Project: Destroy my Battery

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eatsleafsandshoots

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
105
Location
Denver, CO
I just got a '17 S at a great price, and one the main reasons I did was because of the great warranty on the 30kWh packs.

From what I understand, these packs aren't really degrading any less fast than the old packs, though some '17s seem to be holding up better than '16s. And since they've got a great warranty anyways... why not just try to beat the **** out of this thing and see if I can get a new battery before my 8 years is up? Or two? I L2 regularly and live in a high elevation environment, so I put a bit of stress on the thing.

Any downsides to my plan? I used to have a '13 SV that I babied, but why bother when the warranty is the way it is now?
 
You're basically giving the people who complain about 'battery destroyers' someone to point at. It's one thing to give a push to a pack that's already failing, but to buy a car with that intention seems less than ethical. There are plenty of worse things to do, of course...
 
I don't mean to imply I'm going to intentionally damage it! I just want to drive it constantly - I love to drive, and I live awhile aways from work so I can put SERIOUS mileage on with QC at work and L2 at home.
 
eatsleafsandshoots said:
I don't mean to imply I'm going to intentionally damage it! I just want to drive it constantly - I love to drive, and I live awhile aways from work so I can put SERIOUS mileage on with QC at work and L2 at home.

In that case you may want to edit the title. ;-)
 
One obvious downside to your plan is that you will have to live with a degraded battery until it reaches the replacement threshold.
And you always risk warranty expiration before the battery is 'ready' for replacement.

It seems clear that Nissan engineers these packs to last until the warranty expires for most owners.
Unless you live in a hot climate, you are gambling.
Frequent QC may put you outside the owner group that Nissan thinks they have covered, but I don't know that with any confidence.

Fwiw, I personally would not act in the way you suggest.
Drive the car
Enjoy the car
Do not abuse the car

'Babying' is somewhat in the eye of the beholder but I suggest just being reasonable
E.g., avoid QC to levels beyond what you need
Walk a small distance for shade
If you can avoid stressing the battery from heat while continuing to enjoy the car, give the battery a break

At my home we have one good spot for shade that the LEAF owns, and our Prius Prime takes the more sunny spot. That sort of thing.
 
Volt drivers never have to worry about any of this nonsense,

Just drive the car how you need to, to get where you gotta go
 
If your going to do this do it right and document it then share the info....thing is, this is a well thought out car so you may wind up beating only yourself as the car just keeps on....then comes the irony when it just won't die so you buy another!
 
I live up on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, house is above 8000ft. I have a 2013 Leaf, no awesome warranty. And I have essentially been doing what you're planning.

I try to accelerate as fast as possible. Highway speeds in the area have posted limits of 75mph, traffic flows at 85mph and higher. In the Prius, 100mph-110mph speeds are common, and I am still getting passed. The Leaf is limited to 94mph or something, but I have kept it there which is long distance high current discharge of the pack. I charge with L1 everywhere which is worse the battery as it spends more time charging, and that is one factor in oxidation. I drive with sticky winter tires, all year long. Sometimes it snows in June, sometimes it snows in August. So it is not worth it to switch back and forth. I park it outside 100% of the time. The luxury and collector cars occupy the garages. It gets beaten down on with the sun (we get 100F+ days) and it freezes to where the battery warmers kick on (we get to -40F too, note the minus). It has sat for 2+ months at 100% charge on our East-Asia/India trip. It charges to 100% always. If it is not being driven, it is plugged in charging, no timers or any of that crap. I get home, it plugs in. If it charges to 100% by 12am, it sits at 100% until it gets driven next which may be days later after a weekend trip.

This Leaf is treated like crap. It is used and abused. There is no babying.

Last I checked in April, there was 23K miles on the odometer. It charges to 100%, all bars remaining. GOM still shows 90miles on a full charge. Real world mileage has been pretty constant but it does vary greatly with our climate and terrain. But if I drive the same way on a day that is about the same as another, it uses about the same %-of the battery as it did when it was new.
 
2k1Toaster said:
I live up on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, house is above 8000ft. I have a 2013 Leaf, no awesome warranty. And I have essentially been doing what you're planning.

I try to accelerate as fast as possible. Highway speeds in the area have posted limits of 75mph, traffic flows at 85mph and higher. In the Prius, 100mph-110mph speeds are common, and I am still getting passed. The Leaf is limited to 94mph or something, but I have kept it there which is long distance high current discharge of the pack. I charge with L1 everywhere which is worse the battery as it spends more time charging, and that is one factor in oxidation. I drive with sticky winter tires, all year long. Sometimes it snows in June, sometimes it snows in August. So it is not worth it to switch back and forth. I park it outside 100% of the time. The luxury and collector cars occupy the garages. It gets beaten down on with the sun (we get 100F+ days) and it freezes to where the battery warmers kick on (we get to -40F too, note the minus). It has sat for 2+ months at 100% charge on our East-Asia/India trip. It charges to 100% always. If it is not being driven, it is plugged in charging, no timers or any of that crap. I get home, it plugs in. If it charges to 100% by 12am, it sits at 100% until it gets driven next which may be days later after a weekend trip.

