New 2018 SV owner - questions/intro

Hello,

Just got a 18’ Leaf SV and had a few questions. Thank you again for the help, and good answers are to be found here...I looked for mine...and couldn’t find it, so here it goes:

1) What is the plastic cap in between the back seats floor board for?

2) Is home lvl 2 charging not recommended when the battery temp gauge is beyond half way? Do people climate control their garaged Leafs in the summer?

Thank you again for the help.

Respectfully,

Shawn

Hi,

I leave my car outside (in the shade, not on asphalt) in the summer. A hot, poorly ventilated garage is LEAF poison.
In the same vein of mitigating battery damage from heat we set the charge timer to finish at 5am to charge after the battery has cooled off overnight and so that the car does not stew at a high SoC. Letting the battery sit at a high SoC AND high temperature is best avoided if at all possible.

Hoeflich said:

1) What is the plastic cap in between the back seats floor board for?

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Unless it has changed from my '12 and '13 it covers the emergency disconnect for the main high voltage traction battery

I use a window A/C unit in a garage window, run late at night only, to keep the garage temp below 80F - usually in the mid seventies.

Thank you for all the input and advice!

This thread prompted me to go take some temperature measurements ...

It has been hot this week in Albuquerque -- a bit over 100F peak and some cooling at night down to the high 60s or low 70s for 24 hour ambient averages of ~ 85 F

Today peaked at 89F but had cooled off to 84F by 3pm when I went outside.

---
Shaded ground: 86F
LEAF battery: 88F (car used twice earlier in the day, for a total of 20 - 30 miles.)

Sage,

Sounds like ambient is dead on to battery temp. So, is it worth worrying about battery temp? I drive 59 miles a day, and the temp when I get home is a 1/4” above center on the temp gage.

I don’t charge it on my lvl 2 until it’s later in the evening.

Anyways, thanks...and I bet you enjoy that Model 3

As long as ambient is below about 95F and the car is in the shade, don't er, sweat it. Just remember that driving hard also raises battery temp.

LeftieBiker said:

As long as ambient is below about 95F and the car is in the shade, don't er, sweat it

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I'm not sure that's a great rule of thumb.

We've not seen previous Leaf batteries holding up well in Hawaii even though it actually isn't that hot there. I'd been there twice ages ago and my parents and I were surprised it was cooler than the SF Bay Area where we lived. I think the prob there is that it doesn't really cool down much at night there so the battery temp is elevated for several months even though it might be below 95 F almost all the time. Look at https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/honolulu-hi/96817/month/348211?monyr=6/01/2019 and some surrounding months.

In the time I've owned my used '13 Leaf, it's very rare that my battery temps get above 90 F due to the steps I take to keep it cooler when I'm at work. Today, it got past 90 F outside yet I was able to park it into underground parking in a far away building. When I retrieved my car at 6:30 pm , the avg temp sensor reading was below 75 F. It was above 75 F outside at ground level and I had to L2 charge for an hour. By that point, avg. battery temp had risen to past 78 F.

Folks in the mild Pacific NW do better than me w/'13 Leaf batteries since it doesn't get as hot up there.

You're right in that a long-sustained pack temp of 95F would not be good. On the other hand, with no active cooling, the only choices are to worry helplessly, not worry, or park it in an air-conditioned garage. 95F is what, roughly 7 temp bars? I'm hoping that the OP is talking about a tolerable climate, but until we know what it is, those are the choices...

Hoeflich said:

Sounds like ambient is dead on to battery temp.

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It's not. Battery has a lot of thermal mass and it can take many hours for the battery temp to == ambient temp. If I leave my Leaf outside when I get home for say 5 to 6 hours to when it's gotten to say 60 F or lower, that's not enough time at all for it to fall from say 70ish F to 60 F.

"1/4” above center on the temp gage" means nothing to me. Use Leaf Spy to see the temperature sensor values.

"1/4” above center on the temp gage" means nothing to me. Use Leaf Spy to see the temperature sensor values.

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It's about 7 bars. And yes, I know about the temp range that covers.

