40 kWh Battery Upgrade 2012 Leaf SV Greentec Auto

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Collision doesn’t cover someone hitting you. It covers damage to your car where you’re at fault.
My insurance company did not want to talk about collision on my electric cars. Collision will pay for damages to your car even if it is not your fault and the other driver can't pay or such as in a hit and run. I had someone back into my parked car and refused to file a claim with their insurance and my insurance would not go after them because I just had liability coverage. If I had had full coverage, my insurance would fix my car and then go after the person at fault.
 
I just ordered a 40kWh battery replacement upgrade from GreenTec for my 2011 Leaf, replacing the 24kWh "lizard" battery, which currently shows a range of 26 miles with 126,000 miles on the odometer. The installed price will be $9,000, including tax and installation.

I had recently invested in new tires, shocks, and a 12V battery for the vehicle, in addition to the like-new leather interior and imitation woodgrain dash that were installed when it was new. The paint also looks great, so it made sense to me to extend its life.

The offered trade-in value was an insulting $600—the same as the offers from junkyards!

I’m hoping to get five years of use out of it, considering my driving habits and limited usage. After that, I plan to look for a replacement vehicle with Full Self-Driving capability and a solid-state battery, which I believe will be readily available by then.
I wonder if your car is pearl white. The upgrades sound like the one I made on my Leaf that I sold to a friend in Florida.
 
My insurance company did not want to talk about collision on my electric cars. Collision will pay for damages to your car even if it is not your fault and the other driver can't pay or such as in a hit and run. I had someone back into my parked car and refused to file a claim with their insurance and my insurance would not go after them because I just had liability coverage. If I had had full coverage, my insurance would fix my car and then go after the person at fault.
When that happened to me, my insurance paid me a few hundred $ - net of deductible and said it wasn’t worth it to them to go after a few hundred dollars. They were under no obligation to recover my deductible either.
 
My sister in law backed into another car backing up at the same time and both insurance companies paid for their insured car repairs. Her insurance sent her a check for half her deductible after she got her car fixed because they deemed her only 50% at fault. Never know how claim will turn out. I always have said if we took the time to read the policy, we would not buy it!
 
I see prices that would be cheaper if I did the work myself. For me the local service/warranty was worth the cost this time. The Vivne battery looks like a good option also if you are willing to accept the risks.
 
I see prices that would be cheaper if I did the work myself. For me the local service/warranty was worth the cost this time. The Vivne battery looks like a good option also if you are willing to accept the risks.
Risks?
 
Thanks for the links. Everyone considering changing battery needs to have as much information available as possible. I have had zero issues with my "new" 40kWh battery from Greentec. The car runs flawlessly and has ~130 mile range when I start in the morning at 30F temperatures. I have noticed short freeway trips at 70mph seem to gain the most from regen. I can take 70 mile trips (round trip) and still have 70 miles on the guess o meter. I do wish my car had the heat pump because the climate control does use a lot of power.
 
OK Picked up the Leaf and range on the guess-o-meter varied from 200! to 110 in the first few minutes before settling down. After driving it 45 miles at 65 MPH and it sat overnight range showed 70 mile. So I am guessing that the vehicle range has gone up to about 110 at highway speeds and more at neighborhood street speeds - more than adequate for my needs. 112, 600 miles on the odometer. I will run it for a few months to see how the battery holds up after discharge/re-charge cycles.

Clearly, I need a Leaf Spy or equivalent that will work with 2011/2012 architecture so I can check the SOC. Is seems that the 2 units I tried would not connect to my Android phone. Maybe the port wiring different on the early model? Any suggestions?

Also I did drop my collision insurance - which I believe is a rip-off on a car as old as mine. The insurance companies will only give you "current estimated value" max for repairs, beyond that they write the vehicle off as a total loss and give you "estimate value" - thus limiting their payout. So you are better off repairing it at your own cost without a claim which would only increase your insurance premiums. As mentioned pulling the battery out as "salvage" I agree is a good option if there is an accident.
 

