Returned my leaf after 36 months and 30k miles

[fromport]

With mixed feelings I have returned my Leaf to the dealer/lease company.
It was a great experience in the beginning (multiple trips of 100+ miles)
and pure range anxiety the last year.

After 16k miles, I replaced the original tires with michelin MXV that a lot of people were talking very optimistic about. Wrong choice. My efficiency was gone (till then I was always rated platinum @ carwings).

The reduction of the battery pack has gone way faster than expected.
This is the output of the leafspy program.

I was glad I could drive 50-55 miles the last few months on a full charge.
Hx of 66% is surprisingly accurate it seems.

The other thing that bothers me is the paid option of a QC port that I never got to use.
There simply wasn't one available in my driving range, till a week before I turned it in.
If Nissan would have provided (paid) QC ports at all their dealerships, they could have stayed ahead of even tesla by making long range travel (more) possible.

I have made the switch to rav4ev. I like a lot of things about it. Today did a 90+ miles travel without having to recharge (about 18 miles left in the battery that was charged overnight to 80% according to the dashboard). It's great not to have to worry about being able to make it or not.
I sometimes miss the "electric blanket" feeling that the leaf had (more comfortable seats, more direct contact with the road). The weight difference is less than I imagined: 4030 (rav4ev) vs 3354 (2011 leaf) = 676 lbs "only"

The total lack of any feedback after multiple complaints to my dealer and obvious lack of official nissan response here in the forum decided to not go for a leaf again.

I am hooked to electric driving and will visit this forum to keep up to date on a lot of things.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

 

[cwerdna]

Thanks! What area are you located in? How many capacity bars did you lose?

 

[patrick0101]

Hx of 66% is surprisingly accurate it seems.

What is Hx? And accurate compared to what metric?

 

[Valdemar]

I'm at 78% SOH at 54k miles and while 70 miles occur below VLBW it is still totally doable at 4.3 m/kWh. But I'm on my second set of Ecopias. What was your energy economy?

Btw, I finally got Leaf Spy installed. Can someone please clarify what Hx reading represents?

 

[TimLee]

Thanks! What area are you located in? How many capacity bars did you lose?

Danny
Camarillo - Ventura
Organic Beekeeper

 

[fromport]

Thanks! What area are you located in? How many capacity bars did you lose?

southern california, lost 1 bar at roughly 25k miles

 

[fromport]

Hx of 66% is surprisingly accurate it seems.

What is Hx? And accurate compared to what metric?

According to http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/?title=Leaf_Battery_Application#Screen_1

Battery health - measure of increasing internal resistance.

 

[fromport]

I'm at 78% SOH at 54k miles and while 70 miles occur below VLBW it is still totally doable at 4.3 m/kWh. But I'm on my second set of Ecopias. What was your energy economy?

Btw, I finally got Leaf Spy installed. Can someone please clarify what Hx reading represents?

See other response for the Hx remark

With the Michelins I was able to get about 4.2 miles/kWh maximum.

I saved the "old" ecopias and put them back on when I returned the car.
The last 4 days I averaged about 4.9 miles/kWh with those tires and I really didn't even try to be very economical to be honest.

I exchanged the tires on the 29th:

 

[Valdemar]

OK, but what does it mean for day to day driving? It's not the % of remaining capacity relative to new which is what SOH is as far as I understand.

 

[fromport]

OK, but what does it mean for day to day driving? It's not the % of remaining capacity relative to new which is what SOH is as far as I understand.

Every morning after 100% charge, the GOM would suggest I could do 82 miles.
If I really drove very economic, i could 55 miles before low battery warning.

 

[stanley]

I had a similar experience. I returned my Leaf after 34,000 miles and similar range reduction. I leased a new S model and now get over 90 miles. I believe it is a combination of a new and improved battery and warmer weather. I live in San diego

 

[fromport]

I had a similar experience. I returned my Leaf after 34,000 miles and similar range reduction. I leased a new S model and now get over 90 miles. I believe it is a combination of a new and improved battery and warmer weather. I live in San diego

I would love a model X when the rav4ev lease is over. But I can probably not afford it ;-)

I went from 36x $490/month for 12k miles per year for leaf lease to 35x $509/month unlimited miles for the rav4
I think the cooled battery of Tesla is key in warm environments like socal.

