I'm thinking about buying a used Leaf, help please.

[kwong7]

After driving a Smart ED as a loaner car for a day, I'm strongly considering buying an EV very soon. Because I'm careful with my money and believe current EVs are prone to be quickly outdated due to the fast pace of technology advancements, I'm looking to buy a used Leaf instead of new. I'm looking at several 2013 or newer Leaf SV/SL with under 40K miles for about $8K-$9K.

Our driving habits:
My wife and I live in coastal southern California and we do a lot of local errands (less than 5 miles roundtrip), which makes my 01 TDI less favorable as it takes about 5 miles to get the car to normal operating temperature. My wife currently drives an 07 Lexus Rx400h and drives 44 miles each way to work (there are plenty of EV charging stations at her parking facility). The Leaf would be a supplementary car for our short distance needs; though if it works out for my wife, she may use the Leaf as a daily commuter car. She tends to drive average 42MPH in 60% slow and go driving/30% 70MPH open fwy/10% urban driving. We will keep the TDI for long distance driving or survival during the zombie apocalypse. The Leaf will be used in average 75 degree region, rarely seeing overnight temps below 40 degrees or daytime temps above 90.

The used Leaf candidates:
I've been browsing on the regional classifieds and found about 17 2013 Leaf SV/SL for under $9K with mileage ranging from 15K-44K. More than half of the owner history shows the cars were leased, and some were previously leased then purchased. Most are showing 9-12 bars of capacity on the dash and I understand Nissan's battery capacity warranty is good for 5yr/60K miles covering batteries that drop below the 9th bar.

The plan:
I plan on buying Leaf Spy to do my due diligence in evaluating a couple of Leafs. I'll probably buy a leaf with 9-capacity bars with the lowest mileage on the odometer with the strategy that I'll be covered by the warranty if it drops another bar or 2. I've noticed that some low mileage 9 bar Leafs have sat on dealer/auction lots for 1.5 months or longer. This strategy might backfire if I can't get a new battery pack or if there's something wrong with the car that causes more than average strain on any battery pack (I generally try to avoid lemons).

I will use my dryer's 240V outlet in the garage for charging (we only use the dryer twice a month), and I plan to install a roof-top solar array as 20kWh daily recharging will nearly triple our average electricity demand.

Does a Leaf sound like a good vehicle for us? I'm hoping to get at least 5 yrs/80K miles of low-cost ownership…at which time, I'm hoping a reasonably priced battery upgrade will be in the cards. Honestly, I'm a little apprehensive about buying my first car without a manual transmission, mechanical parking brake, or mechanical ignition (I'm a control-freak who likes fail-safes). Thanks in advance.

 

[retrodog]

My 2015 has a mechanical parking brake, but it's a pedal that you compress on and off. I thought the earlier ones had a handle in the center console. Didn't realize it wasn't mechanical.

Also, Leaf Spy is not totally representative of the battery condition. I bought mine and it had a 91% State of Health (SOF). It dropped each week for the first three weeks and seems to have settled out at 86% for the last two weeks. Hopefully it will stay there for a while.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If you want a Leaf that might qualify for a free battery pack, look for a 2013 that was built no later than March of 2013, but put in service as late as possible to extend the warranty period. Those built before April of 2013 degrade much faster than those built after, which often lose one bar, but rarely lose more than two.

 

[jjeff]

Only the '11/'12 model year Leaf had the electric brake, the rest are on the floor and mechanical. Also even though the Leaf doesn't have a stick shift it's not really an automatic either, it's basically direct drive so little to really wear out there.
44 miles with charging on both ends should be fine in your climate, even for a 9 or 10 bar Leaf. Of course if you purchase a 10 bar Leaf and it never drops to 8, or at least before the warranty expires, it could be an issue for you. Personally unless you can get it cheap enough I'd purchase the best battery you could, that way your not hoping for the battery to fail but thats just me. Sounds like you live in an almost ideal climate for a Leaf, very little need to run the energy robbing heat, which would be better on a SV/SL than a S model but in your climate it might not matter that much other than defogging the windows.

 

[Oils4AsphaultOnly]

Everything looks good, except for the expectation of getting 5y/80k miles BEFORE needing that battery replacement.

I had a 2013 in the San Gabriel Valley area, and although I've seen lower lows and higher highs, I just simply drove ALOT (3y/45k miles), but apparently not as much as you would. I was down 1 bar, but on track to losing the second one by 50k miles. The 4th bar won't disappear until a little after 30.5% capacity loss. Since the warranty is based on the number of bars, and not percentage lost, don't count on the warranty to cover the replacement, but do expect to have fewer and fewer miles available over the years.

I haven't noticed this on the 2016 that I'm now leasing, but by the 3rd year, the 2013 leaf was losing a good amount of range due to the cold weather (~60 miles instead of ~75).

You mentioned your wife having access to workplace charging, but is it a pay-to-charge type? If so, the prices they charge turns the financial advantage of an EV upside down. Home charging, with a time-of-use rate plan is the cheapest option.

All in all, since you're substituting the leaf for the suv, you should save enough in gas in 3 years to pay for the leaf outright. I went from a minivan to the leaf, and the displaced gas and maintenance costs covers my lease payments (electricity was ~$50/month for 1300 miles/month).

Hope this helps?

 

[kwong7]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

I didn't realize the newer Leafs had a mechanical parking brake, I feel a little bit better now. The pre-sale Leaf I drove in 2009 had a push button e-brake near the armrest from what I recall.

I'll keep in mind all the advice on how to evaluate the battery's health/capacity and either look for a healthy used Leaf or a battery on the fritz with low miles and rely on the warranty. As for the 5yr/80K mile comment, I don't expect the Leaf to be zero cost but I hope I can get achieve both of those figures before incurring significant costs in maintenance or repair. I'll look into whether the charging station is complimentary or the price per kWh. Currently at $3/gallon, my wife's car runs about $.11/mile on fuel; my TDI is about $.06. At $.19/kWh, the Leaf should be about the same as my diesel, but a whole lot cleaner.

 

[GRA]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

I didn't realize the newer Leafs had a mechanical parking brake, I feel a little bit better now. The pre-sale Leaf I drove in 2009 had a push button e-brake near the armrest from what I recall.

I'll keep in mind all the advice on how to evaluate the battery's health/capacity and either look for a healthy used Leaf or a battery on the fritz with low miles and rely on the warranty. As for the 5yr/80K mile comment, I don't expect the Leaf to be zero cost but I hope I can get achieve both of those figures before incurring significant costs in maintenance or repair. I'll look into whether the charging station is complimentary or the price per kWh. Currently at $3/gallon, my wife's car runs about $.11/mile on fuel; my TDI is about $.06. At $.19/kWh, the Leaf should be about the same as my diesel, but a whole lot cleaner.

Public charging price is critical. For me, the nearest public chargers (Blink) are $0.49/kWh (say $0.56/kWh to the battery), making any PEV less economical than buying gas at current prices. The next nearest (Chargepoint, but the site owner determines the price so they vary widely) are $0.20/kWh but with a $1.00 connection fee, so even fully charging 24kWh (allowing for overhead) wouldn't drop the price below $0.24/kWh; if I only charge 5kWh, that's $0.40/kWh. My ICE would cost me at most $0.084/mile at current prices ($2.26/gal.), or say $0.29/kWh equivalent.

 

[Reddy]

Sounds like you are thinking this through very thoughtfully. It seems like a good plan to me.