Russ,
First, thank you for authoring your article without ad hominems. Our Nissan LEAF demonstration on September 15, 2012 in Phoenix was never intended to be a science experiment, and is why I titled it, “Nissan LEAF Range Autonomy Demonstration With Reduced Battery Capacity”. It’s purpose was to wake up Nissan to the fact that these cars weren’t handling the Phoenix heat well and get satisfaction for affected owners that were being told “all is well” by Nissan. To that end, it met its goal.
Since our test, four of the twelve cars tested have been returned to Nissan. Of course, with no admission that anything is wrong, as is prudent for a company that is in litigation over these very issues.
I don’t have the resources, or desire, to do all that might be required to make a clinical study of LEAF range. Naturally, neither you, nor Mr. Larsen that you quote, have conducted any tests to counter our results.
Your references to the EPA LA4 cycle tests that show the LEAF going 100 miles, or more, just do not reflect reality of the average consumer. As you know, these tests are not conducted on a road, but are instead are run on a chassis dynomometer to simulate driving in those prescribed conditions. That’s not to say that you can’t drive 100 miles in a LEAF; I’ve done it exactly twice. Both times were difficult exercises that the average consumer will not do. About 41 drivers have chronicled their successful milestone of 100 miles on the “MyNissanLEAF” forum, out of more than 13,000 LEAFs in the USA to have a chance at that milestone. I’ll bet that neither you, nor Mr. Larsen, have actually driven a LEAF 100 miles. It’s easy to say; not so easy to do, nor is it typical.
I do agree that “out-of-calibration gauges really are contributing to misperceptions”, and make reference to that in the paper. I’m not sure why you suggest otherwise. That’s not to suggest that those batteries are OK; it’s not an either/or situation. Both the instruments are faulty, and the batteries are degrading quickly.
Since you reference Mr. Larsen’s claim that 76 miles should be used in lieu of 84 miles of range for a new LEAF, per the Nissan technical bulletin that I reference (76 to 84 mile range when consuming energy at a rate of 4 miles/kWh at 70 degrees F ambient air temperature), let me just say we disagree. The LEAF is fully capable of 84 miles when new at 4.0 miles/kWh, and I have demonstrated that MANY times outside this test. Granted, it’s an omission in the test, but again, we worked within the limitations presented us. The biggest limitation was not having a SINGLE car that could reach 84 miles. That doesn’t mean they can’t; they did when new on the factory floor in Japan.
I disagree that heat is a potential issue for “only a few dozen cars in very hot places”. Let’s revisit this one year from now and see who is right, ok? I predict hundreds, if not one thousand or more complaints of reduced range. You and Mr. Larsen will likely blame that on instruments, as Nissan has done, and the rest of the folks who are suffering the effects of bona fide reduced range will think differently. What the court’s will rule is anybody’s guess.
You make an assumption that I somehow am “convinced that (my) new Leaf is also deficient even though it has never been exposed to the ‘heat of Phoenix.’ ”
My LEAF, “Black782”, much like “Red244” that I owned for one year and 25,000 driving miles before it, both were able to drive 84 miles at 4 miles/kWh. We knew that information BEFORE Nissan published their referenced technical bulletin in December 2011. I drove Black782 from Mexico to Canada, and lo and behold, it did in fact hit that target range over and over, as expected. Whether you believe it, or not, Black782 drives 10% less than it did when new, 4 months ago. If you understand the chemistry used in the LEAF, you know that this is normal; it’s just not information that Nissan shared with customers when they purchased or leased the LEAF.
I took Black782 to Phoenix for it to be one of two “control” cars. There was no expectation that either my car, or the other 2012 LEAF tested, would not go 84 miles, considering they were both built in April 2012. I physically towed my car 400 miles to Phoenix, only to find out that the “measured stored energy” was only about 90% on both cars. This is before we drove either car.
You make some further assumptions that mileage varies “all over the place” in your wife’s Prius, and while I can’t comment on that, as I’ve never tested a Prius, I can tell you that the LEAF can be VERY consistent in it’s range given specified parameters. I’ll suggest, once again, that you haven’t actually tested a LEAF to generate those assumptions.
I see that you have an aviation background, as I do, so you may find some use in a “Range Chart” that I’ve compiled, much like the performance data for aircraft.
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Tony Williams
San Deigo