Will ANY 2011/2012 LEAFs still have 80% capacity at 5 years?

[TimLee]

Well I'm the exception that proves the rule.. right on 70% (46.31Ah) mid 2015 for a 2011 Leaf. Starting to have to use more and more of capacity, so not expecting the rot to ease up.

Right where I am.
And you're in Jamaica and I'm in southeast TN.
Yes climate does matter.
But part of why I'm missing three capacity bars at 28,000 miles and a bit over four years is lots of DCQC.

 

[desiv]

But part of why I'm missing three capacity bars at 28,000 miles and a bit over four years is lots of DCQC.

I'm still not sure that's the case..
That taxi in the UK over 100,000 miles and 12 bars had an outrageous number of QCs...
Not that it's not part of the equation, but I don't think it's that big a part..

Possibly how you QC? (Do you QC to near full? 80%? 60%)
Is it QCs AND hot weather?

I'll find out..
The last 7 months of my ownership of my 2012, I've QCd at least twice a day - 5 days a week. Usually only 10-15 minute QCs to get me back to 60%ish.. Then an L2 charge at night to get me to 100%.
(A few exceptions.. Before i got my L2 (for a month or so in the beginning) it was 3 QCs a day and L1 trickle at night. And sometimes (maybe 5 times total so far), I'll just L2 at work, but that's Blink, so it's spendy and I'm cheap.. ;-) )

Then again, I'm in Oregon (although it was 99 yesterday and supposed to be over 100 today.. But that's not usual)..

If my work ever allows me to plug in (there's talk.. if so, it'll be L1), then I could get it down to 1 QC, at least until I drop my first bar or so and need to QC on the way to work...

desiv

 

[TimLee]

...
... Is it QCs AND hot weather? ...

Yes.
From my limited review of battery temperature from LEAF Spy Pro, the 2011 battery capacity degradation rate is very slow as long as the battery stays below about 90F.

Using L2 to charge to 100% will often cause about a 5F rise in battery temperature.
But DCQC often will cause a 15F or even 20F rise.

It rarely gets very hot in UK.
So even with lots of DCQC, the battery probably was below 90F most of the time.

 

[desiv]

Using L2 to charge to 100% will often cause about a 5F rise in battery temperature.

Have you checked to see if the temp goes up significantly (whatever that is) up with a QC if you go above the 80%, when it slows down?
I almost never QC that high, and the times I did (early on), I wasn't watching temp..
I stopped doing it, just because it was obvious the time spent for the last 20+ percent wasn't worth it to me.
Also, the times I have started a QC and left, my 2012 stops well below 80% (70 something). So even when I've left it, it doesn't charge that high..

i do wonder if multiple small QCs might be easier on temp than a full QC?
(No data or anything to back that up, just a random thought... ;-) )

desiv

 

[Valdemar]

From my casual observations temperature increase during QC is more when I start charging at low SOC, those 40-50kw flowing in for 5-10 mins are likely to blame.

 

[TimLee]

From my casual observations temperature increase during QC is more when I start charging at low SOC, those 40-50kw flowing in for 5-10 mins are likely to blame.

Yes, that is my observation.

At the higher status of charge above 90% the kW DCQC is putting in is less than L2. I don't think DCQC at less than 10 kW causes much more battery heating than L2.

When the Nissan dealer Nissan DCQC was working, I monitored the charging screen and when the kW dropped lower than 3.3, it was time to move to the L2.

Both to minimize tieing up the DCQC and because L2 would get to 100% in less time.
Plus on the 2011 DCQC never really gets to 100% anyway.
It stops a bit short.

Unfortunately the DCQC has been broken for months and is $5,000 to repair.
They still want Nissan to repair.
The design is defective.
The units burn themselves up unless the difficult to access filters that filter the cooling air being pulled in from close to the ground are cleaned frequently.

Apparently Nissan knew there were issues but in their haste to get more DCQC out at a moderate cost proceeded with the defective design.
Can no one build reliable DCQC :?:

 

[desiv]

From my casual observations temperature increase during QC is more when I start charging at low SOC, those 40-50kw flowing in for 5-10 mins are likely to blame.

Yes, that is my observation.

In that case, I should be heating up my battery pretty good then..
2 QCs a day from 25% (ish) to 60%.... (Plus the full L2 at night)
Been doing that for the last 6 months on my 2012, and will probably continue till I am done with this car.. ;-)

p.s. Good timing about the QC chargers.. The one I usually hit in the morning is down today, heating error (which is usually that filter; was 104 here yesterday). I have had very good luck with the ones Aerovironment uses.. Sometimes they have an issue, but a call and a remote reset seems to take care of those..

desiv

 

[TimLee]

... was 104 here yesterday ...

:shock: Really hot for Lincoln City , OR :shock:

Chattanooga's 2011 summer was like that.
The brand new LEAF built the day before the tsunami saw 104F for three or four days straight.

 

[desiv]

... was 104 here yesterday ...

:shock: Really hot for Lincoln City , OR :shock: .

Well, Salem, OR..
I live in Lincoln City, but work in Salem. Hence the 120 mile round trip commute.

Although Lincoln City hit 80 in spots.. ;-)

desiv

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
My 2011 Leaf is at 82% with 6 months to go til the 5 year mark. It will all depend on how hot the summer is and for how long if I am at 80% when the anniversary comes around.

 

[carphen]

Well, the 7% per year loss seems steady or even increasing, April 2016 and at 65%, 42.74 hr with the 4th bar gone last month. So no, not 80%. I agree with location, location, location, but its also time, time, time.... the longer you are in the heat it just steadily goes. Hoping to have a little more than 50% in two years time.

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
MY 2011 just dropped to 79% at 50k+ miles and 5 years 2 months.
At 11 capacity bars.

 

[astrorob]

we are exactly 2 months away from 5 years, and our battery charged to 211 gids last night (L2); approx 82%. however leafspy reports this as 95% of the battery capacity, though i've never seen it report much more than that.

the climate here is probably ideal for the leaf, and the car spends probably 65% of its time garaged; we only have 36k miles on the odometer. another data point is that it was QCd exactly 3 times over most of those 5 years, but because of the settlement i've QC'd 5 times in the last 2 weeks. is there a battery temperature to stay under? during last QC the battery reached about 77F.

rob

 

[mgoleta]

I am just past 5 years of ownership. 11/12 bars, 81% SOH

 

[Randy]

4 months ago at 5 years of age, my LEAF had lost 3 capacity bars (with approx. 40,000 miles on the odometer). So, no warranty replacement for me...

However, in rough terms, it has lost approximately half of its freeway range since it was new...

To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement...My exit plan is already in place with an early Model 3 reservation and some priority to go along with it (current Model S owner, west coaster, probably highly optioned, and reserved at 10:10am on 3/31), so I'll drive the LEAF a while longer until I replace it with a Model 3 (and won't look back, Nissan).

If I end up keeping it for 90 months, and sell it for roughly $4K, that makes the cost over my ownership approximately $227 per month...I'd be okay with that cost of ownership, but am definitely going in a different direction in the future...

As a point of reference, in 3 years my Model S has gone from 255 miles at full range to 249.

 

[abasile]

At just over 5 years of age, our LEAF has 62,700 miles and 76% of original capacity. One could say that we haven't done all that badly, relative to the prediction of 80% after 5 years. Still, when I bought the LEAF, I figured that Nissan was being conservative and that I would likely do better than 80%, given my intention to treat the battery well. So it is disappointing that we actually did worse than 80%. On the plus side, we've added ~20K miles in the last two years and I think the capacity has only dropped maybe about 6% during that time.