40 kWh battery longevity

[dang10010]

The 40 kWh batteries have been in service for several years now, what does everyone think of the longevity?
From what I can see even with abuse no more than 1 bar has been reported as missing from the 2018s and on, please contradict me if I'm wrong.
Most batteries seem to loose around %10 in the first 2-3 years then settle down to about %1 a year, is that correct?
If that's the case then I'd expect to see 2018 Leafs in 2028 with only 1 or 2 bars missing, maybe 3 in the hotter climates or severe use.
3 years 10%, + 7 years 7% = 17& or 1 bar
Even double it at 2% loss after 3 years you'd still be at- 3 years 10% + 7 years 14% = %24 or 2 bars missing.
That's still pretty close to over 100 mile range, not bad Nissan.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I agree. It seems you have to really overheat these batteries - and do it continually, with repeated fast charges in hot weather - to make them degrade at about the same rate as the Lizard packs, which were Nissan's best effort before 2018. Nissan was wrong to avoid having a TMS with the 24 and 30kwh packs, but if they want to sell the Leaf as a great local or regional (no more than one DCFC per day) EV, they've hit the mark. The problem is that that's a smaller market than the one dominated by Tesla.

 

[alozzy]

A 2022 Leaf S (40 kWh) is a $21k car after the federal tax rebate. In some states, additional state level rebates could drop that to under $20k.

So, for potentially less than $20k, a 40 kWh LEAF is an exceptionally good value as a workhorse commuter that can do longer trips when the weather isn't too hot.

Unfortunately, Canadian pricing isn't even close to this good (MSRP is $37,798 CAD for an SV 40 kWh, about $30k USD, but our fed rebate is only $4k USD) or I would be purchasing one ASAP!

 

[knightmb]

The 40 kWh batteries have been in service for several years now, what does everyone think of the longevity?

My wife's 2018 is coming up on +4 years old soon and the battery was still right above 92% SOH, so it's still getting pretty close to it's advertised range when new, but that will gradually wear away as it gets closer and closer to dropping below 92% SOH.

By comparison, the 2013 we had dropped below 92% after only 2 years, but during those years, LeafSpy only gave you whole numbers, so I couldn't see any decimal points for degradation to follow for day to day or month to month. 4 years into our 2013 and the SOH was around 80%, so the 2018 40kWh battery is doing much better at the 4 year mark than our 2013 did with the 24 kWh battery. Same area and same climate (well except it has been record hot for the past 4 years here), so really the 2018 has had more heat stress than the 2013 did and still doing better.

I chalk it up to just better battery technology. If Nissan really does find the holy grail of technology to not need cooling in most circumstances, that is a good selling point and less of a maintenance headache for the rest of us.

 

[alozzy]

Part of it is that the bigger packs have a huge thermal mass and also that the discharge rate per cell is lower too vs 24 kWh packs. Also DoD is very likely higher with 24 kWh pack use, especially as they age.

I would guess that the average SOH for a 2018 in the PNW is still 95%, I'm looking forward to importing one from Seattle someday...

 

[knightmb]

I agree. It seems you have to really overheat these batteries - and do it continually, with repeated fast charges in hot weather - to make them degrade at about the same rate as the Lizard packs, which were Nissan's best effort before 2018. Nissan was wrong to avoid having a TMS with the 24 and 30kwh packs, but if they want to sell the Leaf as a great local or regional (no more than one DCFC per day) EV, they've hit the mark. The problem is that that's a smaller market than the one dominated by Tesla.

Interestingly enough, if Nissan would just chuck those 40 kWh packs into the Gen 1, they become very good EVs again without much modification, other than the 2011, 2012 versions, which is still doable by Nissan. I know Nissan is just a business, they want to make money, on new stuff, but I really feel like they are missing out on some good PR by just doing the legwork to get the 40 kWh packs certified, tested for the Gen 1 Leaf, and then just offer the upgrades. Heck, they don't even need to really do the upgrade work, just offer the proper tools and battery stock to do it for sale through official channels and just let the 3rd party shops do the labor. Who wouldn't want a Gen 1 Leaf that you can swap in new technology batteries, get the same battery warranty through Nissan and keep all the retro technology running. That's what all of my friends and family want to do with their Leaf, keep it running until the wheels falls off, otherwise recycle the rest of it into something else.
Pie in the sky dreams for sure.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

The dealers need to want up and do that, with nissan seeking them the batteries for a price that makes sense for everyone.

In a normal ice after 10 years you might have to replace a transmission, exhaust, and/or other major subsystem. For the early EV, it's just the battery, so 7-8K one time cost in a15-18 year period is not so bad. But it can't be 12 or 15K.