Car has 15,000 miles but only 10 out of 12 bars

I purchased a 2011 Leaf in April 2011. Kept it here in Oregon. Car has only about 15,000 miles. Before it hit the 5 year anniversary last March it still had 11/12 bars.

Today I noticed it has 10/12 bars. I kept it in garage.

When I charge it to 100% and turn on the car the range shows only 55 miles.

I have only charged using 440 less than 10 times.

Is there anyway I can get a new free battery?

Sorry, but you didn't win the new free battery lotto. It would have had to drop to 8 or fewer bars by the time the car was 5 years old.

If you want a new battery, you'll be paying for it out of pocket.

Darn

you have averaged 3,000 miles a year. I am guessing your degraded range will still serve you for some time. Granted, we all have those occasional longer trips. there are several tools you should familiarize yourself with including getting charging network access cards, Plugshare for your smartphone to locate and check on the status of public charging stations you will need to use on your trips

Thanks dave.

hansende said:

I purchased a 2011 Leaf in April 2011. Kept it here in Oregon. Car has only about 15,000 miles. Before it hit the 5 year anniversary last March it still had 11/12 bars.

Today I noticed it has 10/12 bars. I kept it in garage.
When I charge it to 100% and turn on the car the range shows only 55 miles.

Click to expand...

I'm a newbie, but I thought that the range estimate takes your recent driving history consumption into consideration.

SageBrush said:

hansende said:

I purchased a 2011 Leaf in April 2011. Kept it here in Oregon. Car has only about 15,000 miles. Before it hit the 5 year anniversary last March it still had 11/12 bars.

Today I noticed it has 10/12 bars. I kept it in garage.
When I charge it to 100% and turn on the car the range shows only 55 miles.

Click to expand...

I'm a newbie, but I thought that the range estimate takes your recent driving history consumption into consideration.

Click to expand...

it does PLUS degradation

DaveinOlyWA said:

SageBrush said:

hansende said:

I purchased a 2011 Leaf in April 2011. Kept it here in Oregon. Car has only about 15,000 miles. Before it hit the 5 year anniversary last March it still had 11/12 bars.

Today I noticed it has 10/12 bars. I kept it in garage.
When I charge it to 100% and turn on the car the range shows only 55 miles.

Click to expand...

I'm a newbie, but I thought that the range estimate takes your recent driving history consumption into consideration.

Click to expand...

it does PLUS degradation

Click to expand...

If the second bar was just lost then the useable capacity should be about 22 *(1 - 0.15 - 0.065) = 17.25 kWh

If OP sees a range of 55 miles, it sounds like his recent consumption habits have been about 3.2 miles/kWh

SageBrush said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

SageBrush said:

I'm a newbie, but I thought that the range estimate takes your recent driving history consumption into consideration.

Click to expand...

it does PLUS degradation

Click to expand...

If the second bar was just lost then the useable capacity should be about 22 *(1 - 0.15 - 0.065) = 17.25 kWh

If OP sees a range of 55 miles, it sounds like his recent consumption habits have been about 3.2 miles/kWh

Click to expand...

well, he could just live at the bottom of the hill then your formula would say he still had 100 miles of range!

DaveinOlyWA said:

well, he could just live at the bottom of the hill then your formula would say he still had 100 miles of range!

Click to expand...

Hardly

SageBrush said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

well, he could just live at the bottom of the hill then your formula would say he still had 100 miles of range!

Click to expand...

Hardly

Click to expand...

no more outrageous than thinking the GOM is an accurate reflection of his driving effieciency

DaveinOlyWA said:

no more outrageous than thinking the GOM is an accurate reflection of his driving effieciency

Click to expand...

You are jumping to conclusions. I said recent energy consumption per mile. That could e.g. include the car sitting for a couple of months.

SageBrush said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

no more outrageous than thinking the GOM is an accurate reflection of his driving effieciency

Click to expand...

You are jumping to conclusions. I said recent energy consumption per mile. That could e.g. include the car sitting for a couple of months.

Click to expand...

ummm, sorry but it was "your" formula...

DaveinOlyWA said:

ummm, sorry but it was "your" formula...

Click to expand...

And ?

OK thanks everyone. I think the reason it lost so much was I had to not use the car for a couple of months each year for a few years. I was told the battery degrades if it is not used.

hansende said:

I was told the battery degrades if it is not used.

Click to expand...

It will degrade no matter what. Non-use and storage in a cool environment will cause it to degrade far less than an identical car in Phoenix that is being driven to Low Battery Warning every day and fully recharged, but it will still slowly lose capacity.

hansende said:

OK thanks everyone. I think the reason it lost so much was I had to not use the car for a couple of months each year for a few years. I was told the battery degrades if it is not used.

Click to expand...

there are several factors that lead to degradation. For me; the #1 factor is time. it is greater than cycling and heat (of which we rarely get btw...) If you doubt this statement (as many do)

80000 miles on the 2013. Still has all the bars but probably gets closer to 80 miles per charge than the original 84. (And still on the original tires...though I should replace them with snow on the way tomorrow!)

Click to expand...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/seattlenissanleaf/permalink/1369713976393369/