DC Quick Charge Frequency?

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MisterC

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
19
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Hey Everybody,

Just got my Leaf last week. I have the good fortune of having a Nissan CHAdeMO charger near my work, which is free to use. It is at a mall, that is covered, and out of the sun. Our normal summer temps are mild and in the 70's. I would most likely charge in the morning when temps are even cooler.

It's hard to pass up FREE electricity. But, how often would you use it, while avoiding negative affects on battery life? Is is mainly a temperature issue? And should I shut is off when it hits ~80-85%?

Thanks for your input!
 
It's not hard for me to pass up sitting in my car and waiting 20 minutes for it to charge; free or otherwise. Just charge at home unless you need to quick charge for some reason. Every quick charge puts in about a buck or two of "free" electricity. It's not worth your time, even if you make minimum wage.

That said, you just got your Leaf. It's new, it's fun. Go ahead and quick charge every day for a week. You'll get it out of your system, trust me. :D
 
^^^Good point! I also don't have my EVSE installed at home yet, so it makes sense on a practical level right now... But point taken.

On a side note there also happens to be a place that has $1 hash browns next to the charger... another reason not to go everyday.
 
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=14271" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
pkulak said:
It's not hard for me to pass up sitting in my car and waiting 20 minutes for it to charge; free or otherwise. Just charge at home unless you need to quick charge for some reason. Every quick charge puts in about a buck or two of "free" electricity. It's not worth your time, even if you make minimum wage.
Click to expand...
You live in OR, with cheap electricity. For those who live in expensive electricity areas, esp. if you're in higher rate tiers or charging an EV pushes you into expensive tiers, then it's more than two bucks.

Take a look at the E-1, E-6 and EV schedules at http://www.pge.com/tariffs/ERS.SHTML#ERS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I'm in area X of http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/financialassistance/medicalbaseline/understand/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, so my "summer" per day baseline is 11.0 kWh and "winter" is 11.7 kWh.

If you give me some typical monthly usages in kWh, or better yet an average and a typical max for month, I'll calculate how much it is for you using the E1 schedule w/my baseline. We can then that cost vs. what you pay. You'll understand why some call PG&E, Pacific Gouge and Extort.
pkulak said:
That said, you just got your Leaf. It's new, it's fun. Go ahead and quick charge every day for a week. You'll get it out of your system, trust me. :D
Click to expand...
I hear you. I do agree about the time, value, money aspect. It can be sometimes difficult to justify waiting around. I often catch up on emails and reading online while waiting.
 
While PG&E is among the most expensive electric providers, it only costs $0.091/kWh (~$2.20 for a full charge) on the EV-A, so it's not that much more than $2. Yes, if you're with E1 or day charging with E6, it's like $10. Charge at night, when it's cheap.
 
mctom987 said:
While PG&E is among the most expensive electric providers, it only costs $0.091/kWh (~$2.20 for a full charge) on the EV-A, so it's not that much more than $2. Yes, if you're with E1 or day charging with E6, it's like $10. Charge at night, when it's cheap.
Click to expand...
At first, I was going to say "huh?" Then, I had to look again at http://www.pge.com/tariffs/tm2/pdf/ELEC_SCHEDS_EV.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Sure, it's 9.8 or ~10 cents/kWh during off-peak, depending on the "season", but the rest of the rates are pretty high.
Code: 
Total Energy Rates ($ per kWh) PEAK PART-PEAK OFF-PEAK
Summer Usage $0.39653 (I) $0.21152 (I) $0.09829 (R)
Winter Usage $0.26814 (R) $0.16165 (R) $0.10095 (R)
According to PG&E's rate estimator, for me, E6-Smart is the cheapest plan for me, at $380/year.

The WORST for me is EVA, at $555/year. In between are E6, E1-Smart and E1 at $420, $430 and $470/year.

I rarely charge at home, generally only on weekends, if at all. My primary charging is free @ work and sometimes I use public free L2s and (not real often) free CHAdeMO DC FCs. This weekend, I left work on Thursday w/a full charge and have done 0 charging at home, but have used free public at least 3x, so far (not too long each time).
 
MisterC said:
It's hard to pass up FREE electricity. But, how often would you use it, while avoiding negative affects on battery life? Is is mainly a temperature issue? And should I shut is off when it hits ~80-85%?
Click to expand...
It is an individual choice.
You'll have to choose.

For me I have done 122 DCQC in 21,000 miles over 37 months.
I like free too, but the $ are pretty modest.
Would have done more but free was unavailable for 12 months of the 37.

I enjoy 20 to 30 minutes of leisure time listening to a podcast, or reading paper, or catching up on MNL.
Don't see it as wasted time but I'm retired and may have more time than many.

Impact on battery is not well proven yet.
It will raise battery temp about 10F which clearly has some increase in degradation. Much more concern and impact if ambient is high.
Have rarely done it above 90F.

