I'm Done

[hauss316]

I have tried to love my leaf but with issues with range (maybe 50 miles on a full charge in wonderful sunny hot florida) I am done. I figured with nissan telling me 100 miles when I leased and the EPA saying 73 I would be solid. I have yet to hit either estimate with my leaf. I leased it due to not knowing what the future would have in a few years (better batteries, better range, cost savings, etc). I cant keep this car due to my work being 25 miles one way. I have dared to drive it twice to work but I was in turtle mode by the time i pulled down my street in feb of this year when its nice outside with no AC. Now that its 90 degrees + outside, there is no way ill be able to make it home with the AC on.

Before everyone says that I don't drive properly, when i drive i get about 4.7 to 5.2 Kwh on my display and always drive in eco mode.

I need a car that I can rely on to get to work and having the leaf just sit here as a grocery store/small errand vehicle is killing me.

Anyone had success of getting out of their leases? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. As always, Nissan told me that this is normal operating parameters.

 

[Stoaty]

Has your Leaf lost any capacity bars? If so, did it come with lost capacity bars, or did the loss occur after you leased?

 

[scottf200]

Florida lemon law perhaps as that seems to be the route Nissan is respecting with a 'forumula'.

Florida's basic criteria mentioend this thread
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=9694" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



http://www.torquenews.com/1075/nissan-buys-back-two-leafs-under-arizona-lemon-law" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the interest of customer satisfaction, Nissan has recently repurchased two customer vehicles as a good will gesture. The company’s investigation has determined that there is no defect with the Nissan LEAF, but we did use a buyback formula modeled on an Arizona state repurchase law, given its established criteria. The Arizona state repurchase law was only used for formula guidance in determining appropriate terms and conditions of the repurchase, including calculation of the repurchase amount.”

 

[EVDrive]

Your experience sounds off the mark in some way. I just went 75 miles again with my car on one charge yesterday and i'm 20,600 miles into ownership. I go that far often. Either your car is messed up or you are confused. I drive 50 miles each way to work and if I drive 55- 60 mph I always arrive with 4 bars left.

Are you doing anything silly like only charging to 80%? If so, then that is your problem.

Edit: I charge to 100%, drive 50 miles, arrive at work with 4 bars left then charge to 100% again. I don't drive 100 miles and still have four bars, that is impossible with the g1 Leaf.

 

[hauss316]

I charge to 100% and I have not lost any capacity bars whatsoever it's pretty much been like this since day one. I assumed that the range would've gotten better once the battery Or engine broke in but at 8500 miles I'm still dealing with the same issues.

 

[BrainDonor]

I charge to 100% and I have not lost any capacity bars whatsoever it's pretty much been like this since day one. I assumed that the range would've gotten better once the battery Or engine broke in but at 8500 miles I'm still dealing with the same issues.

It would be interesting to get a GID measurement for your battery. Could just be a problem with the battery if this is the range you're getting from day one. Do you keep the battery at 100% charge for hours at a time?

We live in Palm Beach Co. and have no problems whatsoever with range. Over 12,000 miles in 10 months. We charge to 100% during weekdays (with end timer set for 8am) and 80% on weekends (with end timer set for 10am). Works out real well. We love our LEAF.

 

[thankyouOB]

your experience and data do not jibe with my 17-month experience on the same commute.
i charge to 80%
drive 50 miles roundtrip to work
get home with two bars left
I drive 80% on freeways but dont drive more than 60-65 except for very short distances.
that said, 20% of my drive is on streets and often the freeway is so clogged i can only go an average 30-40 mph.

i see from your miles/kwh that you are doing very very well. that is a bit higher than my better trip stats. I use AC running at 66-68 degrees but our temperatures outside are not as hit as yours.
i dont get it. you cant be using that much power to run AC.

 

[JohnnySebring]

It's your driving style, not your car!

 

[BrainDonor]

Hauss, I see from your earlier posts that you were planning on getting a 2011 SL demo with 1500 miles on it. Is that what you got? If so, then that could be your problem - car probably stayed charged at 100% for a long time while it was used for demos.

 

[Clippy]

I have tried to love my leaf but with issues with range (maybe 50 miles on a full charge in wonderful sunny hot florida) I am done. I figured with nissan telling me 100 miles when I leased and the EPA saying 73 I would be solid. I have yet to hit either estimate with my leaf. I leased it due to not knowing what the future would have in a few years (better batteries, better range, cost savings, etc). I cant keep this car due to my work being 25 miles one way. I have dared to drive it twice to work but I was in turtle mode by the time i pulled down my street in feb of this year when its nice outside with no AC. Now that its 90 degrees + outside, there is no way ill be able to make it home with the AC on.

Before everyone says that I don't drive properly, when i drive i get about 4.7 to 5.2 Kwh on my display and always drive in eco mode.

I need a car that I can rely on to get to work and having the leaf just sit here as a grocery store/small errand vehicle is killing me.

Anyone had success of getting out of their leases? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. As always, Nissan told me that this is normal operating parameters.

Your experience is very similar to mine.

