Nissan Leaf battery Usage Guide "In the Manual"

To maximize vehicle range, NISSAN recommends
using the default setting, long distance
mode (100% charge). To maximize the battery’s
useful life, use the following driving and charging
habits where possible:

• Avoid exposing a vehicle to extreme ambient
temperatures for extended periods.

• Avoid storing a vehicle in temperatures below
13°F (-10°C) for over 7 days.

• Avoid leaving your vehicle for over 14 days
where the Li-ion battery available charge gauge
reaches a zero or near zero (state of charge).

• Allow the vehicle and Li-ion battery to cool
down after use before charging.

• Park/store your vehicle in cool locations out of
direct sunlight and away from heat sources.

• Avoid sustained high battery temperatures
(caused, for example, by exposure to very high
ambient temperatures or extending highway
driving with multiple quick charges).

• Use the normal charging or trickle charging
methods to charge the Li-ion battery and minimize
the use of public Fast Charge or Quick
Charger.

• Avoid sustained high battery state of charge
(caused, for example, by frequently charging to
100% state of charge and/or leaving the battery
above 80% state of charge for long periods of
time).

• Allow the battery charge to be below at least
80% before charging.

• Moderate driving.

• Use of ECO mode.

• If the vehicle will not be used for an extended
period of time, charge the Li-ion battery using
the long life mode once every 3 months. Do not
operate the charging timer repeatedly while the
charge connector is connected to the vehicle
after the Li-ion battery charging is completed.
Doing so may discharge the 12-volt battery.
The power of the Li-ion battery can be
checked on the Li-ion battery available charge
gauge. See Li-ion battery available charge
gauge in the Instruments and controls for
details.

The U.S Manual in section "E OVERVIEW" EV 24

https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/ManualsAndGuides/NissanLEAF/2013/2013-NissanLEAF-owner-manual.pdf


Also they should say if not using for extended periods ( I would say if not using it for more than a day) don't let it sit above 80% ideally around 50%.

3.8 volts per cell is recognised as being the ideal storage voltage or roughly 40-50% for a lithium battery.

axe2grind

Avoid storing a vehicle in temperatures below
13°F (25°C) for over 7 days.

Is that correct?

axe2grind

axe2grind wrote: »

Is that correct?

No it should be -10 Deg C, well spotted.

I wouldn't leave it close to 0% even for a few hours never mind 7 days.

The "proper" thing to do is charge a lithium battery to it's storage voltage of 3.8 volts per cell (about 35-45 % given the headroom in the leaf) and then charge it before you use it, i.e the night before.

BoatMad

I would expect the BMS onboard will not allow you to discharge to 0 % or anything close. More likely in reality the zero point is 20 %. Below that with Li you can't fast charge and have to perform prequalification charging at about 10% of C

Interesting how does the leaf prevent the batteries from freezing , you can't charge Li below 0 degrees C normally , I know Tesla heat the batteries, do leaf, so what happens in Dublin airport wile I'm on that long winter sun holiday and it's freezing back home ????

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

I would expect the BMS onboard will not allow you to discharge to 0 % or anything close. More likely in reality the zero point is 20 %. Below that with Li you can't fast charge and have to perform prequalification charging at about 10% of C

Interesting how does the leaf prevent the batteries from freezing , you can't charge Li below 0 degrees C normally , I know Tesla heat the batteries, do leaf, so what happens in Dublin airport wile I'm on that long winter sun holiday and it's freezing back home ????

Leaf never allows true 0% of course but it still allows you to store it at what's too high and too low charge to store a lithium battery which is recommended at 3.8 V per cell or roughly 40 %

The battery heater comes on at -17 and off at -10

You will not see -10 in Ireland often and not for 2 weeks, this would be in cold climates where the day temps would be below 0 Deg C for weeks at a time and the night temps much lower.

Ireland rarely has winter day temps 0 or below or night doesn't get much below -5 for a long time. More like 5-7 degrees but the wind makes it feel below 0 a lot of the time. But still the temps will never go below 0 for more than 2 weeks here, possible of course but unlikely.

-17 is the critical point which the battery heater kicks in if plugged in.

BoatMad

Leaf never allows true 0% of course but it still allows you to store it at what's too high and too low charge to store a lithium battery which is recommended at 3.8 V per cell or roughly 40

Huh , what do you mean. , the nominal voltage for a Li cell , excluding LI FERROUS , is 3.7 to 3.8 , that's the resting voltage in the linear region of the cell, SOC versus voltage

Chargers typically charge at anything upto 4.2v per cell or even more , there no issue except you must have very accurate " knee" detection , and sharp charging cutoffs of you do.

No EV will let you daw below about 20 % SOC. Maybe 15%. So on a 24kwh bank, you are really going to have 19-20 kWh available. 100 % is achievable but 80% charging is recommended for Li.

None of this damages the battery. The worst thing you can do to lithiums is trickle charge then forever by the way.

If the batteries can withstand -10 that's very good, once the electrolyte freezes, you can't charge Li , except very very slowly , allowing the charging processes to heat the cell and unfreeze the electrolyte. Of course leaf could be doing just that.

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

Huh , what do you mean. , the nominal voltage for a Li cell , excluding LI FERROUS , is 3.7 to 3.8 , that's the resting voltage in the linear region of the cell, SOC versus voltage

Yes I know that, and the charged voltage is usually around 4.1-4.2 v per cell (charged) 100% but I said storage around 3.8V which is about 40% (off the charger)

BoatMad wrote: »

Chargers typically charge at anything upto 4.2v per cell or even more , there no issue except you must have very accurate " knee" detection , and sharp charging cutoffs of you do.

Yes but you're not going to charge to that voltage unless you're running RC LiPo for maximum operating time.

BoatMad wrote: »

No EV will let you daw below about 20 % SOC. Maybe 15%. So on a 24kwh bank, you are really going to have 19-20 kWh available. 100 % is achievable but 80% charging is recommended for Li.

You'll get about 21.5 Kwh in in a warm battery.

BoatMad wrote: »

None of this damages the battery. The worst thing you can do to lithiums is trickle charge then forever by the way.

Never said charging to 100 will damage the battery but if you don;t need to then over time this reduces capacity further contributed by leaving it at 100 % or fully discharged etc etc. Then time and cycling, everything matters and in such a small battery you need to make sure you have as much range for as long as possible if you intend to keep it, if not then it matters less etc.

BoatMad wrote: »

If the batteries can withstand -10 that's very good, once the electrolyte freezes, you can't charge Li , except very very slowly , allowing the charging processes to heat the cell and unfreeze the electrolyte. Of course leaf could be doing just that.

Yes at -10 it will charge at the fast charger very slowly. But if driving the car it should keep it warmer, especially if fast charging daily.

BoatMad

Mad lad

4.2 v charging is typical of any Li charger. You need this to properly complete a charge cycle. Most charge circuits will have a 4.1 or 4.2 termination voltage. RC boys are typically using LiCo ( aka tesla ) but charging at 20 C . Note LiPo just means any Li technology , it's not a particular Li battery type.

Interesting Li Aluminium , a technology that leaf is moving too , is a more dangerous battery then LiMn , nissan must be happy they can control it.

As for 100 %. Li benefits from 80 % charges and has the longest life at around 60 %. In my recent design , I only bring the battery to 60 % ,as I'm seeking the longest life possible. Hence the battery is 2x needed capacity. This of course is not possible in EV land as the user wants the capacity