Brakes - 2012 Leaf

[WyrTwister]

32,000 miles

Bought the Leaf about a month ago .

Replaced the tires with the same Bridgestone Ecopia LRR tires .

While the tire shop was changing them , I checked the front rotors . No noticeable wear ridge at the outside edge of the disk .

( Did not check the rear rotors . )

I have read that there usually is less break wear on a Leaf , since the regenerative braking does a lot of the job .

Sounds like a win / win situation .

God bless
Wyr

[RegGuheert]

I have read that there usually is less break wear on a Leaf , since the regenerative braking does a lot of the job .

Sounds like a win / win situation .

It absolutely is a win/win!

OTOH, our MY2011 LEAF with 36,000 miles has very little regenerative braking anymore in the wintertime, so we end up having to use the brakes on the mountain we frequently cross. This both wears out the brakes and reduces the already-low wintertime range.

By way of comparison, our MY2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with 105,000 miles (also on its original brake pads) still gives full regen of 10 kW on the mountain, even in the wintertime.

[WyrTwister]

What is wrong with the regenerative braking on your Leaf ?

Ours is a 2012 - 32,000 + miles on the clock .

God bless
Wyr

[RegGuheert]

What is wrong with the regenerative braking on your Leaf ?

Like all MY2011/2012 LEAFs which received the P3227 update to the BMS software, the regeneration is severely limited in cold weather for all but the newest batteries. You can read about this issue in the P3227 thread. (The discussion of regeneration does not start until some time into that thread.)

In wintertime I find that I do not get full regeneration until the battery is almost fully discharged. If it is extremely cold, I do not think full regeneration is allowed at ANY SOC.

People who have had their battery replaced under warranty have reported that their regeneration returned with the battery replacement.

[WyrTwister]

Hmmmmmmm .......

Most of that went over my head .

God bless
Wyr

[GerryAZ]

Battery internal resistance increases as battery deteriorates and LEAF's battery management system limits maximum cell voltage so the amount of regeneration is limited (especially when the battery is cold). The P3227 software update for 2011 and 2012 models has been blamed for making this worse, but I lost regeneration in cool weather on the original battery in the 2011 long before the software update. I saw no difference after the software update, but regeneration returned when Nissan replaced the battery. Regeneration was being limited slightly by the time of the crash because the replacement battery was already down to 11 capacity bars and internal resistance was increasing. The internal resistance of the 2015 battery is lower and I have not yet seen a drop in regeneration (currently 26,000 miles and still have all 12 capacity bars--much better than original and replacement batteries in 2011).

LEAF brakes should last a long time because they have ceramic pads as original equipment and regeneration reduces friction brake use.

Gerry