Worries with battery on 30Kwh Leaf I just bought

blobert

Hi Guys,

I've recently bought a 2016 30Kwh Leaf at auction in the UK which arrived yesterday.

It was somthing of a gamble in that I'd not seen the car and it was quite high mileage (88,000km) and just out of warranty but it was quite cheap for a Tekna 30kwh model and I was happy to take a chance.

The car seems pretty good condition wise (other than some worn tyres) and actually had several extras that were not mentioned in the listing (6.6kw charger and both types of charging cable included) which I was happy with.

I'd read about the battery issue with this model (especially the early 2016 models, mines is from Feb 2016) and that some of them seemed to be degrading very fast. This has not had the battery management update which will hopefully address this issue a bit, I have it booked in for service next week with Nissan here and they said it's due this.

I ran Leafspy (basic version earlier) to check it and, assuming I'm reading the the battery SOH correctly it seems very low. It's saying it's 76.9% from what I can see:





I'm just wondering do you guys think this sounds right or excessively high?

I'm assuming it will be improved a few % by the update but even if it's then about 80% that seems quite low to me.

The car has not kept to its service schedule, its last service was about 1.5 years ago so I'm not sure if that would invalidate the battery warranty. In any case we'll do very minimal mileage with the car so it probably won't drop to the 66% I think it has to drop to within 5 years for the battery warranty to come into play, unless I fast charged the crap out of it.

Any thoughts on this and whether you think the battery seems unusually worn would be much appreciated!

Gumbo

There’s a software update that fixes false battery degradation on the 30 kWh leaf.
Book it in with Nissan to get sorted.

Soarer

Even running it down to dead, then slow charge it to full and allow for cell balancing, would bring it up a couple of percent too.

rolion

1300 charging processes in 3 years is not bad and not too many "fast charging" either.
Enjoy it.

slave1

After you get the software update your SOH will be 90.09% SOH, all good with the car, how much if you don't mind sharing?

McGiver

Soarer wrote: »

Even running it down to dead, then slow charge it to full and allow for cell balancing, would bring it up a couple of percent too.

Doesn't running it to zero degrade it too? I've been religiously trying to avoid very low SOC at all times and especially not keeping it at low SOC for a long time.

blobert

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess we'll see how the update goes.

I found this and it's promising reading: https://flipthefleet.org/2018/30-kwh-nissan-leaf-firmware-update-to-correct-capacity-reporting/

If I could get back to 12 bars (85%+) after the update I'd be delighted.

In answer to your question about price, car was about £11,100 including the auction fees, flipping cars fee etc.

Cheapest similar one on Autotrader is £12,500+ so I'm happy enough with it and the saving from buying at auction.

That's assuming there's nothing horribly wrong with it when it goes in for service next week:)

Thanks again for your help guys, much appreciated!

macnab

I got the Firmware update on my L30 (Nissan Belgard) SOH was 87.52%, its now 93.23%

slave1

With the 6.6 on board charger that was a super purchase, well done

AhHaor

Try to run it low and quick charge it to 80. Also the SOH will go up at least 5% in the cold. Tho your efficiency will drop as well!

Calahonda52

McGiver wrote: »

Doesn't running it to zero degrade it too? I've been religiously trying to avoid very low SOC at all times and especially not keeping it at low SOC for a long time.

Is it not the keeping bit is the issue.
Otherwise the whole idea of a 30kWh usable battery is ....ox if you can't go below 20% and above 80% so in effect an 18kWh usable
....ox indeed

blobert

AhHaor wrote: »

Try to run it low and quick charge it to 80. Also the SOH will go up at least 5% in the cold. Tho your efficiency will drop as well!

Thanks, is that run it low and fast charge it? I thought I'd seen similar but it suggested slow charging it.

Soarer

McGiver wrote: »

Doesn't running it to zero degrade it too? I've been religiously trying to avoid very low SOC at all times and especially not keeping it at low SOC for a long time.

Don't do it all the time!

Once in a while helps it to recalibrate.

AhHaor

blobert wrote: »

Thanks, is that run it low and fast charge it? I thought I'd seen similar but it suggested slow charging it.

Get it 10-20% and fast charge it. You'll get 30 to 40 minutes of high current charging which will help.

