2018 Leaf battery overheating

[TexasLeaf]

Yesterday I drove my new 2018 Leaf about 100 miles. The GOM indicated I only had about 8 miles of range left when I connected the car to a fast charger. After an hour of fast charging I had only gained about 60% charge and the battery temperature gauge was pegged to the first high temperature mark.

It was only about 80 degrees F outside so I'm very worried what this car is going to be like when temperature starts reaching 100+ every day. I have read the stories about the 2018 Leaf battery overheating on long trips but I have also read stories of people taking the 2018 Leaf on long trips and not having the battery overheating. I decided to take the Leaf into the dealership to see if there was anything they could do to get the battery to quit overheating.

The battery temperature had dropped a little bit before I left for the dealership but pegged again on my way. I had the cruise control set at 75 mph on the way but the speed dropped down to 65 mph most of the way. When I got to the dealership I took a picture of the pegged battery temperature gauge.

When I got to the dealership I told the service writer that the battery had overheated when fast charging after a long trip. The service writer told me that he had not heard of any issues with the 2018 Leaf battery overheating. After a few hours the service writer called me up and told me that they could not get the battery to overheat after technician drove the car around for a while and charged the car on a Level 2 charger.

Really??? I tell the dealership that my battery overheats when I connect it up to a fast charger and they tell me they can't duplicate the issue when the connect the battery to a Level 2 charger? I could understand this kind of behavior from a dealership that had never seen a Leaf before but this dealership has been selling Leafs for many years.

The problem with the 2018 Leaf battery overheating on long trips and then slow charging did not come out until after I leased my Leaf. When I leased the Leaf I had planned on taking it on long trips. Now it looks like this battery overheating and with the resultant slow charging is going to be a problem for me.

Even just fast charging at night after work it's going to be a problem. Even though I haven't kept track, I believe my battery has already overheated when I charge after I coming home from work. I can't afford to spend two hours connected up to a fast charger, this at least means I'm going to have to stop more often to fast charge if I limit my stay at the fast charger to half an hour.

I don't know if the dealership will be able to do anything to get my battery to quit overheating. I'm even considering asking the dealership to take back the car back since this is an issue I wasn't aware before I took possession of the car. But as much talk as there is about this battery overheating issue I can't imagine I'm the only one that's trying to get satisfaction from a dealership over this issue.

So I'm asking for feedback. Have any of you had problems with your 2018 Leaf battery overheating and, if so, what are you planning to do about it? Has anyone had any success in getting the dealership to correct the problem or to take back the car if the issue wasn't resolved?

 

[SageBrush]

It will be interesting to find out how the car responds during driving to prolonged high power demands when the battery is hot.
Say 60 kW demand when the battery is 120F
Either the battery is going to heat up to impressive temperatures or the performance will be throttled.

The battery temperature had dropped a little bit before I left for the dealership but pegged again on my way.

I cannot say I am surprised. Not a good sign, and not even summer yet.


OP:
Nissan did not promise you any particular QC speed. I am sympathetic to your issue but I don't think you have any legs to stand on.

 

[iPlug]

...

Please see ongoing discussion here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=25519

 

[TomT]

Yep, we don't need no stinkin' TMS!

 

[jjeff]

....The battery temperature had dropped a little bit before I left for the dealership but pegged again on my way. I had the cruise control set at 75 mph on the way but the speed dropped down to 65 mph most of the way.....

Are you saying the car wasn't even able to make it up to 75 mph (due to the car reducing power to cool the battery) or did you drop it to 65 mph? If the first, were you missing some of the power bubbles(if they even have those on the '18's) ?
Your experience sure doesn't bode well for a life in TX, AZ, So Cal or any other hot climate

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

....The battery temperature had dropped a little bit before I left for the dealership but pegged again on my way. I had the cruise control set at 75 mph on the way but the speed dropped down to 65 mph most of the way.....

Are you saying the car wasn't even able to make it up to 75 mph (due to the car reducing power to cool the battery) or did you drop it to 65 mph? If the first, were you missing some of the power bubbles(if they even have those on the '18's) ?
Your experience sure doesn't bode well for a life in TX, AZ, So Cal or any other hot climate

He slowed to 65 to lessen heat buildup. My LEAF was at 123º yesterday and I had no issues hitting 75 - 80 mph and there was a LOT more left.

 

[SageBrush]

....The battery temperature had dropped a little bit before I left for the dealership but pegged again on my way. I had the cruise control set at 75 mph on the way but the speed dropped down to 65 mph most of the way.....

Are you saying the car wasn't even able to make it up to 75 mph (due to the car reducing power to cool the battery) or did you drop it to 65 mph? If the first, were you missing some of the power bubbles(if they even have those on the '18's) ?
Your experience sure doesn't bode well for a life in TX, AZ, So Cal or any other hot climate

I thought he meant that TACC in traffic resulted in mostly 65 mph speeds.
Imagine.. at 65 mph the battery cannot cool off from ~ 115F

As you say, this is not a good sign. Even my admittedly quite negative view of Nissan battery tech did not expect these numbers.

 

[SageBrush]

My LEAF was at 123º yesterday.

In the PNW, no less.

It would be kind of neat if at 212F the battery turned into liquid metal and became the bad guy from the terminator. Not so good for the driver.

 

[LeftieBiker]

After an hour of fast charging I had only gained about 60% charge and the battery temperature gauge was pegged to the first high temperature mark.

