Eight bars on a 2017 Leaf battery (in warranty)

[Lothsahn]

The wait sucks, but if I knew that sometime next year I was going to get a *free* battery that was better and gave me more range, I would have no issue waiting for good things. :mrgreen:

In another 10-15 years after this battery is replaced, we might even pay for a third battery.

My only regular commute with this car is a 35-mile round trip to the beach 2-3 times per week. Oahu's also building up a more robust charging infrastructure, so I don't mind driving across the island to my favorite surf shop.

The news from areas with really high temperatures (e.g. Sri Lanka) is that the 40 kWh battery lasts really really well. What killed your battery is heat and time (and bad chemistry). Hawaii stays warm, even at night, so the battery is just constantly degrading. It's extremely hard on Leaf batteries. Areas that get cold at night and have winter have 1/2 to 1/3 the degradation you see in Hawaii.

Hopefully there's no hiccups and you enjoy your new 40 kWh battery.

 

[PaulEdwards]

Hi There,

I can't see your screenshots because I don't have permission. All I need to know is what was your Leafspy SOH when you dropped to 8 bars. This would be very helpful for me. I have a 2016 with the 30KWH battery with 9 bars but my current Leafspy SOH is 65.42%

Thanks very much,

Paul Edwards

 

[Nords]

Hi There,

I can't see your screenshots because I don't have permission. All I need to know is what was your Leafspy SOH when you dropped to 8 bars. This would be very helpful for me. I have a 2016 with the 30KWH battery with 9 bars but my current Leafspy SOH is 65.42%

Thanks very much,

Paul Edwards

@PaulEdwards, the number our LeafSpy showed a few weeks after the dashboard display dropped to eight bars is 61.59%.

I've sent you a Google Drive link that should give you view/comment permission.

I'm not sure how 65.42% is going to help you. If you show up at your Nissan dealer with nine bars on the dashboard then they could claim that you don't meet the warranty conditions, and they'll blame the policy on Nissan corporate headquarters. ("Eight bars" is the term right out of the warranty.) A sympathetic service manager might have more info to share, but you might have to wait until the display drops down to eight bars to be eligible to file a claim.

For everyone else, I don't know how the permissions work, but knightmb linked the images via Imgur at this 3 December 2022 post further up in this thread:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=627719#p627719

In 10 days we'll be at three months. When I checked with our local dealer at the one-month point, they had received six new battery packs and we'd presumably advanced to #13 in the warranty queue. I'll e-mail them in a couple weeks for another update.

This morning's charge to 100% still gives us a range estimate of 85 miles, which is more than enough for our driving habits. I'm pretty sure even when the range display goes blank that there's still 10 miles or so left in reserve.

 

[guppeeh]

Hi Leaf owner, just wondering how your wait is coming. I have opportunity to purchase a 2016 Leaf SV with 50K miles and 9 bars for $8500. I'm not quite sure how to calculate the end of the 96months warranty period but I imagine calling into a local dealership would determine that. I'm sure some owners at the very edge of qualifying end up being anxious throughout this period.

What's some of the thoughts on this? Take a chance, make a bit of effort to drop the bar to 8, or just look elsewhere and avoid the hassle? Many thanks.

Kevin

 

[Nords]

Hi Leaf owner, just wondering how your wait is coming.
[...]
What's some of the thoughts on this? Take a chance, make a bit of effort to drop the bar to 8, or just look elsewhere and avoid the hassle? Many thanks.

Welp, it looks like we’re being slow-rolled... or at best, ignored while waiting for miracles.

For those who are keeping score, it’s been over eight months since we filed our warranty claim, and our 2017 Leaf is now down to seven bars at 28.8K miles. (It dropped another bar sometime during June.) It still charges up to a range of 83 miles (two retirees on a 30x40-mile island) instead of its original 115 miles when we bought it in 2019. At this point I’m wondering if Nissan will honor this warranty before 2024.

The service managers at our local dealership (Tony Nissan) have stopped responding to texts, e-mails, and calls. Last month during my visit, the manager who filed our claim promised to call Nissan’s Mainland headquarters for an update. He never got back to us.

