Keep my 2016 SL Leaf

[dilysmoore]

Hi everyone,

I have tried to sell my 2016 SL Leaf with no luck and am now considering storing it.

Is it possible to store for that long without anyone touching it? What will happen?

I don't mind having to replace something when we get home - Id rather do that than sell it for half what I paid for it.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Welcome. How long is "that long"? If you put a battery maintainer on the 12 volt battery - or disconnect it after charging it up - then a 60% or so charge would easily last for several months or longer.

 

[alozzy]

It's always a good idea to periodically cycle the battery pack. You can do that, without having to drive anywhere, by putting the car in ready mode, cranking up the heater, and letting it run for a few hours. Then, charge back up to 60% and leave it for a couple of months. Repeat as needed.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I have tried to sell my 2016 SL Leaf with no luck

- Id rather do that than sell it for half what I paid for it.

It's the best time to sell a used Leaf ever! Are you not getting any local interest? Have you tried online/local companies like Carvana, Vroom, Carmax?

 

[SageBrush]

I have tried to sell my 2016 SL Leaf with no luck

- Id rather do that than sell it for half what I paid for it.

It's the best time to sell a used Leaf ever! Are you not getting any local interest? Have you tried online/local companies like Carvana, Vroom, Carmax?

I expect to sell our LEAF in a couple of months so I have gotten quotes from multiple online dealers. They offer in the range of $5k and then list similar cars for $15k. The buy/sale spread for my Tesla Model 3 was much narrower, which suggests to me that the dealers recognize risk in being able to sell a LEAF, even though they are able to move the car to markets with higher demand.

I asked for quotes from Carvana for both Albuquerque (a weak market) and Denver (presumably a stronger market for EVs, and a much larger population) and got similar quotes. As an aside, I have yet to find an online dealer that prices EVs by battery health. The market remains grossly uninformed, even after 10 years of EVs running around.

 

[webeleafowners]

We stored our 2016 SE for 17 weeks one winter. Charged it to 70 percent. Parked it in the garage and left. The night we got home we put a trickle.charger on the 12 volt battery. Next morning got up and started it with no issue. Think we lost like 3 or 4 percent of charge over the 17 weeks. Easy peasy.

We still regret selling that car although it would have mostly sat in the driveway the last year and a half.

 

[LeftieBiker]

It's always a good idea to periodically cycle the battery pack. You can do that, without having to drive anywhere, by putting the car in ready mode, cranking up the heater, and letting it run for a few hours. Then, charge back up to 60% and leave it for a couple of months. Repeat as needed.

I'm not sure that this is the case. Storing the car would, essentially, be putting it through one charge cycle. I don't see the cell balance going bad with that one cycle...

 

[alozzy]

I'm not sure that this is the case. Storing the car would, essentially, be putting it through one charge cycle. I don't see the cell balance going bad with that one cycle...

Ok, I didn't realize that periodic, infrequent cycling wasn't beneficial. I thought I had read that somewhere in the past, but I will take your word for it.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I'm not sure that this is the case. Storing the car would, essentially, be putting it through one charge cycle. I don't see the cell balance going bad with that one cycle...

Ok, I didn't realize that periodic, infrequent cycling wasn't beneficial. I thought I had read that somewhere in the past, but I will take your word for it.

I don't know this for a fact, mind you. You may be thinking of small packs with a BMS. In that case the BMS will consume too much power over a long time, unless disconnected for storage.