Fast Charge Timing

I am looking to take my Leaf (2020 S Plus) for a longer day-trip for work. My location will be near a fast-charge station, and I was wondering: What are the pros & cons (if any) of doing the fast charge immediately on rolling into town vs immediately before leaving?

FrankBlissett said:

I am looking to take my Leaf (2020 S Plus) for a longer day-trip for work. My location will be near a fast-charge station, and I was wondering: What are the pros & cons (if any) of doing the fast charge immediately on rolling into town vs immediately before leaving?

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It's always better to charge a battery (any battery) when it is cool. I don't know what you use to monitor battery temp (LeafSpy would work), but I would use that to inform my decision.

Charge on the way back home

The less time spent at a high SoC, the better. This is all the more true if the battery is hot, such as will happen in the summer after a DCFC
Done this way, you are also less likely to encounter rapid gating during charging

FrankBlissett said:

I am looking to take my Leaf (2020 S Plus) for a longer day-trip for work. My location will be near a fast-charge station, and I was wondering: What are the pros & cons (if any) of doing the fast charge immediately on rolling into town vs immediately before leaving?

Click to expand...

As far as heat concerns, a single DC event isn't particularly traumatic so my main concern would be making sure I get a charge. I'd approach time-of-day as relates to how busy the station might be. Personally I'd try for arrival, and then if its busy you could fall back to end of day or even find a J1772 station. Never depend on a single station; have alternates researched. Plugshare is a good tool.

I'd approach time-of-day as relates to how busy the station might be. Personally I'd try for arrival, and then if its busy you could fall back to end of day or even find a J1772 station. Never depend on a single station; have alternates researched. Plugshare is a good tool.

Click to expand...

I agree- the DCQC may not be functioning, or as is fairly common may have a gasoline car parked in front of it making it useless (may be "ICED"). This happens way too often- at one Nissan dealer I went to the service manager to complain and was told that he would get to finding out who owned the car and get it moved when he was done with other stuff- it never did happen. Then there is the issue of the charger slowing down considerably or even shutting off as it approaches 80%, so if you need more than that you will have to stick around to top off the charge. Start earlier rather than later!