Well, your battery practices probably were an "outlier", azdre, so I don't think you can reach those conclusions.
="azdre"
...
* We always charge to 100% (we drive it a lot, 17,000 miles in 14 months of driving).
* We do 'top it off' a lot. That's the one item we got 4/5 stars on the battery check in March 2012.
* The car sat at 100% for a month in May, 2011, not plugged in...
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8802&start=20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I don't particularly like having to post this in response to your comments, as you are one of the few hot-climate LEAF drivers who experienced multiple bar loss who has acknowledged anything less than optimal battery care, and I think we all should appreciate your candor.
But since we do not know how the various battery maintenance practices effect capacity loss, it is premature to consider your experience typical, unless your battery practices were typical.
And as I have mentioned before, IMO it is quite likely that leaving a LEAF at a very high SOC in (presumably) very high ambient temperatures for a month, along with your LEAF's other conditions of use, were factors in your loss of capacity bars, which in fact was
not typical of the experiences of all Arizona LEAFs.