Mitsubishi Battery Study?

[nsps]

Has Mitsubishi contacted anyone to ask them to participate in a battery study? I was offered $200 (and a rental car when I asked if one would be provided) to bring my i-MiEV into my dealership so they could run some diagnostic tests on the battery as part of a study they're doing. They said it would take one to three business days.

When I called to check in, I was told that my onboard charger was faulty and that I'd be stuck with the rental for a while longer while they ordered the part in and replaced it. I had to have my battery replaced half a year back, but had no charging-related issues since. I haven't noticed any study-related threads on the board, so I'm curious if they suspected a problem and just wanted an excuse for me to bring the car in. (I doubt that's the case, as I brought it in for its annual check-up a few months ago and have been waiting for a new axis seal (?) to arrive as well, so I was going to have to bring it in anyway.)

 

[Don]

Just guessing . . . . I'm thinking your replacement battery might be something a bit different from the original battery that the rest of us have. They've already got all the data in the world on the original batteries so no need for any of us to bring in a car to check those, but I'm guessing there is more to learn about your replacement

Seems logical anyway . . . . which probably means there's nothing to it :lol:

Don

 

[nsps]

Makes sense. The dealer commented that mine was the only car coming into the dealership for the study. (Not that there are many more in the area…)

 

[JoeS]

Hi nsps, and thanks for the update.

Fascinating. Interesting that they should detect a charger problem - speculating, maybe they did a failure analysis of your previous pack and figured that there might still be something wrong. I'm glad to see Mitsubishi following up, whatever the reason. I, for one, would be happy to let them evaluate my car now that it's approaching 30K miles. A far better candidate would be a car belonging to our northern friends and their stressful winter conditions, or maybe a few cars in Arizona...

"new axis seal" - perhaps a boot on one of the drive axles? I think this is a first on this forum - do let us know exactly what gets replaced.

 

[Malm]

No. I think it's exactly the same battery. So why the Mitsubishi interest in this i-MiEV. The answer is Salt Lake.

Just one more of my theories. Air near Salt Lake will have lots of minerals which could create some problems in the battery with time. We know that the i-MiEV battery is different from the other batteries of other EV, because in not closed. This problem may be more common in cars that do often fast charges, because the car uses outside air to cool the battery. We know that the air near the ocean is always more capable off creating corrosion in metals. Salt Lake has more salt then the ocean, so maybe the air near the lake is a source of problems to the i-MiEV battery. Happy to live 80 km far from the Ocean.

Maybe they saw that the last that they had to change had corrosion and wanted to see how this new one is after some time.

 

[Don]

No. I think it's exactly the same battery. So why the Mitsubishi interest in this i-MiEV. The answer is Salt Lake.

Just one more of my theories. Air near Salt Lake will have lots of minerals which could create some problems in the battery with time.

That's realllllly a stretch!

If they were one bit concerned about air quality degrading the battery performance, they would be looking at cars in at least 25 or 30 other US cities before they even gave a thought to Salt Lake City

When it comes to salt specifically, many coastal cities and many northern cities where they salt the roads in the winter would be of much greater concern than SLC

I think they're looking at his car specifically because they exchanged the battery in that one - Otherwise, why are no other cars being evaluated? What facts do you have that make you think his replacement battery is exactly the same as the original one?

Don

 

[Malm]

That's what I think. The first one had problems. No one of us knows why. Mitsubishi opened the battery and surely knows more then us. Now they want to know if the same problem will happen again. Would be interesting to know how far nsps is from the lake and if it does many fast charges.

Remember, Salt Lake has more salt concentration then the ocean, and is there 365 days an year, not only in winter. Just giving my opinion.

I got some things right in the past, like inner cells being hotter and because of that, loosing capacity faster. Do not reject this possibility so fast.

 

[Mart]

Perhaps it's not too far-fetched. Early model Prius (2001-2003) had a Special Service Campaign (SSC 40G) due to battery post sealant failing in high humidity/ high salt environments like coastal regions. Electrolyte then leaked onto the terminal causing corrosion.

 

[Malm]

Salt Lake is 3-5 times more salty then the ocean water. Atmosphere corrosion should be the highest in all USA, near the lake.

 

[BarryP]

Salt Lake is 3-5 times more salty then the ocean water. Atmosphere corrosion should be the highest in all USA, near the lake.

