L1 vs. L2 effect on range

Could not find this using search. Until now my nearly 3 year old 2015 leaf (18000 miles) has been giving range calculations averaging 100 +- 10 miles or so in the Summer. So far late spring until now has averaged 85 miles! The only change I can think of is the installation of an L2 charger a few months ago. So I charged up to 84.0% gids last night using the L1 charger and just finished a 12.2 mile round trip down to sea level from 600 feet up. Essentially no gids used during the trip down, which is usual at 77 degrees. At the end of the trip the gid measurement was 73.0%. That's 1.11 miles/gid or a range of 111 miles!

I normally would not report this sort of thing on so little data, but this is so remarkable I want to see if anyone else has seen this effect. I will continue to charge using the L1 for a while and will report on results. Comments?

How well balanced is your pack? Could it be that the Leaf does a better job of balancing it when it is charging slower (L1)?

There is no effect on range between L1 and L2 charging. L1 just takes longer and is less efficient. The range estimate reported on the dash is just an estimate based on immediate driving history. If you drive down a hill and use very little charge, it will show a long range estimate. If you drive up a hill, using more of the charge, it will show a shorter range estimate.

The one thing that can effect range is not periodically letting it charge to 100% to balance the cells in the battery pack. The one thing that will effect range is letting it sit at 100% for extended periods, especially in high heat (speeds up degradation of the pack).

baustin said:

There is no effect on range between L1 and L2 charging. L1 just takes longer and is less efficient. The range estimate reported on the dash is just an estimate based on immediate driving history. If you drive down a hill and use very little charge, it will show a long range estimate. If you drive up a hill, using more of the charge, it will show a shorter range estimate.

The one thing that can effect range is not periodically letting it charge to 100% to balance the cells in the battery pack. The one thing that will effect range is letting it sit at 100% for extended periods, especially in high heat (speeds up degradation of the pack).

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I'm hard on my 2013 Leaf's traction battery. I will probably end up replacing it someday!

John Kuthe...

Hi GetOffYourGas,

Your statement "How well balanced is your pack? Could it be that the Leaf does a better job of balancing it when it is charging slower (L1)?" Is probably the explanation. I usually watch display #4 on leafspy, but checked #1 a couple of weeks ago and the battery display was mostly red, indicating it was trying to balance the cells. In addition the top of the display was very ragged (less balanced). After the first L1 charge it was the same. After last night's charge, the display was normal. A 15 mile trip today gave a slightly lower than 100 mile range, so nicely normal.

Looks as if it will be well to check the degree of cell balance regularly and if there is a problem charge up with L1 until it becomes normal. Thanks to you and the rest for all for the comments.

Bob

I have heard that the older Leafs will behave like this. Basically the BMS will balance the pack as you approach 100% full. But when you reach 100%, the charging (and balancing) stops. So charging slower (L1) gives more time for the process to work. It sounds like maybe the later Leafs also behave that way.

It is good practice to charge to 100% periodically to keep the pack balanced. Once it is balanced, the BMS won't have to work as hard to keep it there. If it gets out of balance, it will take longer. I try to charge to 100% about once a week, but try to time it so that it gets to 100% just about when I'm ready to leave.