Reset Carwings data for more accurate GoM?

Hi,

After 2.5 years, my 2012's daily range has gone from 85 to 58 miles. I've begun to engage my local dealer's service manager to help resolve this issue. I told him that the Guess-O-Meter when the car was new would start the day at 95 or 103 (although I could only go about 85 miles, which is fine), but now it starts somewhere between 60 and 70, and usually falls pretty quickly from there, and is easily down to 8 when my tripmeter shows that I've gone 50 miles for the day.

All this and there are still 12 bars every morning!

The manager said the GoM's estimate gets lower over time because it's based on averaging using data that's held in Carwings, and, over time, that older information would cause the guess to be lower. (I don't know how this can be, and will ask for clarification tomorrow.) He went on to say that I should reset the Carwings statistics kept in the car so the estimate will be based only on fresh data and should go up. I asked whether having this old data lowering the guess means that when I get the low battery warning at 8 miles left after going just 50 miles that I could have quite more than 8 miles left, he said "Yes".

Does this sound correct to any of y'all?

And how would I reset the statistics? The only reset I see is a complete factory reset of the Carwings settings. Is that it?

Thanks,

Phil
Chapel Hill, NC

The GOM has nothing to do with Carwings and does not use its data. It is a completely standalone function. Another case of a dealer being absolutely clueless...

Regardless of how many bars you have showing, it sounds like you have battery degradation or a bad cell... You might also try a few overnight 100% charges to equalize the pack.

You need something like Leaf Spy to get a true picture of what is going on...

Your battery has lost capacity. Your GOM numbers are only a symptom of the true problem. This has nothing to do with Carwings. How many miles are on the car?

Thanks for the prompt replies!

I've got 40,500 miles on the car with 6 months left on the lease. I'll have to cut usage to not exceed the 45k allowance, but I want it to be on my terms, not the battery's. This amount of loss is really cramping my day to day use.

I'm eager to see whether the dealer and Nissan stand behind this car. I'm still happy to have been an early adopter of this tech, and whatever happens, it will be a valuable lesson and an indication of the viability of EVs in the South.

P

pooch said:

Thanks for the prompt replies!

I've got 40,500 miles on the car with 6 months left on the lease. I'll have to cut usage to not exceed the 45k allowance, but I want it to be on my terms, not the battery's. This amount of loss is really cramping my day to day use.

I'm eager to see whether the dealer and Nissan stand behind this car. I'm still happy to have been an early adopter of this tech, and whatever happens, it will be a valuable lesson and an indication of the viability of EVs in the South.

P

Click to expand...

If you're interested and willing, you might consider offering to lease another LEAF if they will allow you to terminate your current lease early with no penalties.

Yes, I'll keep that in mind regarding another lease if they'll let me end this one early without penalties.

A couple of follow-up questions, though:

1) Is there any verbiage in manuals for 2014 or 2015 saying that the 30% / 5 years capacity loss warranty doesn't apply if you frequently charge to 100%? I'm sure my 2012 manual doesn't say so, and that was the main point of the class action suit, wasn't it? Elsewhere on this forum I saw someone quote the latest capacity warranty clauses and it didn't warn about the 80% vs. 100% charging issue.

2) Isn't it crazy that their replacement policy is based upon showing fewer than 9 bars? I'm *still* showing 12 bars every morning and I know I've lost at least 30%. Does Nissan really stick to that metric when they're faced with a claim of high capacity loss?

Thanks,

P

I am wondering after some of the wording like "showing 12 bars every morning" if you
are talking about the same bars. the capacity bars would not change whether or not
the car was fully charged or discharged, these would be the bars to the right of the
charge bars, the last 2 are completely colored red (apparently colored to help
visualization of charge bar status due to their coincidental location next to the
charge bars. I question this use, as the two sets of bars are not that related).

cliff said:

I am wondering after some of the wording like "showing 12 bars every morning" if you
are talking about the same bars. the capacity bars would not change whether or not
the car was fully charged or discharged, these would be the bars to the right of the
charge bars, the last 2 are completely colored red (apparently colored to help
visualization of charge bar status due to their coincidental location next to the
charge bars. I question this use, as the two sets of bars are not that related).

Click to expand...

Here's a link to a picture that shows 3 capacity bars lost: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=17218

Notice that there are still 12 large bars showing, but the smaller bars to the right show a loss of capacity. The larger bars show how full the charge is up to its diminished capacity. It might be 100% full up to its current capacity, which might be 70% of its original capacity.

Yep, you're right, Cliff and Bill, I was counting the wrong bars. I've got 11 bars left on the right-most gauge, the Battery Capacity Level Gauge.

Still, one bar lost, but 30% range reduction after 2 1/2 years. Wondering whether I should continue to work with the dealer who told me to reset the Carwings data or if I should instead deal with Nissan Consumer Affairs. Any suggestions?

Thanks very much, all. You've been very helpful!

P

The 1st capacity bar drops at 15% loss, and the subsequent ones drop each
additional 6.25% loss. So if you are about to drop the next bar you would be at
about a 21% loss. This might be in the ball park of your numbers. The GOM
is not the best gauge to use, as while at times it can be the most accurate
gauge of distance, more often it is the least accurate. The low battery warning
always comes on at the same amount of energy left, no matter what the
degradation of the battery (around 3.2 Kwh before turtle). I find "hours to charge
using 120v" display useful for seeing how much energy I have used, couple this
with the low battery warning, and you have a way to monitor your battery
capacity loss.