battery health for 2020 Leaf with 10,000 miles?

[NissanLEEF]

I'm looking at a used 2020 Leaf SV Plus with only 10,000 miles. I was surprised to see Leafspy report the battery state of health at only 93.41%. Leafspy shows the car has only been charged around 70 times, only 4 of which were quick charges. As such, I would expect the SOH to be much higher. Any perspective on this? Does 93% SOH seem normal for the reported use, is should I have concerns (that previous owner didn't charge responsibly, that the battery is prematurely degrading, etc.)

The other thing I get form LeafSpy is a 29mv differential on the voltage histogram. Seems like one cell is way lower than the others. Some people are saying that 30mv is reason for worry. Others say 50mv. Others say 100mv.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Welcome. The low SOH is likely due to either a hot local climate that kept the car's battery from cooling off properly, a previous owner who liked to keep it at or near 100% charged, or both. The relatively low cell voltage differential suggests that the SOH will likely not improve with a better use pattern. As for the voltage differential and that one cell: check the battery with LeafSpy when it's both near or at 100%, and when it's near or at 10%. If that differential doesn't jump much higher at a low state of charge (a small increase would not be abnormal), I wouldn't worry much about it.

 

[NissanLEEF]

Thanks for this information. It sounds like you agree that the SOH is lower than it should be. Supposing I treat the car better (avoid hot climate, avoid 100% charging), should I expect battery health to degrade normally going forward, or will it degrade at an accelerated rate b/c of several years of less-than-perfect treatment by first owner?

And/or big picture: to what extent are the numbers I shared a red flag? Should I be asking the Nissan dealer for a discount, or avoiding this car altogether?

 

[Stanton]

The other thing I get form LeafSpy is a 29mv differential on the voltage histogram. Seems like one cell is way lower than the others. Some people are saying that 30mv is reason for worry. Others say 50mv. Others say 100mv.

This is the only thing to focus on.
30 mV isn't bad in isolation, but that depends on the SoC also. 40kWh packs have more than their fare share of "bad" cells/modules (mine did). If you're serious about buying the car and want some feedback, post the histogram screen shot from LS.

 

[NissanLEEF]

I can't figure out how to add images on this forum, but here are the particulars:

SOH: 93.41% 400.62V
SOC=97.1%
AHr:=164.78
SOH=93.41% 402.56V
Hx = 104.21%
min/avg/max = 4.152 4.172 4.179 (27 mV)

 

[LeftieBiker]

Supposing I treat the car better (avoid hot climate, avoid 100% charging), should I expect battery health to degrade normally going forward, or will it degrade at an accelerated rate b/c of several years of less-than-perfect treatment by first owner?

Treating the car right should arrest any excessive degradation, if your climate isn't Hot. You may even "catch up with" Leafs with better numbers.

 

[knightmb]

And/or big picture: to what extent are the numbers I shared a red flag? Should I be asking the Nissan dealer for a discount, or avoiding this car altogether?

To compare, my 2020 SL + is around 90% SoH but it also has +71K miles (114,263 km) and I fast charge my Leaf all the time, I've run the temperature bars into the deep red about a dozen times and I leave it 100% SoC a lot. From my perspective, that Leaf is doing about what I would expect given the age of the battery and so few miles. It still shows having 59 kWH of capacity which to me means it's practically brand new, just not used much. That also affects those SoH readings, so they can go down or they can go up. It all depends on how much you use the Leaf.
I would want to see a cell voltage list at various charge levels. The lower the state of charge, the more spread you will get on those voltages and then you can see where the weaker cells are, but just from what you posted, it actually looks to be in fairly good condition battery wise, on the surface at least.

 

[Marktm]

I'm looking at a used 2020 Leaf SV Plus with only 10,000 miles. I was surprised to see Leafspy report the battery state of health at only 93.41%. Leafspy shows the car has only been charged around 70 times, only 4 of which were quick charges. As such, I would expect the SOH to be much higher. Any perspective on this? Does 93% SOH seem normal for the reported use, is should I have concerns (that previous owner didn't charge responsibly, that the battery is prematurely degrading, etc.)

The other thing I get form LeafSpy is a 29mv differential on the voltage histogram. Seems like one cell is way lower than the others. Some people are saying that 30mv is reason for worry. Others say 50mv. Others say 100mv.

My 2021 SV+ has more miles (~16,000), in a very hot environment (Houston, TX), hardly any QC's, fairly pampered with SOCs always in the 25% to 80% - the result is about 163 Ahrs, SOH of ~93%. I don't have any variant cells and delta is usually less than 20 mV.
Is "degradation" more time dependent than mileage? Knowing most types of batteries degrade due to temperature extremes, I believe my experience is "normal".

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

My 2019 SV+ went from 100 to 93% SoH in a year with less than 10K miles, so your experience sounds normal. 4 1/4 years later is still at 90% SoH.

Our 2019 S+ started at 98.5% SoH in June 2020 when r bought it. It dropped to 93.6% SoH by June 2021. Today it is at 93.06% today 2+ years later.

 

[leorasy]

Proper maintenance, including keeping the battery within an optimal temperature range and following manufacturer recommendations, can help preserve battery health.

 

[Jbechtold]

I'm looking at a used 2020 Leaf SV Plus with only 10,000 miles. I was surprised to see Leafspy report the battery state of health at only 93.41%. Leafspy shows the car has only been charged around 70 times, only 4 of which were quick charges. As such, I would expect the SOH to be much higher. Any perspective on this? Does 93% SOH seem normal for the reported use, is should I have concerns (that previous owner didn't charge responsibly, that the battery is prematurely degrading, etc.)

The other thing I get form LeafSpy is a 29mv differential on the voltage histogram. Seems like one cell is way lower than the others. Some people are saying that 30mv is reason for worry. Others say 50mv. Others say 100mv.

When I was looking for my 2020 SL PLUS, I put my Leafspy on 6 different cars at dealerships. NONE of them had more that 54Kw. Nissan is simply lying. The only way to see 64kw is Amps x Volts, but that's not really available. You're only going to see about 55kw max actually useable.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

With my 2019 SV+ about a month after we got the car, I had Leaf Spy showing max charge at 778 gid and 59.1 kWh. That last 3 months until the first adjustment, then came down a few percent. Both Pluses did stay in the 54-56kWh range for a couple years once adjusted down. I think the newer Leafs start out a bit lower maybe to better preserve the battery.