NoReleaf said:
valem wrote:
So tell me why do I need to charge every day... from what I am learning so far, it appears that the only way to preserve this Leaf battery, is to charge it to somewhere around 50% and leave it in a climate control garage, and never use it... Anything else you do, will cause degradation.
Ha! I had the same thought a while back. Courageous of you to put it so plainly (and in my view, with a very dry wit.)
What you are mostly hearing on this thread is everyone's pet theory about how to have the lowest rate of degradation on your battery pack. The trouble is that they are mostly theories (though certainly based on some understanding of Li batteries. For every "never charge it above 60%" owner, you have several others who say they always charge to 100%, have 40k miles on their Leaf, and still have 12 bars. Understandable that you feel frustrated at the range of opinions out there, and the range of experiences. Seems to me you are better off not worrying about it too much.
Indeed. I try not to worry about it, and then some new pet theory comes to my attention. This "charging every day is better than not charging every day" is new to me. I don't like it. It threatens my plan.
"More range than you need" is a bit of a slippery concept when the Leaf is your only car. You could need maximum range and maximum charge at any time. You may reckon that you usually do not, and instead try to calculate what the minimum range you can live with is. If home charging involves getting out the EVSE, plugging it in, unplugging, coiling it up and putting it away again, all outdoors in any weather, you may wish to have some days off from this chore. I am currently on a system of charging overnight only when I fall below 60%. That will never take me to 100%, and on this system I am very unlikely to be at work with less than 50% of charge, either. I rather like it, though I would never put it forth as something optimal for battery life, about which I know nothing. The SOC would dwell mostly between 50% and 80% with random fluctuations, and days with no charging would also fall kind of randomly. If there is a serious and proven benefit to charging every single day instead, I'd like to know what it is.
I used to think that an everyday replenishment charge would be the best approach. Make it a routine so that you don't have to think about it and decide all the time. But I have seen that will I get more juice out of one 10-hour charge than two 5-hour charges, an example being 50% to 81% once rather than 67% to 81% twice. I'd like charging only once every 3 days even better, but sooner or later I think I would regret the risk of being at work with 30% or just getting home with 20%.
All are very interesting points.
I was doing some thinking, and I am once again back to the "you should charge everyday" comment, and my "why?" reply.
The best answer I got was, "If you are only charging once every 3 days regularly, then you are charging 3X more than you need."
Still not an answer to my question.
You think going down to 20% is too low (I thought 20-80 was the golden range) so if 20 is too low, is 30 ok? what about 35%? or 40%?
Let's assume I drive 20 mi/day and 1%/mi. I could charge up to 40 ... but 20 is too low ... I could charge up to 60, is 40-60% ok or too high?
So in my 20mi/day that I do 40-60% hypotheses ... I get a day off... so I don't charge. But I have to go to the store, it's 2.5 mi away so 5% use
I'm at 40% ... do I charge to 45% (to meet the charge every day?) or do I come back with 35% 20% is too low, but 35% is okay?
I again get another day off, and I have to go to the store again... now I'm at 35% (omg didn't charge yesterday) ... do I charge to 40% (to meet the charge every day?)
Or do I go and come back with 30% ? 20% is too low, but is 30% is okay?
So now I charged only once for 3 days... oh gosh, did I charge too much 3 days ago? But I was doing 40-60 ... should I have been doing 25-45? 30-50? What do I do ...
I'm not trying to argue, only trying to understand... when you say "If you are only charging once every 3 days regularly, then you are charging 3X more than you need." I ask, from where? Obviously not 20% ... but 25? or 30?
I think that there is no answer ...
If I only drive 5mi/day what do I charge up to? 30? 40? Or is it ok to do 45% to 50% everyday as long as I charge every day?
But if I let it go to 30% and charge every 4 days (30-50) I am charging 4x more than I need?
The more I think about it, the more the "charge every day comment" makes no sense to me ... it's not about it being a hassle, it's because there's no baseline. What is the minimum ... makes no sense to me