Capacity Loss on 2011-2012 LEAFs

[Joeviocoe]

I noticed someone added my report earlier to the Wiki. Can someone make a correction for me? Under shrink-842, months of ownership is listed as 24. It should be 11 months and manufacture date was 4/2012.

I haven't filed a complaint because I knew this was coming but I guess I will just to keep Nissan informed.

Just a data point:

2011 LEAF lost a bar at 10,200 miles and 10 months, 15 days of ownership
2012 LEAF lost a bar at 10,800 miles and 11 months, 9 days of ownership

TaylorSF lost the first bar on his 2011 in Washington after 24 months and 78,600 miles.

It's still mind boggling and insulting that Nissan's initial response to the Casa Grande 7 was to call them high mileage cars. :?:

Correction made.

BTW, did you want me to add TaylorSF? If so, I need a bit more info (Wash DC or State, if state, what city? Is there a post by TaylorSF? Vin?

Thanks.

 

[surfingslovak]

Correction made.

BTW, did you want me to add TaylorSF? If so, I need a bit more info (Wash DC or State, if state, what city? Is there a post by TaylorSF? Vin?

Thanks.

Kent, WA. Delivery in 05/2011. VIN 1561. His profile page should contain all the relevant information:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2140" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[LEAFfan]

I concede defeat.

Maintain a low, average state of charge? Check.
Only charge to 80% or less? Check.
Only charge during the morning when it's "cool"? Check.
Park car outside at night to keep "cool"? Check.
Park car near trees so it gets shade in the afternoon? Check.

All completely worthless.

Lost first capacity bar this morning at only 8,260 miles and 11 months.

Unfortunately I think I'm right behind you. My 2011 just hit 6700 miles and according to Turbo3's Battery App, I'm down to 86.76% capacity and it's rapidly declining. I've lost 3% in just the past 6 weeks. What will be an interesting checkpoint is to see if I lose that first bar at the same time the Battery App registers 85%.

Vicki, when I checked many cars for battery degradation, all of them lost a bar around 80-81% on the Gid meter. When we get true Gids on the App, I'm guessing that % is when you will lose the bar.
That's one reason I believe losing the first CB is closer to a 20% loss than 15%. The other reasonis it cut my range 20 miles at 100% charge.

 

[DaveEV]

Just lost my second bar this morning. Orange, CA, 29,500 miles. Just over 2 years old. Just had my battery check last Friday and it still showed 11 bars and all 5 stars. It is getting harder and harder to do my 72-76 mile RT commute. Luckily there are now QCs in Hawthorne and Carson.

Impressive that you are still making it 76 miles on a single charge despite losing two bars - what's the commute like? You must be driving no more than 55 mph?

Workplace charging (even simple L1 charging) would make your commute trivial despite the capacity loss - and you'd be able to limit charging to 80%, too.

Did you buy or lease? What are your plans once your commute becomes too difficult in your car? At least if you do need to QC on the way home, just a couple min should be plenty to make it if you are currently squeaking home.

 

[dhanson865]

At least if you do need to QC on the way home, just a couple min should be plenty to make it if you are currently squeaking home.

And you can pay for a full hour of charging even if you only need 3 minutes, such a bargain!

 

[TonyWilliams]

At least if you do need to QC on the way home, just a couple min should be plenty to make it if you are currently squeaking home.

And you can pay for a full hour of charging even if you only need 3 minutes, such a bargain!

Only at places that charge by the hour.

 

[JPWhite]

At least if you do need to QC on the way home, just a couple min should be plenty to make it if you are currently squeaking home.

And you can pay for a full hour of charging even if you only need 3 minutes, such a bargain!

Only at places that charge by the hour.

In four days it will cost $5 per session in Tennessee. :twisted:

 

[xtremeflyer]

Impressive that you are still making it 76 miles on a single charge despite losing two bars - what's the commute like? You must be driving no more than 55 mph?

Workplace charging (even simple L1 charging) would make your commute trivial despite the capacity loss - and you'd be able to limit charging to 80%, too.

Did you buy or lease? What are your plans once your commute becomes too difficult in your car? At least if you do need to QC on the way home, just a couple min should be plenty to make it if you are currently squeaking home.

I set cruise control to work at 58mph. On the way home, traffic dictates my speed, but if traffic is clear (not very often), I usually set it to 62 and make it home on VLBW. The extra 4 miles that I have to do on some days is driving to client site, 2 miles each way and I usually just do 30 mph.

I used to plug in to 120V for the first year at work. There is only one outlet in the parking lot and it is for the car wash guy. He leaves at 1pm and I would go plug in. I did it for over a year, I never "asked" if I could do it, but they knew I was doing it (it was obvious, couldn't hide it). One day a Volt owner came along and asked his management if he could use it, which in turn asked the landlord, and they said no, and it got back to me that I couldn't use it either. For "safety" reasons (never mind the car wash guy sprays water in the direction of the outlet while having his vacuum cleaner plugged in). It has been end of discussion since then.

