Low Range and Rapid and Non-Linear Loss of Charge

I have a 2016 Leaf with the 30 kwhr battery and about 20K miles on it. The range is below expectations and the displayed state of charge drops in a very non-linear fashion.

I recently did a range test and got 69 miles before the range stopped displaying. The efficiency during this test was 4.2 miles/kwhr; temperatures were approximately 50 F.

The state of charge drops very quickly when between 25% and 75% charge - between 2 and 2.5% per mile. The displayed range also drops precipitously when the battery is in this range. Outside of this range (i.e. between 0-25% and 75-100%) the state of charge drops at approximately 1% per mile.

The Nissan dealer did a battery check and hard shut down recently. The battery tested "excellent" in all the categories. The low range and non-linear loss of charge continue. The dealer suggested the range I am getting is not unusual. I don't believe that is accurate.

Any suggestions on what may be causing this and how to resolve it? Is this out of the ordinary performance?

That's not normal although some of the early 2016 30kWh batteries have been problematic. There is also a software update available for the 30kWh cars that fixed some BMS reporting errors. Has your car had the update done? The dealer should have done that and if they didn't or didn't mention it, it's quite possible that they are clueless.

I would get LeafSpy and an appropriate OBDII dongle to check on the detailed battery state. You can search here for the details about what is required for this. Bottom line, you may have a defective battery but I would try to determine this yourself first so you can argue more intelligently at the dealer. They sound like they aren't up to speed on the Leaf. There is an 8 year 100k mile battery capacity warranty and also a separate battery 'defect' warranty. Either or both of those should cover your problems but get educated on the details first.

The software update has been done and it did not resolve the issue.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Pedaler said:

The software update has been done.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Click to expand...

Did it work? If not the next possibility is a bad cell or two in the battery. Quite a few early build 30kwh 2016 Leafs have proven to have bad cells.

The update didn't work.
Is it possible there is a bad cell that isn't detected when the dealership does the battery capacity and usage tests? Those tests came back "excellent."
Also - any recommendations on working with the dealer when they don't seem to understand/acknowledge the concern?
Thanks!

Pedaler said:

The update didn't work.
Is it possible there is a bad cell that isn't detected when the dealership does the battery capacity and usage tests? Those tests came back "excellent."
Also - any recommendations on working with the dealer when they don't seem to understand/acknowledge the concern?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

I think that their usual battery test isn't of much use. They may have to do a second, more labor-intensive test, to find a marginal cell. You could probably also find it with LeafSpy Pro and the correct OBDII reader,

Read this: http://evsenhanced.com/services/30kwh-leaf-cell-imbalance-and-complete-cell-failure/?fbclid=IwAR2HSuMNSEjMR3G9X2MZ9KqLFv7jWoUR3jay1bMS5g_Ow4ICXERLcPL41jQ