Need old timer help with low use charge regimine.

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blimpy

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2014
Messages
125
Remember how the EV'ers used to say the average car only goes 20-30 miles a day.
Well, since I became an old fart.. this is true.. and those days only come twice a week !

So, here I am with my new 2016 SV 30 KwH batt.. driven 2600 miles in 9 months less then 300/month.
averaging 4.1 to 4.3 kw/mi


My charging aim is to charge to 85-88% max.
a day trip will get that down to around 55-65%

so there I am with 30-40% discharge / charge cycles.

Maybe once a month I let it charge to 100%... and maybe every other month I might get down close to the
first low battery warning.. might.

I have never seen the batt temp get 3 bars above the lower warning bars.
I park in the shade if the temp hits 90.


Lowest I have ever let it sit discharged wqa maybe 39% for a day or two..
generally I recharge the evening I used the car.. aiming for 85ish %.

Ran the leaf spy after the last full charge ( cycled itself off)
319 gids
soh.. in the low-mid 90's
cell voltage spread in the low 20's
bat temp about 60F
you can never find the notes when you want them.

which seemed not too wonderful
cell spreads were lower when new.

not that it matters but clipper creek high power evse ( 40 A)
typically charges 25% per hour.
mixed use.. 1000 ft elev at home.. so up and down and
not much use above 55.. couple of miles out of 40 typical.

what can I do differently.. this use pattern wont change I don't think. :?:
 
i have a modified external nissan brick and it has settings on it that i can change the amps from 16a down to a much lower setting. I think there are charging stations that you can control when they switch on and off. OpenEV something and some others that are probably expensive but with cool features. I guess you could look for a timer that you could install at the power panel or breaker box that you could put in place without too much expensive and hassle. Depends upon how accessible your panel is
 
The ideal state of charge for the battery, while sitting idle for extended periods, is between 20% and 80%. The battery also needs regular charging to 100% to balance the cells. I would charge to 100% the night before you plan to drive it. Use the charge timer so that is finishes within a couple hours of when you depart. Drive, as needed, until the charge level is down around 30% (or low enough there is not enough range for the next trip). Charge again to 100% the night before the next trip, and repeat the cycle as necessary.
 
baustin said:
The ideal state of charge for the battery, while sitting idle for extended periods, is between 20% and 80%. The battery also needs regular charging to 100% to balance the cells. I would charge to 100% the night before you plan to drive it. Use the charge timer so that is finishes within a couple hours of when you depart. Drive, as needed, until the charge level is down around 30% (or low enough there is not enough range for the next trip). Charge again to 100% the night before the next trip, and repeat the cycle as necessary.


i do what this guy does. but my 2012 has a starting timer so I have it start at 2am and by 6am it's always done and ready if I need to leave early. if i forget and wake up early enough the timer ends at 9am. If i want to charge during the day I have to remember to switch off the timer.. I think your car has a ending timer so the car will try and start to charge to 100% for that time. Set it to about 1-2 hours after you would leave the house.. should work as getting you to 80%
 
I wouldn't say that there's any real need to regularly get down to 20% charge. Charge it to 100% right before a trip, as suggested, and recharge again at 40 or 50%, again right before a trip. I also don't drive a lot: the first year I put 8k miles on my Leaf because I still had a 43 mile commute, three days a week. I retired after that, though, and my 2013 now has all of 17K miles on the odometer. I use the 80% charge setting, but take longer trips often enough that I also regularly charge to 100%.
 
Well you asked what you could do differently: Trade me for my 2011. :lol: It still goes 50 mi easy in the summer.
 
Same pattern here as I work at home. There are days I don't need to drive anywhere, and I can walk to the grocery store and post office. As well, I snowbird in the winter leaving the LEAF at mid charge, unplugged, and on a 12V battery maintainer for 5 months at a time.

I just try not to leave the car at high SOC for more than a day, and I also try to avoid top-off charges. About once or twice a month I take a drive on the interstate and do a DCQC, which seems to improve the battery stats, though it remains to be seen whether that's really helping the battery or just an anomaly in the LBC software in the car. That seems to be the closest an EV gets to "blowing the carbon out."

Aside from that, I try not to worry too much about it and enjoy the car. Sure beats going to the gas station!
 
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