parking at airport should I stay plugged in?

I'm going to Norway for a 10 days, and driving to Vancouver (ticket way cheaper) So I can charge up in surrey and get to the airport at about 50 percent charge, not plug in there, and just charge in surrey again on the way home. Or I can figure out a way to plug in at the airport and skip the surrey charging spot altogether. I think at 80 percent charge I can make bellingham easily. Trouble is I heard the 12 volt battery dies if you leave it plugged in? Is that true? is there anything I can do with the setup of my charging to avoid this? I have a evse upgrade evse, and I could set up a 4 amp level 1 trickle charge and it would take 3 days to charge, might help to keep it powered up for a longer time. So what do you all think. Should I choose option 1 or 2? I don't think I could get anyone to unplug the cord after the charging is done.

You could use a mechanical timer to charge a couple hours each day.

smkettner said:

You could use a mechanical timer to charge a couple hours each day.

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tying up a charging spot for 10 days doesn't sound like a wise thing to do, your car will not lose any power while sitting and sitting at 50% is better for the battery than sitting at 100%, so I would wait until I returned to top it off.
YMMV

If it were me, I would just leave the car parked at the 50% charge and then recharge after I returned. Even if you could find a place to leave it plugged in for days, with a very slow charge, you are still using up a charging spot that someone else may need while you are away.

Use the charging time to walk off the sitting while flying. Get something to eat or drink. There are lots of things you can do to make it easier for you to sit in the car driving that distance after a long flight.

I got the evse upgrade the " high power version " How do I select power outputs? I just got different cable connections and figured it took care if itself.

kieranmullen said:

I got the evse upgrade the " high power version " How do I select power outputs? I just got different cable connections and figured it took care if itself.

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You should have received instructions with the upgraded unit. afaik you short the signal pins with a paper clip and push the release button until the evse light blinks out the number of amps.
6 blinks and a pause is 6 amps etc. I believe the newest ones will hold the setting even if power is cut. Test at home before you rely on it.

I was told I got the high powered version although the power output doesn't seem high enough.

kieranmullen said:

I was told I got the high powered version although the power output doesn't seem high enough.

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yours is the higher power version

3.84 KW Nissan Leaf on 240v using evse upgrade 16a (2011 and 2012)
4.8 KW Nissan Leaf on 240v using evse upgrade 20a (2013 and 2014)

I think it defaults to the highest setting and changing the amps is just an option for using less power, not more.

Don't 13 & 14 charge at 6 KW NOT 4.8 ? How do I change it? I don't see it in the instructions?

This original problem about not charging the battery is that the normal "check after 5 days" is defeated. That means, at a minimum, going 5 days without charging is no different than leaving it unplugged for that long. So, even if your charge completes early, you only sit "unchecked" for that remaining time. In my experience, this holds true because each time I've tried this, something hasn't gone according to plan, and the car was fine anyway.

If your car has a charge timer, you have even more options.

Your Garage May Vary. The place where I park at the airport is very EV friendly and encourages us to use as much of the facilities as available. In the early days they let us park in the valet spots because that was the only place to charge. Later, when Blink started charging for plug time, their attendants would unplug the car for you. Now, they have a whole row of 120V outlets, which automatically turn on from midnight to 6AM, and the staff cones off the area to reserve it for us.

kieranmullen said:

Don't 13 & 14 charge at 6 KW NOT 4.8 ? How do I change it? I don't see it in the instructions?

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The cars may have the 6.0 kW charger (depending on the model and options selected) but the EVSE upgrade maxes out at 20 Amps at 240 Volts. That's 4.8 kW (~4.3 kW to the battery after overhead). If you want to charge faster you will need an EVSE that can deliver at least 27.5 Amps at 240 Volts (typically a 30 Amp model on a 40 Amp circuit).

The difference in charge time is pretty small, however, and for typical overnight charging at home it is completely irrelevant.

kieranmullen said:

Don't 13 & 14 charge at 6 KW NOT 4.8 ? How do I change it? I don't see it in the instructions?

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6KW is the max charge rate for the car.

4.8KW is the normal charge rate at 240V for the evseupgrade.

It's not that big of a speed difference. If you want a faster charge rate at home buy a 30A EVSE to hang on the wall or if you want faster charging on the road get a JESLA EVESE but it isn't worth the cost difference if you already have an evseupgrade in hand that works at 4.8KW.

I figure it should work until either 1) home DC charger unit or 2) battery and charger upgrade hopefully in 10 years time? From Nissan or 3rd party.

Has Nissan even mentioned anything remotely like that or do they intend that everyones upgrade path is simply a new car?

kieranmullen said:

I figure it should work until either 1) home DC charger unit...

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Not likely to happen. DC chargers are very expensive and also completely unnecessary for home use because charge times of a few hours are no big deal.

...or 2) battery and charger upgrade hopefully in 10 years time? From Nissan or 3rd party.

Has Nissan even mentioned anything remotely like that or do they intend that everyones upgrade path is simply a new car?

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VERY unlikely to have a charger upgrade on a LEAF, although you can add an aftermarket charger now if you want to pay big bucks (but why?).

Some sort of battery upgrade is theoretically possible but also unlikely since it is simpler for Nissan to just make new cars with the advanced features. Also, it figures to be so expensive to retrofit a new shape/size/chemistry battery that it is hard to see a market developing for 3rd party versions. Nissan has economies of scale when they design and build the car and there are so few LEAFs on the road that there isn't much of a market for 3rd party batteries.

But ten years? Perhaps. Replacing the battery in a LEAF isn't like going down to the local auto supply store and buying an oil filter or heavy duty shocks. More like replacing a whole engine in an ICE car.

dgpcolorado said:

More like replacing a whole engine in an ICE car.

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Very good analogy.
But the LEAF battery is probably twice the cost of a replacement internal combustion engine.
How many people put new engine in a ten year old ICE let alone a new high performance engine?

Now in ten years if battery price drops 4% per year?
Might be bit more possible but still unlikely with the need for new software, connectors, etc.
Very little chance Nissan will offer it.
Aftermarket bit more but not likely.

With the unfortunate capacity degradation many LEAFs will unfortunately be disposable at six to eight years. Some will still be in use at twelve to fourteen years with original battery as short range very good neighborhood vehicles.
But probably not with new longer range more heat resistant battery.

johnrhansen said:

I'm going to Norway for a 10 days, and driving to Vancouver (ticket way cheaper) So I can charge up in surrey and get to the airport at about 50 percent charge, not plug in there, and just charge in surrey again on the way home. Or I can figure out a way to plug in at the airport and skip the surrey charging spot altogether. I think at 80 percent charge I can make bellingham easily. Trouble is I heard the 12 volt battery dies if you leave it plugged in? Is that true? is there anything I can do with the setup of my charging to avoid this? I have a evse upgrade evse, and I could set up a 4 amp level 1 trickle charge and it would take 3 days to charge, might help to keep it powered up for a longer time. So what do you all think. Should I choose option 1 or 2? I don't think I could get anyone to unplug the cord after the charging is done.

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Not sure what options you have in Vancouver. I take my LEAF to a third party parking lot in Nashville. They charge the car the day before my return date for no additional fee. I climb into a 80% charged cool vehicle when I return Using a third party facility avoids 'charger hogging'

I know he's long back by now.... But found this other lot that does charging

https://www.parknfly.ca/location/vancouver-airport-parking.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Probably L1's outlets (Bring tour l1 charger) but you are gone for 10days you don't need to charge fast....


Here in Atlanta they have a EV valet in some lots $5/extra over normal parking cost , they charge up your car on your L1 Charger, then move your car out of the space to allow them to use the plug for other cars,

I charged at the surrey museum on the way up, and ended up at the airport about 50 percent. After 10 days I didn't want to detour there, especially since plugshare shows that charger inoperative most of the time. So I white knuckled it all the way to the av charger in bellingham. I was seconds away from turtle when I got there. The charger said I was at 2 percent. The car goes to dashes at 4.

The last time that I went out of Toronto I used the Valet Park and Fly (which they also have in Vancouver). I left instructions on when I was coming back and told them I would like the car charged up for that day and not before. Carwings notified me when it was complete and it was exactly as I requested.

I believe they have their own EVSEs. The lot manager asked me to go out to the car and show them how to open the charge port etc. But didn't ask anything about an EVSE even though it was in the car.

Remember if a blinx charger it will charge you all tthe time its plugged in and won't switch off. I found this out the hard way at long beach airport...I know op is back by now, but just leaving here for other users .