Capacity Loss on 2011-2012 LEAFs

[cwerdna]

^^^
Yeah. I saw some S trim level's low battery states in the video at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=11682" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

 

[sksingh]

Lost first bar in May 2013, lost second July6, 2013, within two months. Mileage is 27K. Range loss seems more than what the bar loss would indicate. Now I can barely make it to work and back. Not a good situation to be in.

Similar question - do you have the latest battery firmware update or plan on getting it?[/quote]

Yes I got the latest software update done July 1, 2013, the battery check was all five stars. Didn't notice any change, except the bars drop more uniformly. Earlier the lower bars dropped slower. Was hoping to see the battery charge % graphics like in the 2013 model, but it is not for Model 2011.

 

[myleaf]

turbo2ltr,

I am losing bars in step with you. I am still at 3.

I am wondering what is your current battery capacity and amp hours readings.

Lost bar #4 yesterday. 7/5/2013 @ 23167 miles.

So what kind of range are you now getting on a "full charge"?

You know what would be interesting...swapping your cells into another car to see what another LEAF's BMS thinks of them.

I have no idea what my actual range is. I normally don't have range issues so I simply don't pay attention. I can tell you that the GOM shows around 65 miles on 100% charge in eco. But I know that's not really saying much. I may be a little too cautious when things get low. But when I get down to 3 bars and I'm no where near my destination, I get some range anxiety. Could have I peddled it to my office? maybe. But the last thing I wanted to do is get stuck with a client in the car.

I put my route into google and it said I did 41 miles from 100% to when I got to the fast charger. In reality,it was probably close to 45, and 25 were highway miles doing 60-63mph. I had hit the low battery warning shortly before getting to the fast charger, and had about 19 miles on the GOM. I think the DCFC said I was at around 25% soc. I charged to 60% and and I don't think it took more than 10 min.

I average about 4.1miles/kwh according to the dash.

 

[TomT]

It will return to post update behavior in about a month... Mine did.

Didn't notice any change, except the bars drop more uniformly. Earlier the lower bars dropped slower. Was hoping to see the battery charge % graphics like in the 2013 model, but it is not for Model 2011.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Well, I for one have waited rather impatiently for someone to do the battery warranty... so like Turbo?? get on with it! :roll:

 

[turbo2ltr]

I just got the official notice from Nissan about the capacity bar update and new warranty in the mail yesterday. As I read it, it says they only have to restore your below-9 loss back to 9 bars, and if I remember correctly, someone reported that the firmware update gave them a capacity bar back? Did I read that somewhere?

Besides, its a lease and going back in Jan. Not sure it's worth the headache. I hate dealing with dealers.

 

[dhanson865]

I just got the official notice from Nissan about the capacity bar update and new warranty in the mail yesterday. As I read it, it says they only have to restore your below-9 loss back to 9 bars, and if I remember correctly, someone reported that the firmware update gave them a capacity bar back? Did I read that somewhere?

Besides, its a lease and going back in Jan. Not sure it's worth the headache. I hate dealing with dealers.

And if you keep driving it you can be the first to 5 bars lost

 

[turbo2ltr]

Well, I for one have waited rather impatiently for someone to do the battery warranty... so like Turbo?? get on with it! :roll:

According to the wiki, it sounds like user GK1 did the battery warranty but he/she has no posts.

 

[TimLee]

I just got the official notice from Nissan about the capacity bar update and new warranty in the mail yesterday. As I read it, it says they only have to restore your below-9 loss back to 9 bars, and if I remember correctly, someone reported that the firmware update gave them a capacity bar back? Did I read that somewhere?

Besides, its a lease and going back in Jan. Not sure it's worth the headache. I hate dealing with dealers.

Yes, it says 9 bars. But I don't think they have anything to put back in the LEAF now but a new battery. Likely will be a brand new 100% capacity 2013 LEAF battery. Could eliminate range anxiety till January, and you'll turn in a lease vehicle with the absolute best battery possible for your location.
Someone did report a brief capacity bar return with the firmware update. But went away quickly.
I'm curious what you plan to do when the lease runs out. You're an early LEAF proponent, and did a lot of great input / work on MNL.
Do you plan to lease a 2014 LEAF in January?

 

[turbo2ltr]

I'm not sure what I'll do..

I was really hoping what I had heard about the 2014 would be true, but it's looking more and more like it isn't going to be the year they introduce 2nd gen leafs. If the 2014 was a redesign, I'd just turn it in and lease another, no questions asked. But I don't think I would do another three years without an improved battery.

So I'll see what the car is worth at the end of the lease and buy it out if it is more than my $14.5k (IIRC) residual. I haven't really been paying attention to used prices lately. Of course a new battery in there would certainly raise the value, as well as make me much more inclined to buy it out.

So it might be worth just getting the battery warrantied, (though I'd probably wait until fall) and then buy it out and drive it until the 2nd gens (or something else) arrive.

Then again, I might not be in the financial position to buy it out and may have to just turn it in an go back to driving the Grand Cherokee...which I'd be really bitter about. lol.

 

[GregH]

I just got the official notice from Nissan about the capacity bar update and new warranty in the mail yesterday. As I read it, it says they only have to restore your below-9 loss back to 9 bars...

It will be interesting to see how Nissan deals with this. Looking at the rate of degradation it would seem to be in their best interest to replace the battery with something that would last at least to the end of the warranty if possible. I could see them replacing an 8 bar pack with a 9 bar pack if you only had 3-6 months left before the end of warranty.. but if you still had another 2.5-3 years, why put in a pack that will just need more warranty work in another 6 months?

