DCQC Readings Normal??

[ELROY]

I am noticing that when charging at the public DCQC stations. The capacity on the DCQC display readout at low SOC matches my LEAF app. However, as the charge nears 80% or 90% (depending on the station avail charge settings) and automatically shuts off, my car will only have 70-80% capacity. So even though the station says my car is 90% charged, and shuts off, my car really only has 79% and it down 3 battery bars. I didn't think much of this, however, I read another members 2013 LEAF, and the chargers/LEAF app % readings matched almost perfectly at 80% when the charger stopped.

Here you can see I drove into the DCQC station with only 3 charge bars remaining

In the picture below you can see the charge started with both the charger and my LEAF app showing around a 42% SOC


In the picture below, after 20 minutes of charging, the DCQC shows 86% SOC, when the LEAF app only shows 76.1%. So it is off about 10% at this point


In the picture below...even after the charger shut off soon as it reached an indicate 89-90% SOC. The LEAF app shows I only have 78.8%, and I am down 3 charge bars still. Could the approx 10% discrepancy be due to my approx 10% loss in battery capacity?


Also this goes to show how unattractive the DCQC rates would be in this situation. In this 20 minute session, I gained about 44% SOC. This amounts to no more than about 10kWh. So at home, this would be a little more than $1 (@. 10 cents/kWh). The normal rate for a EvGo freedom station is $9.95 for a charge session like this. Or almost 10x the cost of charging at home!

 

[TimLee]

I am noticing that when charging at the public DCQC stations. The capacity on the DCQC display readout at low SOC matches my LEAF app. However, as the charge nears 80% or 90% (depending on the station avail charge settings) and automatically shuts off, my car will only have 70-80% capacity. So even though the stations says my car is 90% charged, and shuts off, my car really only has 79% and it down 3 battery bars. I didn't think much of this, however, I read another members 2013 LEAF, and the chargers/LEAF app % readings matched almost perfectly at 80% when the charger stopped.

Based on your delivery date in your profile you are driving a 2012 LEAF.
For the 2011 and 2012 LEAF, the status of charge given from the DCQC does not match with the status of charge indicated in the LEAF.
It is a bit strange, and I still don't understand the technical details of why it is this way on the 2011 and 2012, but it is normal for the 2011 and 2012.

 

[ELROY]

I am noticing that when charging at the public DCQC stations. The capacity on the DCQC display readout at low SOC matches my LEAF app. However, as the charge nears 80% or 90% (depending on the station avail charge settings) and automatically shuts off, my car will only have 70-80% capacity. So even though the stations says my car is 90% charged, and shuts off, my car really only has 79% and it down 3 battery bars. I didn't think much of this, however, I read another members 2013 LEAF, and the chargers/LEAF app % readings matched almost perfectly at 80% when the charger stopped.

Based on your delivery date in your profile you are driving a 2012 LEAF.
For the 2011 and 2012 LEAF, the status of charge given from the DCQC does not match with the status of charge indicated in the LEAF.
It is a bit strange, and I still don't understand the technical details of why it is this way on the 2011 and 2012, but it is normal for the 2011 and 2012.

Yes that is correct. 2012 LEAF SL, purchased 10/12.
Kind of a bummer I couldn't charge to more than 8 bars, or 71.4% at one of the dealerships with the 80% charge limit yesterday. (Universal Nissan)

 

[TimLee]

Kind of a bummer I couldn't charge to more than 8 bars, or 71.4% at one of the dealerships with the 80% charge limit yesterday. (Universal Nissan)

I'm not sure which brand of DCQC you were using.
But for the 2011 / 2012 LEAF, I think you can charge the LEAF to 100% using DCQC on all the different brands.
Some allow selection of 100%, and if the starting status of charge is >50%, it will charge to 100% without restarting.
But if the starting status of charge is <50%, it just takes a restart of the DCQC, to go to 100%.
This is for the 2011 / 2012, the 2013 is apparently quite a bit different.
But note that that going to 100% status of charge is very slow for getting the last 20%. It is a bit faster than L2, but the last 10% isn't a lot faster than L2.
So depending on demand for the DCQC unit, use of it for going to 100% is fairly poor use of the limited infrastructure, unless you absolutely need to do it.

