Not driving Leaf for several months

[el4]

I have always parked my gasoline powered cars in a locked garage for 5-6 months each summer with the battery disconnected. My garage is in a hot area of Florida.I haven't gotten a definitive answer as to whether I can do the same with My Leaf. I need to know if this will harm the lithium-ion battery , and if not, should I charge the car, unplug it or not. Disconnect the 12-volt battery or not. Also what other precautions do I take. I spoke to a rep at Nissan (the 800 number) who told me if I don't charge the li-ion every 14 to 30 days it could "brick." (his terminology.) Anyone know the answer?

 

[surfingslovak]

I spoke to a rep at Nissan (the 800 number) who told me if I don't charge the li-ion every 14 to 30 days it could "brick." (his terminology.) Anyone know the answer?

Would you know the rep's name? Disconnecting the 12V battery and leaving the car unplugged for several months should be OK. I would charge it to six or seven bars prior to departure.

 

[DaveEV]

What I would do:

1. Ideally leave the car charged to somewhere between 2-5 bars. Certainly no more than 80% (10 bars), but anywhere above 1 bar and 10 or below (80% charge) is OK. Lower SOC is better for storage and longevity. The main traction battery will not lose any appreciable charge for many months.
2. Store the car in the coolest place you can. Lower battery temperature is better for storage and longevity.
3. Unplug the 12V battery, put it on a battery tender.
4. Do not leave it plugged in to charge (not that it should do anything with the 12V battery disconnected).

 

[jcan]

Make sure all your climate timers are off too.

 

[Herm]

I would charge it to 80% the first time, disconnect the 12V battery and put it on an appropriate charger for that battery (lead calcium AGM, no maintenance).. when you come back in 6 months see how many bars you have remaining and adjust the 80% lower next year if you can get away with it. Optimum would be to keep the battery at about 40-60%. Disconnecting the 12V battery will completely shut down the car.

Six months should be ok, 1 year I would start to worry but definitely disconnect the 12V battery.

 

[TonyWilliams]

All good suggestions, so I just want to reiterate the heat issue on the traction battery. Is there a chance that you could park the car in a climate controlled storage?

 

[ebill3]

I spoke to a rep at Nissan (the 800 number) who told me if I don't charge the li-ion every 14 to 30 days it could "brick." (his terminology.) Anyone know the answer?

Would you know the rep's name? Disconnecting the 12V battery and leaving the car unplugged for several months should be OK. I would charge it to six or seven bars prior to departure.

Sorry to jump OT, but it really frosts me when CS folk don't know the answer to a question and try to "wing" it. It would be so nice to hear: "Gee, I don't know, but I'll find out and get back to you."

 

[jamesanne]

I have always parked my gasoline powered cars in a locked garage for 5-6 months each summer with the battery disconnected. My garage is in a hot area of Florida.I haven't gotten a definitive answer as to whether I can do the same with My Leaf. I need to know if this will harm the lithium-ion battery , and if not, should I charge the car, unplug it or not. Disconnect the 12-volt battery or not. Also what other precautions do I take. I spoke to a rep at Nissan (the 800 number) who told me if I don't charge the li-ion every 14 to 30 days it could "brick." (his terminology.) Anyone know the answer?

What I would do:

1. Ideally leave the car charged to somewhere between 2-5 bars. Certainly no more than 80% (10 bars), but anywhere above 1 bar and 10 or below (80% charge) is OK. Lower SOC is better for storage and longevity. The main traction battery will not lose any appreciable charge for many months.
2. Store the car in the coolest place you can. Lower battery temperature is better for storage and longevity.
3. Unplug the 12V battery, put it on a battery tender.
4. Do not leave it plugged in to charge (not that it should do anything with the 12V battery disconnected).

