Picture the horrifying scene – you are driving along in your electric car and you tap the brakes to slow down for an upcoming intersection. Nothing happens.
It is a scenario that has played out for at least five New Zealand-based Nissan Leaf owners, according to Flip the Fleet, a citizen science group of researchers that has a particular interest in the Leaf, the world’s best-selling plug-in electric car.
As Noted and the New Zealand Listener revealed in March, Flip the Fleet’s detective work was responsible for revealing an issue with the Leaf’s battery management system that appeared to show the longer range 30kWh (kilowatt hour) Leaf’s battery degrading far quicker than Nissan claimed.
After extensive testing, involving taking ‘state of health’ battery readings from hundreds of Leaf cars around the country, it was determined that a software issue was responsible, one that could be addressed with a software upgrade, which Nissan made available in August.
Continue reading at noted.co.nz.
