Advice on '15 Leaf S - Phoenix AZ

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Flynnstone

New member
Joined
Apr 4, 2017
Messages
2
I've been looking into purchasing my first Leaf to be used strictly as a daily commuter. My roundtrip commute is 40 miles, and consists of all highway driving. I found a '15 Leaf S for $10K locally, and have been considering moving forward with it. Before purchasing, I had planned on purchasing the OBD Wifi connector and LeafSpy to check out the battery health. Based on the research i've done, the '15 Leaf's have the lizard battery, which should help with the Phoenix summers.

Since the lizard battery's have been in use now for 2-3 years, i'm curious how they've been holding up in desert climates? I haven't been able to find many recent reports with peoples experiences to date, and want to make sure i'm not making a mistake buying a leaf for use in Phoenix.
 
Thank you. Seems that I should probably go for a Tesla, or an EV with a water cooled pack for AZ driving.
 
I disagree--my 2015 is doing much better than either the original or replacement battery in my 2011. Today marks 27 months, 39,578 miles, with 11 capacity bars remaining right now and with Leaf Spy numbers:
AHr=51.55
SOH=83%
Hx=70.91%
QC=54
L1/L2=647
"Gids" at full charge this morning=243

I was at 8 capacity bars and patiently waiting for a new battery from Nissan at 27 months and about 30,000 miles on the 2011. The replacement battery was only 15 months old with about 20,000 miles on it at the time of the crash and had been at 11 capacity bars for a while.

I have no desire for the complexity and power consumption of TMS.
 
LeftieBiker said:
A 17% capacity loss in less than three years isn't my idea of good. I'm sure it's better than the original chemistry, but that isn't good enough.

I don't think my iPhone can beat that.

For a short commute there's no better used EV deal than a Leaf (IMO). I've seen 2011's with 35k miles selling around the $6k price point. With a L2 ESVE a 40 mile round trip is completely manageable, even with up to 35% of battery degradation.
 
tk1971 said:
LeftieBiker said:
A 17% capacity loss in less than three years isn't my idea of good. I'm sure it's better than the original chemistry, but that isn't good enough.

I don't think my iPhone can beat that.

For a short commute there's no better used EV deal than a Leaf (IMO). I've seen 2011's with 35k miles selling around the $6k price point. With a L2 ESVE a 40 mile round trip is completely manageable, even with up to 35% of battery degradation.

I had not thought about comparison to iPhone. The battery in the iPhone I had assigned to me at work completely failed after about 2 years. The battery started expanding and pushing the display up and away from the rest of the housing. I quit charging it and ordered a replacement before it became a fire hazard.
 
Flynnstone said:
Thank you. Seems that I should probably go for a Tesla, or an EV with a water cooled pack for AZ driving.

I'm not sure why you would say that Flynnstone.

I was in a similar position as you. My daily commute is 42 miles round trip, and is mostly > 60mph, which is not ideal for maximizing range. I live in South Florida, which is obviously pretty hot.

I purchased a 2014 with 87% SOH. Since I can charge at work an home, I could use this car as a strict commuter vehicle until it reached about 30% SOH. Assuming you can't charge at work, you would need about 60% of the battery capacity.

I would assume your battery would lose 2-5% every year depending on things like how and when you charge your car, where you park it during the day, and maybe dumb luck. Even with this level of depletion the car would meet your needs for atleast 5 years, and the money you save in gas and maintenance over that period would pay for a new battery.
 
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