Picking up my 2015 Leaf today.

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G19Tony

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2022
Messages
2
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Purchased from Carvana. I'll be using it mainly for going back and forth to work. Gas prices, and a friend who purchased a 2019 set me to looking into an EV car a little more. Don't know enough to ask any really good questions yet. Although I understand that you shouldn't charge to a full battery. What kind of range can I expect with an 80% charge? I will enjoy going through this forum and learning about the Leaf.

Cheers.
 
Welcome. I'm going to post a link to my used Leaf buying guide, which will provide some of the info you need. I'll also link the Tips & Tricks guide. Eventually, I may add this topic to the existing one for "new" used Leafs. To answer your question about range, we need to know how many capacity "bars" are showing on the dash gauge that also shows "charge bars." The capacity bars are the little line segments directly adjacent to the charge bars that don't rise and fall with the charge level.

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=26662

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=23297
 
G19Tony said:
Purchased from Carvana. I'll be using it mainly for going back and forth to work. Gas prices, and a friend who purchased a 2019 set me to looking into an EV car a little more. Don't know enough to ask any really good questions yet. Although I understand that you shouldn't charge to a full battery. What kind of range can I expect with an 80% charge? I will enjoy going through this forum and learning about the Leaf.

Cheers.

If it is as good as my fellow family members who still own their 2015 Leaf (Leafs or Leaves? :lol: ), expect 70 miles of range in warm weather with no climate control, properly inflated tires and speeds below 55 mph. In the winter time, expect that range to drop to around 50 miles or less depending on how cold or how much heat you want to use. That's with 100% charge, knock about 20% off those estimates for 80%, so probably around 56 miles warm, 40 miles or less in the winter.
 
There is no reason to charge to less than 100% in Winter, as long as the car will be used within a few hours of it reaching full charge. Do try for less than 100% in Summer.

The above range estimates are based on (roughly) 12 capacity bars. If the capacity display reads 11 bars, that means it has lost at least 15% of capacity.
 
Carvana is coming to pick it up tomorrow. I'm just not digging the range, and the loss of range when you use AC. When it gets to be 120F in Vegas, AC is a requirement. I like how it drives though. Just not there for me yet.

Cheers everyone! Have a good summer.
 
The loss of range with A/C is only two or three miles of range. It's the resistance heater that really sucks up power. Are you selecting Defrost along with A/C?
 
it still worth to buy a car from 2015? I am thinking of buying a Leaf, but I was trying to get at least 2017 year model, as I think the battery is getting to old and it won't hold the charge as it should to hold it
 
Whether a 2015 is a good car for you depends on your needs. Any car that can't do a large percentage of your normal trips is useless, unless you can change your travel habits to accommodate its range.

Also, a 2017 Leaf came with a 30kWh battery while a 2015 came with a 24kWh battery. All things being equal (and they are usually not) the 2017 will go 25% farther than the 2015 on a single charge.

My folks have a 2013 Leaf and just love it. They're retired and live 10 miles from town on a farm and it has plenty of range for their normal trips to town and back and other errands. They charge it at home in the garage and it takes about 2-3 hours to recharge so it's almost always ready to go.

So it works for them, but if you have a 50 mile one-way commute each day, a 2015 or even 2017 Leaf probably won't be practical.
 
Picked up a 2015 Leaf yesterday from Carvana. So far I have 10 bars from a battery health perspective. And with a full charge, it shows 67 miles of estimated range.

So far I like the car, but here are a few things that I'm not a fan off:

  • Only 10 bars. But I know that is to be expected.
    Regeneration braking is not as strong as my wife's Model Y. But I know the Leaf is not a Tesla. :D
    The previous owner must have had a dog or two. So car still has some lingering doggy odor.
    I hear clacking sounds when I press and lift off the brakes and accelerator. That really worries me.

I still have a few days to decide whether to keep it or not. Any advice????
 
