First drive in a '12 and testing max range.

[atikovi]

I bought this 46,000 mile SV a month ago and it showed 64 miles on the gauge. I finally picked it up a few days ago and it still had 64 miles after sitting a month. I've driven 50 miles and the gauge is down to 7 miles range. After the range goes to 0, is that when the reduced power mode kicks in? If so, how far do you have after that? Going to keep close to my house at that point.

 

[Stanton]

You should get low battery (LBW) and very low battery (VLBW) warnings long before it reaches Turtle.
How many capacity bars are showing? If 12, the BMS has definitely been reset; the only way to verify actual capacity is with a GID meter (LeafSpy/LeafDD/etc).

 

[atikovi]

10 capacity bars showing. Get a voice saying low battery charge. Don't want to hit 0 miles and be 2 miles from home and not be able to make it back.

 

[Stanton]

10 capacity bars showing. Get a voice saying low battery charge. Don't want to hit 0 miles and be 2 miles from home and not be able to make it back.

One of the first things you should know is never trust the GOM (miles remaining estimate).
You are no where near the bottom if you haven't heard the "very low battery" warning. You will see dashes "---" in the GOM before you ever get close to turtle.

 

[atikovi]

OK thanks, I'll try a few more miles.

 

[atikovi]

Drove around neighbourhood for a while. A mile from home the range went from 4 miles to - - - and got the very low battery charge warning. So far just over 60 miles on the trip odometer so fairly pleased. How much more can I go before the turtle, and how much after?

 

[LeftieBiker]

If it were me, I'd use the VLBW as the lower limit of my driving range. You might get 5 miles after you get that second warning, but when the car hits Turtle Mode it's not far at all to a dead stop. Maybe a mile, IIRC. Maybe less.

 

[atikovi]

I went another 8 miles going up and down my 1/2 mile street before turtle came on. Just at 20-25 mph though. So that's 69 miles total range so far and not taking into account it was parked for a month before. Manual says not to use an extension cord with the charging cable but I'm just a little bit away from the outlet. Will a heavy duty 15 foot extension cord cause any problem?

 

[jjeff]

I went another 8 miles going up and down my 1/2 mile street before turtle came on. Just at 20-25 mph though. So that's 69 miles total range so far and not taking into account it was parked for a month before. Manual says not to use an extension cord with the charging cable but I'm just a little bit away from the outlet. Will a heavy duty 15 foot extension cord cause any problem?

No problem, for 15' you could probably get away with 16 gauge, 14 gauge up to 50' and >'50 I'd go with #12 and lastly more than 100' and #10 would be best. The factory EVSE only draws 12a but with longer runs you want a larger gauge cord to lessen losses.

 

[GerryAZ]

There is typically less than 1/4 mile from getting the Turtle power limitation and having the main contactor open to shut down the car on 2011 and 2012 models. The later models may go a little further (depending upon how well balanced the battery cells are).

Gerry

 

[jjeff]

There is typically less than 1/4 mile from getting the Turtle power limitation and having the main contactor open to shut down the car on 2011 and 2012 models. The later models may go a little further (depending upon how well balanced the battery cells are).

Gerry

Agree, when I was testing the limits on my '12 earlier in the summer I only got a long flat city block of turtle before it shut down. Luckily it was only a couple feet from where I normally charge so the cable reached no problem. Long story short, turtle is basically only to get you to the side of the road, not much more, don't plan on driving on turtle.

 

[atikovi]

I plugged the car into 110v at 2:30pm yesterday and by the time I checked at 7am this morning it had stopped charging. That is less than 17 hours when the manual says it should take 21 hours. Is that because of battery degradation? The range shows 78 miles now with 10 lines on the capacity gauge.

 

[powersurge]

As a new Leaf owner, I have several points of advice... First, like all rechargeable batteries, the battery has a limited number of charge/ recharge cycles in its lifetime. You SHOULD NOT be experimenting how far you can drive before the battery cuts out. When you discharge a battery down to 0%, that is not good for it. You should regularly try to charge the battery before it reaches 20% charge, and preferably closer to 30%.

DONOT used the estimated "miles of range" as any indication of how far you can drive. The battery "% of charge" display is the best gauge to measure by. Figure that with your battery, every % of charge will give you about 1 mile of range (maybe a bit lower).

Also the estimates on the dashboard of how long it takes to charge with the factory charger is worthless... Consider that the 120 volt charger will charge the car at about 5% of charge PER HOUR.... So if your car is showing a "50%" charge, it will take about 10 hours with that charge to reach 100% charge... Good luck with your new car....

 

[LeftieBiker]

Running the battery below 20% SOC doesn't seem to harm it as long as it's recharged immediately. That isn't the same as running it right out of usable power, though. I also wouldn't recommend letting it sit at less than 20%.

 

[speedski97]

look for a post on Tony William's range chart. it will save you. it will help a lot..My turtle is about 100 yards....

 

[DaveEV]

Running the battery below 20% SOC doesn't seem to harm it as long as it's recharged immediately. That isn't the same as running it right out of usable power, though. I also wouldn't recommend letting it sit at less than 20%.

There's no issue with storing lithium batteries at low SOC.

Reg found a great study showing this for 3 different lithium chemistries, one very similar to what's used in our LEAFs:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15796&p=474517#p474373

So unless you're planning on letting it sit for weeks after turtle, I wouldn't worry about it at all. All data indicates that keeping the SOC of your battery under 50% and as cool as possible is best for battery life.

 

[LeftieBiker]

There's no issue with storing lithium batteries at low SOC.

Probably not from the perspective of battery damage (cold, sub-freezing temps possibly excepted), but having a car with 15 or less miles of available range can be a problem in a pinch.