2015 Nissan Leaf range loss without capacity loss?

D

Dale Farmer

New Member
I live in Georgia, close to Atlanta, and I purchased a used 2015 Leaf in August of 2017 with 15k miles on it. I had researched the Leaf and found that the 24kwh battery would suit my purpose as all 3 of my jobs are only 30 miles from my home and I have charging at 2 of them. Either way with 84 miles of range, even with temperature variations and different driving styles a round trip back home would still be possible if I couldn't charge. After driving the Leaf since last August I have been very pleased with the performance and it met my needs perfectly. However, literally overnight on one trip downtown, a trip that I have made on numerous occasions, I lost 30 miles of range. Since that time my total trip distance on a full charge is about 50 miles. I drive the same routes to all of my jobs and other than changes in temperature and driving style there are no other changes. I have watched my driving style and try to be conservative, don't run heat or Air Conditioning, none of this makes any difference. I used to arrive at work with 50 miles of range remaining now I get there with about 19 or 20 miles remaining. I have full capacity bars and have tried both regular(110) charging and fast(L2) charging without any difference.
I feel cheated as I can no longer have full use of the range as advertised by Nissan.
Any suggestions?
 
I would bring it in to Nissan for a battery test. You should do that at least once/yr to maintain the battery warrantee anyway (not sure if it's transferable).
 
A Battery test cant hurt. Mine are free for 3 years up here in Canada. I bought a 2016 Leaf, last March, new. The capacity is nothing short of pitiful a t below freezing temperatures. At -10, I lose 40 to 50 percent range capacity. On top of that it wont charge very fast or absorb as much electricity, vastly shortening the range. Anything you can do to keep the battery warm will vastly improve your range. Park it in a heated garage. Set the timer to charge just before you drive it really helps as it warms the batteries. Wish I had better news for you. If it is any consolation. I know a person who has a Bolt and his range decreases a lot as well. It seems to be the nature of the Li-Ion batteries. Warmer weather is coming.
 
Dale Farmer said:
I live in Georgia, close to Atlanta, and I purchased a used 2015 Leaf in August of 2017 with 15k miles on it. I had researched the Leaf and found that the 24kwh battery would suit my purpose as all 3 of my jobs are only 30 miles from my home and I have charging at 2 of them. Either way with 84 miles of range, even with temperature variations and different driving styles a round trip back home would still be possible if I couldn't charge. After driving the Leaf since last August I have been very pleased with the performance and it met my needs perfectly. However, literally overnight on one trip downtown, a trip that I have made on numerous occasions, I lost 30 miles of range. Since that time my total trip distance on a full charge is about 50 miles. I drive the same routes to all of my jobs and other than changes in temperature and driving style there are no other changes. I have watched my driving style and try to be conservative, don't run heat or Air Conditioning, none of this makes any difference. I used to arrive at work with 50 miles of range remaining now I get there with about 19 or 20 miles remaining. I have full capacity bars and have tried both regular(110) charging and fast(L2) charging without any difference.
I feel cheated as I can no longer have full use of the range as advertised by Nissan.
Any suggestions?
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Curious to hear if you took it to the dealer to have the battery checked. With a situaton like this, it's hard to know if a cell went bad, and that's limiting the car's ability to give you full range, or if a sensor or something is bad so that the car actually still has its full range, but thinks it doesn't.
 
So, good news, I took my Leaf to a dealership here in Atlanta. Diagnostics showed that my battery pack had a bad cell and because it's related to the battery pack it is covered under warranty. But in regards to the post by Greg, we have a temperate climate here in Georgia but this winter we have had some days where it was at 17F and others where it only got into the 20s. I didn't experience the loss of range that you have described but it also did not get as cold here.
 
Dale Farmer said:
So, good news, I took my Leaf to a dealership here in Atlanta. Diagnostics showed that my battery pack had a bad cell and because it's related to the battery pack it is covered under warranty. But in regards to the post by Greg, we have a temperate climate here in Georgia but this winter we have had some days where it was at 17F and others where it only got into the 20s. I didn't experience the loss of range that you have described but it also did not get as cold here.
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So, are they giving you a brand new pack? Because that would be pretty awesome. Especially if it came with its own warranty.
 
No, not a new pack, they are just replacing a module in the pack. I am happy with that as it will return my battery pack back to 100%+ SOH, still have 12 capacity bars at 26k miles and I am very happy with this Leaf, it works perfectly for me and satisfies 95% of my driving needs leaving my ICE vehicle parked in the garage for longer trips.
 
Greg said:
A Battery test cant hurt. Mine are free for 3 years up here in Canada. I bought a 2016 Leaf, last March, new. The capacity is nothing short of pitiful a t below freezing temperatures. At -10, I lose 40 to 50 percent range capacity. On top of that it wont charge very fast or absorb as much electricity, vastly shortening the range. Anything you can do to keep the battery warm will vastly improve your range. Park it in a heated garage. Set the timer to charge just before you drive it really helps as it warms the batteries. Wish I had better news for you. If it is any consolation. I know a person who has a Bolt and his range decreases a lot as well. It seems to be the nature of the Li-Ion batteries. Warmer weather is coming.
Click to expand...
I live in Kingston ON and my range loss didn't get as severe as yours until it went down to -30C. At those temps you must use the heater. Range loss was around 40%. I pretty well get most of my range back just a few degrees above freezing. At -10c I'm down about 20%. At 17F Dale should experience a range loss of 10 - 15%. I meant to make a chart this past winter showing the range at different temperatures but was organized enough.
 
Why not taking it to Nissan battery test? By the way I drive to Atlanta very often and am amazed how many Nissan Leafs I see in Atlanta area.
 
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