55% battery drain in 10 miles, 2022 Leaf?

[Antonio Peterson]

Hello all,

I am a long time reader, but first time poster here.

I have a 2022 Nissan Leaf SL+. When I first got it, I had a range of about 260 miles. It now has 52,000 miles and my range has dropped to about 90 miles on a charge. I have before and after pictures showing a 55% battery usage while only driving 10 miles.

Before: https://photos.app.goo.gl/A2bqVY1xbgUjh6YM7
After: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AtGUAwWdP3dACK3e7

I also have a video showing my battery level going down 9% in 28 seconds, while driving 60MPH



I took these to the dealership and they said the battery tests at 12/12 bars. They drove it 4 miles and confirmed there is nothing wrong with the car.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I can do about this?

Antonio

 

[Drew21]

Clearly there's some issue with your battery. The only good news here is that your car is new enough that Nissan should help you. Step one will be to get the dealership to drive the car for more than a few miles so that they can observe the reduced range.

It would also be worth "doing your own research" with the LeafSpy app and an OBD2 dongle that will report all sorts of useful information about your battery health. I don't think the dealership will look at that information directly, but you will be more informed about the battery health when you next speak to them.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

Thanks for the advice. I have been researching lemon laws a bit. I’m in Florida and the problem has to be reported in the first 24 months, but I read that it may qualify under federal lemon laws if I bring it in three times for the same problem and they refuse to fix it.

I know I need evidence of the problem. Do you think the data I get from LeafSpy would provide good evidence of a problem?

 

[nlspace]

Do you think the data I get from LeafSpy would provide good evidence of a problem?

No, Nissan will not look at it or consider it at all. They need to use their tool to gather the evidence.

LS will help you understand the condition of your pack so that you can "suggest" areas or things they might look at. e.g. if you have a weak cell(s)

 

[henrydehoja]

Hi and welcome!

Sorry to hear about your problem. Your car should still be covered under its standard warranties. If the dealer still can't help, then try contacting Nissan Consumer Affairs to open a case so they can help investigate the issue. You can get more info here.

 

[danelo]

Did they look at the video you have? I would think that video would help get some action out of the dealer.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

I showed them the video and they don’t care. They say diagnostics and a 4 mile road test proves there is nothing wrong. I reached out to Nissan Consumer Affairs this morning over chat. They took my information and complaint and said someone from the regional office will contact me by the end of the day tomorrow.

I asked the dealer for an update on my car (it’s still there), and they haven’t gotten back to me.

 

[NoahJ]

I know that me driving at 75 MPH is a high drain situation. Not that high but much faster than if I keep it around 60-65. The battery dropping that fast is definitely an issue. Do you fast charge a lot? That could lead to faster deterioration of your battery. Not sure how to make the dealership take you seriously so just offering suggestions for ways you can prolong your battery life and health.

 

[knightmb]

Hello all,

I am a long time reader, but first time poster here.

I have a 2022 Nissan Leaf SL+. When I first got it, I had a range of about 260 miles. It now has 52,000 miles and my range has dropped to about 90 miles on a charge. I have before and after pictures showing a 55% battery usage while only driving 10 miles.

Before: https://photos.app.goo.gl/A2bqVY1xbgUjh6YM7
After: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AtGUAwWdP3dACK3e7

I also have a video showing my battery level going down 9% in 28 seconds, while driving 60MPH



I took these to the dealership and they said the battery tests at 12/12 bars. They drove it 4 miles and confirmed there is nothing wrong with the car.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I can do about this?

Antonio

My first guess is a failed cell somewhere. You are going to need LeafSpy to find that out. The dealerships are random, some are great and helpful. Others are complete waste of time because they either don't have a real Leaf tech or just don't care. Sounds like you might have the latter. 12 of 12 bars is measured over a long period of time. If the issue just happened, it may not show up in lost bars for months.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

That makes a lot of sense that it still has 12 bars. The problem is only a month or so old. It's unbelievable that the dealership doesn't have tools to do deeper diagnostics. It seams an inexpensive consumer product like LeafSpy provides more information than their expensive diagnostic equipment. It been two days since I talked to the dealership and they still have my car with no updates. Maybe they decided to listen to me and take it for a longer test drive. Meanwhile, I should hear back from Nissan consumer affairs. They are aware of the problem and the problem I am having with the dealership. Maybe they will try to straighten things out together.

I almost never fast charge. I have a level two charger at home and only charge overnight once every 2-3 days when the battery gets around 20%... until things got bad. Then I started to have to charge every night. Now I am staying at a place where I can only use a level 1 charge. I have to supplement by rapid charging every other day because the power drains so fast. About once a month, I have to make an 83 mile trip. It is on the interstate and I have to drive at least 65MPH or I will get run over. On this day, I have to rapid charge at the beginning of the trip, then rapid charge 2/3 through the way there, then rapid charge at the same location on the way back, then charge again close to home because there is not enough battery to make it all the way home. So, on that day, I have to charge 4 times, and then again two days later when I make the trip again. The whole trip should take under three hours, but now takes 6-7 hours. I used to drive Uber, but I can't anymore. I spend more than half the time at the charging station and I am now paying more for electricity than I was paying for gas when I had an ICE car.

 

[Learjet]

I had a similar problem, until you get a check engine light or Code they won't do anything. Fyi, in the range where it drops fast, some times hard acceleration can induce a battery code and help with your issue. That has been discussed here. After my repair my car has been fine. Try flooring it when it acts up, if you can safely !

