new leaf rapidly losing range

My new 2014 Leaf is less than two weeks old and the range on a full charge has dropped from 95 to 81 miles. I have been searching but unable to find a clear reason why this is happening. The weather here is pretty mild and we have only been using trickle charge. Is this a defective battery? Has anyone else had this problem?

I'm suspecting you're looking at the estimated range displayed on the dashboard when the car is full. The problem is that is not in any way representative of your car's range because it depends on how you were driving just prior charging the car. The math goes like this:

Est. Range = mileage (miles/KWh) x battery capacity (KWh)

As we all know, mileage does vary

The proper way to test your range by driving from full to empty in the same conditions. The "techniques" to do this properly have been discussed in here at length.

We call the range indicator (Distance to Empty) the Guess-o-meter. It is meaningless as far as indicating whether your battery is losing capacity. There is no way you are losing significant capacity in such a short time. Don't worry about it. If you want to get more accurate information about your battery capacity, get Leaf Spy (link in my signature).

PS I have no affiliation with the author of this program for android phones.

The range indicator isnt useless, you just need to understand it's limitations. When you are just starting out, it is useless, because it's calculation is based on the driving you did previously. But if you are rolling along, and have been at the same speed and level of incline for awhile, it gives a pretty accurate indication of your range if and it's a huge IF, you will be driving under those same conditions for the rest of your trip. I find it useful when I am really stretching out the distance towards the range limits of the car when combined with a gps that tells you how much further you have to travel. As long as you have more miles range than miles to go, you are alright. If you have uphills or headwinds, you need much more spread between the two. When you start going up the hill the 2 indications get closer and closer, and may even converge to where you are on the wrong side of the convergence. More miles to go than miles range. But if you know there is a downhill slope ahead, they will cross back to the right side. If there is no downhill slope ahead, you need to slow way down untill the numbers get where you want them, or you might need to consider an intermediate charging stop. I find it quite fun. If you plan enough ahead, and learn the quirks of the "guess o meter" you will find it is a pretty useful tool. Just experiment with it and learn it's quirks. It would be way better if you could tell it where you are going, and it could take into account the hills and speed so you don't have to compensate for it manually. But it's better than nothing!

The initial range estimate was put there for marketing reasons. If they decided to be pessimistic and put initial range estimate at 65 miles, then your range estimate would be increasing.

johnrhansen said:

The range indicator isnt useless, you just need to understand it's limitations. When you are just starting out, it is useless, because it's calculation is based on the driving you did previously. But if you are rolling along, and have been at the same speed and level of incline for awhile, it gives a pretty accurate indication of your range if and it's a huge IF, you will be driving under those same conditions for the rest of your trip. I find it useful when I am really stretching out the distance towards the range limits of the car when combined with a gps that tells you how much further you have to travel. As long as you have more miles range than miles to go, you are alright. If you have uphills or headwinds, you need much more spread between the two. When you start going up the hill the 2 indications get closer and closer, and may even converge to where you are on the wrong side of the convergence. More miles to go than miles range. But if you know there is a downhill slope ahead, they will cross back to the right side. If there is no downhill slope ahead, you need to slow way down untill the numbers get where you want them, or you might need to consider an intermediate charging stop. I find it quite fun. If you plan enough ahead, and learn the quirks of the "guess o meter" you will find it is a pretty useful tool. Just experiment with it and learn it's quirks. It would be way better if you could tell it where you are going, and it could take into account the hills and speed so you don't have to compensate for it manually. But it's better than nothing!

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+1 I drive in a consistent manner, and have 4 or so common routes that account for most of my driving. So for me the DTE is reasonably accurate and useful.

I find that the GOM estimate starts to converge with reality as you approach half the charge used, and is pretty accurate - for me - during the last part of a 20+ mile trip.

Last time I'll mention this: "it's" is kind of a tricky word to spell. If you mean the possessive form of "it" as in "its battery is dying" then this is the exception where there is NO apostrophe. That's because the apostrophe is already used in the contraction for "it is". So the previous post, while otherwise free from mistakes, uses the wrong form of "it's". When you go to type "it's" just ask yourself: "Do I mean 'it is'?" If not, then please, no apostrophe...

LeftieBiker said:

I find that the GOM estimate starts to converge with reality as you approach half the charge used, and is pretty accurate - for me - during the last part of a 20+ mile trip.

