Milage nightmare

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Gweari

New member
Joined
Dec 19, 2020
Messages
3
Hello,

I purchased my leaf about three years ago and ever since I bought it my milage has been awful. When I purchased it I was told I would get around 106 city and 96 highway on eco and no climate control. When my car is "fully charged" the highest I have ever seen it get to is 63 miles. And by the time I even get out of the parking lot at work which is like 200 ft I have already lost a mile or two.

My commute to work is around 4.8 miles. On the way to work I lose anywhere from 1-5 miles but on the way home I lose 12-20 miles. I go the same route and drive the speed limit which is 40 and never have climate control on and it is always on eco.

If I go on the highway my milage just gets eaten. What should be around 3 miles taken off it actually eats about 13.

Is there something wrong with my battery? I was talking to someone and they had said something about car batteries in other cars non electric can lose whatever is in a battery so you just have to fill it back up. Is that actually true and could that be the same thing for me? I have taken it to a mission dealer and they didn't say anything about it.

Sorry I am still new to the electric car and I also know pretty much nothing about cars.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2012 leaf and I am located in Kansas City MO.

My main thing is I don't even get the estimated milage that is displayed on my dash.
 
I assume the this is a 2016 or 2017 Leaf with 30kwh battery, but please confirm that. There is a known issue with these cars losing range rapidly. Nissan issued a software patch for the Battery Management System (BMS); if the car loses 4 of the 12 little capacity bars next to the charge bars on the dash AFTER the BMS update, then they will install a new 40kwh battery for free. So your assignment is to tell us how many capacity bars remain, counting the two red ones at the bottom of the gauge. I'm guessing about 9.
 
Thanks for the reply! It is a 2012, sorry I had forgotten to put that in original post!
 
It would also be helpful to include your location, as what's "normal" battery degradation in Phoenix is very different from "normal" degradation in Seattle,.for instance. Also post back with your LEAF's model year.

If you have a 2015 or older, 63 miles of range isn't terrible (particularly at this time of year). For a 2017 with a 30 kWh pack, 63 miles of range is lousy and suggests a badly degraded battery pack, especially if the BMS software update was already done.
 
Whoever sold you the car lied to you about the range. Before 2016, the average range for a NEW Leaf was about 70-75 miles in Summer, with gentle driving. Your car has a battery that degrades quickly, so the range you are seeing is likely typical, I'm afraid. Using the heat will make it far lower. I'll post some tips for increasing range a bit later.

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=23297&p=482154

This post is for people shopping for a used Leaf. It will further explain the issues with your car. Again, I'm sorry.

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26662&p=538030
 
Gweari said:
My commute to work is around 4.8 miles. On the way to work I lose anywhere from 1-5 miles but on the way home I lose 12-20 miles.
It sounds like you drive down hill on your way to work and uphill on the way back. Your dash range is misleading you because it is mostly based on your return trip home.

What you need is the equivalent of a fuel gauge. Then you will know how much of your battery energy your commute used. For a 2012 LEAF that means getting an OBD2 adapter and buying LEafSpy -- all told, about a $30 purchase.
 
SageBrush said:
Gweari said:
My commute to work is around 4.8 miles. On the way to work I lose anywhere from 1-5 miles but on the way home I lose 12-20 miles.
It sounds like you drive down hill on your way to work and uphill on the way back. Your dash range is misleading you because it is mostly based on your return trip home.

What you need is the equivalent of a fuel gauge. Then you will know how much of your battery energy your commute used. For a 2012 LEAF that means getting an OBD2 adapter and buying LEafSpy -- all told, about a $30 purchase.

It is fairly flat but I will check those out! Thank you
 
I have a replacement battery in my 2012. At a full charge (100% on the timer setting), I can get around 65 miles max - with no heater nor A/C. The second battery has dropped one bar so far. The only way to accurately know your range on the 2012 is to use the LeafSpy App and learn how your driving habits affect the miles/kWh setting - then use that setting to give the best estimate of your remaining miles. The dash readings are not accurate - to be kind to the dash meter!
 
Marktm said:
I have a replacement battery in my 2012. At a full charge (100% on the timer setting), I can get around 65 miles max - with no heater nor A/C. The second battery has dropped one bar so far. The only way to accurately know your range on the 2012 is to use the LeafSpy App and learn how your driving habits affect the miles/kWh setting - then use that setting to give the best estimate of your remaining miles. The dash readings are not accurate - to be kind to the dash meter!
Simpler than that -- s(he) needs a SoC meter
 
Gweari said:
When I purchased it I was told I would get around 106 city and 96 highway on eco and no climate control. When my car is "fully charged" the highest I have ever seen it get to is 63 miles. And by the time I even get out of the parking lot at work which is like 200 ft I have already lost a mile or two.
...
I have a 2012 leaf and I am located in Kansas City MO.

My main thing is I don't even get the estimated milage that is displayed on my dash.
Thanks for updating w/your model year. No, per https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=32154&id=37067, the EPA estimated range on a '12 Leaf on a full charge with a new battery (little or not capacity loss) is 73 miles. Ignore the stupid MPGe figures.

It is disturbing to hear of being lied to and also disturbing to continue to hear people buying used Leafs w/o having done proper research...

Your battery has anywhere between some to a lot of capacity loss. How many capacity bars is it down by? The capacity bars are the rightmost set of bars including the red ones. http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Scott_3_bars_s.jpg is an example of a fully charged 9 bar car (3 bar loser).

The "estimate mileage" is total crap and we call it the guess-o-meter (GOM). There is no point in "figuring it out": https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=271853#p271853.

Since the '12 Leaf has no % state of charge display and only the GOM + 12 fuel bars, +100 in the suggestion to get Leaf Spy + a compatible OBD2 dongle for your phone OS. Gids are FAR more granular (281 on a new 24 kWh battery on a full charge) than the stupid 12 fuel bars and you'll still have visibility once you pass VLBW (aka Very Low Battery Warning, 2nd warning) where the GOM becomes - - - miles.
SageBrush said:
Simpler than that -- s(he) needs a SoC meter
They will need to use Leaf Spy or some other similar tool since the 1% increment SoC display didn't exist on Leafs before model year '13. They only have the 12 fuel bars + GOM. Long ago, people also tried to infer/have a more granular than 12 fuel bars SoC indication by looking at the time to charge estimate: https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=7079.

Prior to Leaf Spy, people were building the original gid meter: https://saxton.org/tom_saxton/2012/01/leaf-soc-meter-build.html. And prior to Leaf Spy existing, the Leaf Spy author was building https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=8527. I met Turbo3 + surfingslovak at Turbo3's house before surfingslovak flew to Phoenix to help w/TonyWilliams's range test: https://web.archive.org/web/20160113132627/http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=228326. He was bringing some equipment (e.g. gid meters like WattsLeft, GPS units, etc.) for the test.
 
Gweari said:
My main thing is I don't even get the estimated milage that is displayed on my dash.
You never will - the estimated range on the dash is a bad guess. You are best to ignore it completely.
 
Mine does the same thing, says about 75 miles, then I get a battery warning warning light at around 50. It does a lot better in the summer.
 
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