Inconsistent Battery Depletion on Climate Control Timer

Hi all,

First post from me - I've read the "read this before posting" sticky and followed the instructions the best I can!

I wondered if anyone could advise on an issue I'm encountering.

I have a 2013 leaf with approx 11kwh useable battery left, and the 3.3kwh on board charger.

I use for my 18 mile round trip commute, consequently I have to charge it every night. I do this on a timer between 00:30 and 04:30 on my cheap tariff. I set it to charge to 80%

I also set the climate control timer to come on at 07:40 whilst it is still plugged in, the climate control timer has priority.

I always hear the charger click on at 07:10 regardless of the temperature outside, and the climate control starts. During this time my energy monitor shows the charger drawing the full 3.6kw

What is baffling me is the inconsistency of battery depletion during this half hour, take the last two days for example:
Day 1 - outside temp 2 degrees Celsius - battery depleted to 79%
Day 2 - outside temp 2 degrees Celsius - battery depleted to 72%

I have read https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=6289 and it's given me some clues but no definitive explanation that I can conclude...
I am thinking that:
Day 1 - only recirculate mode kicked in only requiring the 3.6kw charge
Day 2 - heating turned on therefore depleting the battery, which supplies the difference between the charger and the heater demand of 5kw?

If anyone could help explain I would be grateful

I am considering my next leaf and assume one of the benefits of a 6.6kwh on board charger means the timed climate control would never deplete the battery?

Many thanks

Have you tried ECO mode? I think it limits the amount of power consumed by the heater so it might be able to run the heater on the charger power alone. I also think that 6.6kW charger can supply all the power required for the heater even without ECO mode.

The car is an S, with the 3.3kw charger. Still, I'd expect it to break even at worst, not lose a lot of charge.

3.3kw(16a@240v) just isn't enough to keep up with the heater, I found with my 6.6kw Leaf I need about 18-19a L2 just to break even, could even be a bit higher in bitter cold as the heater itself is ~ 6.6kw. Note when using the timer you can't really adjust things like the ECO, recirc, etc, it just defaults to what it wants. IMO the 6.6kw charger with appropriate EVSE is much better as even when in preheat mode you can still gain about 8a @ 240v or an equivalent of 16a @ 120v, much nicer to not have to worry about losing charge during preheat conditions. Note no way the A/C even comes close to these numbers so if using the timer for that, you can still gain charge even with a 3.3kw system.

jjeff said:

3.3kw(16a@240v) just isn't enough to keep up with the heater, I found with my 6.6kw Leaf I need about 18-19a L2 just to break even, could even be a bit higher in bitter cold as the heater itself is ~ 6.6kw. Note when using the timer you can't really adjust things like the ECO, recirc, etc, it just defaults to what it wants. IMO the 6.6kw charger with appropriate EVSE is much better as even when in preheat mode you can still gain about 8a @ 240v or an equivalent of 16a @ 120v, much nicer to not have to worry about losing charge during preheat conditions. Note no way the A/C even comes close to these numbers so if using the timer for that, you can still gain charge even with a 3.3kw system.

Click to expand...

Thanks that’s useful to know.

I just can’t get my head around the inconsistency though, like the example I’ve given with exactly the same outside temp.

Certainly convinced me to get 6.6kwh for my next one!

You shouldn't see that wide a variance at the same temp. I wonder if a LeafSpy histogram would show any weak cells...