2019 LEAF won’t start

Good morning,

My 2019 Leaf will not start. I left the door unlocked and so I can get into the car, but when I go to start it, nothing happens. I can’t even lock and unlock the doors.

I called roadside assistance and they will tow to the nearest Nissan dealership.

Does it sound like the 12 volt battery is dead?

I’m wondering if I didn’t turn the car off last night after getting home from Christmas dinner.

Thanks for any insight!


Best wishes, Kris

Definitely a dead 12V battery. Charge it if you can and save the tow hassle.

You might have fumble fingered the start button and hit it twice, the first time turned off the motor drive, the second turned on the Accy mode running off the 12V aux battery.

Thanks for the reply! How do I open the charging door? Pressing the button doesn’t work.

Open the hood, the 12V is located in the "engine" compartment. After the 12V is charged up, or jump started from another car/battery, then you can start the car to READY.

https://youtu.be/ROjd4Jsm5ms

Ok, thanks! I am o able to open the hood. Is jump starting the LEAaF 12V battery the same as jump starting any other car’s 12V battery?

I do have a tow company en route and wonder if they can give me a jump, rather than putting me on a flatbed and towing me to the dealership.

Thank you so much! Kristin

You can "jump start" the LEAF with jumper cables or a booster battery like any other car. Once the car is in READY mode (green car light in dash is on), the DC-DC converter will quickly recharge the 12-volt battery while driving.

If you did not turn the car off and both traction battery and 12-volt battery are dead, you will need to charge the 12-volt battery enough to get the charge port release to function and then plug in the charger to charge the car. The 12-volt battery must have enough charge to activate the main DC power contactor in order to charge the car so you may need to keep the booster battery or 12-volt battery charger connected until the main contactor closes and the car actually starts charging. After the car starts charging, the booster battery or 12-volt charger should be disconnected because the DC-DC converter will be charging the 12-volt battery while the car is charging.

Thank you so much for your help! When the flat bed tow truck arrived, I got a quick charge of the 12V battery and was able to drive away.

This forum has been amazing! It may seem quite silly, that this user stupidly left the car on over night and then didn’t know how to handle it. But there’s a real fear of the unknown and much of owning an electric car still seems full of unknowns.

So thank you, thank you, thank you! I really love this car.

forcedexposure said:

Thank you so much for your help! When the flat bed tow truck arrived, I got a quick charge of the 12V battery and was able to drive away.

This forum has been amazing! It may seem quite silly, that this user stupidly left the car on over night and then didn’t know how to handle it. But there’s a real fear of the unknown and much of owning an electric car still seems full of unknowns.

So thank you, thank you, thank you! I really love this car.

Click to expand...

Now that you have it started, charge the 12V battery with an external charger (the leaf is well known to not fully charge the 12V battery) and check the voltage at rest. It should be > 12.4V 1 hour after disconnecting the external charger. If not, buy a new 12V battery, preferably the AGM type.

Also, there's a physical key inside the key fob. Should your battery ever go dead while the car is locked, you can use this on the driver's door to manually unlock the car, power or not.

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

GerryAZ said:

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

Click to expand...

It is quite possible, though that the 12 volt battery was damaged by being run dead. The capacity should be tested, and if the driver does mainly short trips, an external charge may be a good idea anyway.

GerryAZ said:

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

Click to expand...

Good to know. Is this true on the 2018 as well?

Lothsahn said:

GerryAZ said:

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

Click to expand...

Good to know. Is this true on the 2018 as well?

Click to expand...

I haven't had any trouble yet, and I have not even checked the accessory battery voltage yet - something I should do soon.

GerryAZ said:

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

Click to expand...

As long as the car is driven regularly. If it sits for 2-3 days at a time frequently, I would also recommend boosting the battery occasionally.

DaveinOlyWA said:

GerryAZ said:

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

Click to expand...

As long as the car is driven regularly. If it sits for 2-3 days at a time frequently, I would also recommend boosting the battery occasionally.

Click to expand...

My car sits for as long as a week regularly, and frequently for several days. No issues so far. I can see possible issues if the climate control isn't used, but that's only a guess. The 12 volt top-off seems to happen more often when the car is off than with previous Leafs.

My LEAFs have all been parked for extended time at the airport or my office with no issues (except the one time I forgot to unplug the Bluetooth adapter and left the Android device running LEAF Spy on the passenger seat of the 2011 and returned to a dead 12-volt battery after only 6 days). Two weeks is the longest for the 2019 so far, but the previous cars were parked up to a month at a time without incident. That being said, the 12-volt battery charging algorithms have changed over the years. The 2011 would drop from bulk charge (about 14-14.5 volts) to float charge when charging current dropped below about 6 amperes. The 2015 would drop to float charge when charging current dropped below about 3 amperes. The 2019 does not drop back to float voltage (about 13 volts) until charging current drops well below 2 amperes (based on LEAF Spy indication--have not yet checked with digital meter). Since the 2019 keeps charging voltage high until charging current drops to a low level, it is as good as any external charger would be.

LeftieBiker said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

GerryAZ said:

The DC-DC converter in your 2019 will properly charge the 12-volt battery while driving and charging the car. There is no need to connect an external 12-volt charger. The 12-volt battery charging algorithm on the 2019 has been improved over previous models.

Click to expand...

As long as the car is driven regularly. If it sits for 2-3 days at a time frequently, I would also recommend boosting the battery occasionally.

Click to expand...

My car sits for as long as a week regularly, and frequently for several days. No issues so far. I can see possible issues if the climate control isn't used, but that's only a guess. The 12 volt top-off seems to happen more often when the car is off than with previous Leafs.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I suspected the 12 volt top off interval would be shortened. If anyone can confirm what the current interval is. I also notice that cars w/o telematics have less 12 volt battery issues. I am hoping that system was improved as well to lower power demands, etc.

Something I have not done is random battery checks to see if the "resting" voltage is higher than my previous LEAFs.

I have had my 2019 Leaf for about 2 months and the 12v battery died. I did get the car to start and took it to the dealer where I bought it, When I talked to the service manager he told me that Nissan was having problems with their 12v batteries. They just replaced the battery and all is good.

neal77 said:

I have had my 2019 Leaf for about 2 months and the 12v battery died. I did get the car to start and took it to the dealer where I bought it, When I talked to the service manager he told me that Nissan was having problems with their 12v batteries. They just replaced the battery and all is good.

Click to expand...

Do you leave the car plugged in for long periods when it isn't charging?

neal77 said:

I have had my 2019 Leaf for about 2 months and the 12v battery died. I did get the car to start and took it to the dealer where I bought it, When I talked to the service manager he told me that Nissan was having problems with their 12v batteries. They just replaced the battery and all is good.

Click to expand...

Despite the rumours that 12 volt battery management has improved in the Gen 2, I am not seeing any evidence of that. My car is NEVER plugged in and not charging. Its driven daily and the average voltage is 12.2 volts. IOW, no changes from my 4 previous LEAFs.

Expect edge cases to continue to have battery issues.

Are you having 12 volt battery issues, Dave?