My Nissan Leaf Forum

You can run the charge below 20% safely, as long as you recharge above 20% immediately afterwards. Many people regularly drive to 10% or so, usually because of reduced range.

2013 Leaf here, charge to 100% all the time. It sits at 100% for prolonged periods of time. Some days it sits for days at 100%. Sometimes it drives from 100% charge to 90% before charging back up and so on. Other times down to 10% or less. 26K miles or so. No noticeable difference in range. Also have sticky winter tires. I abuse the car and so far it hasn't been KO'd.

2k1Toaster wrote:2013 Leaf here, charge to 100% all the time. It sits at 100% for prolonged periods of time. Some days it sits for days at 100%. Sometimes it drives from 100% charge to 90% before charging back up and so on. Other times down to 10% or less. 26K miles or so. No noticeable difference in range. Also have sticky winter tires. I abuse the car and so far it hasn't been KO'd.

Do you have any battery stats for it?

2k1Toaster wrote:2013 Leaf here, charge to 100% all the time. It sits at 100% for prolonged periods of time. Some days it sits for days at 100%. Sometimes it drives from 100% charge to 90% before charging back up and so on. Other times down to 10% or less. 26K miles or so. No noticeable difference in range. Also have sticky winter tires. I abuse the car and so far it hasn't been KO'd.

This is along the lines of "My grandfather smoked 2 packs a day since he was 16, was never sick a day in his life, and only died at age 97 when a bull he was riding at the rodeo threw him off and gored him." Interesting story, but not words to live by.

Stoaty wrote:

2k1Toaster wrote:2013 Leaf here, charge to 100% all the time. It sits at 100% for prolonged periods of time. Some days it sits for days at 100%. Sometimes it drives from 100% charge to 90% before charging back up and so on. Other times down to 10% or less. 26K miles or so. No noticeable difference in range. Also have sticky winter tires. I abuse the car and so far it hasn't been KO'd.

This is along the lines of "My grandfather smoked 2 packs a day since he was 16, was never sick a day in his life, and only died at age 97 when a bull he was riding at the rodeo threw him off and gored him." Interesting story, but not words to live by.

Especially since we have no idea where this guys lives! We all know that heat is the biggest multiplier of any battery degradation.

hyperionmark wrote:If short frequent charges were a problem then regen during braking would be destroying the battery.

It is along with jackrabbit starts... moreso than any other single factor

2k1Toaster wrote:2013 Leaf here, charge to 100% all the time. It sits at 100% for prolonged periods of time. Some days it sits for days at 100%. Sometimes it drives from 100% charge to 90% before charging back up and so on. Other times down to 10% or less. 26K miles or so. No noticeable difference in range. Also have sticky winter tires. I abuse the car and so far it hasn't been KO'd.

how about some stats? Problem with your level of usage is you really have no way of evaluating your degradation.

Your statement only addresses one degradation factor

DaveinOlyWA wrote:

hyperionmark wrote:If short frequent charges were a problem then regen during braking would be destroying the battery.

It is along with jackrabbit starts... moreso than any other single factor

I believe you, but what is the reasoning? Seems like every other degradation variable is based around time and heat. This seems independent of those things. Just trying to learn more.

No stats of importance. It also is abused with Jack rabbit style starts any time.

One of the things I do is build EV's, repair HEVs, and even help test battery packs for big name auto producers.

My climate is mostly mild and cold with sessions of heat, rocky mountains. It also goes up and down hills all the time. The Leaf has been cold soaked at - 40C for days as well as left out in the beating sun at 35C for days. 8000ft to 6500ft elevation is where it lives.

This is not how to get the absolute longest battery life out of a pack. But by worrying and nitpicking everything it just adds to the image that electrics are high maintenance and you need a team of engineers to keep it on the road. The Leaf is one of the most poorly designed EV's to ever hit the market but it still works for most people most of the time. I figure my battery will be down to less than half capacity in another 4 years or so. By then it will be replaced by another EV and added to the collection. The Prius or RX450h get used on the weekends while Leafy sits there full and balanced.

The Leaf's biggest enemies are that of any other battery operated device. Time and temperature. A babied EV or HEV will often have a pack failure roughly around the time of an abused car. This year you see lots of 2005/2006 Prii needing packs. Last year it was 2004/2005. Some cars have 50k miles on them, others have 300k+ miles. Lithium batteries like NiMH essentially rot over time, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Temperature is the next factor. You don't control the weather and unless you're planning to move to accommodate your battery, it makes little sense to worry about it. The only temperature the pack cares about that you have control over is multiple L3 charges in hot ambient temperatures with prolonged and rapid pack use like highway driving. But really this is not common, and is hard on any pack. The larger the pack, the longer between quick charges, the cooler the pack and you can see that from Tesla.

Need to live like the singing bass fish, don't worry be happy.

2k1Toaster wrote:.... This year you see lots of 2005/2006 Prii needing packs. Last year it was 2004/2005. Some cars have 50k miles on them, others have 300k+ miles. Lithium batteries like NiMH essentially rot over time, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Not to derail this thread, but what happens when a Prii's battery pack goes bad and can it still be driven? I ask because I have a '06/'07 regular Priii(standard original NiMN pack) and I've read about people replacing the battery pack. I was just wondering if it was mandatory or just needed so the car would preform as new.
I mean it seems like the car should be able to drive even without the battery pack but maybe it won't with a defective pack....just wondering what I have to look forward to