2017 30KWh Leaf degraded battery...waiting for replacement

[ledog]

Hi,
I have a 2017 Leaf and my 30KWh battery hit 8 bars about 2 months ago. I owned the car < 8 years so I promptly drove to the dealership in Boulder (aka Leaftown) and they submitted a claim for a new battery. That's great! However, they told me it can take as much as 1 year to get the replacement. Oh well... a bit unexpected. But I am bit concerned about the state of the battery and how much life it has left. It seems that in less than 2 months SOC went from about 64 to 62% (see pics). The other day I was driving up a hill, maybe a bit steep, but not too fast and I got the warning about low power and the turtle popped up on the screen. My questions:
-is this sudden degradation typical and is there any other indicator that I need to watch, for ex. the diff between the highest to the lowest cell voltage?
-does the cold temp affect the reported SOC?
-what is the typical wait for a warranty battery replacement?
- is there any way to track the warranty battery replacement claim?

Thanks!

 

[goldbrick]

Some people have waited over a year for a replacement battery but others have received them quickly. Boulder Nissan probably has a better idea of how long it will take but lately it seems like the wait period has come down. Good luck.

The degradation speeds up when the battery gets older since the Hx or internal resistance increases. Heat is an enemy of Li batteries and when the internal resistance goes up the heat generated internally inside the battery increases as well. So it's a sort of positive feedback situation. I'd try to keep your acceleration low to maximize the range you get. It's all downhill from here regarding the battery's performance to plan accordingly.

Temperature does affect SOC a bit. I've seen that personally on my commute to Longmont. I sometimes made the 9 mile trip using only 4% SOC if the weather was cool. I attributed that to the fact the battery warmed up while I was driving thus increasing the reported SOC. It's a slight bit downhill but in the summer it was always 7% SOC or more and coming home was always at least 10% SOC. One undisputed fact is that batteries lose performance in the cold. Besides the extra draw for cabin heat, the battery itself is just less efficient when cold so be careful about pushing the car to very low SOC's. Also, it is the lowest cell voltage that will trigger turtle mode, not just SOC so keep that in mind.

To track the battery claim you could periodically call Boulder Nissan. There is a national Nissan corporate line also but I think Boulder Nissan deals with so many Leaf's that you will get good information from them so contacting Nissan corporate isn't necessary IMHO.

 

[todd0305]

Contact Nissan Consumer Affairs at 800-647-7261, and state that you would like to open a warranty repair claim for your leaf. They will give you another case number different than the one you got from the dealership. You will need to send registration and title or lien to proof ownership. It will then be handle by the arbitration department and they will update you weekly on the status on shipment of the battery. Most of the time, it’s “there’s no ETA”. You’ll then have the option to drop the car off at the dealership and they will pay for your loaner. Keep your gas receipts because that will be reimbursed by corporate as well.

The other option you might receive is a buyback from Nissan. You’ll need to send them a bill of sale so they can run the numbers to pay you. If you don’t have it, then they will go off of KBB value, Depending on how much you bought it for, KBB might be better.

Calling corporate is the best route since they will be more inclined to push you ahead of the line, because they are paying weekly to the dealership for your loaner.

I have done this on two leafs already and have not been putting any wear and tear on my cars for the past 6 months. The second one is waiting on buyback agreement and I have been driving a Pathfinder SL loaner for about a month now.

Good luck.

Apologies for the misspells and grammar errors.

 

[ledog]

Contact Nissan Consumer Affairs at 800-647-7261, and state that you would like to open a warranty repair claim for your leaf. They will give you another case number different than the one you got from the dealership. You will need to send registration and title or lien to proof ownership. It will then be handle by the arbitration department and they will update you weekly on the status on shipment of the battery. Most of the time, it’s “there’s no ETA”. You’ll then have the option to drop the car off at the dealership and they will pay for your loaner. Keep your gas receipts because that will be reimbursed by corporate as well.

The other option you might receive is a buyback from Nissan. You’ll need to send them a bill of sale so they can run the numbers to pay you. If you don’t have it, then they will go off of KBB value, Depending on how much you bought it for, KBB might be better.

Calling corporate is the best route since they will be more inclined to push you ahead of the line, because they are paying weekly to the dealership for your loaner.

I have done this on two leafs already and have not been putting any wear and tear on my cars for the past 6 months. The second one is waiting on buyback agreement and I have been driving a Pathfinder SL loaner for about a month now.

Good luck.

Apologies for the misspells and grammar errors.