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OK Picked up the Leaf and range on the guess-o-meter varied from 200! to 110 in the first few minutes before settling down. After driving it 45 miles at 65 MPH and it sat overnight range showed 70 mile. So I am guessing that the vehicle range has gone up to about 110 at highway speeds and more at neighborhood street speeds - more than adequate for my needs. 112, 600 miles on the odometer. I will run it for a few months to see how the battery holds up after discharge/re-charge cycles.

Clearly, I need a Leaf Spy or equivalent that will work with 2011/2012 architecture so I can check the SOC. Is seems that the 2 units I tried would not connect to my Android phone. Maybe the port wiring different on the early model? Any suggestions?

Also I did drop my collision insurance - which I believe is a rip-off on a car as old as mine. The insurance companies will only give you "current estimated value" max for repairs, beyond that they write the vehicle off as a total loss and give you "estimate value" - thus limiting their payout. So you are better off repairing it at your own cost without a claim which would only increase your insurance premiums. As mentioned pulling the battery out as "salvage" I agree is a good option if there is an accident.
This unit works for my 2012 and connects to leafspy with no issues. Turns off on it's own if you leave it plugged in. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QJRYMFC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
I dropped my collision last year on my 2012 on the advice of my State Farm agent, which I thought really boosted his credibility as looking out for his clients. He told me that if the annual collision premium exceeds 10% of the KBB value of the car, you should drop it.
 
I dropped my collision last year on my 2012 on the advice of my State Farm agent, which I thought really boosted his credibility as looking out for his clients. He told me that if the annual collision premium exceeds 10% of the KBB value of the car, you should drop it.
I just carry liability on several cars including my 2016 Leaf. I think the decision to drop full coverage should be based more on can you afford to loose the car and just write if off! If a flying rock breaks the windshield are you willing and able to pay for a new one? The KBB does not take the battery condition into consideration. A 2012 with the original battery in good shape might bring around $2000 to $3000 here in the midwest.
 
Battery Upgrade to 40 KWH update 2011 Leaf

I ran the car down to a 6-mile range to test recharging, but the next morning, the car did not recharge to 80% as programmed using my Blink wall unit. The car had been working flawlessly before, so what went wrong?

When I anxiously tried to check what had happened, I found the car was completely dead! Nothing worked—not even the emergency flashers. Initially, I thought I might have disabled the computer by attempting to upload a map upgrade (which I later learned isn't possible on early Leafs).

After analyzing the issue all night, I determined that the culprit must be my almost-new 12-volt battery. I jumped it, and the car came back to life! From there, I was able to recharge the car to 100%.

I immediately checked the system using my new LELink OBDII scanner (which, by the way, showed nothing when the car was dead). With the car operational again, I could finally check the drive battery health to confirm I was getting what I paid for. GreenTec warrants a minimum of 85% state of charge (SOC) on the 40 kWh battery, and my results showed 86%.

However, I learned from other blogs that the GIDs give a better indication of the cells' true health. Leaf Spy reported 438 GIDs. But what does that mean?

Well, ChatGPT came to the rescue, providing an explanation: 87.6% health.

FYI, here’s the calculation:

If your 40 kWh battery shows 438 GIDs when fully charged, we can calculate its health by comparing this value to the expected GIDs for a new 40 kWh battery.

Steps:​

  1. Calculate usable capacity:
    • Each GID represents ~80 Wh of usable energy: 438GIDs×80Wh/GID=35,040Wh(or 35.04 kWh).
  2. Determine battery health (State of Health, SOH):
    • A new 40 kWh battery would provide approximately 500 GIDs: SOH=Original CapacityCurrent Usable Capacity×100 SOH=40kWh35.04kWh×100=87.6%.

Conclusion:​

With 438 GIDs, your 40 kWh battery has about 87.6% health. This is considered good for a used or refurbished battery, as a slight degradation over time is normal. Keep monitoring the GIDs and overall range to track future performance.
 
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