Battery Replacement

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macguy24

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2019
Messages
6
BACKGROUND
I’m new to the Leaf family and with that is/was a WHOLE lot of ignorance. Long story short, we moved to HI and we were looking for a used car for the wife. Mainly to drop the kid off at school and run some errands. I wasn’t to worried about range. We found a “good deal” on a 2012 Leaf SL. Range is about 35-45 miles. Capacity bars (which I know a whole lot more about now then when I bought it) are down to 6. Edit: my original post said 4 capacity bars, because I didn't realize the 2 red bars were included.
It was a single owner who traded it in for a Tesla. Per the car fax all of the NISSAN recommended maintenance was completed at the proper intervals. I just took it in for the 82,000 maintenance and had them quote me a battery. It comes out to about $8,500. It’s my understanding that along with that comes the 5 yr 60,000 (or whatever it is) capacity loss warranty. We bought the car for $4,700 back in January.

QUESTION
How many people have actually gotten batteries replaced and is it worth $9k? I’ve never had a Leaf before and we both LOVE it!! There were ZERO issues at the checkup and per the CarFax have been ZERO issues upto this point. In my ignorance $9,000 for a guaranteed 60k miles is a great deal. Just not sure if it’s worth replacing with the 82k miles already on it?? Thoughts?
 
First, my condolences on what may be the lowest capacity Leaf we've seen posted here. Second, and I'm not 100% sure of this, the warranty on a new battery may be what you were told, or it may be less. IIRC, warranty replacement batteries only came with a 1 year warranty, but hopefully paying full price for one is a better deal...sort of. Others will confirm this.
 
LeftieBiker said:
First, my condolences on what may be the lowest capacity Leaf we've seen posted here. Second, and I'm not 100% sure of this, the warranty on a new battery may be what you were told, or it may be less. IIRC, warranty replacement batteries only came with a 1 year warranty, but hopefully paying full price for one is a better deal...sort of. Others will confirm this.
I believe if you paid full price on a replacement battery pack, you should get a 5 year/60K capacity warranty starting from that point. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=17168. It would be super important (in my book) to get this in writing prior to paying (in my book).

For warranty replacements (no $ out of pocket), I'd expect only somewhere between a the remainder of the applicable warranty or up to 1 year/12K mile warranty added on at most for defects and capacity. For ones whee Nissan helped out (not anymore), I think there'd be a grey area.

I've posted a 4 bar car in the Bay Area in another thread (at a Hon-duh dealer) and have pointed to a 3 bar remaining car in Sri Lanka (on Facebook) before.
 
I've posted a 4 bar car in the Bay Area in another thread (at a Hon-duh dealer) and have pointed to a 3 bar remaining car in Sri Lanka (on Facebook) before.

Sorry. I should have written (as it's what I meant) that this is the first one reported here at MNL by the owner. I agree that the warranty has to be for 5yrs/60k miles, and in writing, for a replacement pack to make any sense. It is generally very unlikely that a new "Lizard" pack will fall below 9 bars in the warranty period, but if the OP is in Hawaii they may actually have a chance at a free replacement - maybe.

The other issue is the mileage on the car. Generally Leafs are tough and long-lasting (in miles) but the OP should expect to also replace brakes and all other wear items, get the "transmission" fluid changed, and maybe have things like suspension parts wear out - especially if the roads aren't great. That should all be factored into the equation.
 
The only thing I'd add is to check for rust. Believe it or not, in some areas of HI rust is an issue due to salty air. I imagine the OP would have noticed that already but before paying $9k for another 6+ years of use (which is reasonable IMO) I'd be sure to do a thorough check of the underside of the car to look for any hidden problems.
 
I'd say it depends on what you mean by "worth it". If the car is in good condition, there isn't any reason that with a new battery, it won't last a good long time. So if you like the car and you intend to drive it "forever", then it might well be worth it to you. Especially in a place like HI where you don't have to deal with cold weather.

However, if you were to sell the car down the road, the market is unlikely to give you an extra $8500 (maybe not even a half that) because you replaced the battery. Same with insurance if the car was totaled for some reason. Also, for $13,200 ($8500 + $4700) you could buy a much newer LEAF with 11 or 12 bars.
 
