Interest in 10-bar battery / EV gear from a totaled '13 Leaf

[ss720129]

Hello,
Thanks to everyone on this forum. While I've just registered, I have found a ton of useful information on the forum over the course of my Leaf ownership and this is my first question where I could use some additional input.

I was in a front end accident with my 2013 SL a couple of weeks ago. The insurance company has told me they are totaling it. Given that the battery is in good condition (10 bars, post 5/2013), I would like some input from this group on whether it might be worth it to buy the car back from the insurance company and selling it on here / craigslist / ebay for the battery / EV gear.

Has anyone had any luck with doing something similar? Any experiences folks can relate would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[knightmb]

Hello,
Thanks to everyone on this forum. While I've just registered, I have found a ton of useful information on the forum over the course of my Leaf ownership and this is my first question where I could use some additional input.

I was in a front end accident with my 2013 SL a couple of weeks ago. The insurance company has told me they are totaling it. Given that the battery is in good condition (10 bars, post 5/2013), I would like some input from this group on whether it might be worth it to buy the car back from the insurance company and selling it on here / craigslist / ebay for the battery / EV gear.

Has anyone had any luck with doing something similar? Any experiences folks can relate would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!

While you can part out the battery on ebay/craigslist/etc, you have to consider the time and tools to do all of that. Will it be worth the extra time and cost, plus having to *wait* on all of those things to sell? I've read about the experiences, watched many videos that others have done here and it seems you almost need a good sized shop with specialized tools to handle all of that. I guess it all depends on how much money the insurance company is giving you on the market value, which should be very high given the cost of used Leaf right now.

 

[alozzy]

I would like some input from this group on whether it might be worth it to buy the car back from the insurance company and selling it on here / craigslist / ebay for the battery / EV gear.

Where are you located? I just read recently about a smaller electricity provider who uses stacks of old LEAF packs as energy storage for the grid. If I recall correctly, they are located in SoCal somewhere. I'm guessing they would be interested in purchasing your pack, if you are near SoCal.

Otherwise, I would guess that the only way to make much $ off of a 10 bar 24 kWh pack would be to pay someone to part out the pack and then to sell it all on eBay. I'm not sure it would be worth the effort though, TBH.

 

[nlspace]

Where are you located?

i have a rear-ended 2012 in the same situation; my car is in perfect condition from the rear seats to the front, just need rear hatch, bumper and axle, it runs and can be driven--such a shame to total it out to the insurance auctions.

 

[ss720129]

Where are you located?

i have a rear-ended 2012 in the same situation; my car is in perfect condition from the rear seats to the front, just need rear hatch, bumper and axle, it runs and can be driven--such a shame to total it out to the insurance auctions.

I'm in the Philadelphia area. How about you? I would definitely do this if I were in CA, but it seems like it might be a dicey bet here. I'm still waiting on the valuation from the insurance company, and I'd prefer not to mess with any of it, but I figure this might be a way to recover from a bad valuation. Fortunately, I have an extra car to drive if I decide to take a longer timeframe approach.

 

[Stanton]

I can offer some perspective on selling "old" 24 kWh packs...since I did just that earlier this year (when I replaced it with a 40 kWh pack).
Yes, people sell "parted out" packs on eBay all the time, but they are typically "in the business" in that they buy/sell EV parts all the time and have the expertise/resources to do so. As mentioned previously, it's not an easy thing to do.
It took me several months, but I ended up selling my old pack (whole) to someone "in the business"--and it was by luck as much as anything. My recommendation is to research some of those "swap shops", approach/contact them about purchasing your pack--and then negotiate. A couple of key points:

• most are looking for a "brand new" pack (like I found at auction), so don't expect to get top dollar in return (especially if it is a business that is going to "flip" it)

• you don't just send these things via Fedex: they are basically freight (unless you find someone to haul it on a flatbed like I did)

Sorry to hear about your accident and good luck with whatever you do.

 

[ss720129]

I can offer some perspective on selling "old" 24 kWh packs...since I did just that earlier this year (when I replaced it with a 40 kWh pack).
Yes, people sell "parted out" packs on eBay all the time, but they are typically "in the business" in that they buy/sell EV parts all the time and have the expertise/resources to do so. As mentioned previously, it's not an easy thing to do.
It took me several months, but I ended up selling my old pack (whole) to someone "in the business"--and it was by luck as much as anything. My recommendation is to research some of those "swap shops", approach/contact them about purchasing your pack--and then negotiate. A couple of key points:

• most are looking for a "brand new" pack (like I found at auction), so don't expect to get top dollar in return (especially if it is a business that is going to "flip" it)

• you don't just send these things via Fedex: they are basically freight (unless you find someone to haul it on a flatbed like I did)

Sorry to hear about your accident and good luck with whatever you do.

Thanks - this is super helpful. I have contacted a couple of shops like you described. One was ready to go for a decent price, but I'd have to ship the car cross country, so that was a bust. I have a couple of these contacts open still, so maybe there is still an option there.

Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[alozzy]

Too bad you aren't in California.

For anyone interested, this is the YouTube video I watched recently on a California company called B2U Storage Solutions, who repurpose whole Nissan LEAF packs for grid storage:
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqlOlqK_ot8

 

[knightmb]

Too bad you aren't in California.

For anyone interested, this is the YouTube video I watched recently on a California company called B2U Storage Solutions, who repurpose whole Nissan LEAF packs for grid storage:
.

Wow, was interesting to see so many used battery packs being put to good use. Makes me wonder how many good Leaf packs have been thrown away over the early years before people starting snapping them up for second life use?

 

[alozzy]

Agreed, I've often wondered why whole LEAF packs haven't been harnessed like this before for grid storage. It's really encouraging to see this kind of innovation, as it bodes well for the repurposing of our old packs when they no longer meet our needs for locomotion.

 

[goldbrick]

Very cool video. I wonder if those containers are temperature controlled? It seems like they would get pretty hot inside otherwise.

Watched it again. I can't be sure but it looks like there are mini-split HVAC systems attached. You can see fans on the outside and what could be evaporators on the inside.

 

[alozzy]

Their YouTube channel has a video explainer that mentions thermal management:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMmH98KlSEo