Some Leaf Owners Experience Early Capacity Loss

[surfingslovak]

Who knows? perhaps places like Texas will be O.K. They don't seem to be at the 15%/year rate, anyway...

I am curious if the bar drop from the Arizona people will start hitting the Texas people soon. We had a crueling summer last year with a record # of days of over 100 degree weather. In Dallas it was 70 days with a 39 day consecutive streak. Other parts of Texas had more 100 degree days. While it is not as bad compared to Arizona, it was definitely way hotter than normal. If it truely was the heat, you may start seeing Texas people reporting a loss of battery capacity...only time will tell.

We have one Austin owner reporting projected 10% capacity loss from a 256 Gid reading on a full charge. From what I can tell, no reports of missing capacity bars in Texas.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

We have one Austin owner reporting projected 10% capacity loss from a 256 Gid reading on a full charge. From what I can tell, no reports of missing capacity bars in Texas.

I guess people in DFW have to start measure GID but to my knowledge no meters there

 

[RegGuheert]

We have one Austin owner reporting projected 10% capacity loss from a 256 Gid reading on a full charge. From what I can tell, no reports of missing capacity bars in Texas.

O.K. Thanks! I had missed that.

Once we get more meters out there it would be great to have some standard way to compare (like GIDs at 80% charge at one year, 2 years, etc.) so that we could plot our experiences on a map!

 

[EdmondLeaf]

I sent email to mckemie to get more details about his summer parking habits. In his area there was all time record high temp July till Sep 2011

 

[LEAFfan]

I did a full charge yesterday and after rubbing the tears from eyes, I came to terms that i may not ever be able to drive the car again, 130+ miles...
PhX Az where it was 112 today in the shade :shock:

Mark, you will still be able to do 130+ miles. I did 151 miles (could of done 170) with a 10-12% battery capacity loss and still had 4.6% left on the SG (1.4% is Turtle).
Official temp yesterday was 108 at Sky Harbor.

 

[Herm]

I guess Leaf does not care its a dry heat

How expensive is water in Phoenix?.. you could rig up a water misting system under the car.

 

[Stoaty]

Once we get more meters out there it would be great to have some standard way to compare (like GIDs at 80% charge at one year, 2 years, etc.) so that we could plot our experiences on a map!

Here is my data point:

September, 2011 (when I got Gid meter): Gids at 80% charge - 224 (79.7%)
May 22, 2011: Gids at 80% charge - 221 (78.6%) (but haven't charged to 100% for about 3 months so battery may be slightly out of balance)

Usage pattern: in cool parking garage 4 miles from coast almost all of the time except for about 40 hours per week when it is parked in the sun in San Fernando Valley (L.A.). Charged to 80% 4 mornings per week, run down to about 38% (at 60% during mid-day when hot in summer). Only charged to 100% about 10 times, always immediately before 50 mile drive. No L3 charging port.

Conclusion: I have lost about 1% over 8-9 months of use. Only exposure to high temperatures is a few months in summer when temp may get to 103-105 on some occasions, but at those times SOC is about 60%.

 

[shrink]

Conclusion: I have lost about 1% over 8-9 months of use.

I'd certainly call that gradual.

 

[mwalsh]

I got some data points from when I first got the Gidometer too:

8/7/11 97.5 / 274
8/11/11 94.5 / ???
8/22/11 99.6 / 280

10/3/11 99.2 / 279
10/4/11 91.8 / 258
10/5/11 100 / 281
10/10/11 100 / 281
10/26/11 93.9 / ???

5/20/12 92.8 / 261
5/21/12 91.8 / 258
5/22/12 90.3 / 254 / 393v

The lowest SOC reading I've had in the last couple of weeks was like 87.x

Currently sitting at work after 30.5 miles with 59.4% / 167 Gids / 378v / 56 miles left on GOM

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Well Nissan has a cold weather packagemaybe its time to intro the hot weather package?

 

[Herm]

I'd certainly call that gradual.

You call that slow, the drop could have happened in the first hour Stoaty owned the car. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about what gradual means.. lawyers will have a lot of fun with it.

 

[Stoaty]

You call that slow, the drop could have happened in the first hour Stoaty owned the car.