Did the temp bars reach the highest temp they can indicate, or just the first red bar? The term "pegged" comes from gauge needles hitting the little metal peg at their maximum reading, and is used to indicate a gauge that is 'maxed out'. This temp issue is real, and it's serious, but we need to avoid hyping it in order to remain credible. Seeing a reading at the first red bar (out of how many in the 2018?) isn't as bad as seeing all of the temp bars showing. Or is there just one red bar now?

 

[SageBrush]

After an hour of fast charging I had only gained about 60% charge and the battery temperature gauge was pegged to the first high temperature mark.

Did the temp bars reach the highest temp they can indicate, or just the first red bar? The term "pegged" comes from gauge needles hitting the little metal peg at their maximum reading, and is used to indicate a gauge that is 'maxed out'. This temp issues is real, and it's serious, but we need to avoid hyping it in order to remain credible. Seeing a reading at the first red bar (out of how many in the 2018?) isn't as bad as seeing all of the temp bars showing. Or is there just one red bar now?

I am reasonably sure he was saying the 'needle' stayed at the first high temperature mark.
Perhaps @DaveInOly can offer up a temperature cheat sheet.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

After an hour of fast charging I had only gained about 60% charge and the battery temperature gauge was pegged to the first high temperature mark.

Did the temp bars reach the highest temp they can indicate, or just the first red bar? The term "pegged" comes from gauge needles hitting the little metal peg at their maximum reading, and is used to indicate a gauge that is 'maxed out'. This temp issue is real, and it's serious, but we need to avoid hyping it in order to remain credible. Seeing a reading at the first red bar (out of how many in the 2018?) isn't as bad as seeing all of the temp bars showing. Or is there just one red bar now?

The temp bar moves generally in chunks so there is a delta for any position but the "3/4th" bar happens between 120 - 125 º

 

[LeftieBiker]

It shouldn't be this hard to get a straight answer. It still sounds to me like the "pegged" temp bar gauge was actually NOT at its maximum reading, but was showing just the first of several red bars. That isn't good, but given the propensity of the Gen I Leaf to regularly show one or more red bars while connected to QC and afterwards, it isn't going to raise any alarms at a dealership.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

It shouldn't be this hard to get a straight answer. It still sounds to me like the "pegged" temp bar gauge was actually NOT at its maximum reading, but was showing just the first of several red bars. That isn't good, but given the propensity of the Gen I Leaf to regularly show one or more red bars while connected to QC and afterwards, it isn't going to raise any alarms at a dealership.

The "3/4th" mark IS the first high temperature mark...

 

[LeftieBiker]

English has become a dead language.

 

[Joe6pack]

He slowed to 65 to lessen heat buildup. My LEAF was at 123º yesterday and I had no issues hitting 75 - 80 mph and there was a LOT more left.

So, you saw 123 degrees F in your battery yesterday? The max I saw in the logs you posted was 110 degrees F and that was for the third quick charge session. I realize this was probably at the beginning of the QC session per Loren's instructions, but I didn't see where you mentioned 123 degrees. That would seem newsworthy.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

He slowed to 65 to lessen heat buildup. My LEAF was at 123º yesterday and I had no issues hitting 75 - 80 mph and there was a LOT more left.

So, you saw 123 degrees F in your battery yesterday? The max I saw in the logs you posted was 110 degrees F and that was for the third quick charge session. I realize this was probably at the beginning of the QC session per Loren's instructions, but I didn't see where you mentioned 123 degrees. That would seem newsworthy.

This was yesterday...err Friday. Hard to keep track of days when I don't do anything but laundry, dishes, pizza and Netflix... :shock: It was a "minor" edit to the temp tracking logs...

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2018/03/fast-charge-test-part-two.html

 

[mtndrew1]

Holy wow, 123F in the Pacific Northwest in April?!

Arizona cars in July should be interesting. I wonder if QC will drop even lower than 22 kW in that sort of environment?

E-plus and TMS can’t come soon enough. Maybe this explains the glacial US 2018 Leaf rollout; they’re just killing time until the real car arrives in the fall.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Holy wow, 123F in the Pacific Northwest in April?!

Arizona cars in July should be interesting. I wonder if QC will drop even lower than 22 kW in that sort of environment?

E-plus and TMS can’t come soon enough. Maybe this explains the glacial US 2018 Leaf rollout; they’re just killing time until the real car arrives in the fall.

I think that cars outside of the Hot states will be the most egregious cases, because few people will be expecting the cars to act as if they are being driven in Arizona, when in fact they are being driven in Washington State. Or Upstate NY.

 

[SageBrush]

Holy wow, 123F in the Pacific Northwest in April?!

Arizona cars in July should be interesting. I wonder if QC will drop even lower than 22 kW in that sort of environment?

E-plus and TMS can’t come soon enough. Maybe this explains the glacial US 2018 Leaf rollout; they’re just killing time until the real car arrives in the fall.

I think that cars outside of the Hot states will be the most egregious cases, because few people will be expecting the cars to act as if they are being driven in Arizona, when in fact they are being driven in Washington State. Or Upstate NY.

AZ will be the canary -- if they even bother to sell LEAFs there anymore. If not, then Texas or the CA desert

Perhaps we should have a poll: when will the report of the first bar drop be posted ?
I say after a year of ownership, so early 2019

 

[Stanton]

If we've learned nothing else from years of "battery tracking", it's that the data doesn't matter until you get it from a car in AZ/TX/FL (and maybe Southern CA). I suspect that L3 charging will be no better than L2 on a hot day in TX...which is why I would wait for Leaf 2.5 (with the bigger battery pack and active cooling).