80% in 30 minutes? Really?

I searched and didn't see anything on this topic. Apologies if I missed it.

In both our LEAFs we do NOT get the advertised 80% charge in 30 minutes from a Quick Charger - and I've used 4 different QCs in Colorado. Depending on how much charge is present when I start the duration is 40-50 minutes. I'm wondering if this is a general experience or perhaps something unique to high altitude locations. You may recall that the QC rollout was delayed for Colorado in order to get certification above 3000 ft.

Not all quick chargers are created equal. The max power ranges between 20 and 50 kw depending on the station..

If you are ever up in Longmont, try the one at the Cultural Center. It's $3, but it's super fast. More than twice as fast as any of the other chargers I've used here. I don't have any CAN tools to see charging rate, but here is the plate from the very large support unit behind the charger...





It's CHAdeMO and SAE combo, first one of those I've seen also. I've been using this to make trips down to Golden from Fort Collins and it's terrific. It keeps fast charging up over 90% when it finally slows down enough around 93% to be no longer worth waiting.

I just looked and here are some logs from the EV Connect app for my recent sessions:

Aug 23 - 7.2kWh - 22min (Was still pretty full this time and pushed it up to 95% to make the trip)
Aug 24 - 16.9kWh - 24min

The one I have used at my Nissan dealership achieves 80% in less than 30 minutes, more like 20 or so (but then again I don't arrive "empty" generally).

The display on the screen shows it at about 105amps and 500+ watts which is pretty impressive in my book.

Slows down quite a bit once it gets to 80%, if you leave it on at 90% it will almost trickle the power in. IF I were to leave it plugged in, I have to imagine that the last 20% (if it would go to full) may take a couple hours based on the slowdown...

I typically see right about 25 min from either the fast Blink charger or the EVGo chargers in the area. Like others have said - it really depends on how they set up the unit.

I think it's important to point out that the charge of 30min is to 80% of capacity, not that you can get 80% more than what you have in 30 min. I think it was mentioned before but I couldn't find it in a search but that it's from 20%, if you're under that I think it would take longer.

In summer 20-25 mins from 20% to 80% on a Nissan QC that will start up at 42kW. In winter, up to 40-45 mins for the same. I don't see why altitude wold affect it.

You need to be using a quick charger that can supply at least 44kw. Sometimes people cheap out and install one that's barely over 20. That will nearly double your charge time. I can usually get to 80% in 15 or 20 minutes, as long as I don't roll in with absolutely nothing in the "tank".

Thanks for the comments everyone. The chargers I've used have been at 3 Nissan dealerships (Arapahoe, Tynan's Aurora, Autonation 104th) and the Denver Cultural Center garage. All three Nissan dealerships used the same model, and I believe the Cultural Center does too (identical interface). I'm attaching a picture I lifted from Plugshare. From my perception there isn't a difference in how fast any of these charge - it's slow for all of them. Does anyone else have experience with this brand of chargers (the label says ABB)?

I've done it a few times and the only time I really paid attention charged from having 17 eco/ac-less miles remaining in 75F weather (so let's say 20% charge remaining) to 91% charged in 32 minutes. I know it's just one example but of all the times I've used it, the charge easily exceeded 80% in less than 30 minutes (and I tend to not use QC unless I'm quite low on charge). This is for a new 2015 with 500 miles.

To add, all my QC were done either at Nissan Dealers or at facilities with Nissan-logo CHAdeMO QC. I noticed peak output of low 50kW occurred around the second and third quartiles of the state of charge and drastically dropped off past 80 and 90%. At 50kW and factoring in inefficiencies in the delivery method and the actual usable capacity of the 24kWh battery, I would say theoretically 80% charge in 30 minutes is entirely possible.

So can you provide some objective data? I.e. for a few sessions, can you provide start %, time spent, and end %? It may help us to understand what you are actually experiencing and relate to our own experiences. Charging rate is definitely a function of the car's level of charge and temp....