 

[dhanson865]

I'm not sure what I'll do..
[snip]
So it might be worth just getting the battery warrantied, (though I'd probably wait until fall) and then buy it out and drive it until the 2nd gens (or something else) arrive.

Then again, I might not be in the financial position to buy it out and may have to just turn it in an go back to driving the Grand Cherokee...which I'd be really bitter about. lol.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7384544_extend-lease-nissan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; suggests you can extend the lease by 6 months if that helps get you over a financial gap to do the buyout.

It'd be nice to do the battery replacement with at least a month left on the lease so you can drive it a bit and see how the battery behaves before you make a final decision.

 

[surfingslovak]

I'm not sure what the terms of turbo's lease were, but current 24-month leases are likely much more advantageous. Of course, his LEAF likely has a low residual as well as a low VIN number, which holds a lot of sentimental value.

 

[cwerdna]

http://www.ehow.com/how_7384544_extend-lease-nissan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; suggests you can extend the lease by 6 months if that helps get you over a financial gap to do the buyout.

I don't know about the accuracy (or lack of) re: the above eHow "article", but something to keep in mind is that eHow is part of Demand Media. For those unaware of them, their business model is screwy (to me), at best. The quality of content written by their freelancers is rather questionable...

For instance, see http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/30/lack-of-demand-for-demand-media/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/07/writers-explain-what-its-like-toiling-on-the-content-farm202" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for what I'm talking about.

 

[turbo2ltr]

I'm not sure what the terms of turbo's lease were, but current 24-month leases are likely much more advantageous. Of course, his LEAF likely has a low residual as well as a low VIN number, which holds a lot of sentimental value.

While it doesn't carry as much weight as other factors, vin 185 (6th lowest recorded on the spreadsheet... remember the spreadsheet? lol) would be kinda cool to keep around. I mean the leaf *is* the worlds first mass produced electric vehicle. Others may not think so, but as far as I'm concerned, I have a little piece of the moment in history that ev's became mainstream.

 

[eHelmholtz]

... remember the spreadsheet? lol

That spreadsheet held my interest for quite sometime - especially while predicting when and waiting for my LEAF to arrive!

 

[mksE55]

Well , Just off the phone with Nissan, I have lost 3 bars in 18 months/ 23,000 miles and his statement is "all is well the car is functioning as designed" I called earlier to start the buy back process or see about ending the lease early ,as the car is barely able to make my daily commute. seems I have about 45 mile range with AC at city street speeds and short 55 hwy distance. Not exactly loving Nissan's customer service at this point. This would be a good example of how not to start a pilot EV project. deny all problems the car is a big success no matter what . How could we build anything that would have design faults. seems like the media or Lemon laws are the only thing that move Nissan.

 

[mkjayakumar]

after 17 months of ownership (and I guess around 5 months sitting in the dealer lot from Sept through Feb, 2011), after 18,800 miles lost my first capacity bar at 232 Gids at 100% charge.

My Gids have been falling like a rock from 252 to 232 in a span of last 6 weeks, and so have the temps been rising from a high of 78 to 99 today. Since I got the Gid meter in Feb this year, I have been getting a steady 252 Gids through March, April, May and then from June it has been steadily falling almost every other day.

Have been charging to 80% or less for the first 10K miles and then 100% every workday for the next 8K miles. I am squeezing every electron that is available using all plausible hyper mileage techniques to get through my 68 miles commute, of which 55 are highway miles.

Is there a spreadsheet to record this here in this forum ?

 

[FairwoodRed]

after 17 months of ownership (and I guess around 5 months sitting in the dealer lot from Sept through Feb, 2011), after 18,800 miles lost my first capacity bar at 232 Gids at 100% charge.

My Gids have been falling like a rock from 252 to 232 in a span of last 6 weeks, and so have the temps been rising from a high of 78 to 99 today. Since I got the Gid meter in Feb this year, I have been getting a steady 252 Gids through March, April, May and then from June it has been steadily falling almost every other day.

Have been charging to 80% or less for the first 10K miles and then 100% every workday for the next 8K miles. I am squeezing every electron that is available using all plausible hyper mileage techniques to get through my 68 miles commute, of which 55 are highway miles.

Is there a spreadsheet to record this here in this forum ?

If your talking about recording bar losses, then yup. From the first post of this thread:

For an updated list of affected owners, as reported to members of this thread, see the wiki:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Real_World_Battery_Capacity_Loss

 

[jspearman]

Well , Just off the phone with Nissan, I have lost 3 bars in 18 months/ 23,000 miles and his statement is "all is well the car is functioning as designed" I called earlier to start the buy back process or see about ending the lease early ,as the car is barely able to make my daily commute. seems I have about 45 mile range with AC at city street speeds and short 55 hwy distance. Not exactly loving Nissan's customer service at this point. This would be a good example of how not to start a pilot EV project. deny all problems the car is a big success no matter what . How could we build anything that would have design faults. seems like the media or Lemon laws are the only thing that move Nissan.

I see a real PR nightmare coming for Nissan as all the hot weather cars hit the 20-30K mile mark. We were a statistical drop in the bucket last year when we initiated our buyback, but now Nissan has a serious number of cars on the road. Unless they are taking care of their customers, all these warranties and tweaks are worthless. If drivers can barely squeeze out their commute, but haven't fallen past the magic 9-bar number, then they will have very vocal, unhappy customers.

Also, why can't they figure out the GOM? Rent any other EV for a week and figure it out. The dead Leaf I helped push last week was the casualty of a new driver not understanding the ridiculous overconfidence of the GOM.

Good luck in your efforts to have them take your car back.