Battery Trouble For Nissan Leaf Owners

Sep 25, 2012 10:41 AM EDT | Matt Mercuro

When choosing to purchase a green car, a driver is expecting to have a better driving experience then he or she is use to, while feeling good that they are doing their part for the environment. It turns out that deciding to purchase an electric car may be more of a hassle than previously believed.

During this past July, Nissan dealerships in Arizona started reducing the price for the Leaf EV by taking off $5,000 from the sticker price in an attempt to sell more cars. Cars weren't selling due to the fact that Leaf owners in Arizona started complaining that there electric cars started losing a great amount of battery power whenever the weather was hot outside.

This problem would leave drivers and passengers stranded on roads in the heat that can reach well over 100 during the summer months. Nissan addressed the issue in an open letter to Leaf owners after many Leaf's sold in Arizona were inspected and were deemed to be operating as planned. When addressing the issue the car has been having with the extreme heat temperatures, they said that the battery capacity loss over time is consistent with the specific their usage and operating environment.

They also determined that no defects were found in any of the vehicles.

"A small number of Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona are experiencing a greater than average battery capacity loss due to their unique usage cycle, which includes operating mileages that are higher than average in a high-temperature environment over a short period of time," said Carla Bilo, senior VP of research and development in the letter.

Though they stated that the 2013 Leaf will have a longer driving range, essentially what the letter states is that losing a great amount of driving range depending on the weather and car usage is normal. This isn't exactly what was told to owners of the car the day they purchased one from a dealership. 

See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?

© 2024 Auto World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Get the Most Popular Autoworld Stories in a Weekly Newsletter

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics