WPGRoads
Member
Hi everyone! My wife and I are considering purchasing a 2011 Nissan Leaf. It has 9 bars of battery health left and we might be able to get it for a great price. I took the car for a test drive and everything seemed to work fine, including the PTC heater. I did not check the battery with leafspy yet as my OBD2 reader is not compatible. I have a compatible reader coming from Amazon asap. I've done a lot of research in the past couple days and I still have some questions for the community.
First some context for my situation:
First some context for my situation:
- This would be our first EV. We currently have 2 ICE cars, one of which would be sold within a few months after making sure the leaf works for us.
- We'll be using this car for commuting which is a maximum of 15km (9 miles) each way.
- We currently only have a regular 120v outlet at home to charge from.
- We do not have a garage. The car would be stored outside.
- We live in a part of Canada where it can get as cold as -30C (-22F) in the winter and as hot as +30C (86F) in the summer. This leaf has been here since 2019 so I guess it's survived this climate at least that long.
- No charging available at my workplace. They have block heater outlets that are on timers and restrict power which likely means the charger would not work.
- I have experience working on my own ICE cars as well as an electronics engineering degree with experience designing DC control systems for small vehicles like golf carts. I also have access to the tools, PPE, and workspace to work on this car. I'm not purporting to be able to fix all the potential issues with this car, but I'm open to experimenting and I'm hoping to be able to contribute to the Leaf community.
- Charging is not yet available at my workplace. If the car is sitting in the extreme cold or extreme hot for up to 10 hours, would this greatly deplete the battery? (See question below about battery warmer, too)
- Some people on Reddit and forums have referenced unique features available on the 2011 that were phased out in later models. Any idea what they're talking about?
- I purchased a Carfax report and the car has a clean history. However, 9 bars remaining in a 2011 seems a bit unlikely and I'm wondering if the original battery was replaced. I know that sometimes even maintenance/repairs as big as a battery replacement can be missed by VIN reports like Carfax so I'm wondering if there's an easy way to tell if it still has the original battery.
- The Carfax shows the car originated from Tennessee (after being built in Japan) and does not have heated seats or heated steering wheel. What are the chances it has a battery warmer that was present in later models? The weather here has been pretty mild lately so it may be hard to test. Am I able to tell any other way if it has a battery warmer? If it doesn't, I'm not sure how it would have survived being here since 2019 unless the previous owner had heated garages at home and work to park in, unless I'm missing something else.
- Is there anything else I should check for next time I see the car?
- As a last step I'll likely have the car inspected by my local mechanic, moreso for the mechanical stuff I don't like working on like suspension. Is there anything specific I should have them check?