This month during my visit, a different manager shared more info. He’s either had plenty of practice at empathy or he’s just as frustrated by this situation as we owners are.

In 2022, Nissan had trickled out 3-6 replacement batteries per month to Tony Nissan with warnings about supply-chain issues. During January-March 2023 the rate rose “a little bit” but then completely stopped in March. This time there’s reports of a worldwide lithium shortage. The manager had no updates from Nissan’s HQ on when warranty service would resume.

(Yeah, I understand logistics. However the lithium shortage seems to apply to Nissan Leafs claiming warranty replacement, not to new-model Nissan EVs being sold at full retail value.)

He suggested filing a consumer complaint at 1-800-NISSAN1 with our VIN and our claim number (a code beginning with the letter J). He’s skeptical that Nissan will snapshot a battery pack out to us, but they might offer a discount on a rental car or try to cash us out of the warranty.

We have time (and the financial flexibility) to wait this out. In the past the service managers have shared stories of other sad Leaf owners with four bars and not even being able to commute to work.

If I was in your shoes, Kevin, I’d shop elsewhere.

Has anyone else tried the consumer complaint route?

Any other suggestions?

 

[kmaluo]

Nords, did you get any resolution?

I just dropped off my 2017 Leaf today Tony Nissan for a Battery Check. I still can't believe Nissan charges for that, especially when they know the battery firmware update was applied, and clearly there are only 7 health bars showing. Anyway, a helpful service rep said their battery shipments have completely stopped for several months. He stated that customers have been getting substantial buy back offers from Nissan, so I think I'll go that route right off the bat. I'll keep you updated, although details of buy backs are usually confidential, so I probably can't say the offer amount if I succeed.

 

[Nords]

Nords, did you get any resolution?

Nothing yet. I don’t think we’ll hear from them— only if we show up at the dealership in person.

I can’t remember whether you’re already following the battery buyback thread, but here it is for anyone else who hasn’t seen it yet:
https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=34237

We’re still going with our original plan. When we’re back on Oahu after our current travel (October or November) we’re going to check in one more time with Tony Nissan. Maybe they’ll have miraculously received a battery pack during our absence, but I doubt it.

Then we’re going to go shopping. My spouse originally wanted to keep her 2017 Leaf and push for a new battery, but when she saw the buyback thread then she quickly evolved her thinking in favor of a settlement. After we start the settlement paperwork we’re going to buy a new-to-us used Leaf (2019 or later) from Facebook Marketplace. That way she’s not inconvenienced if our 2017 warranty Leaf battery suddenly gets worse, and we don’t have to agitate over any paperwork hassle of the settlement.

He stated that customers have been getting substantial buy back offers from Nissan, so I think I'll go that route right off the bat. I'll keep you updated, although details of buy backs are usually confidential, so I probably can't say the offer amount if I succeed.

Yes. Scuttlebutt is that the battery replacements have ended, although Nissan’s not announcing or even commenting on it.

The buyback is handled by a third party. That thread has all the details of the settlement process and the amounts.

I just dropped off my 2017 Leaf today Tony Nissan for a Battery Check. I still can't believe Nissan charges for that, especially when they know the battery firmware update was applied, and clearly there are only 7 health bars showing.

Our 2017 had eight bars in November 2022, and somewhere in June or July it dropped down to seven bars. A couple of the cell voltages are spreading out from the rest of the pack (but still within spec) and may eventually give us a red-triangle fatal error. We’re not driving the car right now during our travel, of course, and we won’t be driving it much longer while we’re shopping for its replacement.

Our 2015 Leaf has dropped down to 10 bars over the last four years (we’re the second owners) and it seems fine. I’m going to drive that one until its range drops down to 40 miles (the round trip to my favorite surf breaks) and then we’ll either replace the entire car or replace the battery from a third-party company. We’ll make that decision when the time comes.

 

[kmaluo]

Thank you Nords, very helpful!

