Gen One Battery Upgrade Options

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DaveinOlyWA

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
16,260
Location
Olympia, WA
EV-Works on Bainbridge Island, WA has successfully upgraded Steve Marsh's (TaylorSFguy) 6 bar 2011 SL to a 40 kwh pack. Other tweaks include a MUCH steeper DC charge profile. Under ideal conditions, the pack would charge at full current (~ 120-125 amps) until 62-63% SOC before the current starts to drop. The car is now charging at full speed well past that. If you have a 24 kwh LEAF (any year) and was never happy with the 24 kwh range or simply want something you won't have to worry about for a much longer period of time the 2nd time around, you might want to read this.

https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2020/03/leaf-battery-upgrades-comes-to.html
 
Great blog post, thanks for sharing. Wish i could go visit Jay's place and get a proper fish too.
 
Firetruck41 said:
This is certainly food for thought, as I am at 7 bars and considering selling the car, having Nissan put in a replacement batteryu or, now, this new option!

Well, its basically the answer to one question;

Are you happy with 24 kwh range and the likelihood you will be replacing that pack 8 years or so down the road?

If Yes; Right now, Nissan is offering a very good deal at $4500 with required exchange plus labor so "about" $5500 or so and you would be getting a better pack than you had before so it should hold up better and you have the advantage of the 80% setting.

If No; You are in majority and a larger pack is quite liberating. Yes, it will be more money but it will also likely be the last pack you pay for unless you plan to keep the car well past 10 years. No data, but guessing, after 10 years of normal use, I think you would still have more range than a new 24 kwh pack.
 
I haven't been able to find a 2018 battery with a few web searches for salvage/wrecking yards, so I'm not sure what the battery cost might be, that would be a big factor, obviously. But if it is anywhere close to a new nissan 24kWh batt, the decision is made!
 
Firetruck41 said:
I haven't been able to find a 2018 battery with a few web searches for salvage/wrecking yards, so I'm not sure what the battery cost might be, that would be a big factor, obviously. But if it is anywhere close to a new nissan 24kWh batt, the decision is made!

Expect total cost to be "at least" 50% more. This is why my first recommendation if the 24 kwh range works is the Nissan option. It is a VERY good deal. So good, I do not expect it to last. If I had to guess, I would put the 40 kwh upgrade at $10,000 for parts, labor and programming.

But salvage prices will vary so best bet is contact them to see what they can do for you.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
If I had to guess, I would put the 40 kwh upgrade at $10,000 for parts, labor and programming.

It shouldn't cost anywhere near that much unless you're paying someone $5k in labor to do the install. A few (very) wrecked 2018s appear to have sold for under $8k each a few weeks ago.
 
I've been thinking of this but even if you got an entire wrecked 2018 for $7k, it would probably take $500-$1k to transport it somewhere and $1k-$2k to hire to someone to do the swap. Add it all up and $10k is about right. You could save a few $k if you can do all the work yourself, including transporting a wrecked car, but that's a pretty big project IMO.
 
coleafrado said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
If I had to guess, I would put the 40 kwh upgrade at $10,000 for parts, labor and programming.

It shouldn't cost anywhere near that much unless you're paying someone $5k in labor to do the install. A few (very) wrecked 2018s appear to have sold for under $8k each a few weeks ago.

Labor for install only (owner supplied battery) is $1999 so thinking $5k is a bit high. As recently as last Summer, 40 kwh packs from salvage were easy to get in the $4,000-$5000 range. But they are hard to find at that price any more. There was one in Northern CA sold for $4500 a week or so ago but also saw several going for over $8,000 and yeah as someone mentioned, there is a cost besides the purchase price to deal with.

But anyone thinking they might be able to get this done for $7-$8k should start looking elsewhere. Now my price was a guess, nothing more. I can only repeat that because these are salvage without any set pricing, the price will likely vary. You need to call and find out.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
coleafrado said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
If I had to guess, I would put the 40 kwh upgrade at $10,000 for parts, labor and programming.

It shouldn't cost anywhere near that much unless you're paying someone $5k in labor to do the install. A few (very) wrecked 2018s appear to have sold for under $8k each a few weeks ago.

Labor for install only (owner supplied battery) is $1999 so thinking $5k is a bit high. As recently as last Summer, 40 kwh packs from salvage were easy to get in the $4,000-$5000 range. But they are hard to find at that price any more. There was one in Northern CA sold for $4500 a week or so ago but also saw several going for over $8,000 and yeah as someone mentioned, there is a cost besides the purchase price to deal with.

But anyone thinking they might be able to get this done for $7-$8k should start looking elsewhere. Now my price was a guess, nothing more. I can only repeat that because these are salvage without any set pricing, the price will likely vary. You need to call and find out.