Also, I would turn on VDC...don't know why you have it off? Also, turn off ECO mode if you want max power to induce a code.

Lastly, you may want to look at videos on YouTube at how the Brake Lights work in B mode...they don't work like one would hope. I would not use B mode in non-hilly areas unless you want to increase chances of being rear ended. Test have shown you don't gain any more regenerative power in B mode on flat ground, despite the myth on this forum.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

I had a similar problem, until you get a check engine light or Code they won't do anything. Fyi, in the range where it drops fast, some times hard acceleration can induce a battery code and help with your issue. That has been discussed here. After my repair my car has been fine. Try flooring it when it acts up, if you can safely !

Also, I would turn on VDC...don't know why you have it off? Also, turn off ECO mode if you want max power to induce a code.

Lastly, you may want to look at videos on YouTube at how the Brake Lights work in B mode...they don't work like one would hope. I would not use B mode in non-hilly areas unless you want to increase chances of being rear ended. Test have shown you don't gain any more regenerative power in B mode on flat ground, despite the myth on this forum.

Thanks for the wonderful advice! I usually use B mode when I am driving Uber in town to save my brakes. I have VDC off because the car thinks I am slipping when I drive above 45 MPH and it cuts power about 50%. When this happens, I can only drive about 45 MPH on the interstate with the gas pedal to the floor. It is very unsafe.

Will turning off eco mode for just a short period of time when it starts acting crazy help produce a battery error code, or do I have to leave it off all the time? I am worried about this because my range is only 90 miles while in eco mode… that’s only theoretical range because I never fully charge and I don’t let it get too far under 20%, so my real range is 40-50 miles.

I am ordering a LeafSpy device today. Will it report battery error codes or do I need to go to the dealership to get that information?

 

[knightmb]

I am ordering a LeafSpy device today. Will it report battery error codes or do I need to go to the dealership to get that information?

It can you show you everything, codes included (if any are stored) along with real-time information about the battery, power usage, etc. I think you need the Pro version to get the codes stuff though, but the free version will show the basic battery info about the cells which might be more important at the moment when working with a dealership.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

Well, I talked to Nissan Consumer Affairs today and they are opening a new case. They said they have to contact the dealership and get all maintenance history. I'm at 52,000 miles and I have never taken the car in for maintenance. It has been running fine until recently, and I was completely unaware that the car required any sort of regular maintenance.

Am I up the creek without a paddle now? I am hoping that since the maintenance has nothing to do with the battery and the diagnostics at the dealership report everything is functioning fine, any sort of maintenance would not have prevented this from happening.

I'm also wondering if I didn't take it in for any sort of maintenance, are they going to void my warranty and also my extended warranty?

 

[Antonio Peterson]

I would periodically get these emails from Nissan, so I assumed there was no need to bring the car in.

 

[Learjet]

The VDC should be fixed under warranty, power train warranty if you are losing power...I would think?

 

[knightmb]

Well, I talked to Nissan Consumer Affairs today and they are opening a new case. They said they have to contact the dealership and get all maintenance history. I'm at 52,000 miles and I have never taken the car in for maintenance. It has been running fine until recently, and I was completely unaware that the car required any sort of regular maintenance.

Am I up the creek without a paddle now? I am hoping that since the maintenance has nothing to do with the battery and the diagnostics at the dealership report everything is functioning fine, any sort of maintenance would not have prevented this from happening.

I'm also wondering if I didn't take it in for any sort of maintenance, are they going to void my warranty and also my extended warranty?

Nope, not at all. The warranty applies no matter what the dealership says. There are limits of course, like if the battery was dragging on the ground and you drove it until the battery caught on fire or something silly like that.

But there is nothing on the Leaf that is like an "oil change" that if you don't do, somehow breaks something like it would on a gas engine. So, shields up when dealing with the dealership, warranty is still in play.

 

[knightmb]

I would periodically get these emails from Nissan, so I assumed there was no need to bring the car in.

Just my experience, my Leaf has over +90K miles (as does my wife's 2018 Leaf) and the only maintenance done has been tire replacements and windshield wiper fluid refills. To be fair, my 2020 had the Rear Window Defroster quit working, which was way out of the warranty, but was easy to fix as the electrical "clip" for the wires had come off and I was about to fix it within a few minutes when I found the issue. I made a whole topic on that too, but no need to side-track this topic about it.

Before someone mentions the brake fluid, yes, if your brake fluid has too much water, that is technically something to get any auto shop to fix easily by draining the old fluid and filling in the new if you don't want to do it yourself.

So unless there was some very glaring issues, know with confidence that the battery is still under a lot of warranty.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

Whew! Thanks everyone. I feel much better. I was a bit taken back when the agent from Nissan Consumer Affairs asked how I wanted this whole thing resolved. I said “buy the car back for what I owe NMAC. She nonchalantly said “ok” like it wasn’t a big deal… but I have a feeling it won’t be that easy. As of now, the only evidence they have is a diagnostic report that shows the car is fine and a video description made showing 28 seconds of driving.

 

[Antonio Peterson]

I got my car back from the dealership and they confirmed the only thing they did was a 4 mile road test and did not try to replicate the issue by taking it on the Interstate like I asked. They said there is nothing wrong with the VDC system. I drove it to the closest Interstate, and in less than a minute, the car reported slipping and cut the power to the drivetrain. I posted a video of the issue here: