Nissan Leaf

NIMAN · 12-12-2021 1:08am

It definitely appears less range in cold weather, even if you don't use the heating.

As for wipers, lights, I assumed they would be powered by your 12v, not take power from the main batteries? But I'm no expert.

Also bear in mind we have generally wetter roads in the winter, which can affect range especially if you have ones fitted that haven't great efficiency. And windier too, so car might be pushing against headwinds more too.

slave1 · 12-12-2021 10:06am

Range is less predominantly due to battery chemistry re cold weather, 12v items in the car have little impact, it’s your cold battery, battery likes 30degrees not zero

slave1 · 12-12-2021 10:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118307859#Comment_118307859

As there is no alternator in an EV the 12v is charged from the Heavy Voltage battery, so everything is ultimately powered by the HV battery

Andrea B. · 13-12-2021 11:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118308280#Comment_118308280

An alternator would offer no advantage and would just be extra weight/cost.

The alternator would be driven by the motor and create a load on motor when charging (Lenz's Law).

Wet roads are a significant load. Watch tires on cars in front as they flick a constant spray of water a few inches from ground while driving. All this raisin of water is a load on motor.

josip · 16-12-2021 1:02am

Will probably need to get a 2nd car for a 143km trip down the country once a week all year round.

From what I read, a 30kWh MY 2016 won't manage that in winter in one go even if I choose to freeze my proverbials off ?

So it's a 40kWh from 2018 on that I need?

I could suffer a charge at 108km, if it meant a lower range (and substantially cheaper) Leaf was then a viable option

RainInSummer · 16-12-2021 10:13am

An L40 will do that all year. I presume you have destination charging and are staying over if it's 143km each way.

josip · 16-12-2021 2:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118329556#Comment_118329556

Car won't be used for 2 days at the far end so I was hoping a granny cable (pun unintended) would be sufficient on that end.

RainInSummer · 16-12-2021 11:01pm

Practicalities aside (open windows in winter etc) yeah that's fine.

NIMAN · 20-12-2021 11:01am

Any owners of the new model Leaf (Since 2018) lost a bar yet?

Wondering what sort of mileage is the 1st bar going at?

sh81722 · 20-12-2021 12:23pm

I kept a close eye on the capacity on our old 2018. We sold it at 76k km when it was 3 years 3 months old. The battery SOH went down to 90.51% at 64k in Dec 2020 but after that, first time ever, the SOH began to improve and when sold in June this year the heath was at 91.15%.

The progress was as follows:

1149km April 2018 99.51%

19023km Sep 2018 96.22%

31640km May 2019 94.57%

41084km Sep 2019 93.10%

54168km Apr 2020 92.05%

64664km Dec 2020 90.51%

70849km May 2021 91.12% *** First ever increase in SOH

74120km Jun 2021 91.15%

So gradual decline of a total of 7-8% within the first 2 years (5% year one and 2.5% year 2) and then just 1% on the year three. So I expect the battery to last a very long time before it hits 85% when the first capacity loss is displayed.

NIMAN · 20-12-2021 12:41pm

Thanks for that, excellent stats! Did you keep similar figures for the sort of range it was giving you?

What warranty do Nissan provide on their new shaped Leafs, battery worse?

Is it 100k, or 160k?

Or age related?

sh81722 · 20-12-2021 1:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118350983#Comment_118350983

We didn't notice any particular change in the attainable range, but this was as the range was sufficient for our regular routes so it was just plug it in when needed, and usually we just plugged it in when there was about 30% of charge remaining to cater for any unplanned trip the next day. The longest typical route was about 180km at N roads and the car always had plenty of range for that. The battery capacity warranty on L30/40/62-> is 8 years or 160k km whichever comes first. I think the rest of the drivetrain is warrantied for 5 years/160k and the rest of the car has warranty of 2 years/100k km.

