No offense, but would you "take a chill pill," as my kids say, please, no need to be rude, eh? Sure, people are upset, but that isn't going to solve this.
I don't thin Nissan did such a great job of explaining best methods for battery longevity. The more often the battery is charged, the shorter the life-span, for example. So topping off every night, or several times a day IS going to shorten battery life - that's just the way it is with this battery technology. Looking over the material Nissan provides, I don't think they emphasized that enough. Maybe the Leaf just isn't optimally suitable for your particular driving needs, and others like you, because the range you need daily requires topping off everyday. A lease would be the way to go in your case, I'd say, if you still want to drive a Leaf. Don't you agree? Let Nissan bear the burden of premature battery capacity loss.
I think you'd have a strong arguement that you were not fully informed of this drawback, and maybe Nissan could be convinced to convert your purchase into a lease? Most states have a so-called 'lemon law' - I'm an attorney as well as an electrical engineer - but I do not know about AZ. This is not meant to be leagal advice or create an attorney-client relationship, consult a local attorney and do not rely on this to your detriment. Rather than face a lemon law suit, I'd think Nissan would prefer to settle - maybe a lease would be acceptable to you and them, I don't know? You probably be best to let an attorney handle this - be sure it's on a contingency basis and that Nissan pays her/his fees and costs.
Nissan does list some things to do to help extend battery life in their materials. They work for me because my driving habits do not require charging to 100% and the 80% long life level is adequate - I don;t need to top off or charge every day, more like every two or three days. But I still don't think they prepared/informed us all well about the battery life issues.
That said, I really do not know if, in fact, your topping off (every day?) is what caused your apparently premature battery capacity loss. Your on-board charging records might shed some light on that. Do you have acccess to them? I do not know whether the complete record is stored on your vehicle or at Nissan's server. I hope Nissan will illuminate all us owners on what is going on with these vehicles that DON'T have high-mileage.
And I still wonder if the lost bars you and others are seeing is accurately representing the actual energy capacity of your battery. Maybe it is. But maybe there is a component, like a $10 Hall-effect or other sensor, that is defective? That'd be covered under the warranty. In reseaching that possibility yesterday, I read that a month or so ago, there were some Leaf owners who used the GE WattStation and had the Leaf on-board chargers fail completely. The reason was they happened to be charging when there was a brown-out or power surge. At first they jumped to the conclusion that the GE WattStation had damaged their vehicles, but the fault lied with the Nissan provided on-board charging circuitry/firmware. It took a month or so to figure that out. Nissan repaired them under warranty. They also should have FORMALLY issued a warning NOT to charge your Leaf when there is the possibility of a brown-out or electrical storm - they mentioned an informal warning, but I hadn't heard about it until I read the article.
So maybe it will turn out your problems are not the $10,000 battery pack but instead some minor warranty-covered component in the sensing or charging circuitry that was damaged during a brown-out or power surge through no fault on your part? If so, we are all potentially affected, so I do want to see this thoroughly and competently analyzed. So far, I am not confident either Nissan or the well-meaning road testers have done what is needed.
I get your frustration. I don't want to sound too preachy but one reason we have a legal system is because most people can't calmly negotiate a rational settlement when they feel they've been harmed or wronged or whatever. I suggest not playing the 'blame game' - instead play to win, which to me means to resolve the problem.
chris
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I charge to 100% all the time, never to 80%. Up till this year all charging used to be done when the car arrived home at the hottest part of the day. Have left it at full charge many times and used to "top off" everyday regardless of SOC. No turtles and no level 3s. There, get it over and post how it's all my fault. Come on, I know you want to. Oh, but wait, let's look at the posting from DesertDenizen
So he did everything right and I did it all wrong and we both wound up with the same problem. Our manufacture and ownership dates are the same. Expain please?[/quote]