Posted on 07/28/2012 3:46:42 PM PDT by BobL
Home / Nissan Leaf Range Loss Issues Persist In Arizona
Published July 23, 2012
By Jeff Cobb 2012_nissan_leaf_06
Owners of the Nissan Leaf in Arizona have been chronicling complaints with Nissan whose representatives were initially said to be explaining away substantial range degradation, but now it appears Nissan is responding further to the heat.
And perhaps that is appropriate as the heat of Arizona was what presumably created issues that have prompted a thread now 169 pages long on the MyNissanLEAF.com forum.
As you can see in the video report, some owners have reported unacceptably significant degrees of range loss compared to their original range and are collecting stories and banding together to commiserate, and try to get a satisfactory response.
“When I first purchased the vehicle, I could drive to and from work on a single charge, approximately 90 miles round trip,” a Leaf owner, still an ardent fan of the car, told the Phoenix CBS affiliate. “Now I can drive approximately 44 miles on this without having to stop and charge.”
(Excerpt) Read more at hybridcars.com ...
“There is a guy here is scottsdale who had a 30 yr old small pickup that the bed is filled with lead acid batteries and he has a truck rack that has solar panels on it. he says he hasnt bought any gas in 20 yrs or something like that. He shows up at the car shows on Saturdays. As far as these nissanleafs and other cars, they need to carry a honda generator on them as a backup if the battery gets low”
He may not have bought gas, but I can ASSURE YOU he bought a lot of electricity...unless he only drove it to car shows. He’d have to leave the truck in the sun for a week (at least) just to get those batteries charged. ...and I hope the car shows were close by, as those batteries don’t hold much energy (although they also don’t take down houses when they fail).
In the Phoenix area a standard automobile battery typically lasts two years—if you’re lucky.
“For Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona, the best way to deal with this is to use gasoline during the hot, daytime hours and use the batteries at night, or during the mildest seasons in Arizona. That would be how I would do it.”
The Leaf has no engine, it’s all batteries. Maybe they should just drive their Leaf’s in November through March, and let them sit out the summer. WHOOPS!!! Not a good idea to store them in a hot place, or with a full charge, as that wrecks their batteries too.
“In the Phoenix area a standard automobile battery typically lasts two years—if you’re lucky.”
True, not much better in Houston. I read elsewhere that the Leaf battery costs Nissan about $10k to $15k, so it’s not cheap to be replacing them every few years.
An engineer I met from out of town was telling me that he built the best thing that can be done right now with an electric vehicle. He took a compact pick-up truck, filled the bed with the biggest lead-acid batteries he could get. He can go 90 MPH, or go about 80 miles. The batteries aren’t that expensive and are 100% easy to recycle (and you get paid for them). The battery is separate from the passenger compartment and is safe in an accident. The truck is built to carry a load in the rear.
The guy who said heat doesn’t degrade batteries is correct, it doesn’t. Freezing cold, on the other hand, has a large effect on batteries, it saps their charge quite quickly. Also, rechargeable batteries lose the ability to hold a charge after so many charges, and if not discharged entirely each time before a recharge they will soon lose the ability to come to a full charge.
So sorry, I wasn’t aware that the Leaf was strictly electric and not a hybrid.
Leaf owners in Arizona are screwed.
“In the Phoenix area a standard automobile battery typically lasts two years—if you’re lucky.”
Odd. I live in Tucson, and my standard batteries last around 5 years.
Maybe I should park my cars in Tucson.
Great to hear! I’m getting ready to buy a new Frontier.
So, what happens if you take out all the batteries and rewire the car to have just a couple of marine deep-discharge batteries for starting torque? (from a dead stop)
It wouldn't need a transmission, nor have all that extra weight.
Maybe...but it would probably make a long walk to your house...
;>)
“So sorry, I wasn’t aware that the Leaf was strictly electric and not a hybrid. Leaf owners in Arizona are screwed.”
No prob, I hope that I didn’t come across as a wise-ass (didn’t mean it, at least on this thread). Yea, they are screwed. It will be VERY INTERESTING to following the forum through the next few years.
“So, what happens if you take out all the batteries and rewire the car to have just a couple of marine deep-discharge batteries for starting torque? (from a dead stop). It wouldn’t need a transmission, nor have all that extra weight.”
I think that would be very tough to do. Remember transmissions are needed for steady-state operation too, unless you’re able to only drive in a small speed band - which, of course, is not possible.
They don’t have to know that much, they only need to know that a reliable rechargeable battery technology for that climate doesn’t exist.
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Point I'm making is I've never been this able to afford gas and I've never felt more smacked in the face when I buy it. And I doubt I'm alone. And I doubt many others feel a lighter smack than I do. |
I just bought a Nissan Versa. It has a gasoline engine and so far it averages about 40 mpg. Plus it has a nice little emblem on the rear that reads “Pure Drive” so people think I’m environmentally sensitive.
I just replaced a motorcycle battery. I accidently left the ignition on overnight (something I NEVER did before with any vehicle!) and the battery ran flat. I tried to recharge it but it wouldn’t get above 5%. The battery was only a year old.
The dealer said this climate (East Texas) is rough on batteries. I bought a battery optimizer. They said it should help the battery last up to five years.
I don’t think electric cars typically have transmissions, just differentials. The electric motor has the most torque at startup or low RPM, but can run high revs too.
Maybe some of these hybrids will become early junkyard residents, and thus fodder for the experiments of automotive mad scientists.
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