No, it didn't happen then, because the first 5-6 months I had the Gid Meter I always got about 224 from an 80% charge (values included 223, 224, 225, with 224 being both the median and the mode). Some time over the last couple of months it started dropping a bit. I would call the change both slow and gradual (but I do have the advantage of seeing readings 4 days a week).

 

[shrink]

I would call the change both slow and gradual.

and it's not a loss that is alarming or cause for concern. The "gradual" loss of 15% in a year certainly is admitedly debatable, but it has also generated some genuine concern.

 

[smkettner]

Well Nissan has a cold weather packagemaybe its time to intro the hot weather package?

I agree as long as it is optional. I am happy I did not pay for the cold weather package either.

 

[mwalsh]

Well Nissan has a cold weather packagemaybe its time to intro the hot weather package?

I agree as long as it is optional. I am happy I did not pay for the cold weather package either.

But I don't believe we've had a 100+ degree day in central/coastal OC for a couple of years now. Perhaps a positive benefit of climate change (for us at least)? I wonder if we collectively might feel differently if consistently blistering hot summer days were continuously forthcoming?

 

[EdmondLeaf]

But I don't believe we've had a 100+ degree day in central/coastal OC for a couple of years now. Perhaps a positive benefit of climate change (for us at least)? I wonder if we collectively might feel differently if consistently blistering hot summer days were continuously forthcoming?

Michael looks like your drop happened in Oct, sure can be still caused by summer heat but delay is puzzling. Why at work are you parking in direct sun or shade?

 

[mwalsh]

Michael looks like your drop happened in Oct, sure can be still caused by summer heat but delay is puzzling. Why at work are you parking in direct sun or shade?

My car is always parked outside. But I work pretty close to the ocean, so it rarely gets above 80 degrees during summer. On non-work days at home it has (of late anyway) not been any warmer than the mid-90s during the summer and I hardly ever charge above 80% on days off anymore.

This last couple of weeks it's been sorta warm. But for one of those weeks my car was in a parking garage the entire time, again by the coast.

 

[mark13]

Leaffan my cheap little weather station on the roof said 112 in Surprise AZ

I did a full charge yesterday and after rubbing the tears from eyes, I came to terms that i may not ever be able to drive the car again, 130+ miles...
PhX Az where it was 112 today in the shade :shock:

Mark, you will still be able to do 130+ miles. I did 151 miles (could of done 170) with a 10-12% battery capacity loss and still had 4.6% left on the SG (1.4% is Turtle).
Official temp yesterday was 108 at Sky Harbor.

 

[Herm]

You call that slow, the drop could have happened in the first hour Stoaty owned the car.

No, it didn't happen then, because the first 5-6 months I had the Gid Meter I always got about 224 from an 80% charge (values included 223, 224, 225, with 224 being both the median and the mode). Some time over the last couple of months it started dropping a bit. I would call the change both slow and gradual (but I do have the advantage of seeing readings 4 days a week).

I just used your case as a logic example.. regarding your GIDs at 80% charge:

Lets say you have a 5 gallon paint bucket, someone slices off the top two inches of the bucket.. that damaged bucket will still hold 3 gallons of water and the water line still remains 13" above the bottom of the bucket (same as the original bucket), yet it wont hold 5 gallons as it did before.

 

[RegGuheert]

I just used your case as a logic example.. regarding your GIDs at 80% charge:

Lets say you have a 5 gallon paint bucket, someone slices off the top two inches of the bucket.. that damaged bucket will still hold 3 gallons of water and the water line still remains 13" above the bottom of the bucket (same as the original bucket), yet it wont hold 5 gallons as it did before.

But if the Nissan LEAF ran on water and had this bucket inside, it might count water drops for GiDs. When the LEAF was new, it would calculate that it takes 281 GiDs to fill the bucket to one inch below the lip and it would define this point as 94% SoC. It would then fill the bucket to 237 GiDs when an 80% charge was requested.

But after the vandals (thugs from a gang known as "The Arizona Heat") came along and cut off the top two inches of your bucket, the LEAF would notice that it could only place, say, 250 GiDs in the bucket before it got one inch from the top. It would then redefine that as the new 94% point and future charges to 80% would result in proportionally fewer GiDs than the 237 seen previously. Perhaps 211 GiDs.

That's my current understanding, anyway!