Really Cold Weather Considerations

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ttibsen

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2021
Messages
5
Nissan Leaf SL Plus - range 363 Km
I live in northern Canada. Most of the winter is at -20C but there are days when it gets down to -35C. I have a garage so overnight is not going to be a problem but is the car even going to start if left downtown parked for 5 hours in -35C ? I know that the range at -35C would be drastically reduced but could anyone hazard a guess as to what it might actually be ? I don't need a lot since all I do 95% of the time is drive downtown and back for a combined mileage of 30 Km and surely I would get that even at -35C ?
 
The batteries of these cars have a LOT of mass, and it takes them a long time to get cold. I would be a bit more concerned about the 12 volt accessory battery freezing than about the main pack - which does have a 300 watt battery warmer - getting too cold. If you can connect a battery maintainer in the coldest weather, and plug the car into either L-1 (120 volts) or L-2 (240 volts) charging overnight, that should eliminate any issues. (120 would actually be better, as it can charge the car all night, instead of for just a few hours.) It's easiest to add a pigtail for the maintainer, and run it into the charging port, so that you can charge both batteries at once easily. The other possibility would be to replace the cheap OEM 12 volt battery with a good quality AGM type lead-acid battery. If heavy accessory use tends to keep that low, then removing the current sensor from the Negative terminal of the 12 volt battery cable will 'feed' the battery 14 volts whenever the car is on - that should prevent any issues from blasting the HVAC blower. (You might want to put the sensor back on for Summer, so the 12 volt battery doesn't get 'cooked'.)
 
Thanks for that detailed response - it makes me feel more comfortable about my potential purchase of the Leaf - especially if I take the additional steps that you have outlined to make the car even more adapted to the cold.
 
Just a few more points I would like to clarify. I assume that a battery maintainer (I have not heard it called that) - is a trickle charger so that when you say " If you can connect a battery maintainer in the coldest weather ", you mean connecting a trickle charger to the 12V accessory battery?
What about " the main pack - which does have a 300 watt battery warmer - "? Am I to assume that the SL Plus has a battery blanket wrapped around the 62 kW battery? Really? Does the car come equipped with this battery blanket as standard equipment or is it something that I have to order as an accessory. I've not heard of battery blankets being standard equipment before.
" It's easiest to add a pigtail for the maintainer, and run it into the charging port, so that you can charge both batteries at once easily " So the maintainer, or trickle charger, to use a term that I am more familiar with, is something permanently wired to the 12V battery? I have not heard of this arrangement before. A trickle charger is something that I hook up to the 12V battery when the battery is dead. Once the car starts again, the trickle charger comes off and is put back on the shelf until the next time that it's needed.
What's an AGM type 12V? What's wrong with the OEM (what do these initials stand for?) battery that the car comes with?
Sorry to bombard you with all these questions but making the transition to an EV is somewhat of a challenge and the less surprises that I encounter, the better.
 
Trickle chargers feed a constant current to the battery, and if left on too long will overcharge it. Battery maintainers switch on and off as needed (actually they switch to a lower "float" charge) so the battery isn't overcharged. Most units are smart maintainers these days, but you can still find "dumb" trickle chargers.

What I'm talking about is using a separate lead that is connected to the battery + terminal and a ground in the motor compartment. It has a plug and socket setup that lets you quickly connect and disconnect the maintainer to the battery without using alligator clamps. Some of us run the lead into the charge port compartment so that it is very easy to connect and disconnect the maintainer without having to open the hood.

"OEM" means "Original Equipment Manufacture" and it refers to the parts that come from the factory on the car. In this case the OEM batteries are cheap little starting batteries that have a modest capacity and modest service life. "AGM" refers to a type of lead acid battery that was originally developed for jet fighters: it is sealed (the OEM battery needs water added occasionally) and has fiberglass matting added to the electrolyte to discourage the formation of lead sulfate crystals that damage and kill lead acid batteries. AGM batteries are more tolerant of being partially discharged. Getting an AGM battery with a somewhat higher capacity than the OEM battery is a good idea for Leaf owners who will experience extreme cold or heat, or have the car sit for longer periods un-driven.

Finally, the 62kwh Leaf batteries don't seem to have battery warmers. They rely on the large thermal mass of the battery to keep the battery from freezing. I THINK that the 40kwh Leaf still has a battery warming pad installed, but I'm not 100% sure. If you are concerned about this, then a roughly 400 watt ceramic space heater in the garage, aimed under the rear of the car, should suffice in your situation, as it only needs to keep the temperature in that area from being far below 0 Fahrenheit. If the car is used every 2-3 days in frigid weather, then this should not be needed.
 
Agree with the positives of a battery maintainer, keeps the battery topped off and ready to start, especially in sub-zero temps. Also agree with AGM batteries, better suited for an EV. I purchased a somewhat overpriced Optima yellow top battery(>$200) but you should be able to find more generic AGM batteries closer to $150.
Leftie, if the 62kwh Leaf doesn't have a battery warmer does this mean it doesn't slowly lose charge in sub-zero temps? Seems kind of odd Nissan would have dropped this ~300w battery warmer......not denying it, just seems odd.
 
Leftie, if the 62kwh Leaf doesn't have a battery warmer does this mean it doesn't slowly lose charge in sub-zero temps? Seems kind of odd Nissan would have dropped this ~300w battery warmer......not denying it, just seems odd.

That should be what it means, but I just don't know. I think it was Gerry who looked this up. Maybe he can add more.
 
jjeff said:
Leftie, if the 62kwh Leaf doesn't have a battery warmer does this mean it doesn't slowly lose charge in sub-zero temps? Seems kind of odd Nissan would have dropped this ~300w battery warmer......not denying it, just seems odd.
The 62 kWh pack has the same 3 connectors as the 40 kWh pack...and the third connector is to the (internal) heater pad. I know this because I just replaced my 24 kWh pack with a 40 kWh pack. My recommendation is always to replace the 12v lead acid battery with a Lithium, but there are plenty of other threads about that (like mine).
There are some considerations for extreme cold with any Lithium battery, but I think EVs actually perform better in the cold (taking into account the range hit--which is not permanent and returns with warmer temps) than ICE vehicles. Enjoy your purchase!
 
It's a relief to know that the newer batteries still have the warmers. I'm going to have to disagree with you - as usual - on the lithium 12 volt battery, though. The OP's Leaf is going to live in Winter conditions that are hostile to lithium batteries much of the time. A good AGM battery that is kept charged will shrug at the extreme cold, while a lithium battery would have to be kept warm or it would die - and would also represent a real danger, as charging a sub-freezing lithium battery is one of the best ways (after driving a spike into it) to make it explode or go into thermal runaway.
 
According to both the owner manual and service manual for my 2019 SL Plus, it has other means to keep the battery safe in cold weather instead of the internal resistance heater (sounds like it turns on some load such as HVAC periodically to draw current from the battery). The 40 kWh battery has the internal battery heater that turns on when the pack temperature gets really cold like the smaller packs on previous models. As far as I know, the only LEAFs not suitable for cold weather are 2011 models without the cold weather package. The cold weather package was not available on early 2011 models, but was standard on late production 2011 models. Later years had the convenience features for cold weather optional on some trim levels, but all of the cars still had the internal battery heaters.
 
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