Getting a free battery replacement after losing 4 bar

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downforceusa

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
15
I own the car new back in june 2011 back then I was able to get 80 miles max on a full charge, and now if i drive freeway i get about 40 miles and local i'll get 50 miles.. not sure what kind of battery i'm getting. I alway charge the car 100% and most of time i drive it to nothing. 35,200 miles on it now live in San diego
 
poway , and they said i had a 100,000 battery warranty. I would be happy if they gave me the 5 year 60k... but 100k i'll take it
 
The 100K battery was originally given with the car and covers defects in materials and workmanship only.

The 5 year 60K warranty was added after the cars were sold and specifically covers capacity loss (the 4 bars you reference).
 
Wow, I live in San Diego too and purchased the car in Aug 2011, I have 36,000 miles. I have only lost 1 bar, you must have purchased a vehicle with a bad battery. Although I kind of wish I would loose the 4 bars before the 5 years or 60K so I can get a new battery but it appears that won't happen.
 
downforceusa said:
I own the car new back in june 2011 back then I was able to get 80 miles max on a full charge, and now if i drive freeway i get about 40 miles and local i'll get 50 miles.. not sure what kind of battery i'm getting. I alway charge the car 100% and most of time i drive it to nothing. 35,200 miles on it now live in San diego
Click to expand...
How many capacity bars have you lost?
 
downforceusa said:
I own the car new back in june 2011 back then I was able to get 80 miles max on a full charge, and now if i drive freeway i get about 40 miles and local i'll get 50 miles.. not sure what kind of battery i'm getting. I alway charge the car 100% and most of time i drive it to nothing. 35,200 miles on it now live in San diego
Click to expand...
Sounds like charging to 100% (are you leaving it at high SOC for long periods of time?) and driving it too nothing is not too good for the battery. I have about 32,000 miles, car is in hot San Fernando Valley 40 hours a week, and have lost one bar.
 
no there is nothing wrong with me battery, I now know charging it 100% every time and driving it to nothing will kill the battery.. after this replacement i'll only charge it to 80% and try not to drive it into the red bars.. I use a 240 volt blink charger that i got for free .. i start charging at 12midnight and stop by 5am.. and i don't touch the car till 10am most of the time. again i lost 4 bars
 
Because Nobody ever told him not to do that.

He didn't come here in 2011, He waited till the battery died and then he came here.


cwerdna said:
^^^
Why did you leave it at 100% for 5+ hours each time?
Click to expand...
 
There might be a bit of TOU metering involved. The cheap rates end at XX AM, and he doesn't need to drive anywhere until 5 hours later.
 
cwerdna said:
^^^
Why did you leave it at 100% for 5+ hours each time?
Click to expand...

Because he can and should be able too. This is supposed to be a useful tool, not a science experiment. That is not what we paid for.

It sounds like he just got a bad one. I charge to 100% ALL THE TIME and generally use about 40% before I recharge! but sometimes decharge into the teens. After 22,500 miles I haven't lost any bars. No I don't have a meter tho.

I think babying the battery can also be detrimental. Just drive the car and use it. It has a warrenty. As long as you don't violate what the owners manual says, it should last.
 
Lasareath said:
Because Nobody ever told him not to do that.

He didn't come here in 2011, He waited till the battery died and then he came here.
Click to expand...
Not quite correct.
OP was not on MNL in 2011.
But did come to MNL to help resolve the H&R Block mess-up of OPs taxes 02Apr2012.
OP got input that was good and should have resolved the problem but never came back to post if resolved or not.
Posted one other time in June 2013 on 2 years no capacity bar loss.
Stated then that had lost two bars and was charging to 100% daily and usually driving down to one status of charge bar left.
But was third post from the end of seven pages.
In the seven pages there was some mention of only charging to 80%, but no one responded to the OP statement and said quit doing that.

Glad the OP is getting a replacement and hope the OP gets the heat resistant battery. Some recent posts indicate it may be.

