Range dropped significantly after a service

[netsmith2012]

I am a software engineer and have studied my Leaf's performance carefully and have a very solid understanding of my range expectations.
I have a 2012 Leave bought in November 2012.
I just took it in for a two year checkup. It has about 15,000 miles on it.
After I picked it up my range was significantly reduced.

Background

My driving pattern is about 80% freeway and 20% around town. That's based on hiway miles vs. city street miles.
It may be even higher highway.
I'm a moderate driver, keeping in flow with traffic. My hiway speed is typically 65 to 70 mph.

I always charge the battery fully every night.
On a typical work day, I average between 30 and 50 miles.
When I return home at the end of the day the mileage remaining added to how far I drove very consistently says that I would get about 60 miles.
Every once in a while, a few times per month, I run it down quite low and arrive home with the one bar warning blinking.
At that point I have typically gone a little over 50 miles and it says I have about 6 or 7 miles remaining, consistent with the 60 mile range.

After it was Serviced
I was told that I got a software update during my otherwise relatively minimum 15,000 mile service appointment.
They charged it fully.
I immediately noticed on the drive home that the bars were dropping off much faster than I was used to.
When I got home the miles driven plus the remaining miles on the gauge was under 50.
I've been testing carefully for a couple weeks and my total driven plus miles left continues to be in the high 40's.
I have not gotten below three bars yet..
I suppose there is a possibility that they have really heavily weighted the miles for the last three bars to display about 12 miles under what I will actually get. I hope to run them down low soon to see if that's true.

It is very disappointing to have this new mileage rating on the display since it seriously limits my normal driving habits. Many times per month I count on being able to drive well over 50 miles.
I spoke to my service department (North Bay Nissan in Petaluma California) and they treated my like I must have been making errors in my measurement which was quite rude. I took it in for check and they said nothing was wrong.
Well something is wrong and something changed dramatically that affects my ability to use the Leaf as expected and I am rather upset about it.

Has anyone else had this experience ?
I will check back with more information as soon as I drive the Leaf down to the last few miles (carefully) in order to report the final mileage.
Thanks - and I'm glad this forum is here to discuss this situation.

 

[mwalsh]

The discussion here may (or may not) be helpful:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13570" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[KillaWhat]

Silly, but any chance they "adjusted" your tire pressure?

 

[netsmith2012]

The discussion here may (or may not) be helpful:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13570" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That topic was helpful in that it was a parallel situation to mine. Thanks.
I posted a link back to this topic to share my story.

 

[netsmith2012]

Silly, but any chance they "adjusted" your tire pressure?

I believe they always top off my tire pressure every time I get a tune up.
They like the tires nice a firm.

 

[walterbays]

They like the tires nice a firm.

My dealer likes them softer than I do, which reduces range. I also lost quite a bit of range when I replaced my original quickly balding Ecopia tires with better Michelins.

I bet the biggest factor in your lost range is the software update. I believe it remapped the fuel bars and changed the range meter calculations so it appears you have less range and lose it more quickly, even it actual range is exactly the same. The update also drastically reduced the amount of regenerative braking available in many cases, so overall efficiency and range is reduced.

 

[jlv]

Is this an actual loss in range (e.g., you are measuring GIDs or kWh remaining via Leaf Spy or LeafDD) or are you just saying the dashboard GOM (guess-o-meter) is decreasing faster than it used to? If it is the former, I'd be concerned. If it is the later, then I wouldn't worry about it.

The GOM and it's range bars are near useless. My GOM will display a range of 68 miles when the battery is at 12kWh remaining and I've been averaging 3.9kWh/mile. The math just tells you that is impossible.

(The worst part is convincing my wife to ignore the GOM when she drives the car. I'm seriously thinking the best suggestion I've heard it to put a post-it note over the darn thing)

 

[Flashman]

Yup, sounds like an update did your GOM in.
Sadly, too late this time for you to help this situation... But it is also a really good idea to get to know your dealers head LEAF specialist if you can manage it.
I did this and he was a really nice guy, respected my technical wishes and only applied updates that I approved while I watched.
(unless required by Nissan)

He has his own garage specifically setup for LEAF work.
I was able to watch closely and chat with him while he worked on the car. (Annual Batt Checkup)

I could be wrong on this part... But sadly, I don't think there is a way to back out when dealer applies updates to the car.

Lastly, I agree with other folks here who don't use the GOM anymore.. I use the Leaf-DD and it remains very consistent.

 

[netsmith2012]

Thanks everyone, so far ....
Here's my summary of what I'm hearing.
1) Tire pressure was reduced (not likely because they consistently top it off in the past to maximize performance - they do the same at Toyota for my wife's Prius)
2) The regenerative breaking may not be giving back as much as did before the update - that might explain at least a few less miles in overall performance
3) There may be a delay in the new software getting its "bearings" with my driving habits. It might still be adjusting its calculations. I will keep an eye on that for a while longer.
4) Don't trust the gauge ... well that's possible; Though I must say I've become quite skilled at using the qauge (bars and miles) because it behaves consistently over time, and I study it carefully.
I could reset the odo every morning adn try to watch mileage. But it's easy to forget. Also I could have a hi-freeway day and battery usage will increase. I am assuming that once I am down to one bar and the warning light is on that it's likely I have under 10 miles of continued highway driving left.
6) The Leaf DD is a reliable alternative. I might consider that ... kind of clunky having that wire and device exposed. But it might be worth it.
5) I need to actually run it down low. It's possible that starting at about 3 miles they have really upped the mileage per bar to "protect" drivers from getting stuck by giving a hidden safety margin.

I believe that before I concern myself any further I will to get out there and run it down to just a few miles left on the gauge.
I will report back as soon as I have got the information.
Thanks again everyone for talking me "off the ledge". I was definitely very unsettled to have this occur after a service appointment and especially to have the service people treat me like I was making a mistake and nothing like this has every happened before.
I may still give the manager some feedback.