NYLEAF
Well-known member
theaveng said:Yep. When I testdrove a Leaf yesterday I couldn't help noticing they advertised 96 - 110 mile range on the window. Even new that's unlikely and after just 20,000 miles the battery will have degraded to the point it's impossible. Nissan is deliberately misleading the public & breaking the law. (They should only advertise the EPA rating/range.)WetEV said:The Leaf's battery life issue is one that was known before the car was sold. The problem isn't with the car, or the battery, it is with the sales and advertising. Nissan is blowing this big time.
That 96/110 figure you saw is the EPA's "MPG-equivalent" rating for the Leaf, similar to how a gas-powered car would have MPG figures on the window sticker. That is not the EPA's range estimate for the Leaf, which is 73 miles. Even when the pack is significantly (whatever that means!) degraded, the car will still return these MPGe values.
The problem is that, before the Leaf was in customer's hands, Nissan frequently threw around the "100 miles per charge" claim, as well as all of their claims about capacity loss in 5 and 10 years. The 100 miles per charge figure was based on the L4A test cycle, which produces a range estimate that isn't all that realistic. The 2-cycle test that the 2011/2012 Leaf underwent resulted in a 73 mile range estimate, which is more realistic. The EPA now uses a 5-cycle test, which the Leaf has not get undergone. The Tesla Model S (85kWh version), for example, was rated at 265 miles on the 5-cycle test. Comparing all of these different range estimates is like comparing apples to oranges, at least until all the cars are being given the same test!