Post Your Battery Degradation Results

[ttweed]

I managed to drop 0.30AHr over the last week with lower than average temperatures in SoCal; only 25 miles of driving; and a single charge cycle! Down to 43.70Ahr as of today.

Our cars are remaining very close in the race to the bottom, mwalsh! As of yesterday, I have 43.94 AHr and 66% SOH readings. Hx is at 45.97%. The bad news is that I am already at 59,311 miles, less than 700 miles to go to EoCW (End of Capacity Warranty).

The good news is that my in-service date was April 1, 2011, so I still have 7 months until the EoCW. I am going to put the car on a lo-miles diet (less than 100 miles per month) so that the timing of 60K mileage total and 5 years in service coincide next April perfectly. If the 4th bar doesn't drop by then, I'll be pissed off, but I think that aging alone may degrade it the last ~1AHr necessary, despite the low number of charging cycles it will need in the next 689 miles. I think Nissan owes me a battery replacement due to the false advertising of expected battery capacity over time that they promulgated during the introduction of the Leaf, and I am going to do everything possible to hold their feet to the fire. :evil:

The Leaf has been a great car in every way except for battery degradation. We love everything about it except that we lost 30% capacity in 4 years instead of 7 or 8, which was our expectation based on what we were told back in 2010-2011, even though we babied the battery and live in a mild climate. If we can get a replacement battery installed in it under warranty, most of the bad taste in my mouth as an early adopter will be washed away (but not all of it).

TT

 

[keydiver]

I've only dropped about .3 AHr in a week; had a nice surprise yesterday though (about .05 in a day). I'm looking for some non-linear drops!

The heat is on in Florida! I lost .10 AHr in just one day! I checked yesterday afternoon when we got home: 45.93 AHr/70%. I checked again when we got back home today: 45.83 AHr/69%. I figure that I still have 4-6 months before I qualify for a new battery. Hopefully Nissan will have made some kind of decision/announcement on whether they will let us upgrade to the 30 kWh battery by then. In the meantime, my Tesla S70D will be here in ~2 weeks, so there won't be any more range anxieety.

 

[Evoforce]

I have lost about 3% on both the lizard battery car and the car with original 2011 battery. Both cars drove roughly 1300 miles since 7/8/15 and were exposed to the same weather. Hmmm... Lizard car is at 97% SOH and 9 bar car is at 68% SOH. Lizard car started at 100% SOH and 9 bar was at 71% SOH. Looks like similar degradation to me.

 

[ttweed]

Hopefully Nissan will have made some kind of decision/announcement on whether they will let us upgrade to the 30 kWh battery by then.

I will be very surprised if any future 30 kWh battery pack will be able to be retrofitted to the early 2011-12 Leafs.

TT

 

[Evoforce]

I think it is probable that it can be done providing that they let us have them. Here is the train of thought. 2011-2015 can use lizard 24 kwh battery. 2016 S model will come stock with 24 kwh battery and SV/SL will have 30 kwh battery. They state in their settlement though, that the replacement batteries will be the 24 kwh (Lizard) battery. However... I am hoping that they will offer the 30 kwh battery as an upgrade, if you have to purchase one out of warranty, or pay a small fee to upgrade a warranty change out.

 

[Stanton]

I have lost about 3% on both the lizard battery car and the car with original 2011 battery. Both cars drove roughly 1300 miles since 7/8/15 and were exposed to the same weather. Hmmm... Lizard car is at 97% SOH and 9 bar car is at 68% SOH. Lizard car started at 100% SOH and 9 bar was at 71% SOH. Looks like similar degradation to me.

While that is interesting, I don't think we can make any conclusions without additional data. We don't really know if the 2 chemistry's "age" at the same rate or even at the same point in their capacity (we know in general that batteries tend to age faster, earlier).
You have a unique situation (with 2 Leafs) and should continue to collect/report data!

 

[Evoforce]

Cell 48 is the current weakest cell in 9 bar car. It will go 63.3 miles on relatively flat and ranging under 48 mile per hour top speed. I went maybe a mile on turtle before it bricked. Leafspy said 3% remaining. I was less than a block from home. Went to rescue it with Leaf 2, a 2000w/4000 peak inverter, and a level one stock EVSE. I first charged it to 9% and I think that took about 30-40 minutes. It wasn't enough to unbrick it. Charged another 30ish minutes to 15% and that was enough to unbrick and flash 3 miles on Guess-O-Meter. I had such a short distance to get home but I am unsure how far it would have traveled at that point if I had needed to go farther.