I leased and have one more year left. Once I can't make it home, I might have Nissan Roadside come get me for a week or two to prove a point, maybe they'll let me out early, probably not though. Then I'll probably just have to stop in Hawthorne or Carson on the way home. The benefit of that would be to be able to drive faster to and from work and would negate some of the time waiting for a charge.

 

[vrwl]

In four days it will cost $5 per session in Tennessee. :twisted:

At least you all have some "cheap" L3 options. We have NO Blink L3's. The only game in town is eVgo and they're wanting to hold us hostage for $30.00 per L3 charge PLUS a $6.00 monthly fee for the opportunity to have them stick it to us like that. Highway Robbery!

 

[shrink]

At least you all have some "cheap" L3 options. We have NO Blink L3's. The only game in town is eVgo and they're wanting to hold us hostage for $30.00 per L3 charge PLUS a $6.00 monthly fee for the opportunity to have them stick it to us like that. Highway Robbery!

Wow - and I was complaining in the Phoenix thread about the $5 flat rate Blink QC. $30 is outrageous!

 

[LEAFer]

It was cool overnight ... the LEAF showed 5 TBs and an OAT of 61F. (We know it's slow to update). Around 09:10 I sat in the car to take some more data with Turbo3's LBM (LEAF Battery Monitor). Couldn't get the BT to connect. Turned the car on/off a few times. It had been charged on EndTimer overnight to 80% by 08:00.

On second power-up ... lost our first capacity bar !

It took several more tries to connect the BT on the LBM ... a few java error messages popped up during that time. Finally got it up and running after re-pairing BT and having turned the phone off at least once. Results are below (and in my signature).

The last LBM data I have is a couple hundred miles ago on 6/2/13 with Capacity 83.53%.

:-(

 

[dvlax40]

Does nissan offer any sort of official capacity loss chart per year ?

Seems like no matter where you live your are going to loose a bar or 2 before 5 years hits not matter what you do according to nissan.

 

[Stoaty]

Does nissan offer any sort of official capacity loss chart per year ?

No.

 

[Stoaty]

On second power-up ... lost our first capacity bar !

It appears that around 83% CAP on the Leaf Battery App is where you are likely to lose the first capacity bar. Have noted this for a couple of other reports.

 

[amelsayed]

Loss of one battery capacity bar
Data as per table entries order with ";" seperator below:

#127; June 4, 2013; AMElsayed; Vacaville, CA; 31,510; 25 Months; 4213; June 6, 2013; 1135 8813

Tires always @ 44 psi and battery temp indicator usually at 4-5 bars in winter and 5-6 bars in summer.

Charging to 100%, used to get one-way 65-68 miles (10-12 miles leg followed by 54 miles leg) @ 51-65 mph and arrive with 6-8 miles left charge L2 for 3-4 hours @ 59F ambient then drive 54 miles return trip from 90% or so back @ 61-65 mph and arrive with 6-8 miles left then plug at home L2 for 100% charge overnight. When traveling (cumulative 5-6 weeks, longest for 2 weeks at a time) left LEAF plugged in for 100% charge. One 1 QC episode (from 50% to 99%) two days prior to loss of 12th bar.

 

[Stoaty]

When traveling (cumulative 5-6 weeks, longest for 2 weeks at a time) left LEAF plugged in for 100% charge.

That is one of the practices that is known to be bad for the battery. Any particular reason you did this?

 

[dvlax40]

I did notice LEAFer has driven more then the nissan "quoted" 7500 miles per year :roll: . as such I would expect to see an increase in battery consumption, but it seems pretty crappy nissan picks and chooses what numbers to quote whenever it suits them...

hopefully the RAV4EV is the sign of things to come and will bring down the cost of Tesla's battery system

 

[LEAFer]

Below is data after 100% Charge. Car was in the sun 09:30-12noon; then I moved the car into the garage (rather than where it had been outside overnight) and overrode the timers. The maneuvering into the garage should not have taken a lot of energy (Wh). Notice in my post a few up the counter was at 87Wh and SOC=75.1%. After charging to (supposedly) 100%, SOC now at 92.2% and -3,445 Wh (or 3,532 Wh NET added (including maneuvering)) in a little over one hour. LEAFs OAT still read 60F (while garage is at actually approx. 75F at least) with now actual temps in mid 80s.

You may add me to the Bar-Loss-wiki.

 

[TonyWilliams]

... hopefully the RAV4EV is the sign of things to come and will bring down the cost of Tesla's battery system

Uh? I hope the Rav4 EV is not the "sign of things to come" as they are only building 2600 for model years 2012-2014. After that, Toyota will likely use hydrogen cars to meet the CARB-ZEV for 2015-2017.

 

[amelsayed]

When traveling (cumulative 5-6 weeks, longest for 2 weeks at a time) left LEAF plugged in for 100% charge.

That is one of the practices that is known to be bad for the battery. Any particular reason you did this?

Didn't know better.