BuckleSpring
Member
Hey all, first post here
As a brief introduction: I'm very mechanically inclined (one of my main cars is a Jaguar XJS V12), I'm also familiar with electrified vehicles (have owned maybe 5+ Prii and rebuild packs for them as a bit of a side business), and have done some minor work on non-Leaf EVs.
My daily driver is getting to the point where I think it's reaching EoL and I've been looking at options to replace it. The car at the top of my list was/is the Gen 1 Leaf 24kWh... The range is no problem for my normal driving, I have other cars for longer distances, home charging, etc... Plus with all the parts availability and community support it seems like a great option, and I can find them with relatively healthy batteries (9 or 10 bars) for under a few thousand dollars.
Unfortunately I have not been able to find or experience a Gen 1 Leaf yet so I have no idea if I'd like it or find it comfortable.
While contemplating this, I decided to look at the Gen 2 market since i qualify for the used EV incentive, and found that you can get a Gen 2 for a very reasonable price. You can also get a Bolt for a similar price as well.... However, this past weekend, I decided to go test drive a 2020 SV Plus locally, and I came away very impressed. It looks better than the Bolt, it's more comfortable, had more space, interior was laid out more logically and just felt better made. Only thing I didn't like was the Torque limit below ~35mph. And, although most would consider this a downside, the air cooled battery and old tech just made everything seem so simple... Like I feel that if the battery developed an isolation issue or something, I have confidence that I could pull it out and service it in my driveway if need be, not to mention the lack of... anything going on in the engine bay.
Here's where my Gen 2 question is: How's the degradation curve on the 62kWh packs looking? I found an SL Plus with the Cold Weather Pkg (I think), all the options I'd want, and a super affordable price for sale ~6 hours north of me.... buuuut it's high mileage, and with it being so far away, I can't exactly hook up Leaf Spy to it to see how many DC charges it's had, SoH, etc. I emailed the dealer asking for a picture of the battery capacity in the gauge cluster, but from what I understand, the Gen 2 won't drop a bar on that gauge until something ridiculous like 82.5% capacity correct? Also, being a Cold Weather Pkg car presumably (2019 SL+ w/ heated seats), it has a heat pump correct? What's been the reliability on the heat pump? How's the efficiency/range with vs without it?
A cheap Gen 1 would do all my driving needs perfectly fine.... But the more modern-ness of the Gen 2, with the vastly better range, newer battery, etc... I have considered just shelling out the money for it, but it would have to do more than the 30mi/day of a Gen 1 to make the added cost worth it to me.
As a brief introduction: I'm very mechanically inclined (one of my main cars is a Jaguar XJS V12), I'm also familiar with electrified vehicles (have owned maybe 5+ Prii and rebuild packs for them as a bit of a side business), and have done some minor work on non-Leaf EVs.
My daily driver is getting to the point where I think it's reaching EoL and I've been looking at options to replace it. The car at the top of my list was/is the Gen 1 Leaf 24kWh... The range is no problem for my normal driving, I have other cars for longer distances, home charging, etc... Plus with all the parts availability and community support it seems like a great option, and I can find them with relatively healthy batteries (9 or 10 bars) for under a few thousand dollars.
Unfortunately I have not been able to find or experience a Gen 1 Leaf yet so I have no idea if I'd like it or find it comfortable.
While contemplating this, I decided to look at the Gen 2 market since i qualify for the used EV incentive, and found that you can get a Gen 2 for a very reasonable price. You can also get a Bolt for a similar price as well.... However, this past weekend, I decided to go test drive a 2020 SV Plus locally, and I came away very impressed. It looks better than the Bolt, it's more comfortable, had more space, interior was laid out more logically and just felt better made. Only thing I didn't like was the Torque limit below ~35mph. And, although most would consider this a downside, the air cooled battery and old tech just made everything seem so simple... Like I feel that if the battery developed an isolation issue or something, I have confidence that I could pull it out and service it in my driveway if need be, not to mention the lack of... anything going on in the engine bay.
Here's where my Gen 2 question is: How's the degradation curve on the 62kWh packs looking? I found an SL Plus with the Cold Weather Pkg (I think), all the options I'd want, and a super affordable price for sale ~6 hours north of me.... buuuut it's high mileage, and with it being so far away, I can't exactly hook up Leaf Spy to it to see how many DC charges it's had, SoH, etc. I emailed the dealer asking for a picture of the battery capacity in the gauge cluster, but from what I understand, the Gen 2 won't drop a bar on that gauge until something ridiculous like 82.5% capacity correct? Also, being a Cold Weather Pkg car presumably (2019 SL+ w/ heated seats), it has a heat pump correct? What's been the reliability on the heat pump? How's the efficiency/range with vs without it?
A cheap Gen 1 would do all my driving needs perfectly fine.... But the more modern-ness of the Gen 2, with the vastly better range, newer battery, etc... I have considered just shelling out the money for it, but it would have to do more than the 30mi/day of a Gen 1 to make the added cost worth it to me.