2018 Leaf Error "Service EV System No Power" DIY Fix

I have a 2018 Leaf and winter temperature has dropped to minus overnight recently in Canada, I couldn't start the vehicle last weekend and there was "Service EV System No Power" error on the screen. I just want to post this to help other people to fix the problem.

Symptom: Cannot start the vehicle, with error "Service EV System No Power" on the screen. Now, if you pay closer attention to the beep (say pressing the lock/unlock on the key fob), you can hear it has very weak beeping sound. I couldn't even open the charging port remotely.

What I tried (DID NOT WORK): I have been using jumper cables and Li-Ion battery booster over the years, I have saved many people on the parking lot by boosting their gasoline engine before I had the Leaf. I know what I am doing. Okay, I have tried using the NOCO Li-ion battery boost GB40 and IT DID NOT work, it did not start the vehicle. Then, I tried hooking up with the jumper cable with a gasoline car, nope it did NOT work either.

What I tried (DID WORK): I hooked up a 120V battery charger (it was for my boat deep cycle battery) and charged the Leaf battery for 10 min and I was able to START the vehicle, FINALLY!!!!

What I have learned: Looking up Tesla's boosting instructions, when using booster cables you cannot treat it like gasoline engine, they told you to charge the dead battery for 5-10 minutes before you try to start the vehicle. Unlike boosting a gasoline engine, I believe the "cranking amp" is not really relevant. Keep in mind, if you are in the -30C in Canada and someone tried to help you in the parking lot, you need to tell him to WAIT 10 minutes at least, that's gonna be a bit interesting.

What I did: It was a Saturday afternoon, I called the dealership and they told me there was no appointment available until the following Monday. Yes, it may be under warranty but I would need to take a half day off, drive to the dealership, wait there.. it's not worth my time. So I went to Canadian Tire and grabbed a battery for $140 CAD. Installed it, very easy. Notice it in the picture, the original Nissan battery has +/- terminals CLOSER to the right (they call it "negative on left and positive on right corner"), however the new battery I got has the terminals closer to the LEFT (they call it "positive on left and negative on right corner"). There is no problem for the RED positive terminal because there is a lot of slack, but for the BLACK negative one, it was a very tight and I barely made it. Okay after installing the new battery, vehicle started no problem! To make sure this fixes the problem, I posted this after 15 days. so you have confidence to follow what I did if you encounter the same issue. Hope this helps!!!! But honestly, I am not very happy with Nissan because the battery just died so quickly.

Battery I used:
MOTOMASTER OEPLUS Group Size 51 Battery, 500 CCA
SPECS - Group #: 51; CCA: 500; CA: 615; RC: 75
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT - GROUP #: 51; CCA: 410

Nice write-up and thanks for the tips.

For any future readers, a size/type 51R instead of a size/type 51 battery will have the terminals oriented in the same way as the original battery.

Nice catch, and nice fix.

The tricky part in choosing a 12v for hybrids and EVs is that they last a lot longer if you can find a 'deep cycle', long runtime battery. I've been looking for a replacement for my Tesla and so far have not found one. IN GENERAL, the batteries we want have a relatively lower CCA and a longer RC. I also want a higher capacity battery but that is a separate issue. RC of 75 minutes is OK, 90 minutes is hot stuff.

Looks like we have our first Gen II dead accessory battery...

I also had that same issue a few months back & also revived the car with a 120v battery charger. The battery was reading 5.33V but shot back up to 12.xx after about 10 min

Dealer replaced with an OEM one. They also performed a current leakage test and found my car to be exceptionally low on parasitic power drain so it was just a weak OEM battery

Maybe this would help? Deep cycle, up to 33 Amp-Hour, but not cheap. Based in Canada too.

https://www.kendrickastro.com/battery.html

I don't think their "Power Packs" are designed as automotive replacement batteries. We usually just suggest a 51R configuration AGM (absorbed glass mat) automotive battery. AGM batteries better withstand being below 100% charge because the fiberglass matting inside somewhat discourages the formation of lead sulfate crystals - at least large ones. They aren't as tolerant of low State of Charge (SOC) as lithium batteries, but they are a good lower cost compromise.

