20k miles and a second bar gone this morning...

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otokron

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2013
Messages
17
Location
Crawfordville, FL
2011 Leaf SL. North FL (Crawfordville). I have had the car for a year now, purchased as new but it was a demo with about 4k miles.

The car is charged at home with a Level 2. It still charges over the capacity bars level and reads 80+ %/mi (no need to explain this to me, I know)...

My daily round trip commute is 50 miles. Should I be concerned about the near future? Both bars have been lost during my year of ownership...
 
Very typical for Florida.

You should lose another capacity bar this summer and another one sometime early next year. There's almost nothing you can do to halt the rapid degradation. It all has to do with Florida's warm winters and hot summers. Most likely you'll qualify for a battery replacement by the end of summer 2015.

A 50 mile commute may be near, or exceed, the car's range before you qualify for a battery replacement. It depends a lot on how fast you drive.
 
I don't think it's all doom and gloom yet. I've lost two bars and am probably close to loosing bar three, and I can still hammer my car (70+mph) and get 58-60 miles to a charge. With careful driving (~60mph) I can get that up to 65-67 miles. And that's with range robbing Michelin tires.
 
What is your MAX and AVG speed on your commute?

Is there any way you can plug in during your working hours? Even a 120v could be a life-saver when your range is more limited. You can easily measure how much electricity you are drawing and offer to pay for it. The cost is really very minor, depending on your rates. If your employer will not allow it, check with other businesses or homes within close walking distance. You can probably find someone who will allow you to buy their electricity. At 25 miles (half the commute) you would only use 5kwhr if your drive is 5 m/kwhr or 6kwhr if you drive faster and get 4 m/kwhr. At the rate I pay of $0.11 per kwhr that is only $0.55 to $0.66 per day.
 
Graffi said:
What is your MAX and AVG speed on your commute?

Is there any way you can plug in during your working hours? Even a 120v could be a life-saver when your range is more limited. You can easily measure how much electricity you are drawing and offer to pay for it. The cost is really very minor, depending on your rates. If your employer will not allow it, check with other businesses or homes within close walking distance. You can probably find someone who will allow you to buy their electricity. At 25 miles (half the commute) you would only use 5kwhr if your drive is 5 m/kwhr or 6kwhr if you drive faster and get 4 m/kwhr. At the rate I pay of $0.11 per kwhr that is only $0.55 to $0.66 per day.
Click to expand...

MAX is 60mph, AVG I'd say 50mph.

Nowhere to plug the car. I work in a State government building complex and, none of the buildings around here have outlets anywhere accessible.
 
Hopefully Nissan started the 5 year battery warranty clock just last year when you purchased the car, as you will surely qualify for replacement. Your 2011 must have been real close to losing the first bar by the time you bought it. I'm in south Florida, and at 24,000 miles on my 2012 I still haven't lost my second bar. But, with the hot weather already started, I'm sure its only a couple months away.
 
If you work in a complex, then there is a Maintenance dept. Talk to them first to find out the options, then talk to your boss to find out how to get approval to us $0.50 of electricity per day. Maybe they will let you put the money into the Coffee Mess at the Maintenance office, lol. In any case, the maintenance team needs access to electricity all over the complex, inside and out.
 
I wish I could make that claim... I can't! :(

mwalsh said:
I don't think it's all doom and gloom yet. I've lost two bars and am probably close to loosing bar three, and I can still hammer my car (70+mph) and get 58-60 miles to a charge. With careful driving (~60mph) I can get that up to 65-67 miles.
Click to expand...
 
TomT said:
I wish I could make that claim... I can't! :(
Click to expand...


Well, I probably need to add the usual disclaimers about fairly flat ground, highway driving, etc...

I see I'm almost 2AHr up on you too. So I'm guessing you're much closer to loosing bar 3 than I am, which probably makes all the difference.
 
His Hx is also lower (way lower) than you. I'm at 68% Hx myself. I think it's related to the internal resistance of the pack. I drive my car hard in city traffic most of the time so it doesn't surprise me to see mine lower than others... I'm at ~54 Ah.
 

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