BlueLectroid
Member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2018
- Messages
- 5
We were passing a large crane at night going up a steep hill on a freeway near our home when suddenly a couple of warning lights and a chime came on in our Leaf. One of the warning lights was a little orange turtle. This had not happened before in 17 months of the lease and some longish trips in CA.
Our trip that day was 290 miles round-trip from the Bay Area to the Sierra foothills near Yosemite. At start, we had 55% charge. It was 105 degrees where we first charged, in Dublin. The battery temp indicator went from 5 bars to 9 after the first charge. The second charge was outside of Modesto, which pushed the battery temp to 11 bars (first red). After using 65% of our energy to get to our destination, we charged for 1.5 hours at a level 2 station, giving us 75% charge on leaving the casino, and the battery temp remained at 9 bars. Charging again outside of Modesto (DCFC) took us to 90% and 11 bars on the battery temp gauge. One last short charge in Martinez gave us 38% and still 11 bars on the battery, although charging was at 60% of the normal amps. Now it is 88 degrees outside at 10:00PM. Five minutes later we turtled on the hill with 30% charge indicated and were still able to drive at freeway speeds to get home.
Lessons learned: 1) Start the trip with a full charge obtained the day before. 2) Build time into the trip for battery cooldown. The Leaf was either being driven or charged during the entire 9.5 hr. trip. We could have charged less at the destination and instead, let the battery cool. 3) The car will turtle even below the maximum 12 bars of battery temp. 4) You can still drive at freeway speeds when turtled. This would not have happened with a 2018 Leaf, since we would not have had to charge as much.
Any other ideas for avoiding overheating turtling would be welcomed.
Our trip that day was 290 miles round-trip from the Bay Area to the Sierra foothills near Yosemite. At start, we had 55% charge. It was 105 degrees where we first charged, in Dublin. The battery temp indicator went from 5 bars to 9 after the first charge. The second charge was outside of Modesto, which pushed the battery temp to 11 bars (first red). After using 65% of our energy to get to our destination, we charged for 1.5 hours at a level 2 station, giving us 75% charge on leaving the casino, and the battery temp remained at 9 bars. Charging again outside of Modesto (DCFC) took us to 90% and 11 bars on the battery temp gauge. One last short charge in Martinez gave us 38% and still 11 bars on the battery, although charging was at 60% of the normal amps. Now it is 88 degrees outside at 10:00PM. Five minutes later we turtled on the hill with 30% charge indicated and were still able to drive at freeway speeds to get home.
Lessons learned: 1) Start the trip with a full charge obtained the day before. 2) Build time into the trip for battery cooldown. The Leaf was either being driven or charged during the entire 9.5 hr. trip. We could have charged less at the destination and instead, let the battery cool. 3) The car will turtle even below the maximum 12 bars of battery temp. 4) You can still drive at freeway speeds when turtled. This would not have happened with a 2018 Leaf, since we would not have had to charge as much.
Any other ideas for avoiding overheating turtling would be welcomed.