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IPFS News Link • Transportation

Are Air-Cooled Batteries Hurting Nissan Leaf Range?

• http://www.technologyreview.com, Martin LaMonica
 For months, Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona have complained about degrading battery capacity from high heat. Now, a group of Leaf owners have performed a test that appears to add credence to those claims.

A group of Nissan Leaf owners on Saturday performed a controlled range test in Phoenix to measure how far 12 of the electric sedans can go compared to the car’s new battery range. The data, published yesterday on the EV enthusiast site Inside EVs, show significant loss of range for many of the cars tested. They were model year 2011 and 2012 Leafs.

The range loss is due to the loss in battery capacity and not only a dashboard instrumentation problem, as Nissan has told drivers, says Tony Williams, a Leaf owner who collected the data. “A significant percentage (of affected Leaf owners) have owned electric vehicles prior to the Leaf, and many, if not most of those who have traded their faulty Leaf have gotten another electric powered car, like the GM Volt, and like me, another LEAF,” he wrote.


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