faster. On the other hand if your battery is very cold then go for the L3 charge.
 
You can't leave the car alone at a QC for 3 hours like the L2. But you'll only be there for 20-30 minutes. Time enough for email, etc. It's good to have a backup if the L2 is down.
 
If you're going to be away from the car for 3 hours, please leave the QC available for someone who really needs it. Use L2 instead.
 
powersurge said:
I know that you don't walk away from a QC charge... My issue is whether the battery will suffer if the QC is used daily vs the L2...

No, unless it's super hot out. But you do want to let it charge to 100% on L2 occasionally to keep your cells balanced.
 
powersurge said:
I know that you don't walk away from a QC charge... My issue is whether the battery will suffer if the QC is used daily vs the L2...
The user manual recommends minimizing QC use for long battery life.

Considering how much battery degradation Nissan tolerates without batting an eye, their recommendation seems fairly clear cut.
 
SageBrush said:
powersurge said:
I know that you don't walk away from a QC charge... My issue is whether the battery will suffer if the QC is used daily vs the L2...
The user manual recommends minimizing QC use for long battery life.

Considering how much battery degradation Nissan tolerates without batting an eye, their recommendation seems fairly clear cut.
IMO they do that more because they don't want to get into detail about not using L3 if it's hot out, your battery is getting hot, etc, they just want to make it cut and dry and therefor say "minimize QC use". Now following that route isn't going to hurt(well unless the few times you QC it happens to be hot and someone else who used QC frequently only did so when the battery was cool) but it is what it is.
Personally since the OP has access to both free L2 and L3(never got an answer if it's free or not) I'd use L3 it it's free or wasn't hot out or you really needed it, otherwise stick to the free L2. I guess I wouldn't obsess over it, unless it was hot out or the battery was hot for some reason, then I'd really bypass L3, even if it meant waiting around longer at the L2 station.
 
jjeff said:
SageBrush said:
powersurge said:
I know that you don't walk away from a QC charge... My issue is whether the battery will suffer if the QC is used daily vs the L2...
The user manual recommends minimizing QC use for long battery life.

Considering how much battery degradation Nissan tolerates without batting an eye, their recommendation seems fairly clear cut.
IMO they do that more because they don't want to get into detail about not using L3 if it's hot out, your battery is getting hot, etc, they just want to make it cut and dry and therefor say "minimize QC use". Now following that route isn't going to hurt(well unless the few times you QC it happens to be hot and someone else who used QC frequently only did so when the battery was cool) but it is what it is.
Personally since the OP has access to both free L2 and L3(never got an answer if it's free or not) I'd use L3 it it's free or wasn't hot out or you really needed it, otherwise stick to the free L2. I guess I wouldn't obsess over it, unless it was hot out or the battery was hot for some reason, then I'd really bypass L3, even if it meant waiting around longer at the L2 station.
No doubt that charging related aging is part of a larger context but we can phrase this question differently: are there situations where L3 is easier on the battery than L2 ? I doubt it, and I doubt even more that OP would know at the time.

I am a simple kind of guy:
The LEAF battery is heat intolerant for sure, and perhaps high power intolerant too (the thermodynamics are not dissimilar.)
L3 charging heats up the battery more than L2

So this still comes down to avoiding L3 when possible. If L3 was free and L2 was under 15 cents a kWh, I still think L2 is an easy choice. I value battery long life and preserved range a whole lot more than L2 charging rates away from home.
 
SageBrush said:
jjeff said:
SageBrush said:
The user manual recommends minimizing QC use for long battery life.

Considering how much battery degradation Nissan tolerates without batting an eye, their recommendation seems fairly clear cut.
IMO they do that more because they don't want to get into detail about not using L3 if it's hot out, your battery is getting hot, etc, they just want to make it cut and dry and therefor say "minimize QC use". Now following that route isn't going to hurt(well unless the few times you QC it happens to be hot and someone else who used QC frequently only did so when the battery was cool) but it is what it is.
Personally since the OP has access to both free L2 and L3(never got an answer if it's free or not) I'd use L3 it it's free or wasn't hot out or you really needed it, otherwise stick to the free L2. I guess I wouldn't obsess over it, unless it was hot out or the battery was hot for some reason, then I'd really bypass L3, even if it meant waiting around longer at the L2 station.
No doubt that charging related aging is part of a larger context but we can phrase this question differently: are there situations where L3 is easier on the battery than L2 ?
No, I agree with that, L3 would never be easier than L2 or even L1 for that matter.

SageBrush said:
I am a simple kind of guy:
The LEAF battery is heat intolerant for sure, and perhaps high power intolerant too (the thermodynamics are not dissimilar.)
L3 charging heats up the battery more than L2
I don't argue with that.

SageBrush said:
So this still comes down to avoiding L3 when possible. If L3 was free and L2 was under 15 cents a kWh, I still think L2 is an easy choice. I value battery long life and preserved range a whole lot more than L2 charging rates away from home.
I guess personally if conditions were right for L3(and it were free) I'd have little qualms using it, of course I understand your point too and it's probably the safer choice for someone with battery life as the first and foremost priority :)
 
On another tack of we are all in this together...

What would be best for the EV community? The group who also uses the chargers? In the short? And long term? I'd put this into my own equation...

My initial thought is to leave the QC available to those who have a greater need, but then again, demand and usage would perhaps bring about greater implementation?
 
Something else to consider -- level 2 charging vs. low-speed, home DCFC. Using this device:

https://www.evseadapters.com/collections/ev-chargers-and-evses/products/portable-chademo-quick-charger

I could presumably charge my car at ~9.6 kW from my existing NEMA 14-50 -- much slower than commercial DCFC, but much faster than the car's built-in AC charger, which is limited to ~3.3 kW. And that rate should still be slow enough to avoid worries about battery degradation. It's a bit too expensive for me, but I'm tempted.
 
powersurge said:
I know that you don't walk away from a QC charge... My issue is whether the battery will suffer if the QC is used daily vs the L2...
QC puts more stress on the battery in terms of heat so I'd say "Better with L2" since, they are both the same price, FREE, and it leaves the QC for someone is needs a quick juice up.
 
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