MY LEAF turned over 20,000 miles yesterday.
I’m very satisfied with my decisions more ~38 months ago to order, ~27 months ago to take delivery on a lease, and ~15 months ago to buy, my LEAF.
I seem to have been relatively immune to the range anxiety, battery degradation anxiety, resale price anxiety, and the multiple other anxieties that seem so common among many other MNL members.
My LEAF has very close to the same range it has always had, in my regular 50+mile commute, in my ~500 ~600 mile round trips to the Bay area, and on the regular test route from “100%” to ~VLBW I've been driving for ~22 months:
Use CW report from range test to determine battery capacity
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=9064" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My LEAF’s battery also seems to be accepting close to the same kWh from recharging that same ~VLBW to "100%" battery capacity, as it always has:
Collecting data:Off-the-wall power for turtle to 100% charge
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=6876&start=210" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So, while I will have no precise conclusion about what the first capacity bar loss on my LEAF actually indicates when it occurs (and I’ll probably lose it very soon, as the app now shows 56.05 AHr and 84.59 CAP) I don’t expect it will be any great blow to my LEAF experience.
If that “15%” figure from the capacity bar display (and the near-identical percentage of available kWh reported on my LEAF’s dash and nav screen m/kWh, and from my CarWings kWh use reports) exceeds the actual loss of available battery capacity my LEAF has experienced from new (as I strongly suspect) then I probably will have little problem with battery capacity, or range, for many years.
On the other hand, if I actually have experienced ~"15%" battery degradation, and since I could recently drive ~110 miles with over 6,000 feet of total ascent and descent, on a hot Summer day, before the VLBW, with that almost “15%” degraded battery:
100 Mile Club & 200 km Club & NEW 300 km Club !!!!)
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7022&start=590" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Then the “30%” capacity warranty should kick in before my own basic maximum range requirements (which are, ~60 miles at ~35 to ~50 mph, beginning with ~2000 total ft. of descent, and ending with the same ascent, at temperatures down to ~25 F) exceed my battery capacity.
And due to the relatively low post-incentive price I paid (Thanks to the Fed tax credit and Carb Rebate) while I will probably come out only a few hundred dollars behind (or less likely, ahead) by buying out my Lease, I still view the rapid price drops of The LEAF and other BEVs, as very positive developments.
The overwhelming reality of LEAF ownership for me, is that I’ve been able to reduce my gasoline use by over 90%, and my total transportation energy use by over 50%, by driving a LEAF, results far superior to what I could have received by any other vehicle, at anywhere near the same cost.
So the anxiety I formerly experienced every time I bought a gallon of gas, and every time I burned one, converting it into ~1,300 gallons of CO2 out of my tailpipe (with various trace pollutants included in the spew) is largely gone.
I’m not nearly as satisfied with Nissan’s corporate behavior as I have been with the LEAF itself, over this same period of time.
Nissan has failed to produce a coherent strategy to establish reliable DC infrastructure.
Nissan has failed to remedy, or even explain adequately, the “gauge error” which has made accurately assessing the actual loss of battery capacity of any LEAF, and which has caused such near-hysteria (if not near-panic- Oh!...The “bloodbath”!) among those who take capacity bar loss, and declining gid counts and AHr readings, far more seriously than I do.
And Nissan has failed on several occasions, most significantly in refusing to announce all the terms for battery replacement, to support LEAF owners and Lessees sufficiently.
But, while I don’t expect any corporation to exhibit human ethical standards, I do expect Nissan to pursue it’s own profit objectives, which will require it to (eventually) remedy most or of its failures on these accounts.
