Should I charge every night even if I don't need the range?

I got a new 2016 Leaf S-30 from a dealer about 3 weeks ago.

It seems like a lot of the common internet wisdom is based on older Leafs, such as the ones with an 80% charge option. I have read that most of the things impacting battery life are heat, depth of discharge (that is, bringing it all the way down to less than 20%), and leaving it sitting fully charged (really this seems to be for multiple days?).

Does it matter if I plug it in every night and trickle charge it back up to 100%?

I have the charge timer set for my normal departure from work so it doesn't sit at 100% for very long. But my normal commute is only about 14 miles round trip, which uses only around 10% of my battery (I used the heat today and it used 16%). I typically plug it in to the trickle charger when I get home, and it starts trickling a few hours later. (That last 10% takes ~8 hours to charge).

I feel like if I don't plug it in every day I am likely to forget the one day when I actually need extra range. So I would prefer to leave it... but if it's going to be bad for it I'll have to reconsider.

Thoughts?

Well, we have only had our 2016 SV a few months but have had our smart ED for a couple years. We were in that position when we first started in the EV world but even then we would charge a couple times a week but had it fully charged for sunday drives, so three times a week. Our commute was a little longer than yours.

We felt more comfortable when we got the level to charger able to charge at the full 6.6 rate. That way on short notice we could top it up in an hour or two (depending on what's in the battery of course). Consider getting a robust level two charger and putting in a stove plug in the house. Our stove plug cost us about three hundred, the EVSE was 500 and the conduit and 30 foot RV cord was about 300. We considered it part of the EV lifestyle conversion and it will serve us for many years. If we move the plug will stay but the rest comes with. We are a totally EV family so it made sense for us.

Hope that helps.

John and Angela.

If you use it everyday and set your timers to minimize the time it sits at 100%, you should be fine. What you don't want to do is let it sit at 100% SoC for long periods of time.

My long held belief was that the number of charging cycles was limited for lithium ion batteries, so the less you charge them the better. Thanks to your post, I just found this article:

http://blog.evandmore.com/lets-talk-about-the-panasonic-ncr18650b/

The paragraph with the heading "Now let’s look at the cycling chart. (Cycle Life characteristics)" is the interesting one:

To estimate the number of cycles that the cell can undergo in its lifetime, we charge it at a maximal current of 0,5C and discharge at a current of 1C at 25 degrees Celsius and then we count the number of charge/discharge cycles until the cell degrades down to 70% of its initial capacity (2250mAh). In the case of these cells, the number is about 500 cycles.

500 cycles? But that’s (relatively) low! Yes. But what is not shown on the spec sheet is that when you partially charge and discharge, degradation of the battery capacity is reduced. Thus, you can do over 40 000 charge/discharge cycles when going from 30% to 70% only. Or over 35 000 charge/discharge cycles from 20% to 80%; 28 000 cycles from 10% to 90%; 15 000 cycles from 8% to 92%, 7500 cycles from 6% to 94%, and the capacity reduction goes faster and faster, finally reaching 500 cycles when recharging from 0% to 100%.

Click to expand...

So, there are a limited number of charges however, minimizing the number of FULL charges is critically important as you get way more cycles of partial charges.

Nice to know this, as now I'm going to make an effort to not let my Leaf drop below 20% and not let it charged above 80% unless I'm going to drive it right away and need the extra range.

I've only had my leaf for a week as of 3/4/17. I've driven about 40 or so miles per day round trip, and will have the occasional 100 + mile trip with quick charging access when needed from a Nissan dealer. I too plug in every day with my L2 and haven't had time to fiddle with the charge timer yet. I'm always getting home a different times right now anyway, so I've not had an real incentive to set the timer up.

For now, I'm content to make sure I have the extra range, and my car sits fully charged for 8-10 hours at the most, and if I thought it would go beyond that I would just unplug. I got a certified 2015 and am loving it so far!

If you can remember to charge it two or three times a week, that would probably be better for the car's pack. If you are still worried about forgetting or having an emergency, just charge it on the days you know for sure you'll drive it, with that end timer set.