So how often should you charge a Nissan Leaf? well, it depends on the number of miles you are doing on a daily or weekly basis. if you only pop down to the shops or around town traveling 5 to 20 miles daily you would probably only have to charge once or twice a week.
Conversely, if you travel to work every day with a round trip of 80 miles you would need to recharge every evening depending on battery size.
You should ensure your Leaf remains fully charged to capitalize on the battery’s power-to-distance configuration, especially when undertaking a road trip.
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Should You Charge A Nissan Leaf Daily?
The answer is a bit more involved. First, you need to consider your daily commute distance to alleviate range anxiety and apply the best practices and recommendations for charging lithium-ion battery power for the best solution.
Also, your Leaf’s kwh battery pack size and year model may play a part. So, let us briefly discuss these rules and best practices.
Should You Let Your Nissan Leaf Drain To Zero
As with cell phones and other battery-powered equipment, the kwh battery pack life will degrade faster when they’re drained to zero constantly. In addition, your Nissan EV needs power even when parked in your garage.
For example, your alarm system and onboard computer system must function even if the ignition is switched off which will use power in the battery pack.
Although the software of the car will not allow you to drive the battery down to zero it is always best practice to try and go no lower than 20%.
Should You Charge Your Nissan Leaf Fully
There seems to be a misconception amongst Leaf owners that you should never recharge to the maximum charge of 100% or discharge to zero repeatedly. The truth is that Electric cars have built-in software that prevents this from happening and stops any damage to the lithium batteries.
Keeping the EV battery at 100% all the time may sound like a good idea, but it is not. It is okay to do it once in a while, for example, before a planned longer trip.
Although most EV battery systems have a built-in buffer to protect the battery from overcharging, you should refrain from testing it daily.
In addition, a fully charged battery will disable the regenerative braking to avoid battery overcharge. Therefore, it will mean unnecessary activation and deactivation of electronic systems.
Furthermore, managing the charge is more difficult on pre-2018 Nissan Leaf models as they do to have a built-in timer. Lastly, batteries should remain plugged into a charger for only as long as necessary.
Best Practice Charge Options For A Nissan Leaf
It is easy to say you should charge the battery below 100% or never drain it to zero. So, what is the best practice charge recommendation for a Nissan Leaf?
Your daily commute will determine if you use the 80/20 or the 60/30 electric vehicle battery rules.
The 80/20 rule is the optimum recommendation to maintain your battery life. Therefore, charge to a maximum of 80 percent and refrain from dropping the charge below 20 percent.
Work out your daily travel distance and how often you should recharge to stay in this frame. This rule is best because it will require less frequent charging.
But remember that occasionally deviating from this suggestion is not a critical error.
The 60/30 rule is the next best option depending on your daily travel requirements, you may have access to charging stations at your place of work for a trickle charge top up, again, attempt not to charge beyond 60 percent or drain the battery below 30 percent charge level.
However, it may require more charge sessions but will extend the battery’s life. You may adjust your charging habits according to your circumstances Like using public chargers when out shopping for short charge times, but try to keep within these rules for the best results.
Conclusion
Here is a roundup of how often should charge your Nissan Leaf, Lithium-ion batteries are great but dislike overcharging or being drained too often. Therefore, to extend the lifetime of your kwh battery the middle of the road is best to get the most from your battery and ultimately enjoy your Nissan Leaf for longer.
Make use of public charging stations when you are out and about shopping or take advantage of rapid charge stations when you are on a long road trip.
Use the timer on newer models, or calculate your charging according to your daily requirements until you find the best charging rhythm.
Operating your Nissan Leafs 40 kwh lithium-ion battery or 60 kwh lithium-ion battery within the 80-20 zone will help your battery health whatever the battery size.
Finally, Overcharging your battery should not be a concern that you should lose sleep over because the current battery technology and software in modern electric cars prevent under and overcharging.
