2018 Leaf Battery charge fluctuante… help

[ElTazz]

Own a 2018 Leaf, when driving 60 mph going uphill Battery will show rapid discharge, than going down hill it will return to the normal charge. Example: Will drive a distance of 10 miles, during the drive the Battery with fluctuante all the way down to 0% than back to 95%. At the end of the trip when the car is parked the car shows a battery reading of 90%. Any suggestions of what can be wrong. Thank for the help

 

[LeftieBiker]

Welcome. You have one or more bad cells in your battery. They pull the battery pack's voltage down, under higher loads, to the point where the Battery Management circuitry takes steps to protect the battery, and fails to read the capacity correctly because the voltage drops cause the capacity to seem to be varying widely. The battery warranty covers this under 100,000 miles, but the dealership will have to see error codes stored to act on it.

 

[ElTazz]

Have over 100000 miles, at 110000

 

[LeftieBiker]

Can you document a complaint made to a Nissan dealer about the car's behavior before it passed 100,000 miles?

 

[ElTazz]

yes

 

[ElTazz]

Can you document a complaint made to a Nissan dealer about the car's behavior before it passed 100,000 miles?

yes

 

[LeftieBiker]

If that's the case, then the warranty should apply - although you may have to fight to get that complaint counted.

 

[SageBrush]

If that's the case, then the warranty should apply - although you may have to fight to get that complaint counted.

I wonder what will happen here. Customer will say the problem started before 100k miles, while Nissan will say that no warrantable problem existed before 100k miles because no DTC logged.

 

[rogersleaf]

Good luck getting that documented. Mine had a similar event once but it was a couple years ago and happened after the pack was cold soaked a couple night in 25F weather. The SOC dropped from @ 35% to VLBW over about 2 miles on a significant uphill expressway grade, but doesn't log error codes and the dealer was not able to duplicate.

 

[GordStewart]

This issue happens to my 2018 leaf for the past two years but only when the temperature drops. Leafspy is not reporting any bad cells so my assumption is an aging 12v battery.

 

[hradek]

Own a 2018 Leaf, when driving 60 mph going uphill Battery will show rapid discharge, than going down hill it will return to the normal charge. Example: Will drive a distance of 10 miles, during the drive the Battery with fluctuante all the way down to 0% than back to 95%. At the end of the trip when the car is parked the car shows a battery reading of 90%. Any suggestions of what can be wrong. Thank for the help

 

[Deleted member 37802]

Welcome. You have one or more bad cells in your battery. They pull the battery pack's voltage down, under higher loads, to the point where the Battery Management circuitry takes steps to protect the battery, and fails to read the capacity correctly because the voltage drops cause the capacity to seem to be varying widely. The battery warranty covers this under 100,000 miles, but the dealership will have to see error codes stored to act on it.

My 2020 LEAF SV w/25k miles was doing this. No codes read at the diagnostic appointment that I had to pay $ for (as this 'new to me' vehicle is out of the 3yr warranty period but within its 8 year 100k EV/Battery warranty period).
I actually had to video the dash as I was driving to 'prove' the problem was real to the dealership (their test drives were on flat roadways even though the problem at grade was clearly indicated. Video evidence and stating the vehicle was 'unsafe to drive' (as you have to alter your driving to keep from going into "--" mode did the trick. No error codes ever found (per dealership technician).
New battery is on the way - no ship date or delivery date indicated by my local dealer. No loaner vehicle offered (car isn't drivable as I live in an area with frequent steep grades (10% or higher) on my commute route).