This is my first post on this forum. Thanks in advanced for all the info, help and advice!
We purchased our leaf new in 2017 and it now has just over 54k miles. We're down to 9 bars on the battery SoH indicator. We rarely rapid charge with level 3 and most of our charging is overnight on the level 1 charger at home. Because we don't have a practical way of limiting the charge overnight we do sometimes hit 100%. We live in Salt Lake City, UT where temps in the summer are in the 90's for a couple months. We do get some days in the low 100's. Winters typically get down to the 20F-30F range overnight and we can get a few days here and there in the teens. Occasionally we get a few days in the single digits.
The car was used for a daily 4-5 day/week commute of about 50 miles round trip pre COVID for about 3 years. The commute climbs about 2000 feet over a 25 mile distance. When we hit about 5500 feet above sea level, there's a noticeable "bong" noise that sounds like someone kicked a steel drum. It happens at the same point on the commute, within a mile or so. It doesn't seem to make a similar noise on the return trip on the way back down. I'm guessing this sound is the result of a sealed battery compartment expanding due to the gain in elevation. Has anyone else experienced this and could it be a problem? We've mentioned it to our Nissan service department and they pretty much dismissed it and said it must be road noise. It's definitely not road noise.
The other issue we've been having over the last several months is the SoC indicator will suddenly (within 15 seconds or so) drop a couple bars and then most of the time will come back up a couple bars again. If we're around 45-50% SoC, it will sometimes go into the "turtle" mode. This happens mostly in the cold when going uphill at around 50-60MPH. Since it drops 30-40% within 15 seconds and over about 1/4 mile, it's not a true loss. Especially since it comes back up to nearly the same amount in about the same time. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if the car didn't go into turtle mode. Is this a problem with the battery or could this be a problem with the BMS? Or Both?
We got a video of this happening and gave it to our local Nissan service people. They think it's a problem with battery. Also, they think the battery degradation down to 9 bars SoH at 54k miles is excessive. The service department wants to replace the battery since they don't know how else to fix the problem, but Nissan is pushing back. The car has been with them for over a week and seems to be stuck in purgatory until they resolve their internal disputes. Is there anything else I should consider at this point?
Thanks again!
We purchased our leaf new in 2017 and it now has just over 54k miles. We're down to 9 bars on the battery SoH indicator. We rarely rapid charge with level 3 and most of our charging is overnight on the level 1 charger at home. Because we don't have a practical way of limiting the charge overnight we do sometimes hit 100%. We live in Salt Lake City, UT where temps in the summer are in the 90's for a couple months. We do get some days in the low 100's. Winters typically get down to the 20F-30F range overnight and we can get a few days here and there in the teens. Occasionally we get a few days in the single digits.
The car was used for a daily 4-5 day/week commute of about 50 miles round trip pre COVID for about 3 years. The commute climbs about 2000 feet over a 25 mile distance. When we hit about 5500 feet above sea level, there's a noticeable "bong" noise that sounds like someone kicked a steel drum. It happens at the same point on the commute, within a mile or so. It doesn't seem to make a similar noise on the return trip on the way back down. I'm guessing this sound is the result of a sealed battery compartment expanding due to the gain in elevation. Has anyone else experienced this and could it be a problem? We've mentioned it to our Nissan service department and they pretty much dismissed it and said it must be road noise. It's definitely not road noise.
The other issue we've been having over the last several months is the SoC indicator will suddenly (within 15 seconds or so) drop a couple bars and then most of the time will come back up a couple bars again. If we're around 45-50% SoC, it will sometimes go into the "turtle" mode. This happens mostly in the cold when going uphill at around 50-60MPH. Since it drops 30-40% within 15 seconds and over about 1/4 mile, it's not a true loss. Especially since it comes back up to nearly the same amount in about the same time. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if the car didn't go into turtle mode. Is this a problem with the battery or could this be a problem with the BMS? Or Both?
We got a video of this happening and gave it to our local Nissan service people. They think it's a problem with battery. Also, they think the battery degradation down to 9 bars SoH at 54k miles is excessive. The service department wants to replace the battery since they don't know how else to fix the problem, but Nissan is pushing back. The car has been with them for over a week and seems to be stuck in purgatory until they resolve their internal disputes. Is there anything else I should consider at this point?
Thanks again!