Battery degradation in a used Nissan Leaf

AdrianC

vampireechidna said:

Under the Nissan's warranty, it has to be less than the 80% of original capacity.

No, Nissan's warranty is quite explicit that the trigger for replacement is "less than 9" bars. Nothing else.

vampireechidna

AdrianC said:

vampireechidna said:

Under the Nissan's warranty, it has to be less than the 80% of original capacity.

No, Nissan's warranty is quite explicit that the trigger for replacement is "less than 9" bars. Nothing else.

To confirm, you are correct. 

silverwhistle

AdrianC said:

The charge indicator said full-strength at the time of purchase, and for the first six weeks afterwards?
I'm really not sure how that can be the vendor's fault. They could have had no way of foreseeing the drop.

The drop, as you describe it is only based on the blunt instrument of the 12 bars. I don't have an EV yet but do know that you can examine the battery for its exact percentage SOH - State of Health - and a Nissan dealer should know this. if you look at advertisements for Leafs from specialist EV dealers you'll see they sometimes give the %SOH (when it's good!).  You can even get the information yourself with an OBD device and a copy of LeafSpy software.
EDIT: whoops, I now see the point has been made.

born_again

vampireechidna said:

I told my sales person of my concerns with battery degradation, but was reassured the 30kwh Leaf should be fine for many years to come.  6 weeks later I done my first rapid charge while travelling on a 145 mile tip. To my horror the battery health was showing it first sign of battery degradation. Thank you. 

Could the Fast charge, due to the heat generated and a leaf only being air cooled, so a hot day will have a greater effect than a cold day.
Be the real cause of the issue?
Given you do not know how the previous owner charged the car.

https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/fast-charging-can-damage-electric-car-batteries-in-just-25-cycles

vampireechidna

born_again said:

vampireechidna said:

I told my sales person of my concerns with battery degradation, but was reassured the 30kwh Leaf should be fine for many years to come.  6 weeks later I done my first rapid charge while travelling on a 145 mile tip. To my horror the battery health was showing it first sign of battery degradation. Thank you. 

Could the Fast charge, due to the heat generated and a leaf only being air cooled, so a hot day will have a greater effect than a cold day.
Be the real cause of the issue?
Given you do not know how the previous owner charged 

It does look like any degradation came from 960 fast charges it appears to have had in it's life. What surprised me was the 13 rapid charges. I was expecting  that number to be much higher. 

almillar

I should make the point that this is a Leaf (and maybe EV200) specific problem, not an EV one. Leaf has a battery health display right in the dashboard, with a number of bars showing how good it still is. OP bought one, and a bar went out very quickly afterwards.

I've checked the health of a Leaf, Leaf 2, Zoe and Kia Soul EV with a £15 Bluetooth dongle and a few Android apps, and I would strongly suggest that anyone buying any used car either insists on being allowed to do this, or on the dealer supplying a report, that they will stand over.

Unless OP can prove that the garage has lied to them - 'it's dropped 6%, but we don't know anything about EVs', and the OBD2 port being missing, could all be suspicious, I think they'll have to suck this one up.

AdrianC

almillar said:

...and the OBD2 port being missing

The port wasn't missing. Just the trim piece hiding it from view.

Apart from there being no indication when that went AWOL, checking for fault codes at service is good practice on any vehicle.

almillar

Sorry Adrian, yes, I meant to say the cover not the port - suggesting that someone has checked 'something' and on an EV being sold the SOH of the battery would be top of the list, hence the suspicion about the dealer who seems to be saying it's only dropped 6% whilst also claiming to not know about EVs

born_again

almillar said:

Sorry Adrian, yes, I meant to say the cover not the port - suggesting that someone has checked 'something' and on an EV being sold the SOH of the battery would be top of the list, hence the suspicion about the dealer who seems to be saying it's only dropped 6% whilst also claiming to not know about EVs

>> 8 week ago (OP) purchased a 2017 plate Nissan Leaf 30kwh vehicle from a franchised Nissan dealership.<<
I would expect a Nissan dealership to know about EV's given the length of time Nissan has been selling them.
I would also expect a dealer to use something other than the OBD2 port to check the car and then lose the panel. More like the previous owner had GOM or such plugged in there.

AdrianC

born_again said:

I would also expect a dealer to use something other than the OBD2 port to check the car and then lose the panel. More like the previous owner had GOM or such plugged in there.

Or an insurance black box.