This Leaf is treated like crap. It is used and abused. There is no babying.

Last I checked in April, there was 23K miles on the odometer. It charges to 100%, all bars remaining. GOM still shows 90miles on a full charge. Real world mileage has been pretty constant but it does vary greatly with our climate and terrain. But if I drive the same way on a day that is about the same as another, it uses about the same %-of the battery as it did when it was new.

See, this is just what I wanted to hear! I'm OK with not getting a new battery if it means my original one still meets my needs. I"m only at 6,600 feet and I like to keep it to 70-75 on the freeway, but otherwise I'd like to treat my Leaf like yours. Sounds like it just might work - a moving EV is one that's saving its owner money!
 
I once had a work buddy who proudly described how every year he would buy a power washer on Friday, wash his house and stuff all weekend long, and then return it on Monday, saying it didn't work right.... So he would wash his house every year for free.... And who would pay for that?? US.... The consumer.

You guys who are proudly shooting your mouths about PLANNING to abuse your cars and the hope to get free rewards in the future fall into the neighborhood of low life consumers.... I hate them and am repulsed by them. You can't backpedal and say, "oh.. I just want to use the car normally".

I hope Nissan has some spies on this site that can identify yooz..
 
powersurge said:
I once had a work buddy who proudly described how every year he would buy a power washer on Friday, wash his house and stuff all weekend long, and then return it on Monday, saying it didn't work right.... So he would wash his house every year for free.... And who would pay for that?? US.... The consumer.

You guys who are proudly shooting your mouths about PLANNING to abuse your cars and the hope to get free rewards in the future fall into the neighborhood of low life consumers.... I hate them and am repulsed by them. You can't backpedal and say, "oh.. I just want to use the car normally".

I hope Nissan has some spies on this site that can identify yooz..

How is me planning to use my car a lot like making an unwarranted return? QCing all the time, charging while hot, keeping the car @ 70mph on steep Colorado inclines, keeping the battery at 100%, etc. isn't abuse or else there would be warranty conditions around it.

Now, if I owned a paint baking oven and wanted to go through the hassle of a battery replacement out of some misplaced sense of masochism, you might have a point!
 
eatsleafsandshoots said:
why not just try to beat the **** out of this thing and see if I can get a new battery before my 8 years is up? Or two?

Sorry, I find this type of behavior unethical. You surely have something better to do, no? I know people on this board struggled with batteries on early models in hot climates, but to start off with a new car hoping you can purposefully break it and get it fixed under warranty is certainly bad kharma.

I used to work with an idiot that purposefully abused his $200 Air Jordan's and got them replaced under warranty once a year, just because he could get away with it. Nike didn't figure it out but he did get busted for timeclock fraud and HR marched him out while we all watched. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
 
powersurge said:
You guys who are proudly shooting your mouths about PLANNING to abuse your cars and the hope to get free rewards in the future fall into the neighborhood of low life consumers.... I hate them and am repulsed by them.

Amen. I hope Nissan figures it out and won't fix your car.
 
LOL, you people are ridiculous. You hope Nissan figures what out? That I used QC a lot and tried to put as many spirited miles on my car as I can?

Warranties cover manufacturer defects, geniuses. Products that are "intentionally abused" aren't covered by a warranty - by definition, if Mr. Air Jordans got his shoes replaced under warranty, Nike agreed that the product had a defect. Good lord.

Is all this anger because of the pent-up rage at having to baby your batteries?
 
On the other hand, the holy-grail of EV is "the highest mileage with the lowest battery degradation".
Is there a thread for this "search of the holy-grail"? it will be good. :p
 
If Nissan knew how to build a battery that didn't require constant warranty replacement, we wouldn't be having this discussion! Luckily they've discovered that they don't and are giving up on making their own.
 
powersurge said:
I once had a work buddy who proudly described how every year he would buy a power washer on Friday, wash his house and stuff all weekend long, and then return it on Monday, saying it didn't work right.... So he would wash his house every year for free.... And who would pay for that?? US.... The consumer.

You guys who are proudly shooting your mouths about PLANNING to abuse your cars and the hope to get free rewards in the future fall into the neighborhood of low life consumers.... I hate them and am repulsed by them. You can't backpedal and say, "oh.. I just want to use the car normally".

I hope Nissan has some spies on this site that can identify yooz..

As much as I cringe at OP's plans, it's not to the same level of shame that your work-buddy's at. As a counter-point though, the loss to the manufacturer isn't that great either. They'd refurbish the thing, and then resell it for under retail. Frankly this is just the nature of the consumer-driven economy we live in. Maybe the retailer should have a no-refunds-only-exchanges policy? Not gonna happen, I know, but these are the cracks/inefficiencies in the system and nature is taking advantage of it. Morally bankrupt though.
 
I think a lot of the flak is over the word "destroy" in the title. "Stress-test my battery" would be a more balanced title.

Cheers, Wayne
 
One needs to be careful what one wishes for... Sometimes wishes are granted but in unexpected ways...
 
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