Available Charge Guage Fluctuation

[MasterFlier]

While driving yesterday my current state of charge spontaneously dropped from 40% to 30%. This had happened once before when the current state was around 10% and dropped to 2%, causing my heart to skip a couple of beats! I drive a 2020 Leaf SV with 35,000 miles. The outside temperature was around 60°f, so not too cold. Anything I can check out before taking it in to a professional? I don't have Leaf spy.

Thanks!

 

[cornbinder89]

Your going to need Leafspy or another scanner that can look at the cells in the traction battery in real time. If you don't have one, then there is not much you can do.
You could check the 12 volt battery SOC but if you don't have Leafspy I don't suspect you have the tools to do that either.
Leafspy would at least indicate the 12 volt battery voltage when the car is on.
Nothing is simple on a modern car, rarely is it clear cut, if it does this, replace that. Diagnostics are the ley to getting to the bottom of the problem the 1st time around.

 

[Jerther]

While driving yesterday my current state of charge spontaneously dropped from 40% to 30%. This had happened once before when the current state was around 10% and dropped to 2%, causing my heart to skip a couple of beats! I drive a 2020 Leaf SV with 35,000 miles. The outside temperature was around 60°f, so not too cold. Anything I can check out before taking it in to a professional? I don't have Leaf spy.

Thanks!

Does the soc climbs back up after these sudden drops?

 

[MasterFlier]

Yes it does start to creep back up.

 

[Jerther]

Sounds much like defective cells in the battery pack . If it is, it should be covered by the traction battery warranty. The dealer will have to replicate and record the problem, usually by hard accelerating from stop to 80 km/h while the soc is between 40 and 50%. The problem gets worse the colder the battery pack is, and depending on how severe it is, may even disappear in hot weather or after the pack has warmed up. So it's best to bring the car in while it's really cold.

You'll find plenty of threads here about that. Tell us how it goes for you

 

[MasterFlier]

So I had the car in for two of the three outstanding recalls. I had the dealer check the SOC problem and they could not recreate the problem. Then, of course, it happened to me again as I was driving home! So I took pictures of the dash showing the SOC fluctuations up and down (and luckily did not drive off the road!). There is one more recall related to the battery, which might fix the problem ("EXCESSIVE LITHIUM DEPOSITS WITHIN BATTERY CELLS"). When they fix that then maybe that will fix my existing problem.

 

[MasterFlier]

The dealer will have to replicate and record the problem, usually by hard accelerating from stop to 80 km/h while the soc is between 40 and 50%.

I'll tell them to try this, and show them my pictures.

 

[Jerther]

A video of the cluster panel while it's happening might be more helpful in this case.

Be careful though!