Yea. But humidity has total control on corrosion. Like right now SLC is sitting at 14% humidity. That's why you don't see as much rust problems there-- vs a coastal city. (unless you're parked at a salt lake mining plant)

 

[Malm]

I agree, humidity will be crucial. We are in summer now, maybe in other months the humidity is higher. If there is fog many times near the lake, maybe that will be problematic. But if the rate of humidity is very low all year, then I agree, will be not so problematic like in coastal regions.

 

[nsps]

I agree, humidity will be crucial. We are in summer now, maybe in other months the humidity is higher. If there is fog many times near the lake, maybe that will be problematic. But if the rate of humidity is very low all year, then I agree, will be not so problematic like in coastal regions.

SLC is pretty dry all year round. There are a couple other i-MiEVs in the city, so if they only wanted to bring mine in, I'm not sure it relates to the climate.

As for the battery, I got my replacement a couple months after the fire incident in which 80 or 100 batteries were recalled, but only one or two were in the USA (and mostly in the Outlander PHEV). So it's possible that they want to check on the tweaks made after the recall.

Here's my thread on the battery failure if anyone is interested:

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1918

(It started out in the winter driving thread before I concluded that the battery itself was failing.)

 

[nsps]

"new axis seal" - perhaps a boot on one of the drive axles? I think this is a first on this forum - do let us know exactly what gets replaced.

It was the transaxle seal — sorry about the confusion. Just made a comment in the annual checkup thread as well.

I'm also writing up some info I found out about another local i-MiEV that's had a battery problem with the same problems I had. I might put it in the old battery failure thread rather than this one.

UPDATE: Posted: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=17741#p17741

 

[Malm]

That's against all odds. Two i-MiEV's, in a place where there are so few, with the same battery problem. Maybe the Malm's lake curse is gaining ground.

 

[nsps]

Yeah, I only know of one other in the area. If the onboard chargers are faulty and these were manufactured one after the other, that could be a contributing factor as well. All our i-MiEVs have the cold-weather package, but I don't think there are any other similarities.

 

[nsps]

Well, the farce continues.

After keeping my car two weeks and promising it back today (after promising it back Saturday), the dealership said they installed the new onboard charger, but that the problem persisted. The service tech said that the diagnostic test times out before they can get the battery data, and that's the issue they were having earlier. At this point I'm not sure I'll ever get my car back.

Tellingly, the service tech referred to the test as a "recall test," suggesting that there was something to my earlier suspicions after all.

 

[Eugene]

I was also invited to the study and will drop off the car next Wed. I'm not in Seattle area. No salt here.
Will keep you posted

 

[Malm]

I was also invited to the study and will drop off the car next Wed. I'm not in Seattle area. No salt here.
Will keep you posted

Some salt, near the Ocean Pacific, and lots of humidity. Eugene, I believe you have the original battery. If that is the case, the idea of testing a possible new battery lose strengh. And the quality of the local atmosphere is gaining points. The estonian I-MiEVs with ptoblems may be at the same group.

My idea is that Mitsubishi is trying to find how local atmosphere affects the battery.

 

[nsps]

I was also invited to the study and will drop off the car next Wed. I'm not in Seattle area. No salt here.
Will keep you posted

Some salt, near the Ocean Pacific, and lots of humidity. Eugene, I believe you have the original battery. If that is the case, the idea of testing a possible new battery lose strengh. And the quality of the local atmosphere is gaining points. The estonian I-MiEVs with ptoblems may be at the same group.

My idea is that Mitsubishi is trying to find how local atmosphere affects the battery.

I finally got my car back at the end of the study. My dealer tech seemed to think that it was simply to do with examining the battery and some recent failures. Does Seattle have considerably more salt in the atmosphere than, say, California?

 

[alohart]

Does Seattle have considerably more salt in the atmosphere than, say, California?

Seattle should have little salt in its atmosphere. It is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a mountain range. It is on the Puget Sound, but that is a mix of ocean and fresh water and has much less wave action that causes salt spray. So Seattle should have considerably less salt in its atmosphere compared with coastal California and especially compared with Honolulu where my i-MiEV lives. I haven't received a battery study notice although it could be on its way to Sweden now if the USPS followed my forwarding instructions.