New EV and Leaf Owner

I have only had my 2013 Leaf for a couple months now. My Leaf has only 7 Bars, but I only use it as a grocery getter and the wife and I are enjoying it. I will probably ask some stupid questions, but they say any question not asked is a stupid question.
Joe
Central Florida.

Welcome to the forum. We have 2 Leaf Plus models and live in Chicago. We use the cars for everything.

fpopjfj said:

I have only had my 2013 Leaf for a couple months now. My Leaf has only 7 Bars, but I only use it as a grocery getter and the wife and I are enjoying it. I will probably ask some stupid questions, but they say any question not asked is a stupid question.
Joe
Central Florida.

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I'm curious how much you paid for it, if you don't mind sharing that ...

About $6000 cash

fpopjfj said:

About $6000 cash

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Thanks!

Hello Joe, and welcome to the club!

I'm in Bartow, so that qualifies as Central Florida. 2011, silver, drove it down at four capacity bars, 26 mile range at that point. Nissan replaced the pack at 60K miles, and now over 50K miles later down only one capacity bar.

The only advice is don't keep it at 100% charge in high heat, the battery can withstand one or the other, but together it seems to increase exponentially.

The only advice is don't keep it at 100% charge in high heat, the battery can withstand one or the other, but together it seems to increase exponentially.

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A 2013 with 7 bars is likely an early build with the old canary pack. It should be kept away from both heat and a high state of charge. If it's used for local trips, then I suggest trying to keep it charged no more than 60-75%.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll will be keeping them in mind. I am getting about 43 miles per charge right now. Does anyone know of a close, affordable place to get the battery pack updated?

fpopjfj said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'll will be keeping them in mind. I am getting about 43 miles per charge right now. Does anyone know of a close, affordable place to get the battery pack updated?

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There is no "updating" a 'Canary' battery. You drive it until the pack fails, or fails to meet your needs any longer, then either you sell that Leaf or you spend $10,000+ on a new battery with half the range of the current 40kwh Leafs.

fpopjfj said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'll will be keeping them in mind. I am getting about 43 miles per charge right now. Does anyone know of a close, affordable place to get the battery pack updated?

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As LeftieBiker said, you don't upgrade your existing pack but you might possibly be able to swap a better condition pack for your own. The goal would be to find a 40 kWh pack from a wrecked LEAF for under $10k.

These guys are in your area, but they appear to specialize in Tesla repairs and add-ons:

https://electrifiedgarage.com

However, perhaps they could help you source and install a replacement pack. Note that you will also need a CANBUS bridge from Dala:

https://dalasevrepair.fi/can-bridges

And also direct the shop to this manual by Dala:

https://github.com/dalathegreat/BatteryUpgrade-UserManual

Also, Dala's YouTube channel, and others like it, provide more details on how pack swaps are accomplished.

The good news here is that you have a Leaf that works for you, and should do so for a while - as long as you treat the battery well. You can start saving for a used 40kwh pack if you like; in a couple of years you can either do that - since you have the first year Leaf that doesn't have major design flaws other than the battery - or use the money to first lease, than then maybe buy, a new or recent model Leaf.

fpopjfj said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'll will be keeping them in mind. I am getting about 43 miles per charge right now. Does anyone know of a close, affordable place to get the battery pack updated?

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As pointed out, old battery packs get "swapped out"...not updated. Here's a story about my (very positive) experience upgrading my 24 kWh pack to a 40 kWh pack (https://www.myeva.org/blog/keeping-your-nissan-leaf)

Welcome. And here I thought my 200 mile range in my new Leaf was a let down. Good info on the full charge and the heat. I'll have to read up on that as before we know it, it'll be 100+ degrees in this area again. Just curious, is it best to charge the battery in the full heat of the day so that it only charges to safe amounts or best to charge overnight?

BeyondBeLeaf said:

Just curious, is it best to charge the battery in the full heat of the day so that it only charges to safe amounts or best to charge overnight?

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Both - charge at night, but not to 100% unless you really need it, especially when the ambient temperature is hot.

If you're ever needing the pack replaced, you could at least ask Todd at Tampa Hybrids about it. He's a major Prius mechanic, but very honest and excellent work. He does work on LEAFs also. I'm thinking he'd be able to source a replacement LEAF pack if you're needing it.

I had the data about when the bars dropped on the original pack, but at 43 miles per charge it is getting somewhat low. (I'm not sure if that's 43 miles on the GOM or 43 real-world miles) I also got LeafSpy, as the GOM became very strange, as if it was saving more and more of the bottom pack as the capacity went down. The degradation accelerated as I recall, because as the range goes down and your driving needs stay the same, you're having to keep the pack at a higher state of charge. At the end I was recharging three times per day, the good news of course is it didn't take long to go from empty to fully charged. Also, you learn that the slower you drive, the further you're able to go, there is a chart on the forum somewhere.