No Full Available Regen at 30%

[minispeed]

thanks for the report and keep them coming.

I really don't want it to get cold enough to keep giving more data LOL. What I'm waiting for is a Saturday/Sunday where I can leave the car below 80% SOC on Saturday from 7pm on and not drive it till at least 10am the next morning. Then get in the car with no pre heating (I'll suffer for the data) get up to 50 km/hr as soon as I turn out of my driveway and test regen right away. That's the most control I have in getting a battery that hasn't had charging affect it's temperature and to really see how cold affects it's real world regen. If it gets to -20C here I can probably get to that same point on my drive to work but I don't want to wish for that.

 

[TickTock]

I understand if the unit is mostly charged then regen is not available but it seems the last few months something is wonky. I could be down to 1/3 and still not have the last regen bubble available. I am thinking about putting it on video so back up my claim.

This is not really a big issue but an irritant. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

One thing to keep in mind is having all regen bubble lit does not mean "full regen" but merely "at least half of full regen." You generally almost never get full regen (only when low charge and toward the bottom of a very long hill). The most I've seen is 8 regen bubbles (twice what is on the dash). I am able to see them using my CANary which monitors the signal that drive the regen bubbles. Since you are only seeing the lower half of the regen range, losing one bubble really isn't as significant an event as you think - you were already down at least four prior to that.

 

[dgpcolorado]

One thing to keep in mind is having all regen bubble lit does not mean "full regen" but merely "at least half of full regen." You generally almost never get full regen (only when low charge and toward the bottom of a very long hill). The most I've seen is 8 regen bubbles (twice what is on the dash). I am able to see them using my CANary which monitors the signal that drive the regen bubbles. Since you are only seeing the lower half of the regen range, losing one bubble really isn't as significant an event as you think - you were already down at least four prior to that.

One of the more interesting and informative posts I've ever seen on the subject. Thanks!

 

[vin944]

I too put off the update until last Oct. He told me it will only affect the GOM. Lying sack. I drove that car for 3 years. I could go from Folsom to Eldorado Hills and use 4 battery bars. It is a short distance but I have to climb 3 giant hills. On the way back I can put it in ECO and get a battery bar back by the time I'm back in Folsom. After the update I am braking down all the hills and it costs me 2 battery bars to get back home. And I do this trip alot. How dare they change my car like that. I don't even like driving it anymore. I never look at the regen bubbles I can feel it when I tap the brake so my eyes are never off the road. I'm just gonna charge to 100% all the time (already lost 2 batt bars, 30K mi) and burn it to the floor until I get them to replace the pack. As far as I'm concerned the whole character of the car is shot out. They got alot of nerve taking my regen away.

 

[Valdemar]

^^^ I totally agree, I have to use brakes more often to slow down after the update which is very annoying. I guess I could live with that if at least the battery lived up to the promise of 80% remaining after 5 years. Sigh...

 

[minispeed]

Ok I think I got the coldest battery conditions I hope to see all year.

I was away for a week, it dipped down to -30C that week but was a nice warm -9C by the time I got home, the car was left for a week at 80% and not plugged in.

No preheating at all, when I got in the battery showed -8.5C and on my slow street I was getting just under 10kW of regen. I didn't drive that much then charged it.

Next day full charge with preheat battery at -7.2C when I started again just under 10kW at 95% SOC, by the time the regen got up to just under 20kW the battery was -6.2C.

 

[Moof]

Out of curiosity, has anyone with a 2011/2012 with a MY2015 replacement battery seen similar? Is the regen permanently crippled, or does it perk up when it recognizes it has a different battery?

 

[nerys]

yeah the lack of regen at low temperatures really sucks. I do a lot of delivery driving miles (90 to 140 miles a day) the lack of regen sucks. burning up my damned brake pads for nothing.

what is worse is that it insults you and slaps you in the face.

I will have 2 regen bubbles and as I dip below 10mph or 5mph "then" a third useless you can use it now regen bubbles "activates" (second circle around it)

fat lot of good that does me. get back up to speed and a mile later the 3rd bubble goes away again. as if to say haha you can't have it. Grrrrr

 

[Martytdi]

Nissan all but deleted a feature inportant to EVs.

Was their fine print we missed indicating they can change how the car works?

Prior to the update were we informed what the update would do?

Was their deception by Nissan?

I'm so frustated with this issue.

I left spaces so others can put their thoughts there.

 

[GerryAZ]

The lack of regeneration is due to battery deterioration. I saw loss of regeneration in cold (for Phoenix) weather with my 2011 in November of 2012 long before the P3227 software update when the car was down to 10 capacity bars. Regeneration came back somewhat when the temperatures warmed up. The software update was performed during the summer of 2013 when the battery was down to 8 capacity bars. I saw no significant difference in regeneration after the update, but the dashboard and CAN Bus information became much more accurate. The battery was replaced in the fall of 2013 (original chemistry from Japan) and I had full regeneration during the "winter" of 2013-2014.

 

[Martytdi]

Gary
I can't find the thread.
There was a graph showing an H status of battery before and after the update.
The H status was very high prior to the update and went down like off a cliff after the update.
The conclusion was the update degraded the health status of the battery leading to much less regeneration.
Our 2012 Leaf barely shows any regeneration braking and it isn't noticed.
Summer or winter doesn't matter.
Prior to update friction braking was not used much.
I could go down hills in our area not touching brakes at all.
On the highway regen braking is not working at all.
I had a 2012 prius plug in and the regen braking worked all the time and very predictably.
I sold the car in November.