Well, all the inputs provided are appreciated. Just got LeafSpy installed last night. So, will play with the data...

I was surprised to see SOH @ 96 for a 2018 SV with 5K miles at purchase.

Thanks again,

Shawn

Yes I recommend a insulated climate controlled garage or a cave.

OP: If you do not live in a cool climate like the PNW and you want the car to last much past its warranty, take steps to baby the battery.

Such is LEAF ownership.

Hoeflich said:

Well, all the inputs provided are appreciated. Just got LeafSpy installed last night. So, will play with the data...

I was surprised to see SOH @ 96 for a 2018 SV with 5K miles at purchase.

Thanks again,

Shawn

Click to expand...

Shawn,

Welcome to becoming a Leaf owner. You will love it.

Where are. You located?

Were you presently surprised or were you disappointed with the 96% SOH?

I’m in Florida, about an hour south of Tampa. It gets hot here. We park in the garage and set car to be charged to 100% at 8 am.

I’ve owned 3 leafs. A 2015 SL for 3 years, a 2018 SV for a year and now own a 2019 SL Plus. My experience is about 4-5% degradation per year regardless of miles driven.

My 2015 was purchased new with about 90 miles on the odometer. It was on a dealer lot for almost a year before I bought it. It had a SOH of 94% when I got it. It had 85.52% 3 years later with 11,000 miles on odometer

I drove my 2018 for a year before trading it in on a 2019 Plus. It was at 95% when I traded it. It had 4,000 miles on it when I traded it in.

The SOH on my 2019 Plus peaked at 99.82% a week after the first 3 L2 charges. Here 2 months later it is at 99.01% with about 2,800 miles on odometer. So degradation so far is at a rate of 0.4%/ month. With the 225 mile range of the plus we are putting 4 times the mileage per year. We use it to commute between our primary house and our remote cabin in the woods that’s 125 miles away. When we get to the cabin it’s a 70 mile round trip to town when we get hungry.

cwerdna said:

Hoeflich said:

Sounds like ambient is dead on to battery temp.

Click to expand...

It's not. Battery has a lot of thermal mass and it can take many hours for the battery temp to == ambient temp. If I leave my Leaf outside when I get home for say 5 to 6 hours to when it's gotten to say 60 F or lower, that's not enough time at all for it to fall from say 70ish F to 60 F.

"1/4” above center on the temp gage" means nothing to me. Use Leaf Spy to see the temperature sensor values.

Click to expand...

To put a further point on this on my '13 Leaf, on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I L2 charged to 100% at work. Before charging, it was kept in an underground garage so the battery temp was below 80 F when I went to retrieve it late in the day. It had gotten up to 90+ F outside at ground level that day.

Had to go somewhere (mostly highway) then returned to work to only charge to 80%. That 80% charge was after dark. By the time I returned home, battery temp (avg) was past 84 F. I left the car out overnight. Looking at forecast apps, outside air temp got eventually into the low 60's. When I had to leave for work, while on the way, I captured at 9:30 am an avg battery temp of 79.5 F and OAT of 78.8 F from Leaf Spy. So, overnight time wasn't enough to cool it that much.

Hello to all, I'm new to the forum, and I have no leaf yet. Looking forward to knowing about it something from some good stuff.

Everyone,

Thanks for the data. I am beginning to realize from all of your inputs that you have to baby the temps, and how they correlate to usage (and the temp increase with that).

I have to say though...if not for the cheap deal I got, I believe I would be rethinking the Tesla option due to thermal management and the babysitting involved due to not having it.

Thanks again,

Shawn

Hoeflich said:

Everyone,

Thanks for the data. I am beginning to realize from all of your inputs that you have to baby the temps, and how they correlate to usage (and the temp increase with that).

I have to say though...if not for the cheap deal I got, I believe I would be rethinking the Tesla option due to thermal management and the babysitting involved due to not having it.

Thanks again,

Shawn

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I don't think you ever told us where (city, state) you live, so we can't tell you if a Tesla would have been better. They aren't free of worry, either, though: if you leave one sitting in the heat for weeks without charging, that can, IIRC, drain the battery.