The reaction of others to what should be seen as a normal, logical action on your part is also very similar to the one I received several months ago (Except I'm a "liar" and "obtuse."). I found this reaction surprisingly similar to the reactions I received from Apple fans when I announced that a MacBook Air might not be the ideal machine for playing large media files, unless of course you need to toast marshmallows or start a forest fire. It's always, "You're doing it wrong." Never once could the possibility enter their head that the car might just not work right for some (read virtually everyone) people. Just tell them to go measure a gid.

Fanatics are just that. When your nose is butt up against the bark, the forest is a long way off.

I'd present my case to Nissan directly. Tell them the car doesn't work and you'd like another. Lots and lots of nice lease deals out there right now including some Infiniti models.

 

[surfingslovak]

Fanatics are just that. When your nose is butt up against the bark, the forest is a long way off.

I'd present my case to Nissan directly. Tell them the car doesn't work and you'd like another. Lots and lots of nice lease deals out there right now including some Infiniti models.

Thank you for coming back to the forum, love the sense of humor in your posts. I must say that the ongoing struggles with both EVs I drove this year made me come around and understand your point of view. I'm starting to question if some of the zealots are doing more harm than good. If you oversell a car, and it does not live up to the expectations, the affected owner might try to avoid anything with a plug or a traction battery for a while. It does not help when you are being called obtuse, or worse.

To the OP: have you tried to compute the usable battery capacity? Sorry for restating the obvious, but I would reset the trip meter and the energy economy gauge after a full charge, drive to the very low battery warning or perhaps even turtle, and divide the miles driven by the energy economy figure.

 

[Stoaty]

I have tried to love my leaf but with issues with range (maybe 50 miles on a full charge in wonderful sunny hot florida) I am done. I figured with nissan telling me 100 miles when I leased and the EPA saying 73 I would be solid. I have yet to hit either estimate with my leaf. I leased it due to not knowing what the future would have in a few years (better batteries, better range, cost savings, etc). I cant keep this car due to my work being 25 miles one way. I have dared to drive it twice to work but I was in turtle mode by the time i pulled down my street in feb of this year when its nice outside with no AC. Now that its 90 degrees + outside, there is no way ill be able to make it home with the AC on.

Before everyone says that I don't drive properly, when i drive i get about 4.7 to 5.2 Kwh on my display and always drive in eco mode.

If you are getting 50 miles to turtle mode (or close to it) and are averaging around 5 miles per kwh, that suggests your pack can only deliver 10 kwh of energy. With a new Leaf generally considered to have about 21 kwh of usable energy, something is way off. Not wanting to sound condescending, but are you absolutely positive that you started those two commutes with all 12 fuel bars showing? I ask because I have occasionally made an error with the timer and come out to find that my car did not charge. If I had not noticed that and driven to work, I would have thought there was something wrong with my battery. I would call Nissan and get a case number; this needs to be escalated beyond the dealer level.

 

[thankyouOB]

what Stoaty said, particularly if your miles/kwh are that high.
you should be getting 6-7 miles per power bar.

 

[GerryAZ]

To the OP:

If you started those trips with a full 100% charge, something is definitely wrong with your car. I have 15,500 miles on mine with 2 capacity bars missing and I drive between 55 and 65 miles every charge with air conditioning running cold. About 48 to 50 of those miles are in the carpool lane at typical Phoenix freeway speeds (I refuse to be someone slowing down the carpool lane and giving EV's a black eye). My typical dash mi/kWh average ranges from 3.9 to 4.1 with actual wall-to-wheels of between 3.3 and 3.4 mi/kWh. Charging from turtle or shutdown typically requires 20 kWh now. My typical daily driving requires between 18 and 19 kWh.

Gerry

 

[Clippy]

Post deleted by author because it was silly, off-topic and silly.

 

[DaveEV]

If you started those trips with a full 100% charge, something is definitely wrong with your car.

+1. Even at 4.0 mi/kWh you should be able to do 50 mi easy before LBW if you have all 12 bars showing. Something is wrong with the car...

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Our Leaf makes a 50 mild RT work commute 5 days a week in the FL heat with the A/C running. It has plenty of range to spare when it returns home, 18-23 miles showing on the GOM. Probably 30 miles of that is on the Sawgrass at highway speeds, albeit a conservative 60-65mph, and the rest on surface streets.

Surprising to hear 50 miles is a struggle. Is that all highway?

 

[Boomer23]

Post deleted by author because it was silly, off-topic and silly.

Silly, silly Clippy.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Could the OP please beg, borrow, or steal a Gidmeter and report the full charge reading? This will save us a lot of guessing.

 

[EVDRIVER]

I charge to 100% and I have not lost any capacity bars whatsoever it's pretty much been like this since day one. I assumed that the range would've gotten better once the battery Or engine broke in but at 8500 miles I'm still dealing with the same issues.

4.7 X 21 kwh= 98.7 miles. Even 3.0 X 21 is 63 miles. Your numbers do not add up. Based on your comments you have a bad pack or are doing something wrong, I drive my car really hard and never get range as poor as yours.