Slow1 said:

So can you provide some objective data? I.e. for a few sessions, can you provide start %, time spent, and end %? It may help us to understand what you are actually experiencing and relate to our own experiences. Charging rate is definitely a function of the car's level of charge and temp....

Click to expand...

A fair request. My initial inquiry was to find out if my experience was out of the ordinary - apparently it is. In my most recent session I arrived at the QC station with 2 bars (I don't carry the LEAFSpy with me as my son has the Android phone and the 2011-12 don't show SOC so I can't be more exact than that) and hit 10 bars in 44 minutes. The ambient temp was 82F and the LEAF showed 6 battery temperature bars. I don't have exact figures from earlier sessions but I did measure at the time and this has been my consistent experience through over 40 quick charges this summer.

I'll start noting more data, especially the details on the quick chargers themselves. I suspect that these may be the lower end 20kw quick chargers based on what I saw looking at the ABB web site.

so if you owned a business and wanted to provide charging for your customers, what would you rather install. 2 chargers that are good for 20KW, or one good for 40 to 50 thinking the cost to install the 2 20s is nearly the same as the big boy.

if you put in 2 smaller chargers, you can accommodate twice the customers for a longer time. So instead of one person just hanging by the car, finishing the charge and leaving again, you get 2 people who have 40 minutes to kill. They leave their car and go into your business and spend money. For that reason, I think we are going to be seeing a whole lot more of those little 20s being installed, because it makes more sense for the businesses whose properties the charging stations are occupying. They are also a lot easier on your battery!

johnrhansen said:

so if you owned a business and wanted to provide charging for your customers, what would you rather install. 2 chargers that are good for 20KW, or one good for 40 to 50 thinking the cost to install the 2 20s is nearly the same as the big boy.

if you put in 2 smaller chargers, you can accommodate twice the customers for a longer time. So instead of one person just hanging by the car, finishing the charge and leaving again, you get 2 people who have 40 minutes to kill. They leave their car and go into your business and spend money. For that reason, I think we are going to be seeing a whole lot more of those little 20s being installed, because it makes more sense for the businesses whose properties the charging stations are occupying. They are also a lot easier on your battery!

Click to expand...

Could be - and I hadn't thought of this before as I wasn't aware of the different in kw ratings for QCs. But since all of these locations have only one QC it's kinda moot for them.

still, putting in one 20 is a whole lot cheaper.. and you still get people spending time shopping.. 20 minutes is too short a time period for someone to come into a store, buy something, and leave again. So there really is no difference in speed to the people who you are installing the charger to serve as they will be on the machine 40 minutes whether it charges the car in 20 minutes or in 40. The people who it matters to are the people you don't want in your lot anyway... the ones who never go into your store, they are just there for the charge and never leave their car.

We have those ABB units up here as well from Tynans Fort Collins. I usually use one they have set up at our tired old mall that nobody uses and hook it up then head out for an hour. That normally gets me around 80-90%.

There is an AeroVironment unit at the science center here I haven't used because it's not free. I will try it out sometime soon and report back.

I don't have any records to prove it, but it "seems" QC now takes longer as compared to when my battery was new, even with my battery being down 23% in capacity.

It's been a while since I quick charged, but yesterday I collected some charging stats. First I verified that the QC was in fact 20 kW. Then:

Starting metrics: 4 capacity bars, 5 temperature bars, 64F ambient temperature
Time to 10 bars: 27 minutes
Time to 11 bars: 32 minutes
Time to 12 bars: 51 minutes

It may have been that my perception of the time to charge to just 80% was distorted by the incredibly long time it takes to charge the final bar. But from this it does appear that "charge to 80% in 30 minutes" isn't *that* far off the mark - if the starting point had been 1 bar instead of 4 it probably would have hit 10 bars in 32-35 minutes.

On the other hand, this charging session might have been faster than previous ones for reasons unknown. I certainly was surprised when I did my first check with the Carwings app and saw how fast it had gotten to 9 bars. I'll continue to record the durations for future QC sessions.