Bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf in 2021. Less than 50,000 on the clock. I drove it off the forecourt with full charge range of 85 miles and one bar missing on the battery state. The salesman announced “oh that’s a good range” I was disappointed as new the claim is 125, I expected nearer a 100 but experience was to teach me, EV cars can never do the manufacturers claimed range (take at least 20% off that) and this is what happens, batteries get tired with age.
Issues Start
Two years later it became unreliable to start, very randomly. The lights all came on but it didn’t enter ready to drive mode. Eventually I changed the 12 volt battery and normal service was restored.
After three week holiday in February 2024 came back to rain and cold. I used the remote climate to warm the interior and it failed. I decided to charge it up. Used it but next day it was dead!
Could not use the remote at all. Had to unlock manually to release the bonnet and charge a flat one year old 12 volt battery. Various issues and error messages appeared on the dash, key not recognised, parking brake I couldn’t even turn the damn thing off! This went on for several days, charge it up, clear the errors with LeafSpy then go round again until I replaced the battery, again!
12 volt Dilemma
With the new battery, I had nearly two weeks of hassle free EV driving till it rained again. Battery at 7 volts, so moisture must be getting in somewhere causing a power drain. I think it is pathetic that the car does not monitor the state of the 12 volt battery, OR Nissan give us some means of utilising the 400 volt traction battery to charge up the 12 volt to get the car started! There should be a manual button to induce the DC-DC Converter.
Monitoring.
After a drive the battery was charging to 14.40v from 50 amps down to 3a. I parked it and watched with Leafspy the voltage drop over 3 hours to 12.2v. By 1am it was 11.9v.
The next morning at 8am it was 9.86v with Leafspy flashing it red! I turned on the traction charger, it worked and raised the 12v battery to 14.4v again at a rate of 50 amps again.
Charging 12v battery happens when:
- The traction 400v battery is charging or plugged in. 14.4v initially reducing to 13v trickle.
- Car is Driving or in Ready mode.
- Remote climate is on unplugged -> 14.4v 40A << magic!
- End of charge -> weak trickle 13v 0.4A for ~20 minutes
So a tactic can be deployed for occasionally topping up the 12v battery.
Tried an intermittent charge, hour on 3 hours off, but sometimes failed to activate.
Giddy
The Leaf main 400v battery now has 216 GIDs or 77% on LeafSpy (2024). A new Leaf would be 281.
2024 Shocker
In February Nissan announced the end of the Connect EV app to remotely control the Leaf. Now, this is in my opinion, is one of the must have features. This means you can no longer pre-heat or cool the cabin before using the vehicle. This is a top selling point. Nissan blame the ‘sunset’ of 2G technology, that is bollucks, 2G is good till 2030 according to BT.