Loving our new Ariya and have two questions
Happy to be a new Ariya owner and join this community. We got a screaming deal on an incredibly clean 2023 Engage+ e4orce about six weeks ago... it only had 13k miles, still has about a year left on the factory warranty, and we got it for just under $23k. This is our first EV and it replaced an old Murano that we just about drove into the ground. I am absolutely loving almost everything about this car so far and do not miss the $95 fill-ups in the Murano. I can't figure out why it wasn't a better seller for Nissan because in my opinion it is a superior car to its competition in the Ioniq5, Mustang Mach E, and Tesla Model Y.
I do have two minor annoyances that I wonder if anyone else has thoughts on. First, the Engage trim doesn't have an automatic hatchback lift, and because the hatchback opens wider than our old Murano, we can't open the hatchback in our garage without hitting the rolled up garage door. This obviously isn't good for the garage door or the hatchback paint. Is the only solution to buy some aftermarket liftgate supports that have a shorter travel distance? Or can I attach something to the supports to shorten their opening distance?
Secondly, I have watched far too much content about proper high voltage battery management to extend battery life. The scientific consensus seems to be that, at least for the Ariya's NMC battery chemistry, the best practice is to keep the battery between 20%-80%, only charge occasionally to 100%, and limit the use of fast chargers. So I charge at home to 80% using a level 2 charger. Despite the built-in charge timer, it seems like a massive oversight from Nissan that there isn't an easy option in the software to allow for charging that cuts off at a specific battery percentage. This means every time I charge the car at home. I have to re-set the battery timer based on the number of hours that the time estimator says it will reach 80%. The estimator allows you to choose between level 1, level 2 and level 3 time estimates, but for level 2 it assumes that you are drawing the full 7.2kW. Because our charger is only on a 30amp panel and only draws 5.4kW, I have to either set the estimator to 7.2 and add a little time to what it estimates, or exit the car, plug it in and then get back in the car and set the timer when the estimator actually reads how much power is being drawn. Is there a workaround for this? I know Nissan isn't selling the car in the US anymore, but is anyone holding out hope that Nissan can or will release a software update that includes this feature? Thanks in advance.