Welcome. First, ignore the estimated miles of range. The algorithm that the car uses to estimate range is too primitive to be useful. It looks at just the power consumption of the last few minutes, and estimates range based on that consumption. Since most people are gentle with the accelerator pedal as they park the car, the estimate at the beginning of a trip is especially wrong - at least for most people.

What you need to do is estimate the true range of the car with you driving it. The dash display needs to be set to display the state of charge (SOC) as a percentage. Note the state of charge, and the odometer reading (you can also reset the trip odometer. Then, drive the car as you normally do, until you have used either 10% of the charge (i.e from 55% to 45%) or, for better accuracy, 20% of it. Then multiply the number of miles you have traveled to use that percentage by either 10 or 5, depending on which percentage of charge you used. This is close to the true range of the car.

Now, which model 2015 Leaf is this? If it's an SV or SL, then it has a heat pump that will extend the range in moderately cold weather (down to roughly 30F), along with seat warmers and a steering wheel warmer. If it is an S, then it has only resistance heat, which drains charge quickly when used, in all temperatures. Also, what is your climate like? Hot? Temperate? Cold? That will greatly affect the Winter range, and if it's Hot, then it will also affect the battery life.

That slack in the drivetrain is very likely play in the axles due to improper torquing at the factory. There is a Technical Service Bulletin on this, and a dealer should fix it for free.
 
Thanks LeftieBiker, that is good info that I'll try out. I'm in Jacksonville Florida, so mostly warm / hot and humid. We only get a few days of freezing temps in late winter. The Leaf is an SL. It's garage kept, both home and work.
 
An SL will have the blue circle button on the upper left of the steering wheel. Pressing this will open a map on the center screen; the smaller of the two range circles shown will be close to the true range of the car. Definitely ignore the range displayed on the dashboard.
 
Thanks jlv.
Since CarWings no longer exist, what app works with the car, if any at all? I don't think the Nissan app works.
Also, since there is no more 2G, how does the system connect? is there an upgrade?
Any other tips I need to know about?

Thanks all for your guidance.
 
jkerr45 said:
Picked up a 2015 Leaf yesterday from Carvana. So far I have 10 bars from a battery health perspective. And with a full charge, it shows 67 miles of estimated range.

So far I like the car, but here are a few things that I'm not a fan off:

  • Only 10 bars. But I know that is to be expected.
    Regeneration braking is not as strong as my wife's Model Y. But I know the Leaf is not a Tesla. :D
    The previous owner must have had a dog or two. So car still has some lingering doggy odor.
    I hear clacking sounds when I press and lift off the brakes and accelerator. That really worries me.

I still have a few days to decide whether to keep it or not. Any advice????
Unfortunately when the battery degrades the regen decreases dramatically to the point of which by the car gets to 8 bars as my '12 is, you get basically NO regen :( Too bad as when the battery degrades is when you need regen the most to give you a little extra range, which you don't get.
 
Nicolett said:
it still worth to buy a car from 2015? I am thinking of buying a Leaf, but I was trying to get at least 2017 year model, as I think the battery is getting to old and it won't hold the charge as it should to hold it

For an old Leaf, battery "age" should probably not be measured in years (or miles). LeafSpy can give you details on the state of health (SOH), charging history, and battery cell condition. Carfax can give you details on what sort of climate the car was used in. Together, those will give you a better sense of the battery's "age" than the model year or milage.

I just bought a 2015 Leaf SL with 62000 miles on it. But it has 11 battery bars, a SOH of 83%, was almost never quick charged, and the previous owners lived in mild climates.
 
Quick update. Repairs
Took my Leaf to one of the local Nissan "stealership". They fixed the knocking sound. Apparently it was a CV axle nuts that needed re-torquing. They also also tightened down the front knuckle bolts and lower control arms bolts - $150

The drivers side door handle also needs replacement - $317 (parts and labor).

Got on the phone with SilverRock warrantee company and they took care of everything at no cost. Next step is simply waiting for the door handle parts to come and install.
 
My 2015 has been great. I just lost my second bar last week. I have 44957 miles.
It seems like somebody should have a big database where we could enter this kind of info.
 
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