There's a couple possibilities here:
1. They are rolling out the "hot" battery with the 2014 LEAF, so storage at 100% SOC is not as bad as it used to be.
2. They are rolling out a higher capacity battery with the 2014 LEAF, so 100% is not actually 95%+ SOC any more.
3. 95% SOC (100%) vs 80% does not actually make that much of a difference in rate of capacity loss.
4. Battery automatically discharges to 80% after sitting an extended period of time.
I have a hard time believing any of these are actually true except for perhaps #1 which seems most likely given what Nissan's already leaked out, but the "hot" battery wasn't supposed to be available until spring. It would be a welcome surprise, though.
I did search the
2014 owners manual and the only reference I can find with regards to high state of charge and battery life is to avoid repeated charging of the battery with high battery state of charge and to avoid leaving the battery stored for more than 14 days with a near zero or lower state of charge (see page EV-24):
Compare this to the
2013 owners manual and there are multiple references regarding high SOC:
1. Avoid repeated charging to 100% and/or leaving above 80% SOC for long periods of time.
2. If the vehicle will not be used for a long period of time, charge in long-life mode every 3 months. (2014 manual says simply charge every 3 months, so car will be sitting at 100% for extended periods of time).