[TylerCello]

I have really searched around and there seems to be a lot of conflict on this.

What I want to know is, if my Leaf 40 is on 50% charge, can I charge up to 100% using a rapid charger? I am confused when people say it can only charge to 80%.

 

[meetyg]

I'm not a Leaf owner, but in general I don't think there should be a problem.

Usually they quote charging time to 80%, because past that the charging rate is much slower.

If you have the time, you could charge up to 100% on a DC rapid charger, but that may take twice as much time as you charge from 50% to 80%.

Thats just the limitation of the batteries (BMS protects them from overheating...).

 

[TylerCello]

Ah, so in the above example, my battery is at 50%, I start charging with a rapid charger and then when my battery reaches 80% the charging slows down?

 

[WetEV]

Ah, so in the above example, my battery is at 50%, I start charging with a rapid charger and then when my battery reaches 80% the charging slows down?

Yes, down to a crawl. At the end, an L2 is faster.

 

[TylerCello]

Gentlemen, thanks for your time, incidentally in my above example my battery is at 50% and I charge with a 7kw, will that also slow down atc80%?

 

[WetEV]

Other EVs, and with a LEAF different battery sizes will have different curves. The eTron, for example:

 

[WetEV]

Gentlemen, thanks for your time, incidentally in my above example my battery is at 50% and I charge with a 7kw, will that also slow down atc80%?

It will slow down, but likely at a higher charge level than 80%.

 

[JohnMars]

Just remember there will be times when your desperate to just get 15 mins of power to get home and would you want to be sat waiting for someone on a rapid to be charging to 100% in a Leaf?

 

[JohnMars]

And your cells be having a cookout with the amount of heat generated in your battery!

 

[Tandy0]

I have really searched around and there seems to be a lot of conflict on this.

What I want to know is, if my Leaf 40 is on 50% charge, can I charge up to 100% using a rapid charger? I am confused when people say it can only charge to 80%.

Of course, but it will take ages. You'll take less time charging to 80%, then moving on to the next charger down the road.

 

[TylerCello]

Agree with you but just been looking at chargers on the M4 London to Swindon and the U/S phrase is starting to become quite common.

 

[Sascha]

Depending on where in London you're coming from and what starting charge you have you should be able to make it in one trip without charging en route. Otherwise just stop off at one of the many chargers in / near Reading en route and add some electrons.

Agreed with the others: It's not a good use of time to charge past 80% on a Leaf 40.

 

[TylerCello]

Thanks for that, actually Cheltenham is my destination and I had earmarked a great charger at a Harvester just outside Swindon, course it’s closed now but I see Aldi has one now same area.
Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[farmergiles]

Gentlemen, thanks for your time, incidentally in my above example my battery is at 50% and I charge with a 7kw, will that also slow down atc80%?

On my Leaf E+, the charge rate drops steadily above 90%, down from 26amps to 12, then to 6 and finally 4, plus there are resting periods of 10-20mins between each drop in charge. If my memory serves me, it takes about 4hours for the last 10%.

 

[Hitstirrer]

I have really searched around and there seems to be a lot of conflict on this. What I want to know is, if my Leaf 40 is on 50% charge, can I charge up to 100% using a rapid charger? I am confused when people say it can only charge to 80%.

The confusion is mostly about much advice that it's harmful to batteries to charge to 100% and better to stop at 80%. The charger doesn't mind and will keep pumping in power until the car is full or it's told to stop. But as has been said, the physics of charging causes the transfer to slow down as the charge level increases. Beyond 80% it can be very slow indeed and have two effects. One - cause you to waste time. Second - Cause someone waiting to charge to be delayed by the same time.

Many YouTubers have tried different strategies when on a long road trip. The most efficient has been shown to be to drive until the SOC is down to around 20% and move on when the rate of charge transfer drops to around 20 kW. Rinse and repeat. In essence, stopping frequently to take advantage of the highest rate of charge and then moving on will reduce the journey time from a single extended stop trying to reach a high SOC.

 

[Drewby80]

It will slow down, but likely at a higher charge level than 80%.

The 40 Leaf doesn't slow down on a 7kW charge until it reaches about 95%, It also rapid charges pretty quickly until it hits 90% under ideal conditions.

Rapid charging is affected by a lot of different factors i.e. how hot or cold the battery is / gets during the charge, if your charging from 50% and your battery is warm you shoud get decent speeds all the way up to 90%.

Why are you wanting to charge from 50 - 100? do you not have access to a home charger?

 

[Petriix]

In my experience, the Leaf 40 charging rate peaks at 40% SOC and slows from 60%. It's way quicker to let the battery get lower and charge to a lower level, e.g. from 10% to 75%. Charging again later is faster than waiting around charging above 80%.

 

[GOSPORT DAVE]

In my experience the LEAF 40 will always charge from 20% to 92% in 45 minutes on any rapid charge that is working correctly and is the first rapid charge of the day. Charging from 50% will take less time probably 25 minutes maximum.

My advice is never charge above 92% on a rapid charger as the charge rate drops below 9Kw’s and it takes for ever, to get to 100%, for very little miles range gain, also it poor form to hog a rapid charger any longer than necessary, there by denying others access.

If you do need to charge to 100%, then hook up to 7Kw post.

 

[TylerCello]

The 40 Leaf doesn't slow down on a 7kW charge until it reaches about 95%, It also rapid charges pretty quickly until it hits 90% under ideal conditions.

Rapid charging is affected by a lot of different factors i.e. how hot or cold the battery is / gets during the charge, if your charging from 50% and your battery is warm you shoud get decent speeds all the way up to 90%.

Why are you wanting to charge from 50 - 100? do you not have access to a home charger?

I don’t have a home charger and only used the 50 - 100 as an example.
i will want to travel from London to Cheltenham (120 miles). I will leave home on 100% and have to rely on the few M4 chargers being operative. As this will be my first trip (when govt gives the green light) I was just a little bit nervous about battery consumption on a motorway.
Thanks for you advice.

 

[80698]

Since you have a LEAF You're all good on the motorways. Ecotricity have a bad reputation from loads of people's horror stories but with the chademo connection that you use it's rock solid and reliability will not be an issue.

If in doubt about consumption then put your route into ABRP and it will predict with good accuracy how it will affect your battery, as well as suggesting where is best to charge. Ideally you want to pick places that have 2+ chargers per location, as well as a Plan B nearby just to play it super safe. But with that plan in place I can't see you needing to go outside of 15/20-80% charge levels along your journey.

You really shouldn't be rapid charging like that though. Run it lower and charge up at the fastest rate, unplug when it slows down and continue. It saves you time, and it saves other drivers hating you for slowing them down by charging super slowly past 80-90% too.