Joining the 80% Club

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mwalsh

Well-known member
Leaf Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
9,781
Location
Garden Grove, CA
The point of all my recent fretting about how much charge I have left is that I want to join the 80% club. But, of course, I have to be comfortable that will let me do what I want - get to work and back without the embarrassment of running out of charge.

Friday night I charged to 100% again (and possibly the last time) because I knew we were doing a couple of errands on Saturday morning. After we'd got home from doing those, I checked my car's status in the Owner's Portal and I am currently showing 83% - this is apparently the figure you get when you ask the car to charge to 80%. So this is the charge I'll use for my commute on Monday.

What I'm expecting to happen is this.....from 100% full, I've been getting home with three bars left in my dash display (the last white one and the two red ones). Since I'll be starting out with two bars less, I'm expecting to use at least one of those red bars, possibly both. But do not expect to get the "Battery Level is Low" warning message. However, even if I do get to a point where that message comes up, I expect to have 4kWh left before the car goes into "turtle mode", so 6-8 miles of additional normal driving followed by another 6-8 of driving with reduced performance.

It should be fine, but wish me luck anyhow!
 
garygid said:
It is probably better to charge to 100% of "usable" than get near the red bars (the lower end of the e-tank).

But those red bars don't mean anything significant. In my opinion they have the same significance as the last hatch mark in the fuel gauge of an ICE car. If you look at page CH6 in the User's Manual, you'll see that the 4kWh reserve isn't factored in until those red bars are already depleted.
 
mwalsh said:
garygid said:
It is probably better to charge to 100% of "usable" than get near the red bars (the lower end of the e-tank).

But those red bars don't mean anything significant. In my opinion they have the same significance as the last hatch mark in the fuel gauge of an ICE car. If you look at page CH6 in the User's Manual, you'll see that the 4kWh reserve isn't factored in until those red bars are already depleted.

I really wish you well mwalsh. When I get mine I'll have to do every Monday morning and Friday afternoon 90 miles with one charge and I know I'm going to make it.

It's very reassuring to see your posts. I'ts giving me each day more and more confidence that I can do it without much concerns. Go Leaf ;).
 
When the cells are getting "lower" (nearer "empty"), and one abruptly accelerates, to pass, merge, etc., it gradually becomes more difficult for the battery to supply enough energy without driving the lowest cell "closer" and "closer" to the "edge" (increasing possiblity of damage).

That is why "turtle" mode limits the acceleration substantially.

On the other hand, L2 (gentle) charging to 100% of "usable", done "properly" by the car, should not really stress the cells ... we hope.
 
mwalsh said:
But those red bars don't mean anything significant. In my opinion they have the same significance as the last hatch mark in the fuel gauge of an ICE car. If you look at page CH6 in the User's Manual, you'll see that the 4kWh reserve isn't factored in until those red bars are already depleted.
I think you will get battery low at 2 bars. Anyway - it will be a good test.

BTW, I don't see that in ch 6 of pdf. What page # ?

update : See 2-9. battery low will come before you hit the bottom.

LI-ION BATTERY AVAILABLE
CHARGE GAUGE

The gauge * 1 indicates the approximate
available Li-ion battery charge to run the vehicle.
Charge the Li-ion battery before the dis-
play reaches the bottom line.

The low battery charge warning light illumi-
nates when the Li-ion battery available charge
gauge is getting low. Charge as soon as it is
convenient, preferably before the display
reaches the bottom line.
When the display
reaches the bottom of the display and the low
battery charge light illuminated, there is a very
small reserve of Li-ion battery charge remaining.
 
80% might be a little thin, Mike. If it turns out that way, a person could play with higher charges by setting charging end times. If you're confident that recharging to 100% takes 4.0 hours, 90% charge ought to take 3.6 hours...

I'm guessing that 90% charging might be a better fit for your 60+ mile, mostly 65 mph commute. The good news regarding your experiment is that if your LEAF does turtle, you ought to be close to home. But I think you'll make it... while batteries are fresh.

-Karl
 
I would like Nissan to add more % like 80% 85% 90& 100%

Notice the jump from 90% to 100% if your going higher then 90% you have to select 100%
 
evnow said:
BTW, I don't see that in ch 6 of pdf. What page # ?

update : See 2-9. battery low will come before you hit the bottom.

LI-ION BATTERY AVAILABLE
CHARGE GAUGE

The gauge * 1 indicates the approximate
available Li-ion battery charge to run the vehicle.
Charge the Li-ion battery before the dis-
play reaches the bottom line.

The low battery charge warning light illumi-
nates when the Li-ion battery available charge
gauge is getting low. Charge as soon as it is
convenient, preferably before the display
reaches the bottom line.
When the display
reaches the bottom of the display and the low
battery charge light illuminated, there is a very
small reserve of Li-ion battery charge remaining.


Page CH-6 of the Charging section. Page 54 in the .pdf version.

I think that quote is asking people to being overly cautious.
 
mwalsh said:
Page CH-6 of the Charging section. Page 54 in the .pdf version.
The diagram ? May be that talks about time to charge from 2 bars to full/80 ?

Mallory might know - since she got low battery.
 
evnow said:
mwalsh said:
Page CH-6 of the Charging section. Page 54 in the .pdf version.
The diagram ? May be that talks about time to charge from 2 bars to full/80 ?

Mallory might know - since she got low battery.

Don't need Mallory (no offence Mal ;) )...these guys already been there and done that:

http://nissan-leaf.net/2010/10/28/your-nissan-leaf-has-a-low-battery-this-is-what-happens-on-your-trek-to-empty/

My numbers add up (or at least I think they do....never really been good at math. :lol: ). Except that I can't reconcile miles traveled against the time to recharge yet, though maybe because that's not as linear as I want it to be.

Say 12 bars is 20kWh and the reserve 4kWh is under that. So that's each bar representing 1.67kWh. I've been using 9 bars to go 60 miles with the car telling me I'm getting an average of ~4mpkWh. So 60 miles / 9 bars is 6.66 miles per bar / 1.67kWh = 4mpkWh (or 3.98mpkWh, if you want to be pedantic).
 
mwalsh said:
Don't need Mallory (no offence Mal ;) )...these guys already been there and done that:

http://nissan-leaf.net/2010/10/28/your-nissan-leaf-has-a-low-battery-this-is-what-happens-on-your-trek-to-empty/

Hmmmm .... Mallory said it showed 18 miles range - the link shows blank (that was pre-prod). The wording in the manual makes it clear for me. Anyway, we will know tomorrow.
 
besides the SOC level, just age also affect the battery, so maybe not fully charging won't matter as much as everyone is thinking. You also have just the shelf life/age of the pack to consider as well.
 
Do we really know the long term impact of 100% vs 80%? I have a 57 mile trip, mainly freeway.....65-70MPH there...45-55MPH home. I bought, not leased, so obviously I don't want to damage the battery pack, but I also want to keep my blood pressure down coming home. Just brought the car home yesterday.....planning on a 100% charge until I get a good feel. Also, I'm in Nor Cal, so it's pretty cold in the morning right now (32-36).
 
Nice to hear it's cold in northern ca

Gives us some good data on what we will experience here in Va

26 here this am

Can't wait to see your results
Your commute is almost identical to mine
Highway in

Back roads on the way home.. Fast back roads
 
kmp647 said:
Nice to hear it's cold in northern ca

Gives us some good data on what we will experience here in Va

26 here this am

Can't wait to see your results
Your commute is almost identical to mine
Highway in

Back roads on the way home.. Fast back roads

We're lucky that it tends to get in the upper 50's pretty quick during the day, plus our "winter" is pretty short, but yes, this will be the time of year that I'm predicting my range will be lowest. It will probably be a couple weeks before I start the fast-commute on a regular basis (until I get my carpool sticker ;) ).
 
mwalsh said:
Say 12 bars is 20kWh and the reserve 4kWh is under that. So that's each bar representing 1.67kWh. I've been using 9 bars to go 60 miles with the car telling me I'm getting an average of ~4mpkWh. So 60 miles / 9 bars is 6.66 miles per bar / 1.67kWh = 4mpkWh (or 3.98mpkWh, if you want to be pedantic).

Regular D mode or ECO mode?
 
Back
Top