BatteryBasics

Somebody asked for a short easy to understand "what/not to do to the batteries" post.

Batteries for dummies: the short version of what not to do.
(look at previous posts for details):

There are basically two ways to shorten the life of your battery pack by a bunch
1. Always charge to 100% and then let it sit around for days, especially when it's hot out.
2. Run it dead every time. Drive until the range shows '---' on a regular basis.

And another couple ways to shorten it's life a little bit:
3. If you have ChaDeMo fast charging use it all the time. Every charge if possible.
4. Never let it charge all the way. (yes I know, seems to conflict with #1 but the key parts are 'always' and 'let it sit in the heat at 100% for days')
Note: We're really only talking about chewing off an extra 10-20% of the battery capacity here, absent an actual cell failure. Some folks would barely notice...

OK smart guy, so what --should-- I do?
      Well for starters, if you know you're going to need something close to max range, especially in the cold rainy winter, go ahead and charge to 100% (16 bars on an iMiev, 12 ona Leaf). It's considerably less damaging to have it sit at 100% (especially when cold) than to run it flat and drag home in turtle mode.
      It's actually good to get it fully charged every 2-4 weeks since the battery balancing system works during that last hour of charge, Just try not to let it sit out in the hot at 100% for long periods on a regular basis.
      Every several (6?) months you should run it down to 'two bars' (iMiev) on the battery display (Leaf: when it just starts flashing, around 14 miles remaining?) and then charge it to 100%. It resets the battery/range assumptions in the controller.
      If you have it, use fast charging on long trips or when away from home. Just not all the time, eh?

Most of the time just try and keep it between 4 bars and 14 bars (iMiev) 2 up from the bottom and 2 down from the top on a Leaf on the battery meter. Sure you can go slightly more in each direction regularly with no -real- problem, but that's not giving yourself much error room.
....AND.... don't stress about it!

Updateration

Long time no post!  Why?  Because iMiev. "It just works!"  No Drama, no failures nothing but drive and charge. Well, I did take it into the dealer for a bunch of airbag and brake system recalls, but they only had it for about 5 hours and they even washed, vacuumed and charged it. No $charge$. That's the total maintenance for the four years I've had it, excluding wiper blades and washer fluid.
I can (and have) gone almost 70 miles on my 60 mile range iMiev after 4 years of use. The battery is still going strong. Nothing to see here, move along. Resale value is down to around $7K but given that they were selling new ones for $9K two years ago, that's not so bad.

EDIT 2022: Still in the family. Still running strong. 

Just had it's big birthday: 10 years since manufacturing. Huzzah!
Closing in on 50,000 miles. Still goes 60+ miles/charge in good conditions. We've had to replace tires, windshield wipers, wiper fluid and the 12V 'house' battery ($90). That's it for total maintenance over 10 years. There's a 'wear' mark on the edge of the driver's seat, the visor  is slightly loose. The rear seat 'flop-down' control is sticky. Yep, that's about it. Been to the dealer exactly once (above).

It's used a bit over 12,000KWh (estimate) costing roughly $1500 to drive ten years including a total of 14 trips to public chargers. We know many people that exceed that $1500 in gas purchases Per Year!

"What, 14? You don't get out much do ya?"

To which we say:

Long distances, in this car? are you crazy?

end EDIT