McGiver

Twice a year?

blobert

Just to say I got the battery update on the car from Nissan.

I also did the fast charge from low as had been suggested.

SOH not looking great at 85.54, I think it was more like 86% a few weeks ago, was hoping it would go back up to 90%+ after the update:





Am I right in saying it'll drop to 11 bars once it drops below 85% again, ie probably very soon?

Maybe losing a bar at almost 90,000km is normal but I'm still a bit disappointed. Guessing it would need to have much bigger loss in battery before Nissan would care in terms of battery warranty?

slave1

Correct, first bar loss is ~85%.

AhHaor

Don't be too worried yet, once the temps go below 5'C you'll get a few more % in the SOH. What is your capacity after a full charge, that is also a good number to keep track of.

On an aside, do the bars come and go depending on exact %, because the larger bars don't reappear during driving if you regen back a %

McGiver

blobert wrote:

Maybe losing a bar at almost 90,000km is normal but I'm still a bit disappointed. Guessing it would need to have much bigger loss in battery before Nissan would care in terms of battery warranty?

Depends on the usage. Leafspy shows it's been quick charged 360 times, which is a lot in my opinion. The ratio of quick charge to slow charge is quite high to my liking. I'd say it was primarily quick charged...which isn't the best in Leaf's case.

But saying that fully charge it on the AC and see what range you get.

Stealthirl

I ran leafspy for an owner i talked with at a FCP recently and his 161 had circa 2800 QC with 87% SOH

Stealthirl

Stealthirl wrote: »

I ran leafspy for an owner i talked with at a FCP recently and his 161 had circa 2800 QC with 87% SOH

What was the mileage of the car just out of interest do you know?

Calahonda52

OP:
You got a great deal on the car so embrace that and forget about chasing ephemeral %'s
I read a serious load of consumer dissonance here over a few % points.
You may also have spotted that folk are split on slow charge vs fast charge from low to high.
IMO, slow charging is always best. period
.
So enjoy the damn car and forget about %'s
If it makes you feel any better, I have a 171 version which I bought new so am looking at a loss of c 16,000 over two years so SMILE:D

Idbatterim

That’s e12,900 what would that car cost here ?

ELM327

Idbatterim wrote: »

That’s e12,900 what would that car cost here ?

I would estimate 3-4k more depending on condition

Stealthirl

samih wrote: »

What was the mileage of the car just out of interest do you know?

I believe it was somewhere between 60 and 80K km

Stealthirl

Stealthirl wrote: »

I believe it was somewhere between 60 and 80K km

That's a *lot* of quick charges for the mileage. Basically a charge per every 20-30 km driven.

KCross

Stealthirl wrote: »

I ran leafspy for an owner i talked with at a FCP recently and his 161 had circa 2800 QC with 87% SOH

How many L1/L2 charges did it have?

samih wrote: »

What was the mileage of the car just out of interest do you know?

Stealthirl wrote: »

I believe it was somewhere between 60 and 80K km

samih wrote: »

That's a *lot* of quick charges for the mileage. Basically a charge per every 20-30 km driven.

Thats two fast charges every day since it was bought.

Even a freeloading local wouldnt manage 2800 QC's since 161. It cant be a taxi either as the mileage is too low.

The figure just doesnt look right. My guess is that a charge session(s) was continuously stopping/starting and the count went wild... or something like that.

Stealthirl

KCross wrote: »

How many L1/L2 charges did it have?

I cant remember now but it was a low number. I remember thinking it was mostly fast charged. Got the feeling the owner regularly left it at a FCP even if it had over 50%. Should have had more of a chat but it was wet and my elderly mother was on her own inside the service area.

KCross wrote: »

Thats two fast charges every day since it was bought.

Even a freeloading local wouldnt manage 2800 QC's since 161. It cant be a taxi either as the mileage is too low.

The figure just doesnt look right. My guess is that a charge session(s) was continuously stopping/starting and the count went wild... or something like that.

You could be right about a charge session but as i said i got the feeling he regularly abandoned the car at FCP's. 1 near his home and 1 near work possibly
I have 62QC and 2769 L1/2 i know about 5 of the QC was trying to get a FCP to work in Gorey and circa 1500 of the L1/2 were an early attempt by me to use the car timer on a Zappi. I'm nearly at 60K km