Joining the 80% Club

[AndyH]

We must stop trying to bend the spoon - there is no spoon!

How can I score a touchdown if they won't let me into the end-zone? :lol:

LALALALALA I can't hear you!

BTW: Thank you for your pictures and videos! I'm learning a LOT - I wish I had the car, but this part is fun too! :lol:

 

[kmp647]

Well I can't wait to see those shots of the cluster!

And hear about your drive home

 

[AndyH]

So do you recommend to go ahead and charge to 100% (per the car display) every night without worry since is not really "100%"?

I don't know enough about the exact battery in the car, Kat, to say absolutely.

But we know that the Nissan engineers have done the hard parts - and will not let us 'run with scissors' (charge or discharge to the point of killing the pack). There's still some long-term benefit to keeping the charge/discharges more in the middle - but since just keeping us away from the extremes gives us close to the longest possible pack life, and since the pack will degrade over time just sitting on the shelf, it's possible that we'll never be able to see any difference in pack life if we choose to only use the middle 8 or 10 bars.

Someone that doesn't use full range every day probably won't be able to tell the difference between easier charging and time-related degradation. :?

 

[mwalsh]

No problem fellas. Will take the photos are long as I can do it safely, etc.....

Am rather hoping that I don't see the refuel lamp when I hit red. That means we only have 20kWh across the 10 white bars, if the diagram in the owner's manual is to be believed. The true test will be when I go to recharge tonight - I'm going to recharge back to 100% and see how long it takes....it seem to be the only sure fire way to see how much you've actually discharged, being as I've already had some inaccurate numbers at the bottom end of the pack via the owner's portal.

 

[uwskier20]

My commute is 25 miles each way (about 10 at 40-45 MPH, and about 15 or so at 60-65 MPH in the HOV lane), so this information is encouraging for my commute. This is especially true if I can keep my charge at 80%-ish most of the time. Thanks!

 

[mwalsh]

My commute is 25 miles each way (about 10 at 40-45 MPH, and about 15 or so at 60-65 MPH in the HOV lane), so this information is encouraging for my commute. This is especially true if I can keep my charge at 80%-ish most of the time. Thanks!

I don't think your commute will cause you any concern. Although it's only been 3 days, I'm seeing a consistent discharge of 33% over a 30 mile distance, 90% of which is at highway speeds. And I hate to blow my own horn (actually I love to blow my own horn) but I think I've said pretty consistently that I expected to be discharging 66% daily.

 

[cdub]

Slightly but not really OT - Isn't there a way to change the time estimate for recharge above to the miles per kilowatt? (so it isn't only on the center console)

 

[Gonewild]

mwalsh.
My drive is 76 RT to work about 2 miles of side street at both end so 70 or so will be highway speed of 65 do you think I will make it on a full 100% charge. I would not make it with a 80% right?

 

[mwalsh]

My drive is 76 RT to work about 2 miles of side street at both end so 70 or so will be highway speed of 65 do you think I will make it on a full 100% charge. I would not make it with a 80% right?

Well, we don't really know just how far 80% will take one yet, but my gut feeling is that you need to charge to 100%. I'd probably do that to feel comfortable myself.

 

[occ]

So mwalsh, I'm anxious to know what your 60 mile RT commute result is for 80% charge? Did you hit the red lines? Was your commute home normal 65mph most freeway or did you hit some traffic today? BTW, thanks for keep up with the excellent data!

 

[mwalsh]

OK, so here is the end-game. I guess I won't be joining the 80% club....it's really just too tight for my liking. The refuel lamp does indeed come on pretty quickly once you hit the red bars and, I'm sorry to say, I really do think now that we only have 20kWh to realistically drive on, and that the total available pack size is 24kWh, but that it isn't particularly wise to count the last 4kWh as usable.

Here are my screen caps. The data was a bit skewed by me goofing around with Carwings this afternoon - I appeared to loose 3 miles of range in P without moving an inch. So if someone was to ask me if using the telematics system costs you main pack power, I think I would have to say that it does. As a result I lost a bar with only 4 miles traveled. Bummer.

Anyhow, it wouldn't have made much difference. I would have just barely avoided having the fuel warning lamp come on even if I'd kept those 3 miles. So I think I would just as soon charge to 100%.

Here are my screen caps. Basically what happened is that when I got down to the red bars, the refuel lamp came on pretty quickly, within a couple of miles. The mid-drive screen caps, where it appears I'm doing so well (one shows 10 miles between a bar change)...it was stop-and-go traffic and I was making better mpkWh.

 

[Ready2plugin]

Thanks for giving it a go. That maybe a shot at the future if it's true that we will lose 20% capacity over the next 5 years. Hopefully that will not happen, but at least you made it with 17 miles left in the bank. Still not too bad. Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

 

[kmp647]

60 to 75 rt commute
Full charge or. 80 percent and trickle while at work


Thanks for the great data!

Kevin

 

[DaveEV]

If you ask me - it sounds like your commute (as it is now) is perfect for a 80% charge since you just barely touched the low battery warning when you got home, no? Think of it this way - you have enough juice left to get half way back to work - and that doesn't even account for turtle mode!

I doubt the "messing with carwings" sucked up any significant juice if you were just sitting there. Because of the granularity of the bars, that bar was probably partially gone already.

It does sound like having a 85% charge level would make you comfortable with the remaining charge when you get home. But otherwise I think it's just the newness of the car and a bit of range anxiety getting to you.

Of course, if you just charge to 100% - then you should have more than enough juice to drive as you please.

 

[evnow]

So, did you get low battery close to your home ?

 

[hobbyguy]

I went out this morning and ran errands and came home with 55% charged. I am taking kids to practice tonight so I decided to plug in to my 220 and let it go till it stopped. I came out this evening and no more blue lights flashing. I came inside and checked carwings, shows 93% charged and 74 miles range. I just went down and started the car, shows 74 miles range in "D" drive and 80 in ECO.
So charging to 100% is not really 100% or 100 miles I guess. Is the 74 range in D and the 80 in ECO due to past driving results, will it pop up to 93 miles in ECO since I have 93% charge??

 

[evnow]

So charging to 100% is not really 100% or 100 miles I guess. Is the 74 range in D and the 80 in ECO due to past driving results, will it pop up to 93 miles in ECO since I have 93% charge??

The range shown is based on your past driving and the current state of charge.

 

[hobbyguy]

I have been averaging 4.7 mile / kWh. I thought that was pretty good. So as the "history" gets better, the range from that 93% charge will get higher?? I wonder if I fully charge again if it would charge above the 93%, as the battery pack is "broken in"?

 

[evnow]

I have been averaging 4.7 mile / kWh. I thought that was pretty good. So as the "history" gets better, the range from that 93% charge will get higher?? I wonder if I fully charge again if it would charge above the 93%, as the battery pack is "broken in"?

There is no breakin needed. WHen you charge fully it should show 100%.

We don't know exactly what driving history leaf considers to calculate range. It gives more weightage to very recent driving than past driving.

In anycase, the range shown is just an estimate - shouldn't really matter (as for as battery health is concerned).

 

[hobbyguy]

So you think 93% is actually my 100%? Or do you think next time I try to "freely" charge it might be higher than 100%?
This is fun!