 

[rumpole]

I've noticed the exact same thing in my 2012 Leaf. The Freedom station I use (http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/15705" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false seems to stop about 3 bars down. In the past, I just ignored it, since that still gave me plenty of range to get home, but when I specifically allowed enough time to supposedly charge to 100%, it cut out early. Nissan always said 30 minutes to 80% charge, and said (when asked) that after that, you ramp down to L2 speeds to reach 100%. I thought I heard somewhere that the time from 80% SOC to 100% SOC was around 20 minutes. Can anyone confirm?

 

[ELROY]

I've noticed the exact same thing in my 2012 Leaf. The Freedom station I use (http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/15705" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false seems to stop about 3 bars down. In the past, I just ignored it, since that still gave me plenty of range to get home, but when I specifically allowed enough time to supposedly charge to 100%, it cut out early. Nissan always said 30 minutes to 80% charge, and said (when asked) that after that, you ramp down to L2 speeds to reach 100%. I thought I heard somewhere that the time from 80% SOC to 100% SOC was around 20 minutes. Can anyone confirm?

As you get to the higher states of charge, it does slow down a bunch. Starting off it is around 400v x 100 amps=40,000 watts.
But as it approaches 93%, I noticed the quick charger was only putting out about 4000 watts. See yes, it takes forever if you wanted to go any higher.

Here is a perfect example. The charger thought it was at 98% (LEAF was only at 87.7%)...Charge rate was only 6A or 2358 watts!



Also, I see a 8F+ temp difference in the battery packs...Is this normal?? I assume the highest temp pack is the vertical one towards the rear?

 

[voganni]

On my 2013S the battery SOC on the machine matched my leaf identically. I can select 80 or 100% charge, and the machine turns off at 80% or near, but not always exactly, 100%. Once it was 92%.

It does slow way down over 80%. I figure, with 3 bars remaining at the start, 1/2 hour to 80%, 45 min to 95% or so. Not worth waiting for the last 5$. Fortunately, the stations are free on US2 over Stevens Pass, only place I've used them. I noticed they charge $5/session at QC stations in Seattle. Didn't need them there. I QC'd at Campbell-Nelson Nissan and it was free.

 

[KillaWhat]

My 2012 acts exactly as the OP describes.
It's a real PITA I can tell you.

I would never public charge unless I sorely need it, and when I do, the only L3 we have (Blink) tells me it has reached 100%, and yes, It;s down 3 bars.
I can wait a couple minutes and hit it again, but it then gets to about 89%, says 100% and again stops.

When it was Free it was less of a big deal, but at a flat $5 a pop it's not as much fun.

 

[ELROY]

My 2012 acts exactly as the OP describes.
It's a real PITA I can tell you.

I would never public charge unless I sorely need it, and when I do, the only L3 we have (Blink) tells me it has reached 100%, and yes, It;s down 3 bars.
I can wait a couple minutes and hit it again, but it then gets to about 89%, says 100% and again stops.

When it was Free it was less of a big deal, but at a flat $5 a pop it's not as much fun.

Its too bad, especially considering the 2013 I tested said 80% on the dash the same time the charger read 80%.

 

[bowthom]

Hmmm, interesting. When charging on an AV DCQC my results are different. The AV shows the percent of actual full capacity. So when my leaf says 100% charge and terminates the session, the AV shows 94%. However when charging to 80%, it charges to 79.9% of actual full capacity. So 80% on the AV is 80% in the leaf, rather than 80% of 94% (75% of actual full capacity). Me thinks there is a bit of confusion between full battery capacity and the usable capacity which holds 6% at the top of charge and 10% at the bottom. Which number is that DCQC displaying?. My leaf DD shows actual full capacity in the % field so it shows the same as the AV DCQC when charging. It also means the 80% charge timer uses 80% of actual full capacity.