Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
The nominal battery capacity has always been 24kWh, and the actual usable capacity is and has been ~22kWh. Nissan has decided to not use all of the 24kWh in order to try and meet the longevity goal.
With the battery cells they used up until early 2014, they included a software option (user controlled on the touchscreen) to stop charging at 80% (or ~17.6kWh), in order to keep the battery capacity longer. If you needed to drive farther, then you could occasionally let it charge to 100%.
Now, with the latest battery cells (sometimes called the lizard battery because it works better at higher temperatures than the earlier battery cells), they have removed that user option to limit your daily charge to 80%.
I hope this clarifies the situation. We will soon see the 2016 Leaf, that is rumored to have a 24kWh battery pack in the Leaf S, and a ~30kWh pack in the SV and SL models. The strongest rumors are that it will have a 105-110 mile range; and the smaller battery will keep the ~84 mile range it has now.
Then, with the 2017 Leaf, we should see a completely new car, and a completely new battery pack that will have 200-250 mile range. Nissan says they will beat the Chevy Bolt EV in range, and release date, and even in price.
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I'm not sure if this is a direct reply to me but there are some parts of your post I feel the need to clarify for anyone else that might read this.
Nominal Capacity and usable capacity are not exactly the two figures you stated on a car by car basis or MY by MY basis. I'll leave that for another thread as it the data to discuss that isn't worth trying to put in a simple reply. If you want to read up on it I can start to link you to the mynissanleaf forum threads between 2012 and now and you would have to read hundreds if not thousands of posts to get it all. If you want to use shorthand and say they are about that amount, go for it but there is much evidence to disagree with those numbers.
Cell type has nothing to do with the presence or absence of the 80% charge option.
The 80% charge option was removed to deal with EPA range estimate because the rules of range on the Monroney sticker say that if you give two charge options you have to average them unless there is an acceptable default option (and it gets complicated with the unless on what is considered an acceptable default option).
Tesla actually dealt with that by allowing a slider that set the desired charge level over a broad range and defaults to 90%. Nissan didn't want 80+100/20 to = 90 so they deleted the 80% option. Even then deleted or not the 100% option is to a set cell voltage limit and isn't going to be 100% SOC exactly. It will be closer to 95% for most cars and may be less.
Coming cars, later this month we expect a 30 kWh pack in the 2016 MY to be revealed (already leaked with pricing by several dealers but not announced officially by Nissan yet).
Anything said about the Gen 2 Leaf that may be the 2017 MY or 2018 MY is too far in the future to bother paying attention to "claims". We'll have plenty of time and press chatter and forum chatter to argue relative specs and merits of comparison between now and then.