Last time I'll mention this: "it's" is kind of a tricky word to spell. If you mean the possessive form of "it" as in "its battery is dying" then this is the exception where there is NO apostrophe. That's because the apostrophe is already used in the contraction for "it is". So the previous post, while otherwise free from mistakes, uses the wrong form of "it's". When you go to type "it's" just ask yourself: "Do I mean 'it is'?" If not, then please, no apostrophe...

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Funny how language works, all of its exceptions How somone, somewhere decided something is spelled this way or that, it becomes "proper" and expected from then on. Personally I think if it's possessive, it needs an apostrophe every time. But if some guy back in the 1800s decided that's the way it should be, then that's the way it shall be, until enough people decide differently. Let's start a movement. Always an apostrophe with a possessive! Who's with me! I'll delete the possessive apostrophe until I hear differently. You are judged by your spelling.

+1 on ericsf and Stoaty's comments.

It's a GOM and the values it displays aren't worth much since it bases its values on some recent driving history, which may or may not have anything to do w/how you will drive in the future (e.g. up a hill, down a hill, fast, slow, etc.) since it can't predict the future. See my posts at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=374239#p374239" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=359649#p359649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Today with the battery at 82% SoC, the GOM read 78 miles. Sure, if I continue to drive slow I can probably go further than 78 miles. If I take a highway trip doing 65+ mph w/that SoC, I won't make it 78 miles.

johnrhansen said:

Funny how language works, all of its exceptions How somone, somewhere decided something is spelled this way or that, it becomes "proper" and expected from then on. Personally I think if it's possessive, it needs an apostrophe every time. But if some guy back in the 1800s decided that's the way it should be, then that's the way it shall be, until enough people decide differently. Let's start a movement. Always an apostrophe with a possessive! Who's with me! I'll delete the possessive apostrophe until I hear differently. You are judged by your spelling.

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Spelling was pretty eclectic until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when lexicographers started to codify it to make reading and writing easier. The American lexicographers chose some spelling simplifications different from the British versions (color/colour and theater/theatre, for example). Some spelling simplifications didn't really catch on (yet?), such as "thru" for through, and the like.

While it is true that word usage and spelling change over time, much to my ire in some cases, distinguishing between "its" (possessive, exception to the usual apostrophe rule) and "it's" (contraction of "it is") seems logical to me and it's easy to remember. I get more bothered by the misspelling of common homophones than an occasional possessive "it's". Most popular here at MNL is "your" for "you're"; that one really bugs me. And some people just can't handle the difference between "there", "their", and "they're". Also common is "to" for "too"; I guess I should be glad that they don't use "two" for "too"... Another homophone that often gets misspelled is "site" for "sight". And, of course, "break" for "brake" is very popular here, given the subject matter of cars. Even "hear" and "here", "bear" and "bare", and "weather" and "whether" get mixed up, albeit not as frequently as the beloved "your" for "you're". Perhaps such things aren't covered in school nowadays. After all, we have spellcheckers to fix spelling mistakes, "rite"?

English is a weird language. I have considerable sympathy for those learning it as a second language.

Whether or not one chooses to take the time and effort to use correct spelling and grammar in MNL posts, I will say that some of us do notice who writes well and who doesn't (and who takes the time to proofread posts and edit typos, and who doesn't). It does affect one's screen persona and how one is perceived by others. Some care about that and others, apparently, do not.

wow thanks for all the info! i did not know it was predictive. ok i should read the manual now

dgpcolorado said:

...I will say that some of us do notice who writes well and who doesn't (and who takes the time to proofread posts and edit typos, and who doesn't). It does affect one's screen persona and how one is perceived by others. Some care about that and others, apparently, do not.

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And this phenomenon extends well beyond individual online personae. Here in North Carolina, our not-universally-acclaimed Governor recently appointed a new state Poet Laureate without the courtesy of consulting the state's Arts Council. There was considerable agitation around what this might have done to our cultural image, if you will. It did, however, result in a local paper running a poetry contest on the subject, which I won both for myself and the glory of LEAF owners everywhere. What propelled my limerick to the top (or bottom?) of the pile was, according to the initiator of the contest, "a brilliant variation of the word 'toilet'."

Those masochistic enough to wade through all the entries may do so at http://www.citizen-times.com/story/...umn-great-poet-laureate-poetry-bash/13219377/