Just bought 2017 30KWh - hoping it was a good idea

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HDriver

Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2020
Messages
11
Picked up 3.5 year old Tekna with 28k miles on the clock. SOH at 98% on dealer's own LeafSpy and according to him it was holding at that for 1000 miles as he used it himself. It's now showing 97% SOH after a few days of light use.
I'm not sure what variance to expect on LeafSpy SOH numbers from day to day, and what rate of drop should get me worried that the BMS had been reset and I've been sold a pup. It shows only 150 QCs in history so I'm still optimistic it's just been really well looked after.
Thanks to all on this forum, as I did a lot of lurking and reading, and this helped inform my decision.
 
I'm very suspicious about 97% after 3.5 years and 28k miles. Maybe you are lucky but that seems really high to me. Have you tried to do a range test to see how far you can drive on a full charge? That will tell the true state of the battery regardless of what the car or Leaf report as SOH.
 
I'm not sure if European Leafs are receiving the BMS software update, but if they are then the update includes a BMS reset. This produces a like-new SOH. If the number continues to drop then I would suspect that it has had a reset.
 
In late 2017, I bought a 12 bar 2015 Leaf S. It was just off a one owner, three year lease. I am looking at the LeafSpy screenshot I took soon after I bought it.

28,950 miles
SOH - 95%
HX - 91.52%
369 Quick charges
593 L1/L2 charges.
 
mkwilkes said:
In late 2017, I bought a 12 bar 2015 Leaf S. It was just off a one owner, three year lease. I am looking at the LeafSpy screenshot I took soon after I bought it.

28,950 miles
SOH - 95%
HX - 91.52%
369 Quick charges
593 L1/L2 charges.

95% for an approximately 3 year old Lizard pack isn't unusual. Just under 100% for a close to 3 year old 30kwh 'Lettuce pack' is much less likely.
 
OP said Tekna, so I'm guessing they're in the UK, which has a mild climate compared to much of the US... or at least many of the metro areas in the US where there are lots of EVs/Leafs.
 
UK Leafs do hold up really well, as it is rarely over 90F/32C. The Fully Charged host has a 2011 with 10 bars still, which seems very good.

It could also be that it had a battery replacement in the past year?? Or the more devious answer, but let's hope not.
 
Thanks for the replies. Once we start doing the school run from next week @60m per day I'll be able to get some real life numbers. I'm generally of the view that if something looks too good to be true it probably is, but will retain a spark of hope that it's just been really well cared for. As for range, we picked it up at full charge and did 88 miles about half of which on the highway at 70mph, after which it had 11% SOC, so that would extrapolate to about 100 miles on a full charge - not sure if that is consistent with 97% SOH.

Forgive the newbie question but what is a "lizard" and "lettuce" pack?
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
The Fully Charged host has a 2011 with 10 bars ...

He has talked about shipping the LEAF to the NL for a battery swap. I presume it is for show business since his daily driver is a Tesla Model 3.
 
The Lizard pack is the 2015 / 2016 24kwh pack that Nissan developed so they wouldn't have to replace as many degraded batteries under warranty. It is more tolerant of heat, although it still will degrade in extreme heat or sustained high heat. The Lettuce pack is the 30 kilowatt-hour pack. Nissan named the first, and I named the second. When you see the terms Canary pack and Wolf pack, those are named by me as well. Canary (2011-3/2013) was the first generation, and if it got even warm for long periods, it degraded rapidly. The Wolf pack (4/2013-2014) was much improved, and is about the same, longevity-wise, as the Lizard pack in cooler climates. It does, like its namesake, tend to suffer in high temps.

These are how the packs run in North America. We aren't sure about Europe, except that they got the Canary and Lizard packs in about the same time frames as North America.
 
HDriver said:
As for range, we picked it up at full charge and did 88 miles about half of which on the highway at 70mph, after which it had 11% SOC, so that would extrapolate to about 100 miles on a full charge - not sure if that is consistent with 97% SOH.

I never drive that far on the highway and rarely go > 65 mph but based on my 2017 S Leaf, I'd say that is pretty consistent with a very good pack. Congrats, sounds like you got a good deal. And in case you didn't realize this already, you'll get more range at slower speeds. Just FWIW in case that is an option. Also check your tire pressure, that can make a big difference as well. Many folks here run > 40 PSI. The ride is just a tiny bit harsher but the range improves significantly over the 36 PSI or whatever it is that Nissan recommends.
 
Did a longer range day from 100% SOC yesterday with these stats:

Distance Travelled
99.4 miles
Electricity Consumption
22.8 kWh
Average Energy Economy
0.23 kWh/mile

At the end of the drive the battery SOC was 12%.

This would indicate max capacity is 25.9 KWh by my schoolboy maths. Can I calculate this as an SOH simply by doing 25.9/30 = 86.3% or should I be using the 28KWh usable capacity figure?

Not sure if this is a good way to do a range test. SOH still shows 95% according to Leafspy...
 
That seems like a good range test. What kind of driving? Speed, AC use, hills, wind, tire pressure will affect the range. But if you went 100 miles on 90% of charge on a 30kWh pack, I wouldn't worry. The 95% SOH is probably about right. There are buffers at the top and bottom of the charge range that are inaccessible or only enabled when in low power mode, etc so unless the entire 99 miles were at 35 mph I think your pack is fine.
 
Driving was mixed - some at 60mph some at <30mph. A few hills. No climate control.
Thanks for your time looking at this. I'll start to quietly hope it really is a good pack and I did get lucky!
 
Range tests, unlike BMS readings, never lie. You have a good pack. I don't recall seeing anything about a 30kwh pack ever 'going bad' except in the case of defective cells, so you should stop worrying.
 
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