greenleaf
Well-known member
So, who has turned in or sold their LEAF (and did not get another LEAF as replacement)? What is the replacement car?
I will start with mine. I sold my 2011 LEAF SL/QC in 2/2014 and bought the 2014 Volt.
The LEAF was bought on a pre-order, amidst much excitement and anticipation. Trentr and myself started a buyers' list here
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=940" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
so that we could negotiate a better price. At that time, many dealers wanted MSRP but we managed to get 5% off. During those days, everyone was checking their "dashboard" to see when they can place the order.
I sold the LEAF because I was disappointed with the range of the car and the battery degradation. At that time, Nissan had us believed that, in general, we can get 100 miles with the LEAF but the reality is that in most driving conditions (that include highway), the range is less, significantly so in winter or if you only charge to the 80% Nissan recommends. As for the battery degradation, Nissan has gone on the record to say that "the pack has a 70 to 80% capacity after 10 years" [1]. We now have many examples of people losing 2 battery capacity bars (~20% loss) even before the car is 3 years old.
I bought the Volt because both of the above issues are somewhat addressed. Most Volt drivers would tell you that the 38-mile range advertised is in fact quite conservative. To manage the degradation, the Volt has an active battery thermal management system and it uses a shallower maximum depth of discharge cycles. The Volt uses only about 10.8 kWh out of the 16.5 kWh battery capacity compared to the LEAF's ~21 kWh out of 24 kWh. Deeper discharge cycles reduce battery longevity.
This POST by pclifton summarizes many of the reasons why people have turned in or sold their LEAFs.
Reference
[1] Wired magazine: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/01/nissan-leaf-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I will start with mine. I sold my 2011 LEAF SL/QC in 2/2014 and bought the 2014 Volt.
The LEAF was bought on a pre-order, amidst much excitement and anticipation. Trentr and myself started a buyers' list here
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=940" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
so that we could negotiate a better price. At that time, many dealers wanted MSRP but we managed to get 5% off. During those days, everyone was checking their "dashboard" to see when they can place the order.
I sold the LEAF because I was disappointed with the range of the car and the battery degradation. At that time, Nissan had us believed that, in general, we can get 100 miles with the LEAF but the reality is that in most driving conditions (that include highway), the range is less, significantly so in winter or if you only charge to the 80% Nissan recommends. As for the battery degradation, Nissan has gone on the record to say that "the pack has a 70 to 80% capacity after 10 years" [1]. We now have many examples of people losing 2 battery capacity bars (~20% loss) even before the car is 3 years old.
I bought the Volt because both of the above issues are somewhat addressed. Most Volt drivers would tell you that the 38-mile range advertised is in fact quite conservative. To manage the degradation, the Volt has an active battery thermal management system and it uses a shallower maximum depth of discharge cycles. The Volt uses only about 10.8 kWh out of the 16.5 kWh battery capacity compared to the LEAF's ~21 kWh out of 24 kWh. Deeper discharge cycles reduce battery longevity.
This POST by pclifton summarizes many of the reasons why people have turned in or sold their LEAFs.
Reference
[1] Wired magazine: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/01/nissan-leaf-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