I started the original post a year ago, I just want to give you guys an update. My 12V Motomaster Group51 battery just died, only lasted for 1 year, that's unbelievable. How frustrated when I needed to go to work and could NOT start the car.

Li-ion Booster: In my original post, I said I used the NOCO Li-ion booster without success. This time I used the same NOCO GB30 booster but instead of using automatic mode, I switched to "Manual Override Mode", this would instantly gave full power output and I was able to jump start the Leaf successfully.

Symptom: Before I did the boost, I used the voltmeter to check the voltage, it was around 5V. The symptom was totally different from a year ago, there was no error message on the dash board, completely pitch dark. After I connected the NOCO booster and tried to start the car, the headlights were flashing like crazy, it was like a light show... then all the error messages displayed on the dashboard one after another, they were totally not related. It was very scary! I thought I toasted the computer and needed a tow. The following were the messages I saw:

Warning: Key not registered, See Owner's manual
Warning: Chassis Control System Error, See Owner's manual
Warning: Service EV System
Warning: When Parked. Apply Parking Brake

Note: "Service EV System" and "Service EV System No Power" are different, the first one you can start the car, the 2nd one you can't.

Solution: I guess I didn't wait long enough for the NOCO li-ion booster to do the work because according to Tesla's manual, they said you are supposed to wait for 10min during jump start before trying to start the car. So I reconnected the clamps and used "Manual Override mode" again, waited for 5 min. Bingo, the car started with no error message, everything was back to normal!!!

Root Cause: I honestly don't know what was causing issue because my Motomaster battery was just 1 year old. Anyways, I installed a new Group51 battery and everything is fine again.  I tried to investigate the root cause, besides potential bad luck on the Motomaster battery, there is no USB device plugged in and there is no lights left turned on to drain the battery. The only thing I can think of is the telematics. I remember I received a letter from Nissan about 6 months ago, they told me I had to subscribe to Nissan Connect, otherwise the app would not work (remote door/car warm/etc)... well, the app was so bad, I deleted that on the 2nd week when I got the car. I looked up on the forum, someone said it could be the TCU (Telematic Control Unit) failed to authenticate (since I didn't pay) and it kept trying and eventually drained my battery, just suspecting I have no proof.

Final remark: I am using the NOCO Genius 2 battery maintainer every single day from now on until the lease ends in 3 months. This is the first Nissan and this is probably my last Nissan in my life because it's so frustrated. Also, this will my last post to this forum. Hope the information helps and good luck.

Was your car affected by the recall for a potential grounding issue that needed certain plates between the pack & car body replaced?

That may be causing your battery failures.

Riniboo, are you leaving the car plugged in for long times (12+ hours or days) when it isn't charging? That can kill the 12 volt battery. So can using the Accessory mode to run things like the lights and radio, rather than Ready mode.

That happened on a regular work week, no I didn't leave the car plugged in for long time.

Everyday I got home from work at 6pm, plug the level 2 charger and it is scheduled to start charging at 8PM. Depends on the usage during the day, it probably finishes charging some time after midnight. Then, wake up in the morning and start another day. That sounds pretty normal, if this routine can kill the 12V battery, I seriously don't know what to say LOL...

Some Leafs - not all of them - don't do a good job of keeping the 12 volt battery charged. If your car is sitting plugged in after charging ends for ~6 hours a night, most nights, that could do it. I suggest that you try to set the charge timer to finish charging right before you leave in the morning. If you want to further investigate this, get a digital multimeter or voltmeter, and check the resting voltage of the 12 volt battery both in the morning, and in the evening right before you plug it in. If the evening reading is above 12.4 volts, but it's significantly below that in the morning, that could be the problem.