Best practices for prolonging Leaf battery life?

[Spies]

Perhaps I have missed it but I was not able to find a dedicated topic about prolonging Leaf battery pack with the tools that are currently at our disposal and what is currently known about the battery pack.

So besides the option to charge to 80% instead of 100% (of consumer usable charge anyway) what other techniques would be appropriate?

 

[DaveEV]

Accelerate as gently as possible.

Don't recharge until remaining charge is below 40% - but don't let it go down below 20%.

Keep the car from baking in the sun - especially with a full or near full charge.

 

[TomT]

Or just ignore it and don't worry about it. One of the advantages of leasing...

Accelerate as gently as possible.
Don't recharge until remaining charge is below 40% - but don't let it go down below 20%.
Keep the car from baking in the sun - especially with a full or near full charge.

 

[Spies]

Or just ignore it and don't worry about it. One of the advantages of leasing...

That is certainly one way to do it but as of right now I am not sure leasing will be an option for me.

 

[smkettner]

The above is good and I will add that I plan to periodically go to 100% and periodically go to a little below 20%.
My opinion is that it is good to fully streatch the battery periodically. No documentation or link.
Maybe once a month on those.

 

[Randy]

When we bought our car at Fontana on Tuesday, Danny gave us a sample Battery Information Sheet that came out of their system. He didn't say this, but I'm assuming it is an output from their diagnostic tool that they use to look at battery packs, since there is room for a VIN #, and various "Scores" depending on how you've treated your battery...It has some general tips about prolonging battery life...

Here's the document...

Battery Information Sheet

Enjoy, Randy

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Begs the questions who will want to buy one off-lease. You know the guy who had it didn't give a s**t.

Maybe certified pre-owned will have some extra battery warranty?

 

[DaveEV]

Begs the questions who will want to buy one off-lease. You know the guy who had it didn't give a s**t.

Not going to matter - you'll know the condition of the battery when you buy it as they will perform a battery health check for sure.

 

[LEAFer]

I still firmly believe every Dealer should perform a complimentary battery health check (possibly in the presence of the owner for educational purposes) at DELIVERY ! To get a baseline. So we don't have to argue in 12 months about whether a (rare) condition existed at delivery that could have been the cause ... rather than any (alleged) owners abuse due to ... let's say ... high-temp environment storage ... in ... let's say ... Phoenix's 120 degree weather.

 

[Spies]

So do we know of anyone that has gotten a battery health check at delivery?

 

[garygid]

What Battery warranty might they extend?
Perhaps exrend the "No Capacity Warranty" for another 3 years? :lol:

 

[AndyH]

When we bought our car at Fontana on Tuesday, Danny gave us a sample Battery Information Sheet that came out of their system. He didn't say this, but I'm assuming it is an output from their diagnostic tool that they use to look at battery packs, since there is room for a VIN #, and various "Scores" depending on how you've treated your battery...It has some general tips about prolonging battery life...

Here's the document...

Battery Information Sheet

Enjoy, Randy

Thanks Randy - great info!

The Leaf's battery management system keeps us away from the main battery killers - over charge and over discharge, over charge/discharge current, and over/under temperature. In addition, the approx 10% top and bottom cut-out gets us into the ~2000 charge cycle range - about 200,000 miles of pack life.

The real temperature danger zone is about 65°C - 149°F - that's when the electrolyte starts to break down. As long as we don't live on a quick charger, and don't turn the car on it's back to let the pack become a solar collector, we're probably in good shape temperature wise.

It's a great idea to store the car with the pack at 40-50% SOC, and regularly charging to 80% rather than 100% isn't a bad idea - but the return on lifespan is likely small.

Since we know that lithium will lose capacity just sitting on the shelf, it's probably best to drive it and get the miles out of the inevitable capacity drop.

 

[bodengroden]

Ok so here is a real world question: My wife left with ~90% this morning for her 15 mile each way commute. She now has 59%. Is it best to leave it there for tomorrow at 59% and then charge tomorrow night? So basically run it between 80 and 20 or as close as you can to that ideal. Just charge every 2 commute days?

 

[AndyH]

Ok so here is a real world question: My wife left with ~90% this morning for her 15 mile each way commute. She now has 59%. Is it best to leave it there for tomorrow at 59% and then charge tomorrow night? So basically run it between 80 and 20 or as close as you can to that ideal. Just charge every 2 commute days?

You can do what feels comfortable. Lithium doesn't have a memory, and the L2 charge is very, very easy on this pack. There's no reason why you can't plug in every night and charge to 80%.

I'm often able to charge my lithium motorcycle once a week, but will top it off before a longer ride.

Nissan's done 90% of the hard work already. Being gentle with L3 and not storing the car with a full charge takes care of the next tier (but smaller) factors.

After that, we start fighting over crumbs.

 

[LEAFfan]

Or just ignore it and don't worry about it. One of the advantages of leasing...

That may work for you and others, but for me, I plan on buying in three years, so I'm sure not going to abuse the car or the battery pack.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Drive it like you stole it, or baby it.. my bet is in three years you can't tell the difference.

I intend to use mine as a getaway vehicle, daily, and hand back the keys in three years.

Driving habits are peanuts compared to other factors outside your control -- pack temperature, etc.
Charge to 100% if you need the miles, 80% if you're comfortable with that range.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Ok so here is a real world question: My wife left with ~90% this morning for her 15 mile each way commute. She now has 59%. Is it best to leave it there for tomorrow at 59% and then charge tomorrow night? So basically run it between 80 and 20 or as close as you can to that ideal. Just charge every 2 commute days?

charge it. dont start assuming that you can anticipate every driving need the day before.

 

[evnow]

I intend to use mine as a getaway vehicle, daily, and hand back the keys in three years.

No wonder Perry was surprised (per mwalsh) when he heard some people aren't planning to lease it.

 

[IBELEAF]

Yes, we might have EVs with slightly better range, but I am betting that EV technology will not improve substantially in 3 years that would warrant an upgrade... so people returning the car at the end of the lease will be just wasting their money... at the end of the day 90% of us drive under 40 miles a day.

 

[evnow]

Yes, we might have EVs with slightly better range, but I am betting that EV technology will not improve substantially in 3 years that would warrant an upgrade...

Maybe - maybe not. But we will definitely have more alternatives. As an added advantage I don't have to worry about battery warranty. To me that is worth a couple of grand ... YMMV.