 

[pjoseph]

Lost the 4th capacity bar yesterday.

Miles: 54,410
Years: 4 ~
AHr: 42.22
SOH: 64%
Hx: 43.15%
kWh remaining: 13.5 ~
GIDs: 171
Miles --> 1 kWh: 50

Total QCs were 10. Two of them were on one day prior to 4th bar loss. Austin has just two QC locations.
Almost every bar was lost after a top up.

1 turtle (in the first week).

LeafSpy Pro and EVSE upgrade have been life savers. Nissan should buy both of them out.

Maintenance was $800 ($200 /yr). That includes new tires and a 12v battery.

Insurance was $800 /yr (on a 3-car policy. Total for 3 cars is $1,520 /yr).

The car has been great except for the battery degradation. It is my zen car in crazy Austin traffic. Easy to park and weasel around. It also gives me cheap thrills from racing the $100k cars at the stop lights. The most expensive car i have owned ($31k back in 2011 after the tax break). Although my first new car (now long gone, 1993 Acura Integra, $13k) still gives me the goosebumps. Planning on keeping it for the long term as my boys are just about to start driving.

 

[mtndrew1]

Lost the 4th capacity bar yesterday.

Congrats on qualifying for a warranty battery! Out of curiosity, do you plan to ride out the summer with the old battery to spare the new one the wear?

 

[ishiyakazuo]

Lost my first bar yesterday (8/30). 25420 miles. SOH 84% (55.65AHr), Hx = 70.51%. Down from 56.04AHr (85% SOH) on 8/11, 56.42AHr (86% SOH) on 7/10. The first reading I took was back at the beginning of April, where I was at 56.91AHr/86% SOH at ~20600 miles.
I haven't been babying the battery, but I haven't been abusing it, either. Degradation definitely accelerated in the past 2 months with the warmer weather. Hoping to stay at around 82-83% SOH until next May or June, anyway...

 

[DiamondDan73]

I just bought a 2012 SL with 38,900 miles tonight. I was looking for a 9 bar and found one. It was $9,400. I ran LEAF pro and the AHr is 42.94 with SOC 65% and hx 58.77. It has an open record for some sort of update so I'm going to drop it off at the Nissan dealership tomorrow morning. I hope the 9th bar drops soon.

 

[dhanson865]

Leaf Number: 1186
Lost the 4th capacity bar yesterday.

Miles: 54,410
AHr: 42.22
SOH: 64%

Can you give us the date of manufacture from the driver door jamb label?

| #??
|August 27, 2015
|pjoseph
|Austin, Tx
|54,410 miles
|?? months
|date of manufacture?
|2011
|1186
|
|
| http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13371&start=420#p434829

 

[Evoforce]

I am still having the same degradation on both the 2011 battery and the 2015 battery. Both cars have lost an additional 1% just in the last week since I reported. 9 bar car now at 67% and lizard is 96%.

 

[PV2leaf]

My 2012 Leaf SL finally lost its first bar at 34,391 miles.
The 80% charge had been varying between 7 and the normal 8 bars for a few months.

 

[1932highboy]

Lost my 4th bar today. 29,144 miles, 51 months. Ahr=42.35,Hx=44.99%. Vin 1112. Date of mfg. is 3/11. Called Nissan and case number is 20016999. Go to dealer next Wednesday to start procedure.

 

[mwalsh]

It rather bothers me to see the most recent 4 bar losers all loosing at under 43AHrs. Well under in some instances. Me no like!

 

[Valdemar]

Mine is bouncing 43.2-43.3, still 9 bars.

 

[pjoseph]

Manufactured: March 2011
Japan earthquake: March 11th

Can you give us the date of manufacture from the driver door jamb label?

 

[Stanton]

It rather bothers me to see the most recent 4 bar losers all loosing at under 43AHrs. Well under in some instances. Me no like!

Me too! And I thought I was getting close @44.3 AHrs: guess again.

 

[mwalsh]

Did my first "drive to nowhere" today, in an effort to increase the number of charge cycles despite not really having much of anyplace I need to be. It's not that onerous - in D with a fair bit of acceleration and cruising only slightly above legal highway speeds my car is only good for about 35 miles anymore, so I can go from fully charged to fairly well discharged in around a half-hour.