Hi and thanks for the advice. I called them and they told to call warranty dept. Spoke with them and said the dealer is driving the process. However, they said someone in warranty will ask the dealer (which told me never to call and ask) and get a timeline estimate and share with me by end of next business day. Either the process changed or Boulder Nissan is an one of a kind dealer. Hope it works

 

[ledog]

Some people have waited over a year for a replacement battery but others have received them quickly. Boulder Nissan probably has a better idea of how long it will take but lately it seems like the wait period has come down. Good luck.

The degradation speeds up when the battery gets older since the Hx or internal resistance increases. Heat is an enemy of Li batteries and when the internal resistance goes up the heat generated internally inside the battery increases as well. So it's a sort of positive feedback situation. I'd try to keep your acceleration low to maximize the range you get. It's all downhill from here regarding the battery's performance to plan accordingly.

Temperature does affect SOC a bit. I've seen that personally on my commute to Longmont. I sometimes made the 9 mile trip using only 4% SOC if the weather was cool. I attributed that to the fact the battery warmed up while I was driving thus increasing the reported SOC. It's a slight bit downhill but in the summer it was always 7% SOC or more and coming home was always at least 10% SOC. One undisputed fact is that batteries lose performance in the cold. Besides the extra draw for cabin heat, the battery itself is just less efficient when cold so be careful about pushing the car to very low SOC's. Also, it is the lowest cell voltage that will trigger turtle mode, not just SOC so keep that in mind.

To track the battery claim you could periodically call Boulder Nissan. There is a national Nissan corporate line also but I think Boulder Nissan deals with so many Leaf's that you will get good information from them so contacting Nissan corporate isn't necessary IMHO.

This is good advice. I only have a 12 mile one way to Louisville but there is Davidson Mesa in between. I will try to stay around 40 mph when is cold out or take Baseline. Turtle mode hasn't returned since that incident a week ago.

 

[todd0305]

Hi and thanks for the advice. I called them and they told to call warranty dept. Spoke with them and said the dealer is driving the process. However, they said someone in warranty will ask the dealer (which told me never to call and ask) and get a timeline estimate and share with me by end of next business day. Either the process changed or Boulder Nissan is a one of a kind dealer. Hope it works

It hasn’t. Call again and don’t take no for an answer. Tell them the degradation on the car is unusable and you want to start a claim and request a case number. Someone from arbitration should get back to you within a week and give you options. That should include dropping off your car for a loaner.

 

[gdk771]

Just curious how a 2017 Leaf battery is still covered? Did you buy an extended warranty through Nissan?

 

[goldbrick]

All 2017 Leaf's originally came with 30kWh batteries which carry an 8 year / 100k mile warranty.

 

[todd0305]

All 2017 Leaf's originally came with 30kWh batteries which carry an 8 year / 100k mile warranty.

Beat me to it.

Just curious how a 2017 Leaf battery is still covered? Did you buy an extended warranty through Nissan?

To further explain, all 30kWh packs have an 8 year/100k mile warranty. A 2016 that was put into service in Dec of 2016 is still cover until the end of this year.

 

[ledog]

Beat me to it.


To further explain, all 30kWh packs have an 8 year/100k mile warranty. A 2016 that was put into service in Dec of 2016 is still cover until the end of this year.

That is correct. Bought the 2017 Leaf SV in Dec 2016 so at the time of my claim I had about 2.5 months until warranty expired.

 

[gdk771]

Interesting did not know that. My battery is still at 84% so I guess I am lucky. I guess it went out of warranty last year sometime...

 

[ledog]

Nissan Dispute resolution got back to me and wanted to know if I still want a battery replacement. I said yes and said she gave me a case #. She also wanted to know if I want to sell back the car (I don't). She said she's working with 50 more warranty cases (2016-2020) but the wait should not be longer 6-8 months. It sounds like they make about 2 shipments/ year for degraded batteries and I missed the Oct one (filled my claim on Oct 11). Sounds like it worth calling Nissan warranty (per @todd0305 -thanks!)

 

[todd0305]

Nissan Dispute resolution got back to me and wanted to know if I still want a battery replacement. I said yes and said she gave me a case #. She also wanted to know if I want to sell back the car (I don't). She said she's working with 50 more warranty cases (2016-2020) but the wait should not be longer 6-8 months. It sounds like they make about 2 shipments/ year for degraded batteries and I missed the Oct one (filled my claim on Oct 11). Sounds like it worth calling Nissan warranty (per @todd0305 -thanks!)

Did they offer a loaner?