2015 LEAF SL - What Percent Is My Battery At?

Hello Folks,

Two weeks in my new LEAF and I'm loving it more and more every day.

So in reading bunches of information it seems like the thing to do is NOT to let it charge up to 100%. Instead 80%'s a good number. But if I'm not mistaken, NISSAN took away the 80% charge stop with the 2014 model. I'm feeling very comfortable with my <60 mile daily commute so I'm confident the 80% charge would, at the end of the day, put me at a good point to start charging again. My issue is that I don't see anywhere (on a PC or mobile device) where I can tell what percentage the battery charge is. Seems kind of odd to have to head out to the vehicle and turn on the ACC every little bit to see.

Looking for suggestions. Thank you very much!

The app shows up to 12 bars. Each bar is about 8%, so 10 bars is 80%.

charging to 100% is OK if you don't leave it there for too long. For a 60 mile commute in CO winters, I would charge it to 100% and preheat before you leave.

Charging at work even better.

DNAinaGoodWay said:

Charging at work even better.

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Hopefully soon. But I'm guessing not this winter. :-(

Here in the Denver Metro Area, our winters generally aren't that bad. Two or three big snow storms and that's about it. The LEAF and I will work at home on those days.

Thanks for the information!

Hey Ed. Congratulations on the Leaf.

Did you buy or lease? I leased mine so I will admit I'm not babying the battery. I doubt it's as big of a deal to charge to 100% here as it is in Arizona or SoCal. Especially this time of the year.

I'm sure somebody is going to figure out a way to get Leaf Spy or one of those tools to send a notification at 80% but I havent seen that yet. I've got some ideas about using Bluetooth and a Raspberry Pi to read the can bus signals from the car to display SoC and potentially control my OpenEVSE but I haven't had any time to tinker lately.

AlanSqB said:

Did you buy or lease?

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Hey Alan,

After much debate I did end up buying it so I'm planning on babying it a little bit. I've had a lot of vehicles in my time but this one is just damn fun to drive and play with in regards to all the little toys and stats that are available.

Not sure if it's just how the GOM works or it's just Colorado but going to work it typically sucks down about 40 miles of range but going home it only uses 10 - 15. My commute is about 27.5 miles each way. The elevation gain to work is only about 500 feet. Sound about right to you?

Thanks!

I have noticed better range coming home than going in but I haven't gotten scientific about it yet because I only do that commute twice a month or so. I am going to start doing some logging soon in order to build some confidence for winter driving.

I have actually regretted the lease just a little bit now as we are really enjoying driving this car everywhere. I would not have guessed it would become the go-to car for the family, but if we keep going the way we have, I'm going to be way over miles.

AlanSqB said:

I have noticed better range coming home than going in but I haven't gotten scientific about it yet because I only do that commute twice a month or so. I am going to start doing some logging soon in order to build some confidence for winter driving.

I have actually regretted the lease just a little bit now as we are really enjoying driving this car everywhere. I would not have guessed it would become the go-to car for the family, but if we keep going the way we have, I'm going to be way over miles.

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Yes, winter driving is going to be the true test. Of course contrary to popular belief our winters aren't really as brutal here as most think, but we still do get our little strings of the nasty stuff.

As for the lease, miles were the primary reason I purchased. From my Civic (that was a great car), I knew I could easily do 17k per year. And like you state, as awesome as the LEAF is, I'm guessing we could easily do more miles.

ed

eddiebo924 said:

...Not sure if it's just how the GOM works or it's just Colorado but going to work it typically sucks down about 40 miles of range but going home it only uses 10 - 15. My commute is about 27.5 miles each way. The elevation gain to work is only about 500 feet. Sounds about right to you?

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Sounds about right, 500 feet is quite a lot. Elevation makes a huge difference in charge usage — I gain charge going down my 1000 foot hill in warm weather (regen decreases in cold weather and disappears in very cold temperatures) — and the GOM is pretty useless for driving such terrain. My "personal best" GOM reading 14.5 miles into a trip a couple of years ago:


My suggestion is that you forget the GOM and just pay attention to your %SOC meter on the dash to get a feel for what fuel percent you use to make various trips, depending on weather. As an alternative, since you seem to be technically inclined, you could get LEAF Spy to help get more precise fuel and battery information (cell-pair voltages, temperature, and the like).

As to your question about a remote look at charge levels, I presume that you have a Carwings account set up. It should give you the number of fuel bars your car has at any given time (if Carwings is working and your car has decent AT&T cell phone reception). That estimate is crude because the fuel bars are so broad, but it will give you a rough idea of your charge level. [However, if the 2015 LEAFs still have 2G telematics, Carwings could go away in the future when AT&T discontinues 2G service by the end of 2016.] It would be nice if Carwings would give you the dash % but it does not, last I heard.

One final thing, it would help if you would add something like "2015 SL" as a signature so that we can tell what model you have at a glance in posts in other threads. There is quite a bit of difference between the S model and the SV/SL models when it comes to answering questions. Just a suggestion. Have fun with your LEAF — I have!

Thanks much dgpcolorado! Great info.

So one more question. Not sure how to quantify the answer but how big of a hit do you take here in Colorado when it's nice and chilly out all day long?

Thanks!

eddiebo924 said:

Thanks much dgpcolorado! Great info.

So one more question. Not sure how to quantify the answer but how big of a hit do you take here in Colorado when it's nice and chilly out all day long?

Thanks!

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Here's a plot of my monthly mileage efficiency from the wall and from the dash meter:

[The gap between wall and dash readings widens in winter because of preheating. For a look at my wall meter, use the link in my signature.]

Please note that I live in the mountains, as opposed to along the Front Range, and there are no freeways here, so my maximum speed is 60 mph with lower speeds more common. And I rarely use the cabin heater because I dress warmly in winter and the steering wheel heater plus preheating is enough for comfort. I also don't drive snow much — no snow tires — and can wait until roads are plowed and sanded before venturing out in the LEAF. Also, my car is garaged and it doesn't get below freezing except when parked outside (a cold battery has less capacity/range). So, my mileage efficiency probably understates the range hit that other Coloradans might see in winter if they use the cabin heater, drive a lot at highway speeds, park outside, and drive during snowstorms. FWIW.