Just to correct my quoted post: the 2018s I saw selling for about $7.5k had fairly limited rear-end damage and were probably being bought to be fixed up and flipped for $15-18k. As the wrecking sites hide sale prices after the auction, I haven't been able to catch the sale prices for any "very wrecked" 2018s. But it wouldn't make sense for an real wrecks to go for much more than $5k, assuming what's discussed here is still roughly valid.
 
coleafrado said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
coleafrado said:
It shouldn't cost anywhere near that much unless you're paying someone $5k in labor to do the install. A few (very) wrecked 2018s appear to have sold for under $8k each a few weeks ago.

Labor for install only (owner supplied battery) is $1999 so thinking $5k is a bit high. As recently as last Summer, 40 kwh packs from salvage were easy to get in the $4,000-$5000 range. But they are hard to find at that price any more. There was one in Northern CA sold for $4500 a week or so ago but also saw several going for over $8,000 and yeah as someone mentioned, there is a cost besides the purchase price to deal with.

But anyone thinking they might be able to get this done for $7-$8k should start looking elsewhere. Now my price was a guess, nothing more. I can only repeat that because these are salvage without any set pricing, the price will likely vary. You need to call and find out.

Just to correct my quoted post: the 2018s I saw selling for about $7.5k had fairly limited rear-end damage and were probably being bought to be fixed up and flipped for $15-18k. As the wrecking sites hide sale prices after the auction, I haven't been able to catch the sale prices for any "very wrecked" 2018s. But it wouldn't make sense for an real wrecks to go for much more than $5k, assuming what's discussed here is still roughly valid.

I am sure good prices are out there but now seeing a lot more "battery only" prices. This is good in that extra costs to procure battery is less but then again, prices tend to be higher.

And....

Your link is 5 years old. I would suggest more recent data. This old stuff is really a waste of space.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
coleafrado said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
Labor for install only (owner supplied battery) is $1999 so thinking $5k is a bit high. As recently as last Summer, 40 kwh packs from salvage were easy to get in the $4,000-$5000 range. But they are hard to find at that price any more. There was one in Northern CA sold for $4500 a week or so ago but also saw several going for over $8,000 and yeah as someone mentioned, there is a cost besides the purchase price to deal with.

But anyone thinking they might be able to get this done for $7-$8k should start looking elsewhere. Now my price was a guess, nothing more. I can only repeat that because these are salvage without any set pricing, the price will likely vary. You need to call and find out.

Just to correct my quoted post: the 2018s I saw selling for about $7.5k had fairly limited rear-end damage and were probably being bought to be fixed up and flipped for $15-18k. As the wrecking sites hide sale prices after the auction, I haven't been able to catch the sale prices for any "very wrecked" 2018s. But it wouldn't make sense for an real wrecks to go for much more than $5k, assuming what's discussed here is still roughly valid.

I am sure good prices are out there but now seeing a lot more "battery only" prices. This is good in that extra costs to procure battery is less but then again, prices tend to be higher.

And....

Your link is 5 years old. I would suggest more recent data. This old stuff is really a waste of space.

The most common/plentiful Leafs are 2015 and down so simple case of supply demand

The only cheapish Nissan Leaf batteries are already degraded 24kwhr batteries some at 80% cap

https://batteryhookup.com/collections/module-madness/products/nissan-leaf-complete-battery-module-24kwh-gen-1-2011-2012

Only an upgrade if your existing battery is worse
 
Dave
I saw your blog and would like to buy a new battery for $4500. Is there a dealer over there who is familiar with this deal? Or how do I buy it from nissan? Can I have EV works install it or does it have to be done by the dealer?
Mark

These questions should be asked on the forum since others might have the same question.

the $4500 pack is 24 kwh and from Nissan. Contact any dealer that is qualified to service LEAFs. This is the ONLY pack for sale from Nissan. If you are interested in getting a larger pack installed, it will cost more but then again, you will have better chemistry and almost twice the range.

https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2020/0 ... es-to.html

FYI; despite this being nearly 6 months old, there will be dealers who will only consult the catalog and quote that price. Don't worry about that. When they actually process the order, the correct price will populate which is $5499 with a $1000 core exchange credit. The exchange is required. You will have to pay labor and extra parts (only on 2011-12) so all in price is ranging from $5300 to 5900. (the low estimate was in WA where there is no sales tax for EV related work)
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
...

If Yes; Right now, Nissan is offering a very good deal at $4500 with required exchange plus labor so "about" $5500 or so and you would be getting a better pack than you had before so it should hold up better and you have the advantage of the 80% setting.
...

Does anyone know for sure that Nissan's battery replacement (for 2012 leaf) is indeed the better pack? I 've read somewhere that Nissan's battery replacement is identical, which means, if one owns 'gen-1' battery (a.k.a. canary batteries), then the replacement is also a 'canary' type. This is indicated by the last digit of the battery part number.

For example, I've just replaced my battery (by Nissan) with battery part number NI-295B0-3NA6A. I've read somewhere the last digit 'A' is a canary type.

I'm trying to find it from the search engine, alas, can't find it.

P.S.:
Australian leaf owner here, where we only have 2012 leaf (the next one brought into the country is 2019 model onwards)
 
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