2012 Nissan Leaf

dogememe

dogememe

Joined
Apr 15, 2017
Messages
4,583
Location
Napa, CA.
So, I was selling my Escape and I found this Leaf. Ended up trading for it plus a nice chunk of cash of course so I made out well on this deal. If I get tired of the Leaf I can easily sell it and get more cash too.

The Leaf is in nice shape, fairly clean, only 59K miles. But because it’s a first gen Leaf the battery is degraded and now it gets like 20 miles range. OK for my commute since I can sometimes plug it in at work with the slow plug in charger or I can go to the high school in the evenings and hang out in my car as they have free charging at 240V.

Sadly unlike something like a Prius the Leaf is not DIY friendly in terms of repairing or replacing the battery. Way too big and heavy.

I’m curious if anyone has had the battery replaced on their first gen Leaf.

Did you do it at the dealer or elsewhere?

How much did it cost and what warranty did you get?

Did you the same size battery pack or upgrade it (because apparently the higher capacity ones from later years can be installed in the stock/old style 24kwh battery pack)?

Was it worth it overall? My concern is spending $5K+ on a battery replacement and then two years later the battery is junk again.
 
Had a 2012 back in 2016 that still had warranty but the battery hadn't degraded to the point it could be replaced. Best I could get out of it was about 65 miles. I can't imagine spending $5000+ on replacing the battery to get a car with 80 miles of range
 
I've heard this a lot about Leafs without a ton of miles on them. Do they just have really poor battery management or have their been a lot of faulty batteries?
 
Torrid said:
I've heard this a lot about Leafs without a ton of miles on them. Do they just have really poor battery management or have their been a lot of faulty batteries?
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I believe it mainly comes from poor battery management, no temperature management.
 
Torrid said:
I've heard this a lot about Leafs without a ton of miles on them. Do they just have really poor battery management or have their been a lot of faulty batteries?
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From what I understand they have no temperature management of the battery so the computer does not heat or cool the battery. Literally every other EV has that.

It’s like the Altima of EVs.
 
If you can sell it for what it owes you from the trade then I would just move it on. It’s typically unlikely to realise the value in real terms of a repair like this without keeping the vehicle for x amount of time to pay it off through use of the vehicle and again unlikely to sell the vehicle for 5k more after the repair. If you think differently then go for it.
 
2strokeNorthstar said:
That's my thinking. Where did they all go? I almost never see them anymore.
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When I charge it at the high school across from work I see other first gen Leafs charging but I never see them on the road. I guess that says something.

Audiman said:
If you can sell it for what it owes you from the trade then I would just move it on. It’s typically unlikely to realise the value in real terms of a repair like this without keeping the vehicle for x amount of time to pay it off through use of the vehicle and again unlikely to sell the vehicle for 5k more after the repair. If you think differently then go for it.
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Yeah I’ll probably sell it as soon as the title shows up from the DMV. At least looking at the market for them around here seems I can sell it for more than the “trade value” I got it for.
 
dogememe said:
When I charge it at the high school across from work I see other first gen Leafs charging but I never see them on the road. I guess that says something.



Yeah I’ll probably sell it as soon as the title shows up from the DMV. At least looking at the market for them around here seems I can sell it for more than the “trade value” I got it for.
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That’s the way I would go then. One thing I can tell you as a EV tech. You don’t want one without a warranty on it!
 
Audiman said:
That’s the way I would go then. One thing I can tell you as a EV tech. You don’t want one without a warranty on it!
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I couldn't agree more. EVs are a neat concept, and for my 5 mile commute ithis lame Leaf does OK. Just so wasteful that these basically need to be replaced every 10 years. I don't think EVs will be saving our planet anytime soon lol. It does "feel" more efficient to drive the Leaf but that's about it LOL.
 
2strokeNorthstar said:
That's my thinking. Where did they all go? I almost never see them anymore.
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They all end up in Victoria, BC! I see these out and about everywhere, though have to admit that they’re starting to diminish in numbers a bit whereas I can’t leave the house without seeing a few Teslas.

Leafs are ideal for this location, as it’s a relatively small urban area, on an island, and they easily handle most any commute unless going further up island or heading over to Vancouver regularly on the ferry.

I think DC Fast charging stations are starting to not install Chademo on their new hardware and it’s probably on the way out. Most would charge at home though. I’d happily have a Leaf as a daily driver here but it wouldn’t be great where commutes are longer.
 
dogememe said:
I couldn't agree more. EVs are a neat concept, and for my 5 mile commute ithis lame Leaf does OK. Just so wasteful that these basically need to be replaced every 10 years. I don't think EVs will be saving our planet anytime soon lol. It does "feel" more efficient to drive the Leaf but that's about it LOL.
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It is probably a good car for someone who never leaves San Francisco.
 
Those leafs are pretty worthless by now. I mean they were "cheap" and got free carpool lane access and free charging so it is all good right.

Now at 20 mile range you probably will last till another 5 years or 10 before it drop to 5-10 mile on a good day. Good for the old lady going to grocery shopping once a week, or a homeless person using it to power a temperature regulated "room" without worrying about CO poisoning in the winter when it is plugged into a charging port.

As I said before, eventually many worn out EV will be homeless camper in low income neighborhood into the future.
 
I’ve thought about a used Leaf for my elderly mother in law if her 20 year old mini van craps out. She never drives at night or more than 5 miles from home. Might be perfect. Never go to gas station, no oil changes or maintenance.
 
Cooler climate with minimal temperature variations
Short commutes
Owner who tracks charging levels.
Home charger no more than level 2

This is the sweet spot for these vehicles. You can get a new battery put in for about $6500 and have it last around 80k to 100k on these basic EVs. Maybe one serious repair cost and that's it.

You'll save about $9000 on fueling costs and approximately 24 waking hours pumping gas.

I have a 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV that got a new battery in 2020 under warranty from the prior owner. It has about 80 miles of range. Here in Georgia, we drive it quite a bit locally in the fall to early spring, avoid the rain (early EVs are sensitive to moisture issues) and save summer drives for the evenings. We average about 8,000 miles a year and try our ****edest to keep the charge levels at 75/25 cycles.

It works for us because our commuting costs are close to only 1.5 cents a mile. Still, I'm probably going to sell it since as a dealer, a buyer is eligible for a $4000 tax credit. If I sell it for $7900 (effectively about $5600 for the new owner), I make $4000, lose about 40% of that in taxes, so that leaves $2400 in profit.

From there I can just rinse and repeat with other EVs. Just bought a Smart For two with the same reality along with a Chevy Bolt that I've been waiting for a title on since late December. That one I should have by March.
 
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