5 Clever Ways to Extend Your Nissan Leaf Battery Life

October 4th, 2017 by

nissanIf you are considering a plug-in vehicle, you may be concerned about the life of its EV batteries. But there’s no need to worry. Just as there are ways to conserve gas those vehicles, there are also ways of improving the range of the battery in your EV. Here are 5 clever ways to extend your Nissan Leaf battery life.

Avoid Fully Charging the Battery

Lithium batteries don’t last their full lifespan when they are frequently being fully charged and fully drained. Charging to maximum capacity gives the most possible use for that one charge, but it’s not healthy for the batteries.

A Long Battery Life setting in the 2011 Nissan LEAF indicates that the car should stop charging at 80%. Although this reduces the available range, it also increases the battery’s lifespan.

Having your battery at 80% leaves room to store energy for regenerative braking. If the batteries are full, the regenerative braking is disabled to avoid overcharging the batteries.  

Note: You should never allow your battery to sit at the maximum state of charge for more than 8 hours.

Avoid Deep Discharging of the Battery Pack

For electric vehicles, avoid deep discharging your battery pack.

The opposite also applies.

Leaving your battery in a discharged state for any length of time will affect its life. The norm is to plug in and charge whenever possible. Under 30% charge is a low charge.

The Nissan LEAF tells you the charge level of the batteries with its 12 fuel bars. Plan to keep your LEAF’s charge level between 10 and 2 bars.

Leave EV-Mode at Key Times

For plug-in hybrids, leave EV-mode at key times.

For instance, when your journey has long hills, switch to mountain-mode 20 minutes before reaching the hills. The car will then use the gas engine and save power in the battery.

The 2016 Nissan LEAF comes with a “B-mode” setting that helps drivers maximize efficiency when going down hills.

Beware of Extreme Temperature Conditions

The efficiency of your battery changes depending on the temperature. Therefore, extreme weather conditions or vehicle heating and air conditioning systems affect your battery power.

Consistent heat may cause battery deterioration, so Nissan LEAF brought out a hot climate battery.

On the other side of the coin, extremely cold weather can lower the discharge capacity of the battery. Park in the shade on a hot day and park in a garage during winter.

Try to keep the battery pack between 20F – 85F.

Don’t Speed

Slow and steady acceleration from a stop is better for your battery efficiency than racing off. In stop-and-go traffic, this will make a huge difference.

Avoid aggressive highway driving. Driving aggressively does not actually save time.

Another advantage of reducing speed is that your braking patterns change. You reduce the need to brake hard, which chews your battery power.

Apply these tips to give your battery a longer life, saving you money.

(We recommend referring to your owner’s manual before following any of the suggestions listed above).