I often stop at 10 of 12 status of charge bars. 80% for LEAF, about 85% as shown on the DCQC for a 2011.
That is mainly because going further nearly doubles the time.
 
I'm on EVA in the SF Bay Area (area T), which is expensive, but still only about 10 cents/Kwh, and am planning on charging at night, so it should be about $2-3 a night to charge up from 15-20% after returning home.

That being said... free is cheaper than cheap. And I know it's only a few bucks... but there's something about free. It's like winning $50 playing blackjack fees better than making $500 at work.

But, yeah, there are some days when I can't afford to sit 15 minutes. Other days I'll use the time to get my coffee, check email, read mynissan forum...

I hope I don't thrash my battery, but I'm leasing, and it seems like at morning temps that I'll be ok for at least the 3 years.
 
I see you said the charger is at a mall; and that you'll maybe use the time to go get coffee. Don't leave your car sitting charging without an indication of what time you'll be back. Leave a note, preferably with your cell phone number.
 
MisterC said:
Hey Everybody,

Just got my Leaf last week. I have the good fortune of having a Nissan CHAdeMO charger near my work, which is free to use. It is at a mall, that is covered, and out of the sun. Our normal summer temps are mild and in the 70's. I would most likely charge in the morning when temps are even cooler.

It's hard to pass up FREE electricity. But, how often would you use it, while avoiding negative affects on battery life? Is is mainly a temperature issue? And should I shut is off when it hits ~80-85%?

Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...

your question is nearly impossible to answer without details. how long is your commute, how much of a detour is the mall, etc.

realize that "any" detour" is time from your day. Now, if the charger is available 24/7 and you can get there in the morning before it opens, a 15 min boost might be ok if you want to leave for work 30 mins earlier

but my rule of thumb is that if you do not need the charge, then leave it for someone who does

**edit** read thru the posts that were added since I opened the thread (it took several hours for me to get around to responding) and did notice you do not have a home charger yet and still don't know how far your commute is

as far as time goes, you can listen to everyone else or realize that you can likely get the charge you need in 15 mins or so. it is not hard to find something to do for that period of time (especially if you are active here ;) ) but at the same time, don't get complacent. I would get that home charger option installed ASAP. there are a lot of cheap options available . i have the EVSE upgrade and like it since it is one of the most flexible options out there.
 
My commute is ~30 miles one way, with some rolling hills. I can make it to work using about 40% of the charge, though I'm still learning how to manage my speed, especially on hills. When I get home, I have about 10-15% left. Without a L2, it takes me more than one night (utilizing off-peak time only, 11PM-7AM), so I've been using my leaf every other day and driving my Prius when I don't drive the Leaf. By using the DCQC, I can get home with about 40% left, and can almost fully charge overnight.

I'm getting my L2 installed in 3 days, which will make life easier, and I'll be driving the Leaf everyday on a full charge.

But, I might still use the QC at the mall, since it is less than a mile from my work, so not much of a detour. At 8AM, I have never seen anyone else using it before or after me. This is actually my preferred commute time, since there's less traffic and I can leave work earlier, so not really a sacrifice in terms of leaving the house.

My main concern was damaging the battery.
 
A single QC doesn't raise the temp that much. It's consecutive QCs on the same trip that ratchet up the heat. Although a single QC does add *some* heat so on a very hot day you might choose to avoid it.

As for propriety; sounds like it's something that is helping tide you through the period before you get your home installation complete. Glad it was available for you.

As for daily use when the only reason is to get a couple of dollars of free electricity, I'd shy away from that. The dealership was generous enough to put in a free charger. If they start to see the same car(s) day after day, they might change their minds especially if a wait develops. From the point of view of etiquette, it is more polite to leave the charger available for someone travelling who really needs the charge, if you have the option to recharge at home.
 
MisterC said:
My commute is ~30 miles one way, with some rolling hills. I can make it to work using about 40% of the charge, though I'm still learning how to manage my speed, especially on hills. When I get home, I have about 10-15% left. Without a L2, it takes me more than one night (utilizing off-peak time only, 11PM-7AM), so I've been using my leaf every other day and driving my Prius when I don't drive the Leaf. By using the DCQC, I can get home with about 40% left, and can almost fully charge overnight.

I'm getting my L2 installed in 3 days, which will make life easier, and I'll be driving the Leaf everyday on a full charge.

But, I might still use the QC at the mall, since it is less than a mile from my work, so not much of a detour. At 8AM, I have never seen anyone else using it before or after me. This is actually my preferred commute time, since there's less traffic and I can leave work earlier, so not really a sacrifice in terms of leaving the house.

My main concern was damaging the battery.
Click to expand...

oh I would not worry about damage. keep tabs of your temperature bars on the left side of the display. I know a guy who QC's daily and has 9,000 miles on his 2013 and zero loss of range. I think his QC count should be about 110ish by now?

you should just charge the mid range as fast charging then parking in the Sun at work is not good. charge 15 mins and go. this will give you enough to be able to recharge or at least get enough charge to make it to work the next day
 

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