The reported capacity at first was reducing noticeably bang on every 3 months so it seems some sort of pre-planned calculation with small adjustments in between. It seems that the miles don't matter as much as calendar ageing with SOH of these batteries. Incidentally, the L24 we had before the 40 was pretty much exactly at the same SOH at 2 years 9 months (71k driven) when we sold it. Its SOH on it went up and down like a yoyo but the L40 was on this constant downward slope until this year when the first uptick happened.

slave1 · 20-12-2021 1:41pm

The Leaf is notorious for long range when in Turtle mode, perhaps it releases some of this over time back to "available"

sh81722 · 20-12-2021 3:22pm

There seems to be plenty of hidden capacity below indicated 0% remaining unlike in the L24 which ran out a couple of kilometers before what the last remaining km and capacity indication was telling at approx 5% before turning to --. However, some capacity as a hidden buffer does not appear to exist unlike with the Korean cars which continue to report 100% SOH for some years. The L40, at least, seems pretty honest about the capacity when queried with the LeafSpy. In our case the Ah rating of the battery went from 114.87 to 105.22 i.e. the calculated raw capacity was reduced by about 3.5 kWh between new 40.2 kWh and at age 3y3m 36.8 kWh (I used a rated voltage 350V with the calculation). The usable capacity excluding the top and bottom buffers is about 2 kWh less than that I read from somewhere. So in reality the L40 should be marketed as L38 like what Hyundai and Kia do. The actual capacity of the battery is 9% down from the original if you base the calculation on the Amp Hours reported and that's exactly what the LeafSpy reports as SOH.

I never got around doing a proper range test on the L40. Whether the reported degradation tie with the real life results I shall never know.

harderthanf · 21-12-2021 1:53pm

Has anyone got the 2021 SVE Leaf? Dealer telling me the rear heated seat switch is just one button, in the back, that heats the whole back seat. That is, it's all or nothing. Sounds ludicrous !!

KCross · 21-12-2021 2:41pm

I don’t have a 2021 but the earlier leaf was the exact same… one button for the rear. Not a big deal tbh, it’s efficient either way.

Laviski · 21-12-2021 2:57pm

have a 2020 leaf, buttons for each side of the car, front and back.

looking back, the cold pack is nice to have but not worth it as its not often enough i use it to justify it.... then again we really haven't had a long cold snap where it would then be justified :)

Scag Mattress · 21-12-2021 3:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356052#Comment_118356052

Yea thats the way it is.

Not sure if the center seat is heated.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356322#Comment_118356322

No , only one button for the rear.

Heated seats are on in ours from October to March ! A must have IMO

harderthanf · 21-12-2021 3:08pm

It really is odd. It seems some cars have one button and some have two. See this from the 2021 Leaf user manual, it suggests two buttons.

Scag Mattress · 21-12-2021 4:21pm

It suggests 2 buttons for the front and one for the rear.

harderthanf · 21-12-2021 4:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356813#Comment_118356813

Hah. It does. I read it wrong. The "independantly of each other" threw me!

Laviski · 21-12-2021 4:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356813#Comment_118356813

well i guess i'm never in the back to pay attention so you have 1 usb in front with two buttons for driver/passenger

then at the back you have 2 usb's with a left/right button (low/High) for both back seats..

https://imgur.com/JriadPP

RainInSummer · 21-12-2021 7:47pm

Had Leaves (Leafs?) since 2015. All of them had a single switch for the rear heated seats.

sh81722 · 22-12-2021 10:17am

The rear seat heater is also only for the seat and not the seatback. The electrical load for the rear seats is therefore the same as for a single front seat.

Encrypted Pigeon · 23-12-2021 9:14pm

Have a leaf (62) on the way shortly, excited and nervous at same time :). Wondering if someone with experience can tell me if I can get away with trickle /granny charging for a short while. I going to stuck with this while I get my electrical system sorted which may end up being more costly than I had first hoped.

I would have a 70 km total daily commute but would have the opportunity to plugin at home for a good 12 - 14hrs, would this be enough to replenish? I'm going off a calculator on a site called evcompare, with a 220v/10amp selected (which I guess is the trickle charger), its saying to go from 60% to 80% (77km) takes about 6 hours, I could live with that, need to factor in preheat too I guess. Would this be some way accurate?