Volusiano said:
ERG4ALL said:
Just to balance things off a bit. We have a 2011 LEAF with over 20,000 miles and have all 12 bars of capacity still visible and we live in Phoenix, albeit in the winter. We have a summer home in the mountains where a really hot day would be 90 degrees and only for a few hours at a time. That is the main reason our battery is in such good shape.
I was asking you about this on the other thread because I was wondering how you managed to retain 12 bars so far being from Phoenix. And my suspicion was right that it's because your LEAF spends its summer time in Show Low where the temperature is much more moderate than in Phoenix due to its high elevation.
Yes, absolutely, and I posted the temperature profiles for both locations in the
other thread as well. Summers are much cooler in Show Low. Although ERG4ALL seems to think that personal driving style and good battery care were a major factor in all this, we had other owners who were as careful or did even more to protect the battery, and they still experienced capacity bar loss last summer.
DesertDenizen would come to mind here. The takeaway from this was that it's the effective long-term temperature at the place of residence, which is the overwhelming contributing factor in battery aging.
This type of debate and repeated questions about the contribution of individual charging and driving patterns to accelerated capacity loss in hot climates prompted several of us to work on a
battery aging model, which Stoaty expanded, refined and thoroughly documented in the Wiki. When you look at a
prior discussion with Jay, Stoaty's model predicts that about 70% of the capacity fade in Dallas, TX will be caused by calendar aging. This type of loss is driven by the long-term effective battery temperature and average state of charge.
Although it's just an approximation and a best guess, Nissan's comments that some owners could be abusing their battery, which is the main reason for the accelerated aging, are most likely incorrect. Yes, battery care is a contributing factor, but it's the not most important one. In fact, judging from the shared observations from many owners, this type of talk raises questions about the competence and intentions of the Nissan representatives making such remarks. Given that the company must have much better models and information, it would be very desirable to find a good way to communicate this to owners. If they so wish, individual owners could then act accordingly, and do what it takes to maximize the life of their battery.