Should MY2013 LEAF owners ignore 80% charging options now?

[warrencarl]

MY2014 LEAF eliminated 80% charging option? Why?
Should MY2013 LEAF owners now ignore the 80% charging guidelines?
Has something real changed between MY2013 and MY2014?

[Stanton]

The only thing that's changed is Nissan's desire/need to boost EPA mileage estimates.
Personally, I think it's unfortunate that they eliminated the 80% charge option, but more so that they don't have a software selectable (50/60/70/80/etc) charge option.
I will continue to use the 80% option when I don't need to "top off" the battery, especially if you want to have any regen when you first get in.

[RonDawg]

Regen is the reason why I try not to charge to 100% unless I need the range that day. It's not so much for any added range, but the fact that I live on a hill, and have an almost steady downhill drive to work. The regen helps me stay off the friction brakes, and making them last longer. I'm leasing for 3 years, so I may not need to replace the pads before the lease is up, but my experience with Nissans (mainstream ones anyway) is that they tend to warp their rotors by the 30k mile mark, so I'd like to postpone that as much as possible.

[TomT]

Yes, Nissan is gaming the EPA test cycle to increase their apparent range...

Has something real changed between MY2013 and MY2014?

[DarthPuppy]

That seems odd to me as I would think any range tests currently in place would be on a fully charged battery, not some selected lower charge level. But I'm not in the auto testing industry, so perhaps they factor selectable options into their range calculations???

[davewill]

That seems odd to me as I would think any range tests currently in place would be on a fully charged battery, not some selected lower charge level. But I'm not in the auto testing industry, so perhaps they factor selectable options into their range calculations???

Exactly. The EPA ran tests at both 100% and 80% and averaged the two results for the "official" range number. This humorously produces a result the NO ONE will see since practically no one will charge their car exactly between the two settings. I DO kinda see their point, though. Nissan calls the 80% mode "Long Life Mode" implying that 100% is some sort of "shorter life" mode that will damage the battery, so shouldn't the EPA use it when calculating the range?

The main problem I see with this option going away is that it will cause some people to cycle their batteries between 80% and 100% a lot. I use 80% mostly. One of the reasons is that I often take a short trip in the early morning to work out, then come back home and charge up to 100% during breakfast for the rest of the day's driving. Without an easy 80% mode, I'll have to choose between NOT starting the meat of the day's driving with a full battery, or re-charging from say, 90% back up to 100% after my early morning outing. Not a great choice.

I wish they would just do what Tesla did when confronted with this. They changed to a simple percentage slider that placed no interpretation on the choices. Just choose a number between 50% and 100% (or something like that).

[warrencarl]

I think that it is important to add that the MY2014 LEAF is clearly less efficient than the MY2013.
Check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

MPGe 2013 2014
City 129 126
Hwy 102 101

Kw-hours 29 30
per 100
miles

Fuel Cost $500 $550
per Year

Efficiency of MY2014 has been reduced and the cost of operation has
been increased. Clearly some changes have been made in order
to make the 100% charging possible. The MY2014 uses more
electricity per mile.

Bottom Line: Buy or lease a 2013.

[davewill]

Efficiency of MY2014 has been reduced and the cost of operation has
been increased. Clearly some changes have been made in order
to make the 100% charging possible. The MY2014 uses more
electricity per mile.

Bottom Line: Buy or lease a 2013.

I think we'll find there's no actual difference. The EPA measures electricity from the wall. Since there's a fixed overhead for charging and the charge rate slows as you approach 100%, it makes sense that the efficiency number would take a hit when not averaged with the 80% charging results.