Hello...might become Leaf owner...but need help.

[cornbinder89]

Along these lines, I am (was) where the O/P'er is. I purchased a very lightly used 2015 with 9 bars on the meter. Whether it is a good fit for you is a personal thing. What works for me, may not for you. Only thing I can add, is look at the distance you think you will used /day and double it, If you can afford a Leaf with that type of range on the guess-o-meter (double what you think) I think it would be a good fit. Doubling daily mileage allows for cold weather, and other unforeseen draws.
In 4-5 years if I am still happy with the car, I would consider putting more into it then I paid for another "lifetime" out of it. Along that line, you want the best body/chassie to start with.

 

[Tallman85]

Along these lines, I am (was) where the O/P'er is. I purchased a very lightly used 2015 with 9 bars on the meter. Whether it is a good fit for you is a personal thing. What works for me, may not for you. Only thing I can add, is look at the distance you think you will used /day and double it, If you can afford a Leaf with that type of range on the guess-o-meter (double what you think) I think it would be a good fit. Doubling daily mileage allows for cold weather, and other unforeseen draws.
In 4-5 years if I am still happy with the car, I would consider putting more into it then I paid for another "lifetime" out of it. Along that line, you want the best body/chassie to start with.

Well my daily drive is 40 km. A 10 bar leaf would make 110-120km. The problem is when the battery will start to decay….

 

[cornbinder89]

That is where what is OK for me, may not be OK for you. From a purely economic point, I would have been better off buying a well used IC vehicle with 200,000 miles on, then pay fuel and repairs. With luck it would go another 100,000 miles. I got a much nicer newer car for my wife's trips to town. It may cost me in 4-5 years, but sure is nice right now.
Trade-offs are a personal choice, and you have to make yours.

 

[WetEV]

The problem is when the battery will start to decay….

The battery started to decay the day it was made.

The question is: will the car meet your needs for long enough to pay back the investment?

I don't have that answer. A few of the reasons why:

1) I don't know the price of petrol/diesel over the next 5 years.

2) I don't know how fast the battery will lose capacity.

3) In the presence of unknowns, what is your risk tolerance?

I could guess, but my guesses should not be the reasons for your decision.

 

[Tallman85]

The problem is when the battery will start to decay….

The battery started to decay the day it was made.

The question is: will the car meet your needs for long enough to pay back the investment?

I don't have that answer. A few of the reasons why:

1) I don't know the price of petrol/diesel over the next 5 years.

2) I don't know how fast the battery will lose capacity.

3) In the presence of unknowns, what is your risk tolerance?

I could guess, but my guesses should not be the reasons for your decision.

Yes i know what you mean;
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[tcimber]

Las Vegas, NV : I bought 2 2016 nissan leafs. Bars dropped to 8 as advised for warranty. First one was warranted last year. second one was just denied and dealership said its the 24k battery and is no longer under warranty. Can someone please help explain this because I feel Nissan is fraudulent in this. Thank you.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 2015-2016 24kwh packs, which do not suffer from the same premature degradation as the 30kwh pack, have a 5 year, 60,000 warranty, as do most if not all 24kwh Leafs.

 

[TronJockey]

Hello All,
I have been thinking of getting an EV for a very long time, but something still holds me back. I live in Malta [Europe], just a 27km long island, overcrowded with people and cars! so EV makes sense considering that it is like driving in one big city all the time. Just to give you an idea, my stats from our BMW 5 series are an average speed of 31km/h over the last 3000km done...so EV makes sense. My daily journey is around 40km per day.

The problem is the weather; I have been reading a lot and watching a lot of YouTube channels. So basically the weather here is on the warm side... I would say from January to April ranging from 10 deg C to 25 deg C, from May to June around 30 deg C, July and Aug 38 - 42 deg C, Sept to October 32 - 35 deg C, and from November to December 15 - 20 deg C .... so it is a tough summer excluding heatwaves and all temps are in the shade. In the sun it will be much more than that in summer. My charging option will be mostly in the sun all year round.

The cheapest EV one can get here is a 2014/15 Nissan Leaf 24kwh [around 5k - 7k Euro with 60k km]. The problem that most of them are on 6 to 9 bars already probably due to the heat?? practically speaking, from experience how much would the battery last any longer considering it is already 10 years old. Is it a risk worth taking? As time goes by will degradation accelerate even more? I don't like to spend more since I still have young children etc...plus a 2018/19 one will set you around Euro 20K.

Any ideas and suggestions are welcome as over the internet you read all types of contradicting info.

Not sure if a plug-in will make more sense to me due to 40km daily. My BMW is heavy on diesel due to traffic.. averaging 9.8l/100km...and with costs going up..not sure it is worth it anymore.

Thank you.

Wow, 42C (108F) is hot and not very good for the Leaf. Not necessarily an issue unless charged while battery core temperatures are elevated (especially if using high power DCFC chargers). You could wait until well into the evening hours when temperatures have fallen to below 32C and use only Level 1 or Level 2 charging. That would greatly reduce battery capacity degradation. Driving only 40km per day at such low speeds would require only about 6kWh of energy which could easily be recovered in about 4-5 hours using only a Level 1 (120V) charger. If you are going for a first generation Leaf (2011 to 2015) then you'll want to stick with the 2015 which has the upgraded (Lizard) battery chemistry which is more heat tolerant. The 2015 will also have a heat pump. I'd look for one that has at least 9 bars. With what we've learned about preserving the Leaf battery packs in just the last 5 years should allow a 9-bar battery pack to last a long time. Heat is the enemy but does not have to be. Also, don't charge the car and leave it at 100% for more than a few hours. If you need to charge to 100% be sure to use it right away. These battery packs do not like being left at a 100% SOC. Just a tiny bit of degradation each time but its cumulative. Before I learned about this I used to put my 2015 on the charger when I got home every evening and leave it on the charger overnight even though it had completed charging 10 hours earlier. I would also connect it to a charger on a Friday evening and leave it until Monday morning. This was not good and resulted in losing 15% SOH in less than 3 years.