But this replacement does indicate how bad Nissan non-prorated capacity warranty is.
Knowledgeable users in San Diego and TN and many places will get nothing.
Those that did not find out about not charging to 100% by reading the massive manual or reading MNL a lot will get free replacements.
And Nissan goes and eliminates 80% charge setting in 2014 :?
Come on settlement mediation, Nissan needs to do better than this.
But the knowledgeable users do get to buy a $6,000 replacement :( :cry: :( :cry:
 
yes the reason I charge from 12am to 5am is because of the lower rate. And I didn't know much about electric car before I bought it, at first I though I can go 100 miles with it, at the dealership the car showed 100 mile range and when i put it in eco it showed 110.. had to find out after I got home. that 70 mile was the range and that was driving it to nothing.. What is wrong leaving the car charge 100% for long period of time ?
 
downforceusa said:
yes the reason I charge from 12am to 5am is because of the lower rate. And I didn't know much about electric car before I bought it, at first I though I can go 100 miles with it, at the dealership the car showed 100 mile range and when i put it in eco it showed 110.. had to find out after I got home. that 70 mile was the range and that was driving it to nothing.. What is wrong leaving the car charge 100% for long period of time ?
Click to expand...
See the Wiki http://electricvehiclewiki.com/Battery_Capacity_Loss#Factors_Affecting_Battery_Capacity_Loss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But the more relevant part is:

For lithium batteries -- and *only* for lithium batteries (this does not apply to NiMH and lead-acid) -- a lower average SOC (to a point, down to 30% SOC) over time will result in a longer battery life, and a higher average SOC over time will result in a shorter battery life.

State of charge is a much less significant factor in battery degradation than temperature.
And probably less than time.
But most people believe battery capacity degradation is lowest if you keep the state of charge between 40% and 60% as much of the time as you can.
Hard for most people to do though.

Nissan did eliminate the 80% charging setting in 2014 to be able to report higher EPA range.
That probably will cause somewhat faster capacity degradation.
They must have thought increased sales from the falsely higher range # was worth the increased cost of a few more capacity degradation warranty replacements.
 
Lasareath said:
Because Nobody ever told him not to do that.
Click to expand...
Nissan did:
Nissan 2011 LEAF Owner's Manual said:
LI-ION BATTERY LIFE

The Li-ion battery’s ability to hold a charge, like all batteries, decreases with battery age and usage which results in decreased vehicle range when compared to the vehicle range when the vehicle was new. This is normal and expected, and does not indicate a malfunction of the vehicle or Li-ion battery.

The Li-ion Battery’s ability to hold a charge can be affected by how you drive the vehicle, store the vehicle, how you charge the Li-ion battery and Li-ion battery temperature during vehicle operation and charging. NISSAN recommends you use the following driving and charging habits, where possible, to help maximize the battery’s useful life:

- Avoid exposing a vehicle to ambient temperatures above 120F (49C) for over 24 hours.
- Avoid storing a vehicle in temperatures below -13F (-25C) for over 7 days.
- Avoid leaving your vehicle for over 14 days where the Li-ion battery available charge gauge reaches a zero or near zero (state of charge).
- Allow the vehicle and Li-ion battery to cool down after use before charging.
- Park/store your vehicle in cool locations out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources.
- Use the normal charging or trickle charging methods to charge the Li-ion battery and minimize the use of public Fast Charge or Quick Charger.
- Avoid exceeding 70-80% state of charge when using frequent (more than once per week) public Fast Charge or Quick Charging.
- Allow the battery charge to be below at least 80% before charging.
- Moderate driving.
- Use of ECO mode.
- NISSAN recommends charging the batteries using the long life mode unless the vehicle is going to be driven a long distance. See “Charging timer” in the “CH. Charging” section.
- If vehicle will not be used for long period of time:
- NISSAN recommends charging with long life mode.
- Charge once every 3 months.
The power of the Li-ion battery can be checked on the Li-ion battery available charge gauge. See “Li-ion battery available charge gauge” in the “2. Instruments and controls” for details.
Click to expand...
Title bolding in original. Bolding in bullet list is mine.

They included this information in the special chapter they added to the front of the Owner's Manual just to help customers better understand EV technology.

They repeated this advice in another special section of the Owner's Manual devoted to charging:
Nissan 2011 LEAF Owner's Manual said:
Long life mode

NISSAN recommends charging the Li-ion battery using the long life mode to help maximize the Li-ion battery useful life.

Long life mode can only be set using the charging timer function.

The long life mode is set by changing the [% Charge] to [80% Charge (Improves Battery Longevity)] using the following procedure.
Click to expand...
Note that the menu item mentioned there even says "80% Charge (Improves Battery Longevity)" right on the screen.
 
Long life charging is useless after battery have degraded- then you need 100% charging to be able!to drive 50 miles. My aleaf lost 1 bar at 18k miles in Atlanta and the range is becoming a real issue in less than 2 years. I hope I can get a new enhanced 150 mile battery before year 5.
 
Are they working on a 150m battery? Will it fit older cars?

I plan to put 35 to 40 thousand miles a year on my leaf. If I can manage that the car costs nothing at all. Zero.
 

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