It’s been six days since results of an independent test were published showing that Nissan Leaf electric cars in hot climates were suffering from premature range loss, and four days since Nissan responded, saying the high mileage of affected cars was to blame.

Since then, we’ve been keeping track of your comments, and the comments of concerned Leaf owners as they try to decide the next stage in this ongoing saga. 

The general consensus among affected owners? Nissan needs to try harder.

Disbelief, frustration

Nissan’s most recent statement on the issue, made by Mark Perry, Nissan North America’s product planning and advanced technology director, has been met by a large proportion of Leaf owners with disbelief and frustration. 

This is particularly true for owners in warmer states who have already started to notice a drop in range and battery capacity.

“To create brand loyal customers from buyers, you MUST create goodwill,” wrote one commenter. “Posting 100 mile range on your adverts while falling back on legalese and ‘disclosure statements’ to cover your arse when those numbers never materialize is the best way to lose them.”

Other responses to Nissan have been less patient, with a common thread questioning the way in which Nissan arrived at the average mileage figure for those Leafs suffering range loss.

2012 Nissan Leaf 4-door HB SL Headlight

2012 Nissan Leaf 4-door HB SL Headlight

“LIES!!! More LIES!,” wrote a Nissan Leaf owner on the popular MyNissanLeaf forum. “If Nissan can’t even divide [the] number of miles by the number of months owned, how on earth can anyone expect them to design a car!?”

“These comments from Perry is just Corporate Spin,” wrote one angry commenter to our exclusive story. “There is a low mileage Leaf in Arizona that reported 3 capacity bars missing with less than 8000 miles. Total Corporate Bull****.”

Legal proceedings

The developments over the past week has led several leaf owners to discuss the possibility of legal proceedings openly on the MyNissanLeaf forum. 

Among them, the discussion of using Arizonan and Californian Lemon law to force Nissan to resolve the issue. 

In some cases, there have even been suggestions of court proceedings and a class action lawsuit against the Japanese automaker. 

2012 Nissan Leaf

2012 Nissan Leaf

Hope 

While some of the more vocal discontented Leaf owners remain aghast at how Nissan has handled the issue to date, the news that Nissan has launched a global Leaf advisory board has made some more hopeful. 

The appointment of Chelsea Sexton as head of the advisory board seems to have quelled many owners fears, while others have nominated Tony Williams, the Leaf owner and EV advocate who arranged the independent range verification test, to join Sexton on the board. 

As head of the advisory board, Sexton has noted that its existence isn’t purely to solve customer issues around battery capacity loss, although she, like everyone else wishes to see the issues resolved as quickly as possible. 

Instead, she notes, the advisory board is there to provide a better, continuing dialogue between electric car buyers, owners, and Nissan. 

“Communication with current and potential customers on various fronts definitely needs to change going forward, and trust needs to be re-earned for some of you,” she wrote in a forum post. “Those are the things I’m hoping the advisory group can help focus Nissan’s attention on, and why the group is being established regardless of what happens with the AZ issue.”

Colder Leafs OK

While the issues surrounding battery capacity loss in hotter-state Nissan Leafs have grabbed headlines, many Leaf owners around the world have commented in forums and in article comment sections that their own personal Leafs are operating as they expected. 

For those in more temperate environments, the remaining Leafs on the roads of the U.S. have proven reliable, providing many thousands of miles of service without issue.

While these reports don’t help those with lost range, they do serve as a reminder that the wilting Leaf issue, while urgent, doesn’t affect everyone. 

One week on, what do you think of the continuing saga into wilting Leafs? 

What will happen next?

Let us know in the Comments below.

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