Chances of getting a new battery?

[psyflyjohn]

I've had my Miev for over three years now, and the actual range is down to 45 miles (actually measured driving). It started at 62, so this represents a 28% decrease in capacity. I still get all my bars on a full charge, but obviously each bar represents less charge.

My question is, based on the dealers warranty of a max. of 20% degradation of the battery, can I go in and request a replacement battery under warranty?

The car has been great otherwise, but when I reach 40 miles battery capacity, I'll have to dump it because it won't be able to make my standard round trip.

Thanks.

 

[jray3]

Sorry to hear this, John. Here's the thread on our battery warranty extension, which did not cover capacity degradation.
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2812&start=10

I don't recall hearing of any North American market cars experiencing this much degradation. Please elaborate- was it a gradual loss and when/how did you first notice? I'm still seeing RR of 62+ after normal driving cycles.
Unless this capacity loss has come on suddenly, I don't see much hope for a free battery replacement. This could be a good chance to get a precise price quote on what our replacement costs could be.

It sounds like your commute is 40 miles? My daily average driving day has climbed up to 50 miles, but with onsite charging. that I use on any day that a side trip is anticipated, but only about one CHAdeMO session per week now. My longest regular round trip without a recharge is still 56 miles each Saturday morning, which I usually complete with 3 bars remaining, and I'm past 54k on the odometer. My car also sat at a dealer for a full year, likely not at 40% SOC for storage...

One small solace in the warranty extension to ten years is that more of the small cell defects will be apparent in time.

 

[Phximiev]

I suggest filing a warranty claim with your dealer. It's worth it to get them to look at it anyways.

You may have the LEV50 batteries rather than the LEV50N (the upgraded battery) also.

 

[pbui19]

I've had my Miev for over three years now, and the actual range is down to 45 miles (actually measured driving). It started at 62, so this represents a 28% decrease in capacity. I still get all my bars on a full charge, but obviously each bar represents less charge.

how many kwh are you charging in for the 45 miles ? roughly, if it charges (45/62) * 16 kwh ~= 11.6 kwh, then the pack may be ok and the problem is somewhere else, such as wheel alignment ? though 27% is a bit much.

 

[DonDakin]

Could this possibly be a problem with the brakes binding ? It's easy to check at least.....

Don......

 

[PV1]

Yes, was this gradual or sudden?

Koorz has less range than Bear, but not that much less. Per EVBatMon, Koorz has 37.8 Ah remaining vs. 42.7 Ah for Bear's year-old battery. Plus, Koorz has Yokohama front tires, which have been proven to reduce range.

If you have an OBDLink, would you mind purchasing EVBatMon from Google Play and posting the Batt Capacity value?

 

[Don]

My question is, based on the dealers warranty of a max. of 20% degradation of the battery, can I go in and request a replacement battery under warranty?

There is no 'warranty' of a max degradation of 20%. Quite the opposite, when we bought ours new in May of 2012, they had us sign a carefully crafted statement explaining what the battery warranty did not cover, which is the gradual loss of capacity over time and miles. They suggested that it *might* amount to roughly 20% of capacity, but there is no warranty should it eventually be 25 or 30. For that reason, we've always carefully babied the battery in both of our cars, never recharging when the battery is warm, seldom recharging it to 100% and never leaving the car sit with the battery at 100% and never running it to empty (the turtle). Don't know fur sure if any of these practices will actually increase the life of the battery or lessen it's degradation . . . . but we believe they'll help

You only had 62 miles when new? We frequently drove 75 miles or more when new and can still do 60 plus now, even with the AC running

Don

 

[genec]

Are your tires low?
Are you driving at 70 mph?
Are you blasting the heat or a/c?
Is your commute up Pike's Peak?
Have you done a lot of DC charging in hot weather?

 

[siai47]

Do you know someone with a CANION that could plug into your car? You need to look at the cell voltages and see where the issue is. You might have a single failing cell not a totally bad or degraded pack. The dealer (for a fee) could also look at the levels. A failing cell should get you a new pack and wouldn't fall into a degraded pack catagory.