Based on the situation that you describe I would do the following.
1. If you don't typically charge to 100%, then I would do so a few days before storing the car. This will allow some cell equalization to occur.
2. When ready to store the car I would discharge the battery pack to ~50% (~6 bars). I believe the car is shipped with a 40% charge.
3. If you can park near your EVSE or an outlet do so, but leave the car unplugged. This may come in very handy in a few months.
4. If you plan on locking all the car doors, at this point lock the back doors and unlock the driver and front passenger doors. If you plan on leaving the doors unlocked, then unlock all doors.
5. I would disconnect the 12v battery, tape and secure the leads, and wait 10 minutes before continuing. If not disconnected, then the car will try to charge the 12 volt battery from the traction battery every few days. I would not connect a battery maintainer unless the battery is removed from the car.
6. You may want to consider disconnecting the battery pack. If you do, follow the instructions for disconnecting the traction battery (starts on page 22). http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/refgh0v/og/FRG/2011-Nissan-LEAF-FRG.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I don't have instructions for replacing the plug. Others may have opinions on this step.
7. If you are locking all doors, then I would remove the key from the remote and manual lock the driver's door with the key. Check to make sure that the key will unlock the door, then relock it. If everything works you can now lock the passenger door. At least one person has had problems with the physical key.

Other considerations would be whether to set the parking brake or not, raising the car up and lowering the air pressure in the tires, turning off the power to the EVSE. All in all, I don’t think it will be much different from what you have done in the past.

 

[surfingslovak]

I don't think that disconnecting the traction pack was either advisable or necessary. It should be enough to disconnect the negative terminal on the auxiliary battery. Great list otherwise.

 

[el4]

The consensus here seems to be that the CS guy gave me bad info, and that there are ways to leave the car for 6 months without charging.The one factor that worries me is the fact that the Leaf will be in a locked garage w/o a/c in a very hot climate. Right now, I'm leaning toward shipping the car north where I would run it and charge it daily. I welcome additional suggestions; this forum has been very helpful, to say the least. Thank you,

 

[EVDRIVER]

I spoke to a rep at Nissan (the 800 number) who told me if I don't charge the li-ion every 14 to 30 days it could "brick." (his terminology.) Anyone know the answer?

Would you know the rep's name? Disconnecting the 12V battery and leaving the car unplugged for several months should be OK. I would charge it to six or seven bars prior to departure.

Sorry to jump OT, but it really frosts me when CS folk don't know the answer to a question and try to "wing" it. It would be so nice to hear: "Gee, I don't know, but I'll find out and get back to you."

That is what they do best, BS and repeat nonsense.

 

[Herm]

Garages usually remain fairly cool in Florida, unless you have an uninsulated metal garage door that the Sun heats directly.. the concrete pad remains at 77deg F all year round. If you insulate the door and ceiling your car will be fine.

GM says that batteries kept at 60% do not suffer excessive degradation from the heat.

 

[EVDRIVER]

I don't think that disconnecting the traction pack was either advisable or necessary. It should be enough to disconnect the negative terminal on the auxiliary battery. Great list otherwise.

There is no need for this and at a certain SOC the pack contactor will open preventing further discharge of the traction pack so it won't "brick". This happens at turtle when the car stops running. The process of storing the car in terms of the pack and 12V battery is no more complex than an ICE car. Take off the 12V lead, put a PROPER battery tender on the 12V battery and LEAVE the pack at a reasonable SOC and try to store the car out of the heat unplugged. It's that simple.

If I were going to let my car sit for weeks I would only put a 12V tender on and not disconnect the 12V. With it on a tender it will stay charged and there will not be an issue. I really don't want to keep reseting the car as it's not needed. A 12V tender with a connection on the front of the car will even be helpful for those that don't use the car for a week or so, extending the life of the 12V by preventing cycling.

 

[abasile]

If I were to keep the car stored in a warm/hot garage for months, I'd consider keeping the SOC lower than some other posters have suggested. 30% (two or three bars) might be optimal in terms of minimizing heat-related degradation. I personally would charge to three or four bars and disconnect the 12 V battery.

On the other hand, if I were retired with time to spare, I'd probably enjoy the adventure of driving the LEAF north. I'd use public charging and RV parks along the way, and average at least 100 to 200 miles per day. Obviously that's not for everyone.

 

[TonyWilliams]

5. I would disconnect the 12v battery, tape and secure the leads, and wait 10 minutes before continuing. If not disconnected, then the car will try to charge the 12 volt battery from the traction battery every few days. I would not connect a battery maintainer unless the battery is removed from the car.
6. You may want to consider disconnecting the battery pack. If you do, follow the instructions for disconnecting the traction battery (starts on page 22). http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/refgh0v/og/FRG/2011-Nissan-LEAF-FRG.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I don't have instructions for replacing the plug. Others may have opinions on this step.

There is no basis for physically removing the 12 volt from the car. It sits there getting charged everyday from much higher amp loads than any proper battery tender will supply.

I wouldn't disconnect the battery, either, as I don't want to be resetting things when I return. The tender should have enough power to keep the battery charged, even while connected and plugged in.

There is absolutely no basis for disconnecting the traction battery, either. However, it might be a good idea to make sure the car is physically off before leaving it for months unattended.

 

[mrdcmills]

You could bring the car to my place in Bradenton. I'm going over about 300 miles per month on my lease. Could solve 2 problems.

 

[Geraldk]

Just an idea. Could you just leave the car plugged in? I know plugging the car in causes the 12V battery to lower in turn the main batteries will charge the 12V.

Check in with Carwings, and when the main batteries drop to 3-4 bars, charge and Carwings will stop at 100%. Let it finish charging and turn on Climate control for a few hours to drop down a couple of bars. Turn off Climate control and let the car drain down to 3-4 bars again. that process should take about a least a couple of weeks or until you get back from your vacation?

Thoughts?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Just an idea. Could you just leave the car plugged in? I know plugging the car in causes the 12V battery to lower in turn the main batteries will charge the 12V.

Check in with Carwings, and when the main batteries drop to 3-4 bars, charge and Carwings will stop at 100%. Let it finish charging and turn on Climate control for a few hours to drop down a couple of bars. Turn off Climate control and let the car drain down to 3-4 bars again. that process should take about a least a couple of weeks or until you get back from your vacation?

Thoughts?

Wow, what a crazy plan. What happens when CarWings stops after two weeks, or stops for any number of reasons. What if CarWings doesn't work at all? When the 12 volt battery dies because you left the car plugged in, what do you think happens to CarWings?

I don't think it would work out too well, and you're just wasting energy for what gain? And creating work while you're gone?

The heater / air conditioning only works at 77F, so if the garage is anywhere near that temperature, the climate control won't use much power anyway. Every 2 hours (assuming its plugged in), you'll have to resend the climate control message to get the battery depleted.

 

[TomT]

No, no and no! For a variety of reasons that have been discussed here in great depth before, this is a bad idea.

Just an idea. Could you just leave the car plugged in?

 

[Caracalover]

The consensus here seems to be that the CS guy gave me bad info, and that there are ways to leave the car for 6 months without charging.The one factor that worries me is the fact that the Leaf will be in a locked garage w/o a/c in a very hot climate. Right now, I'm leaning toward shipping the car north where I would run it and charge it daily. I welcome additional suggestions; this forum has been very helpful, to say the least. Thank you,

The CS guy told you what will keep Nissan from being responsible. He warned you that it could brick. He doesn't know if you are going to intentionally brick and then sue, so he can't tell you anything else. It wasn't bad info, it just might not be what you wanted to hear.

I would do option b, and ship the car and then use it. Why let it sit unused when it can be useful? It won't cost much to ship, and you will likely recoup almost that much by driving it. I wouldn't waste a week of my life driving it from point A to B, but as a daily driver? You bet.