How long 'til 4th bar drops?

[Stanton]

Ah, but then I'd have to clean out the garage to get the car in there. I'm just cycling it in the driveway...running the heater. Our driveway does have an oven quality...limited air flow, large reflective aluminum garage door...and the car has been baking 5 days a week in a tree-less livermore ca parking lot for 3 years...the last 1.5 years it trickle charges from 20-30% back to 80-90% in 8 to 9hrs...Monday through Friday...there was a wait list at work for ev charging.

The Kia Rio rental is booked for next week. I'm giving it one week to drop. Then whatever happens. For all I know 2013s are hard coded not to lose 9 bars. But that's conspiracy theory talk.

Re-read the post prior to yours. Hot means hot: I doubt sitting on your driveway gets the battery pack > 105 degrees.
You're correct to cycle the heater, but you need to keep a 100% charge as much as possible without quick-charging (L3).

 

[RCEV13]

You're right, had the car in the driveway since 7am running the AC on max. Battery temp is max 77 F. So, I'll stop, charge back to 100% at let it sit in the driveway with my L2...it's scheduled to auto charge at midnight so that should be enough to keep it at 100% for the next 7 days.

 

[cwerdna]

...
Although you don't want to move it much, due to being SO close on mileage, if there's a CHAdeMO DC FC within a few miles, drain the battery then DC FC to it nearly full while it's hot out, and then leave the car outside to bake with the AC running on full. DC FCing at high power will heat up the battery real well.

Don't do that :shock:

Part of what made me two weeks late was the dealer DCQC finally was repaired and I used it a couple weeks before my deadline.

Yes it does heat the battery.
But it also in the short term improves battery statistics.

Had I had free DCQC available nine months before deadline doing it would have helped.

But if close I would NOT do it.

Also my recommendation was inside a closed garage.
On a driveway pack will not be much above ambient.

Cycles will help.
But you really need the pack HOT.
Above 103F.
Above 110F if possible.

Wow. Ok. Thanks! I take that back then.

Yeah, but agree on keeping the pack HOT.

You're right, had the car in the driveway since 7am running the AC on max. Battery temp is max 77 F.

That's all? I'm in the South Bay and from my highway driving to/from Fremont and free L2 charging outside Target, my battery was at 90 F when I returned home. :/ (My current Leaf has no CHAdeMO.)

I left my car out all night for the battery to cool and drove it into the garage at ~7:40 am. Battery was only down to ~77 F. I was hoping to get it lower in the 70s.

I think your problem is that you left your car outside for the battery to cool. From Apple Weather app for my city, at 7 pm, the outside temp is forecasted to fall to 73 F, 66 F at 8pm, 59 F at 2 am, and get as low as 55 F. It won't get above 75 F until past noon.

Have a thermometer in your garage? I suspect it won't be that cold in the garage at night. If so, let it stay in the garage where it's warmer at night but leave it outside to bake in the afternoon.

 

[cwerdna]

For all I know 2013s are hard coded not to lose 9 bars. But that's conspiracy theory talk.

Don't think so, given I see a '13 4 BL at http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/Real_World_Battery_Capacity_Loss#Loss_of_four_battery_capacity_bars_.2833.75.25.29.

 

[RCEV13]

Right, the 2013 that lost 4bars after 31,000...that sounds like a special case for any model year.

Update: 4th bar remains, car sitting at 100% since Sunday. GIDS = 171. I rented a car for nothing. San Jose isn't Palm Springs. What sucks the most is that a $5,500 battery replacement cancels out all the fuel savings from over the past 3.5 years of going EV. I need to stop being an early adopter. A turbo charged 4cyl is sounding pretty good about now.

 

[TimLee]

Right, the 2013 that lost 4bars after 31,000...that sounds like a special case for any model year.

Update: 4th bar remains, car sitting at 100% since Sunday. GIDS = 171. I rented a car for nothing. San Jose isn't Palm Springs. What sucks the most is that a $5,500 battery replacement cancels out all the fuel savings from over the past 3.5 years of going EV. I need to stop being an early adopter. A turbo charged 4cyl is sounding pretty good about now.

Possible some lost capacity quicker due to defects.
But my guess is heat exposure.
Faster driving, hotter garages, and more DCQC.
Some effect from parking at 100% in sun in hot weather on blacktop.

Your night time temps are just way too cold for much capacity degradation parked in your driveway.

Agree Nissan's non-prorated capacity warranty is poor.
The rapidly increasing failures that they do not cover is quickly demonstrating the design defects.

 

[RCEV13]

So does anyone know how to contact Nissan Corporate to submit an official complaint (assuming that is possible)? I've been paying into this legal insurance coverage for years but never had a need to use it.