Can confirm that Nissan EV Help line says that a battery replacement comes with a the same capacity and bad cell warranties that it originally comes with. For a 24 kWh that is 5 years, 60k miles capacity and 8 years, 100k miles for defects.

If you're happy with your car and have had no problems, it's reasonable to spend the $8k. That will give you a 5 year capacity warranty on the battery (but not the rest of the car). This also helps the environment--trashing a car after 60-70k miles isn't exactly a great environmental situation. It will be a quick swap at the dealer and you know your vehicle's condition. The new battery will last MUCH better than the original. The chemistry is much improved.

That said, there are a few downsides:
1) You can get a different used Leaf with 10,11, or 12 battery bars for around the same price. You could then sell yours, assuming you can find a buyer. You could also get a newer Leaf, which may have better features (heat pump, interior options, QC, etc)

2) You could buy the battery and have something else on the car fail. It would not be under warranty, but you'd pretty much have to fix it. Some failures can be expensive to repair.

3) You could get into an accident. Insurance would likely pay you the market value of an average Leaf at that MY and mileage, not accounting for your battery. I would call your insurance and see if you can get a rider or special coverage for the battery, because I'd hate to take a huge loss in the event of a collision.

4) You need to sell the car for some reason in a year or two. You won't get the full value of your purchase out of the sale.

I would also avoid dealership "check ups". The Leaf requires little maintenance or checkups like a typical car. I would just look up typical service intervals and do those.
 
It will be a quick swap at the dealer...

Only if they've done it before. They tend to take much longer the first time. Expect to have a rental for a week, and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised...

I would just look up typical service intervals and do those.

Use the "Normal" service intervals. The dealers seem to always want to use the "severe" intervals, to make more money.
 
I would also avoid dealership "check ups". The Leaf requires little maintenance or checkups like a typical car. I would just look up typical service intervals and do those.
I went in to have the 2G deactivated per the recall that was never addressed by the previous owner. Additionally, it was right around the 82,500 service interval which needs the following checked:
- Axle & suspension parts
- Brake pads & rotors
- Drive shaft boots
- Front suspension ball joints
- Steering gear and linkage
- Steering linkage ball joints
Which was part of the multipoint inspection that was completed.
 
LeftieBiker said:
First, my condolences on what may be the lowest capacity Leaf we've seen posted here. Second, and I'm not 100% sure of this, the warranty on a new battery may be what you were told, or it may be less. IIRC, warranty replacement batteries only came with a 1 year warranty, but hopefully paying full price for one is a better deal...sort of. Others will confirm this.

The funny thing about this is, the Leaf Spy has my SOH at 49.33% which clearly doesn't correlate with the 4/12. As I wrote that sentence I realized that the 2 red bars count towards the total of 12 bars. Which means my original post should say 6/12. It has 4 white bars remaining. Again my Leaf ignorance is clearly showing itself.
 
The most I look into and think about it, the more sense it just makes to get a new model. There's a 2016 S with 12 capacity bars and a little over 41k miles for $14k. Trading in my 2012 I could get around $2-3k plus the $8,700 it would cost to replace the battery and put that towards the 2016 and I would be spending $3k more doing this than replacing the battery in the 2012. That makes a lot more sense to me.
 
macguy24 said:
The most I look into and think about it, the more sense it just makes to get a new model. There's a 2016 S with 12 capacity bars and a little over 41k miles for $14k. Trading in my 2012 I could get around $2-3k plus the $8,700 it would cost to replace the battery and put that towards the 2016 and I would be spending $3k more doing this than replacing the battery in the 2012. That makes a lot more sense to me.

Just know that the early build 2016 Leaf 30kwh has a higher rate of cell failures. There is also an issue with apparent capacity loss that Nissan claims to have fixed with a software update. If that 2016 has NOT had the update, it is likely good (unless the BMS was reset to hide bar loss). If it has had the update, the ask how long ago. A recent update, which actually includes a BMS reset I think, means that you can tell little about actual capacity until a few months later...The 24kwh 2016 S24 should be fine.
 
Titanium48 said:
Didn't most of the 2016 S models still use the 24 kWh battery and not have the BMS software issue?

I think the 24kwh pack was used through the Spring of 2016. So yes, if you can find an S24 that would be good. I've updated my post to reflect that. Thanks.
 
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