 

[smkettner]

Welcome to the RAV4-EV club

 

[fromport]

Welcome to the RAV4-EV club

I contacted a few dealers, and all the rav4's they have coming are already spoken for.

My local dealer had a blue one on stock, but I wanted silver. That was the only one Dianne from Carson had on stock so went and bought it, even though there was some overlap in lease with the leaf. Once I had them parallel for a few days I turned in the leaf early. The limited range is really depressing.
I don't have a fixed route to work. really depending on where/when the people call me (live bee removal) . The leaf was almost unworkable.
Every Time I got back from a ride had to hook it up and gain some charge for the next ride.
What a relief with a bigger battery capacity.

 

[Valdemar]

80 mile EV is generally a bad idea for someone with random commute patterns given current QC infrastructure. Sounds like the Leaf was a poor choice to begin with. Hopefully the RAV will work better for you.

My GOM reading on a full charge is very close to what I can actually get out of the car.

 

[mwalsh]

I had a similar experience. I returned my Leaf after 34,000 miles and similar range reduction. I leased a new S model and now get over 90 miles. I believe it is a combination of a new and improved battery and warmer weather. I live in San diego

I would love a model X when the rav4ev lease is over. But I can probably not afford it ;-)
.

Pretty sure the OP means a LEAF S.

 

[TimLee]

I had a similar experience. I returned my Leaf after 34,000 miles and similar range reduction. I leased a new LEAF S model and now get over 90 miles. I believe it is a combination of a new and improved battery and warmer weather. I live in San diego

What new and improved battery :?:
Most of the MNL discussion indicates 2013 and 2014 LEAF battery had only minor chemistry changes :?:
Bit early to be certain of the capacity degradation rate at around 16 months as most people don't observe significant impacts till 1 1/2 to 2 years.

 

[fromport]

I had a similar experience. I returned my Leaf after 34,000 miles and similar range reduction. I leased a new S model and now get over 90 miles. I believe it is a combination of a new and improved battery and warmer weather. I live in San diego

I would love a model X when the rav4ev lease is over. But I can probably not afford it ;-)
.

Pretty sure the OP means a LEAF S.

Oh, I am sorry. When I had to choose there was only a SL or SV choice.
That is why I assumed it would be a tesla, but then a 90 miles range seemed low.
Sorry again

 

[fromport]

80 mile EV is generally a bad idea for someone with random commute patterns given current QC infrastructure. Sounds like the Leaf was a poor choice to begin with. Hopefully the RAV will work better for you.
My GOM reading on a full charge is very close to what I can actually get out of the car.

I didn't have much choice in 2011.
And I opted for the QC plug, but could not image Nissan would wait 35+ months before one became available within my driving range :-(

 

[Valdemar]

80 mile EV is generally a bad idea for someone with random commute patterns given current QC infrastructure. Sounds like the Leaf was a poor choice to begin with. Hopefully the RAV will work better for you.
My GOM reading on a full charge is very close to what I can actually get out of the car.

I didn't have much choice in 2011.
And I opted for the QC plug, but could not image Nissan would wait 35+ months before one became available within my driving range :-(

This is a good example of how important individual's circumstances are when making a decision to buy an EV. I'm pretty much in the same camp as you wrt capacity loss/range but have a very predictable commute. There are now at least 3 convenient QC locations on my way home along 101, not to mention L2 at work which is expensive at $2/hr but it is there when I need it. So having a QC port proved to be very useful. I had the urge to dump my Leaf multiple times, but it will continue to work acceptably well for my 60-70 mile commute another 2-3 years at least, so I see no need for another financial commitment at this point.