 

[knightmb]

Sure. If I’ve done this right, here are the links to LeafSpy screenshots:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QUY_eQUF8sMCMASBdKTquSwjRFMUTt78?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bbXWIEYsKtJ48FmOik8Sk4R2qzlxO66a/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S3yntTn02t7b7j9uuD6LBNioImdJtrwn/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VExJJ5YY_M9BINt_bwl1r7yyvEBkTtAp/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KnWuUxsDYEWaj08UKkxLkeQQX1WGvX2q/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N6Qy-QHrdQqXzXfEEmHWaWjOS7KvhFcc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ymx6x-tCxqrdAJ9VHUBIfSNy7ETlAJ74/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BAVNFXmqPxOhbBhAG_0IuLTsKZbkiLWm/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XaIzNc_itcHrjG21zw9zKcdadkqdwsEU/view?usp=sharing

I can post photo links for these if you give me permission

Yes please! I just sent you Editor access to the folder.

(EDIT: I'm getting e-mails from people asking for permission to view these screenshots. The links above have already been displayed as images by knightmb just a few posts later in this thread. You don't need to ask me for permission to see the photos in this folder... just keep scrolling in this thread.)

I was meaning more of "permission" to copy them to another free image service like imgur.com

 

[Nords]

When we’re back on Oahu after our current travel (October or November) we’re going to check in one more time with Tony Nissan. Maybe they’ll have miraculously received a battery pack during our absence, but I doubt it.

Then we’re going to go shopping. My spouse originally wanted to keep her 2017 Leaf and push for a new battery, but when she saw the buyback thread then she quickly evolved her thinking in favor of a settlement. After we start the settlement paperwork we’re going to buy a new-to-us used Leaf (2019 or later) from Facebook Marketplace. That way she’s not inconvenienced if our 2017 warranty Leaf battery suddenly gets worse, and we don’t have to agitate over any paperwork hassle of the settlement.

Last week I visited the service manager again. This time he invited me to walk outside with him(!), and once we were away from the bullpen he felt free to talk. He said that the national corporate rep of the buyback program was sitting in the bullpen to review the service department's battery warranty backlog.

The service manager said that Nissan has stopped replacing warranty batteries and has gone full buyback. I had a bunch of questions, and he had good answers. He said that the buyback program deliberately cuts the dealers out of the process, so he and I no longer need to keep each other informed. He didn’t even have any used Leafs on the lot to recommend for us.

My spouse and I are shopping for a new-to-us used Leaf.

After we buy a third Leaf, we’ll contact Nissan about buying our 2017 Leaf.

 

[Nords]

On 13 November we bought a new-to-us 2018 Leaf with 40K miles. We’re the third owners and it has all 12 bars on its battery capacity screen. (It’s nice to see three digits of range on the dashboard again, too.) It was our least stressful (and fastest) car purchase in over 40 years.

My spouse has been stalking the car on Facebook Marketplace for two months. (We were on travel.) The seller started out at a ridiculously high price and then reduced it by a few hundred dollars every week or so. We happened to contact him just after he’d reduced it to $15,200. KBB and Edmunds are still ridiculously lower in their price estimates ($10K-$12K) while Carfax and FB Marketplace are around $14K-$14.5K.

Every other Leaf of that age on FB Marketplace was more expensive with their own issues. We saw no reason to haggle.

As the seller and I watched my spouse drive it away, he thanked us for not dragging him through a negotiation knothole over its features and the price. He said he’d had to educate a dozen potential buyers who had no idea how EVs worked yet still argued about the features, and then they’d try to bargain his price down under $10K.

After sharing that story he handed me a $100 bill, thanked us again, and said his farewells.

(I swear the $100 had nothing to do with the ratty 20-year-old surfing t-shirt I was wearing. We’d already talked story during the test drive and he knew we were Navy retirees.)

The car needs the usual minor tweaks with its backup beeper and its VSP. I need to reset the tire pressure monitoring system to get rid of the yellow dashboard light. But the title, registration, & safety inspection are fine and the rest is details.

Now that we have a replacement car, we’re calling Nissan Consumer Affairs about the battery warranty on our 2017 Leaf, and we’ve filed our BBB Auto Line complaint:
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=635074#p635074