Another thing I don't like is that I read a LEAF owner got a local NBC news reporter to inquire about the state of his degraded battery and the fact that it was past the warranty, and Nissan in response just simply agreed to replace the battery to make the story go away. Crazy.

Story link: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Electric-Vehicle-Batteries-Could-Cost-Owners-379724171.html

Quote from story:

The NBC4 I-Team contacted Nissan about Woodlock's battery, and the automaker agreed to replace his battery free of charge.

So this is where we are now?

 

[TimLee]

After the bar drops see your dealer to confirm and then contact customer service. They might cover it.
They did mine. Also a person that was 5,000 miles past after numerous emails.

Some were successful through Better Business Bureau arbitration.
See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=19880&hilit=better+business+bureau#p425586.

I'm not sure about other legal options.

 

[RCEV13]

Right, so I called Nissan.

They said they can't help until I drive over the 60,000 mile threshold. I'll drive 30miles tonight and cross it.

Then they said to get your battery officially tested at a Nissan dealer within 90 days. I'm going in at 10:45am tomorrow.

Then call Nissan's EV hotline phone number and start talking battery numbers and performance. They're open M-F so I'll call Monday.

 

[TimLee]

Right, so I called Nissan.

They said they can't help until I drive over the 60,000 mile threshold. I'll drive 30miles tonight and cross it.

Then they said to get your battery officially tested at a Nissan dealer within 90 days. I'm going in at 10:45am tomorrow.

Then call Nissan's EV hotline phone number and start talking battery numbers and performance. They're open M-F so I'll call Monday.

Might work.
But I am skeptical Nissan will do much at all until you have lost fourth capacity bar and it has been confirmed by the dealer.
That is what most people have reported.

 

[BradFoxUS]

I'm at 43.01 Ahr, 65% SoH, and 44% Hx and *should* be down my 4th bar as well by now.

I dunno, but this seems sketchy.

 

[cwerdna]

They said they can't help until I drive over the 60,000 mile threshold. I'll drive 30miles tonight and cross it.

Hope that doesn't turn out to be a $2750 to $5500+ mistake. If it's not too late, I wouldn't.

 

[PV2leaf]

I have a 2012 SL with 40500 miles. At around 36K the 12th bar disappeared after charging to 100% but it returned after driving a bit. This behavior has continued. I have really "babied" this battery charging to 80% most of the time and starting charge at 4AM to keep temps down.

The range of the car is only about 55 miles now so I know that pack has taken a hit. I have 15 months to go on my battery warranty and probably will not hit 60K by then. The 27% hit in range sees to not be indicated in the capacity gauge.

Has anyone else seen this reappearing bar ?

 

[RCEV13]

I brought the car in with 60,007 miles on it to comply with Nissan Consumer Affairs. I'll be calling them tomorrow. A star chart....so lame. And the battery report was $48. And the dealer rep said it was the first 2013 Leaf they had seen with over 60K miles. My battery capacity is down nearly 40% with 9bars remaining.

 

[BradFoxUS]

Correction, I'm now down to 42.81Ahr and 64%SoH and 43% Hx.

Still at 9 bars. Good grief.

 

[tungsten]

Another 9 bar 2013 SL owner checking in. I am starting to think that maybe the 2013s drop at lower AHrs than 2011/12s. My current stats:

Manufacture date: 3/2013
Mileage: 47,971
AHr: 41.588
SOH: 65%
Hx: 56.84

 

[tungsten]

Oops, accidentally hit submit.

L1/L2: 1513
QC: 60

The one 2013 listed in the big spreadsheet, dropped at an AHr of 36.24, which is WAY lower than any 2011/2012. Although I may have the time and mileage to get there, I sure hope we don't find that the 8 bar threshold is that low for 2013s and later...

 

[BradFoxUS]

This is driving me NUTS. Just drop my 4th bar already! This is the most the battery can hold anymore. 13.8kW of energy. I have ZERO regen until it is down to about 20 miles left. I can't even make it between DCFC stations anymore severely restricting me to whatever I can do around my house/neighborhood.

 

[Hoosier]

That's nothing my 2011 is at 40.99 AHr and 62% SOH with 60,080 miles. (still 9 bars) My guess is Nissan dropped the AHr threshold during the 2013 software update. Especially in the Bay Area and other colder climates.

 

[munkie]

Greetings to all fellow Leafers, this is my first post after purchasing a used '12 Leaf. I'm hopeful for 8-bar before the end of 60 months warranty. AHr fluctuated between 44.76 and 44.68 within the last 2 weeks but fairly steady around .74/.75/.76 most of the time. I'll DCQC when I can but mostly L2 charging to 80% since my commute is short enough to make it on a less than 100% charge.

Any insights/comments are welcome.