Dropped Second Bar after 6K miles

[dsatwork]

I purchased a 2013 Nissan Leaf S in May 2015 with 24K miles and 12 bars. At about 30K miles I dropped my first bar and now at 36,740 i have dropped my second bar. Leaf Spy has my Bat STS: AHr=50.94 SOH= 77% 381.23v. I live in North County San Diego and commute 20 miles each way. Typically I'll recharge my car after lunch on an L2 charger and always charge to 100% because that's what I need to get from work to home and back to work again where I can charge my car for free. I never use economy mode because I like to drive not dilly dally around. I drive 80 miles per hour on the freeway in the carpool lane because it's fast and free. The only thing I do that would heat the battery up besides driving fast is race up a hill that's about a mile long on the way home. Also, 2 or 3 times per week I'll charge the car for an hour before lunch, so I can run some errands which will take it from 25% to 60% and then I through it on the charger and use the climate control timer so that my car will be nice and cool when I take off at 5PM in Poway, CA. This winter I was charging on the really cold nights to 80% so that my car would be nice and warm for me in the morning with the climate control timer set. Not sure I really want to change anything because what I'm currently doing could earn me a new battery before the warranty period is up, if I continue to lose a bar ever 6K miles.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Dave

 

[DiamondDan73]

I sounds to me like who ever sold you the car reset your system so it looks like you had 12 bars. Its like temporarily turning back your odometer. You would have around 63 Ahr or 100% health with a new battery. With 50 AHr and 77% health you should have 10 bars maybe even 9. You will probably loose another bar soon. Sorry...

 

[Stanton]

I sounds to me like who ever sold you the car reset your system so it looks like you had 12 bars. Its like temporarily turning back your odometer. You would have around 63 Ahr or 100% health with a new battery. With 50 AHr and 77% health you should have 10 bars maybe even 9. You will probably loose another bar soon. Sorry...

Agreed. My second bar was lost @50.26 AHr, so he's definitely in the neighborhood of 10 bars. The good news is he probably has a shot at (eventually) qualifying for the battery capacity warranty.

 

[powersurge]

He is certainly pushing the car to its limits by driving at 80 and then cycling the recharges from a low state of charge to get free charges. He sounds like he would be a good guy to "torture test" your unbreakable items...

 

[LeftieBiker]

I think it would take much less time than 6k miles implies for a BMS reset to show. I think he is heating the pack and keeping it hot. I would also bet that the build date is before 4/13.

 

[DiamondDan73]

He has a 2013. I thought only the 11-12 qualified for the replacement.

 

[abasile]

The same warranty applies with all 24 kWh batteries from all model years.

And the OP isn't doing anything wrong, aside from the minor infraction of driving 80 mph on the freeway which is nothing unusual. Although that will be more demanding on the LEAF, partly due to its somewhat poor aerodynamics, any "normal" car should be able to handle that. That said, to continue driving that LEAF as the battery degrades, the OP should be prepared to either slow down or to charge at both home and work.

This is a great example of why EVs are likely to be significantly more popular when 200+ miles of range can be had for the price of today's LEAF. With a Tesla Model 3 or a Chevy Bolt, the battery will be kept cool while cruising at the desired speed (whatever that may be) and range will not be an issue on one charge per day, for all but the most extreme commutes. With two charges per day (at work and at home), even 100+ mile one-way commutes should be do-able.