What the dealer didn't tell you

[pmbdk]

Bought my used 2021 Leaf (~30k km) a month ago. Dealer tells me it has 270 km range. Nice!

After some browsing on mynissanleaf, I find I shouldn't really charge it up to more than 80% to preserve the battery. OK, so the range is 216 km then? Nah, because I shouldn't really go below 20% either to preserve my battery. OK, so the range is 162 km then? Nah, because it's a used battery, so I need to invest in a OBD2 dongle and Leaf Spy to see what the SoH is. OK, it was 97%, so the range is 157 km then? Nah, because it's winter, so I need to use a lot of power on heating, around 2 kW, so the range will be reduced by 20-25%. OK, so the range is 118 km then? Nah, because it's winter so the battery actually can't really store that much energy when cold so I lose 5%. OK, so my range is 112 km? In principle yes, but the Leaf has a 5% default reserve, so that should be subtracted. OK, so my range is 106 km then? In principle yes, but in sub-freezing temperatures I should really not charge my batteries due to lithium-plating and the Leaf does not have a battery-heater. OK, so my range is....... 0 km then???

;-)

PS. Just for laughs, I _did_ actually do my research before buying my Leaf, and I still love it...

 

[Mcflocki]

 

[Oostenrijker]

You can just charge it 100% and drive it to --% whenever you need the range: the Leaf has about 9.9% reserve. So I reality, you wouldn't go much lower than 10% and 10% in the dash is more like 20% raw SoC.

If you charge it too 100% then its best to drive as soon as possible, and dont let it stand charged full for days. When you drive it empty, just charge it as quickly as possible.

 

[macgeeknz]

I'm sure op already knows and this was just a bit of fun, but +1 on it being fine to charge to 100% if you're going to use it the next day.

Just don't leave it _stored_ at 100% for extended periods.

 

[SageBrush]

That was funny, and kudos for doing your homework. A couple of nitpicks

1. Li plating risk increases with battery pack temperature and charging speed. Charge on L2

2. Leafspy SOH is insensitive to individual cell defects. Cross your fingers and pray, or look at the cell voltage histogram when SoC is below 30-ish percent. If you have a bad cell, your range will truly take a hit

 

[Jnovoseljr]

Bought my used 2021 Leaf (~30k km) a month ago. Dealer tells me it has 270 km range. Nice!

After some browsing on mynissanleaf, I find I shouldn't really charge it up to more than 80% to preserve the battery. OK, so the range is 216 km then? Nah, because I shouldn't really go below 20% either to preserve my battery. OK, so the range is 162 km then? Nah, because it's a used battery, so I need to invest in a OBD2 dongle and Leaf Spy to see what the SoH is. OK, it was 97%, so the range is 157 km then? Nah, because it's winter, so I need to use a lot of power on heating, around 2 kW, so the range will be reduced by 20-25%. OK, so the range is 118 km then? Nah, because it's winter so the battery actually can't really store that much energy when cold so I lose 5%. OK, so my range is 112 km? In principle yes, but the Leaf has a 5% default reserve, so that should be subtracted. OK, so my range is 106 km then? In principle yes, but in sub-freezing temperatures I should really not charge my batteries due to lithium-plating and the Leaf does not have a battery-heater. OK, so my range is....... 0 km then???

;-)

PS. Just for laughs, I _did_ actually do my research before buying my Leaf, and I still love it...

My actual experience owning a 2011 and a 2014, disagrees with some of the battery recommendations discussed in this forum. The 2014 is at 9 bars with 132,000 miles and it is charged to 100% and discharged to about 10% twice daily. The 2011 with 172,000 is also operated the same way although it is on its second traction battery through Nissan's warranty replacement. Battery health is over 70% on both.

I am not starting a new discussion about this, I just wanted to give you my experience.