DaveinOlyWA
Well-known member
fromAtoB said:Hi. I’ve spent about two hours this morning reading about Leaf charging and Li ion batteries. A lot of posts and information out there is years old and technologies improve.
My Leaf Plus manual had no recommendations about SOC range.
We bought our Leaf+ in April or May of 2019 when the 62 KWHr (?) batteries were still new but I’m not clear whether the technology changes much. And the last post in this thread is from May 2019.
So...my understanding is that the common wisdom from informed knowledge is that, as driving needs allow, it is better to keep SOC between roughly 20% and 80% and not fully discharge or charge to 100%.
And .... that applies also to the Leaf Plus 62 KWHr battery...is that right?
Thanks.
Better; yes. Best; no
Technologies improve sure but don't change physics. ATM, technology is only minimizing the damage we cause. EVERY EV manufacturer has custom charge settings some as low as 40% and there is a reason for that.
A few things to consider;
There is no need to fully cycle the pack
There is no need to top end balance the pack
Lead Acid wants to be topped off, NiCad has charge memory issues. Li has none of that.
One thing the Plus provides is more options for battery management. Not all of us can spend 20 seconds wandering out to the garage to start a charge on our car. If you can, then you should charge every day. If you aren't that means you are charging to a higher level than you need needlessly.
If you can't charge at home or work, then you have a challenge as long as you aren't driving 100 miles a day that is "doable" I did it with 24 and 30 kwh packs. (Had charging at home but drove WAY over 100 miles several times a week) so 62 kwh is a breeze.
So, live in the middle. MANY studies show that more frequent shallower charging sessions are better than less frequent deeper charging sessions. So 30-50% if you don't drive much. 20-70% if you do. But its all relative. 20% seems "risky" and I have to laugh at that. Even in winter, that is a 40 mile buffer AFTER pulling into my garage. I spent years pulling into my garage with less than 10 GIDs left (realize the last 4-5 are very hard to access)