Winter Range at 80% Charge

I normally charge my 2011 Leaf to only 80%.  Why?  Because always charging to 100% reduces the useful battery life by quite a bit.  Nissan estimates that losing as much as 25% of your battery capacity is normal within the first five years.  That's a pretty big loss!  I still have twelve bars (full capacity) showing on my dashboard and would like to keep them as long as possible.

Between my 80% charging habit and cold, hilly driving conditions, my winter range is pretty low. How low, you ask?  Consider yesterday's drive.

According to Google Maps I put exactly 26.5 miles on my Leaf yesterday.  A few blocks from home I only had one bar of charge and a low battery warning.  Please understand that I had another 8 miles or so that I could have driven-- it's not like my range is only 26.5 miles total.

What this means for Helena, Montana, in the winter, charging to 80%, is that I can expect about 35-40 miles of range.  A problem Leaf drivers face is that range anxiety tends to kick in during those last few miles.

The more I am able to think about range in mathematical terms the less anxious I feel about range.  One key emotional realization I have made is this: I can be anywhere in town with a low battery warning and I'll always get home.  As a more extreme example of this, I was South of town in Montana City with a low battery warning and made it home just fine.  My emotional perspective is that the low battery warning is simply my reminder to return to the barn.

Interestingly, Chevy Volt owners drive darned near as many miles in electric-only mode as Leaf owners, despite the Volt's smaller battery.  The obvious reason for this is because the Volt driver has no anxiety about running out of charge and will effortlessly run the battery down without concern.  On the other hand, the Leaf owner is more prone to gnashing of teeth and spontaneous devotion to God when he sees how low his charge has become.

The moral of the story is that winter range is reduced, but range anxiety is more of an emotional problem than a physical one.

Leaving Great Divide Ski Area