The Battery Replacement Thread

[boyodublin]

Woohoo!
Just got this email from dealer this am. Brought in for battery check last Friday when 4th bar dropped during the week.
Blue leaf May2011-34,500 miles--
Wonder if new battery coming from Japan?
---------
Good Morning James,

We should be receiving the leaf battery within 4-6 weeks.. I will give you an update in 2 weeks or I will notify you if we receive battery any sooner.

Thank You have a great day. Any question feel free to give me a call or email me


Service Advisor
Puente Hills Nissan

 

[mwalsh]

4-6 weeks for the new packs is a bit troubling - I was hoping to have mine done over the Thanksgiving break from school, and I've yet to find the time to get my car in to be "verified". I guess I'll instead have to shoot for the two weeks we're out during Christmas/New Year.

Still, I always said that a new pack would make a great Christmas gift, and it's not like the waiting will kill me since I only commute 10 miles a day now.

 

[Stanton]

4-6 weeks for the new packs is a bit troubling

To me that's more than troubling; in fact, that's the first thing that's really PO'd me about this battery stuff in a long time (hard to believe, I know). I have been hearing about folks getting their "lizard" battery pack replacements in < 2 weeks, and now all of a sudden they are coming from Japan (no US stock)? What happened to the "lizard" battery packs that were being made in TN for the last year?! I assume they are shipping more than (1) pack over at a time! My dealer has already told me that once I bring my Leaf in for the (warranty) battery pack replacement, I need to leave it with them until it is complete. I don't know what's worse: that they have to give me a "loaner" car for a month or that I have to drive it (instead of my Leaf).

 

[mwalsh]

My dealer has already told me that once I bring my Leaf in for the (warranty) battery pack replacement, I need to leave it with them until it is complete.

Oh, hell no! Seriously?

 

[boyodublin]

Hi Stanton,

I think that must be a miscommunication!
I can't imagine that they would want to hold your car for the duration of battery delivery.
I left my car with the dealer at 8:30 AM last Friday and picked it up at 3 PM. So, they had all of 6+ hours to run the tests to
make sure the battery was indeed bad---down to 8 bars ).

When the battery arrives at the dealership, I expect that they will call for the car and ask that it be left with them for a day or two.
Anything else would be unreasonable!

All the best,
Boyodublin

 

[Valdemar]

I think it is time for me to unsubscribe from this topic, you guys get free packs and still whine, geez.

 

[TomT]

I was told the same (it is a liability thing apparently) and they had my car for five weeks from the time I dropped it off to the time I got it back... They did give me a very nice Altima loaner however, and they paid for the gas...

My dealer has already told me that once I bring my Leaf in for the (warranty) battery pack replacement, I need to leave it with them until it is complete.

Oh, hell no! Seriously?

 

[mwalsh]

I think it is time for me to unsubscribe from this topic, you guys get free packs and still whine, geez.

5 weeks without my own car is not whining. It's bad policy and even worse management.

 

[boyodublin]

I wonder why different folks are getting different service levels!
When I left the car in last Friday for the battery test, service guy asked if I wanted to leave the car and I declined. I told him to call me when the battery is delivered.
He agreed and said he would contact me when it arrived.

 

[mwalsh]

I wonder why different folks are getting different service levels!
When I left the car in last Friday for the battery test, service guy asked if I wanted to leave the car and I declined. I told him to call me when the battery is delivered.
He agreed and said he would contact me when it arrived.

Which is exactly what I would expect to be the case. I sincerely hope my own dealership says the same.

 

[Valdemar]

I think it is time for me to unsubscribe from this topic, you guys get free packs and still whine, geez.

5 weeks without my own car is not whining. It's bad policy and even worse management.

Given the Leaf history we know, are you at all surprised?

 

[clarke]

Lost my 4th bar Monday, Oct 26th.

Date: 3/11 (off of door jamb)

LeafSpy:
Bat Sts: AHR= 41.03
SOH = 65.5% 390.8V
Hx = 44.78%
odo = 38,556
0 QCs
3756 L1/L2s
SOC = 94.9%

 

[fooljoe]

Lost my 4th bar Monday, Oct 26th.

Date: 3/11 (off of door jamb)

LeafSpy:
Bat Sts: AHR= 41.03
SOH = 65.5% 390.8V
Hx = 44.78%
odo = 38,556
0 QCs
3756 L1/L2s
SOC = 94.9%

41.03 Ah should correspond to less than 65.5% SOH - can you double check that? Hx seems high too. Maybe you meant 43.01 Ah?

 

[davewill]

... I have been hearing about folks getting their "lizard" battery pack replacements in < 2 weeks, and now all of a sudden they are coming from Japan (no US stock)? What happened to the "lizard" battery packs that were being made in TN for the last year?! ...

Is it possible that they are only making the 24kWh packs in Japan, now? If they think that the smaller pack won't be a big seller, they might have converted TN to 30kWh packs only...but they should be able to project how many replacements they are going to need and get a stock here. They have all the battery capacity info from the cars phoning home after all.

 

[fooljoe]

Is it possible that they are only making the 24kWh packs in Japan, now? If they think that the smaller pack won't be a big seller, they might have converted TN to 30kWh packs only...but they should be able to project how many replacements they are going to need and get a stock here. They have all the battery capacity info from the cars phoning home after all.

Could be. Whatever the case the waits seem to keep getting longer and longer. So let's see:

• Nissan promises the capacity warranty kicks in at "about 70% capacity".

• Nissan says that actually the bottom of the 9th bar is 66.25%.

• Except really the bar doesn't drop until you're somewhere between 62-65%.

• After the bar finally drops you have to wait ~6 weeks or more for your battery to come from Japan, at which point you're stuck driving a car at about 60% capacity.

Well played Nissan - somehow "about 70%" means 60%. :roll:

I hit LBW every day now with my 55 mile commute (often VLBW), and can't go anywhere on my lunch break that doesn't have a place to charge in my 8 bar car. Still waiting for my new battery with no ETA provided, no "order status" of any kind...

 

[DaveEV]

I hit LBW every day now with my 55 mile commute (often VLBW), and can't go anywhere on my lunch break that doesn't have a place to charge in my 8 bar car. Still waiting for my new battery with no ETA provided, no "order status" of any kind...

Eh, at least you're getting a battery pack.

I'm hitting LBW around 45-50 miles typically unless I drive very gently in which case I can get 55 miles to LBW. Luckily normal commute is only 30 miles RT, but my wife takes the car 50 miles once a week and it's right around LBW each time.

But unfortunately for me with 4.5+ AHr to get to bar 8 and only 7 winter months to do it, it seems pretty unlikely I'll get to 8 bars in time for warranty - I have to at least double the rate at which I'm currently losing capacity to have a chance.

One extra month of tight range to save $5500? No big deal.

 

[TimLee]

^^^ +100
A very large % will never get capacity warranty.
Nissan is giving them near nothing.
And those winning the Nissan lottery are up in arms over a 4 to 6 week wait :shock: :roll:

 

[Stanton]

... I have been hearing about folks getting their "lizard" battery pack replacements in < 2 weeks, and now all of a sudden they are coming from Japan (no US stock)? What happened to the "lizard" battery packs that were being made in TN for the last year?! ...

Is it possible that they are only making the 24kWh packs in Japan, now? If they think that the smaller pack won't be a big seller, they might have converted TN to 30kWh packs only...but they should be able to project how many replacements they are going to need and get a stock here. They have all the battery capacity info from the cars phoning home after all.

That crossed my mind...and worries me. I thought Japan was not going to manufacture "lizard" packs? Can anyone confirm one of these (replacement) Japan packs are "lizard"?

 

[mwalsh]

That crossed my mind...and worries me. I thought Japan was not going to manufacture "lizard" packs? Can anyone confirm one of these (replacement) Japan packs are "lizard"?

+1. In fact, it was the very first thing that crossed my mind, and it's one reason I'm holding off taking my car in.

If these start to arrive and no fitting kits are necessary, clearly they'd be old style packs (even if they were to have a better electrolyte formulation), and in my opinion would be contrary to the terms of the class action settlement.

We'd never really know what we were getting!

 

[TimLee]

... and in my opinion would be contrary to the terms of the class action settlement.

We'd never really know what we were getting!

But is the settlement final yet?
No one has received No Charge to Charge cards or $50 checks yet.
So far all pack replacements technically have been from Nissan's "voluntary" addition of the capacity warranty.
Those do not have a requirement to be latest technology or even pack replacement.

Just back to nine capacity bars or greater :shock: