best method of charging to care for battery

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damo56

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2018
Messages
5
hi I've just bought a leaf and joined the forum. I'll be posting a few random questions in next week so thanks in advance for replies. My first question is that I was told the best way to care for battery is to regularly charge it from low to full and not to use rapid charge(50kW) too often. When home charging I have a choice of using the 3 PIN plug based charger that takes up to 12 hours or using the home charging unit that takes up to 7 hours. Does anyone know if there is an advantage to long term battery life either way? Also is there any difference in cost? cheers damian
 
Try not to run the battery too low on a consistent basis, keep it above 20% whenever possible. It is okay to charge to 100%, and it needs done on a regular basis to balance the cells. Just don't let it sit at 100% for extended periods, especially in hot weather. Quick Charging is not exactly bad for the battery, but doing so when the battery is hot or temperatures are high, will somewhat accelerate degradation. The ideal charge level for the battery, when the car is sitting idle, is between 50% and 80%. Level II Charging (240 volt EVSE) is more efficient than Level I (120 volt EVSE) and will be slightly less expensive. Just how much different will depend on the price per kwh being paid for electricity, but is not going to be a huge amount. When temperatures are higher (above 80 degrees), avoid parking in closed garages and over asphalt or concrete, whenever possible.
 
The above is pretty much correct. Please don't start a new topic for each question, though. Try doing a Google search on the forum, with the question you want to ask added to "mynissanleaf.com"
 
thank you very much for the very helpful reply and apologies for not checking previous threads more carefully. The manual for my 2017 24KW leaf says that to maximise the battery's useful life "recharge fully, from 10% or less to 100% using AC Normal Charge". so after your reply I certainly won't be doing this all the time and keeping in the mid-range as you suggest
 
Like has been said, it's best to not leave the battery at high or low charge levels for extended periods of time.

You can mess with the charge timer and make it charge up to 100% in the morning right before you have to go. That way it sits at 100% for very little time.

If by chance you get back with less than 20% then start charging it right away. Once you see the middle dash light blinking you can go disconnect the cord (EVSE) and plug it back in so it will wait until the morning to finish up to 100%.

I suggest getting a 240V EVSE installed. It's much easier to charge up in 7 or 4 hours (depending on your Leaf) than for over 20 hours on a 120V EVSE.
 
taking consistently longer trips seems to help battery life from the few examples i've seen and also my own experience. i drive 50-60 miles a day (and more sometimes) and my battery life is the same as when i bought it exactly year ago and almost 19k miles later (~93%).

definitely don't leave it at 100% if you can, though i don't use the charge timer so it does sit at 100% about 3-5 hours fairly often before my trips (either i charge at work and it finished by noon or at home and it finished about 2-3 AM, starting at ~20%). I try to charge it at work during the day and let it sit at home between 50-60% overnight most days, without charging there at all.

cheers
Marko
 
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