Looking for Advice on Leaf purchase for Virgin Islands

[Noctillio]

Hi everyone, I live on St Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and would appreciate any advice on buying a used Leaf. I've received the following quote:

2013 Nissan Leaf SV with less than 25,000 miles.
Select your color:
White, Black, Charcoal Grey, Silver, Blue, Cayenne Red.
Backup camera & B-braking mode included.
Options (Add-ons):
Less than 20,000 miles: +$1,000
Less than 15,000 miles: +$2,000
SL Model: +$2,000
2014 Model: +$2,000

Nissan Leaf comes with clean CarFax and 100,000 mile battery warranty
provided by manufacturer. Delivery to STT location included in price and
includes: shipping, taxes, registration. Delivery within 28 days of purchase.
Price is good for 14 days.
Subtotal $16,500.00
TAX $0

Average temperatures in the islands are approx 85F in the winter and 95F in the summer, and I would be parking in full sun during he day.

My daily commute is 20 - 25 miles round trip on winding hilly roads. To give you some idea, St Thomas is 13 miles long and 3 1/2 miles wide going from sea level to 1,500 feet. It's 10 miles to work and takes me about 25 minutes with no traffic.
Also due to the terrain brake pads typically need changing every 6 months!

I will be charging with a Clipper Creek HCS-40 charging station at home and there are no public charging stations that I'm aware off.

OK my main question is;
Is it worth it paying the extra to get less than 20,000 or 15,000 miles?

I'd also appreciate any other advice any one can think of.

 

[2k1Toaster]

I am "aware" of St. Thomas because I have to land there to go to St. Johns. But it seems like a good place for an EV as long as the power is stable. Everytime I am on St. Johns and a storm blows in, the power goes in and out and I thought the power came from St. Thomas, so I am not sure how reliable your grid is.

If you are doing a late model 2013 then you supposedly will get an improved battery chemistry than the 2011-2012. At 25mi/day, 10K miles is 400 days, so just over a year. If you pay $2K extra for a 10K fewer miles vehicle, it may last 1 year longer. On the flip side, it may drag out your warranty claim by a year meaning you foot the bill for $5K to replace the pack instead of Nissan. So it is a double edged sword.

The terrain on the island will make use of the regenerative braking quite well. Considering you are never away from power, you should have zero range anxiety. You can pull over at one of the roadside shacks with an electrical outlet and charge with the L1 anywhere on the island essentially.

Your leaf will be hot. Good news is you won't use the heater that drains the battery quickly. You will just cook it everyday. Parking in the shade is a good idea, but I know that parking is limited and you take what you get whereever you can get it most places.

I would care less about the miles on the vehicle and more about where it was used. If it is 15K miles in Arizona vs 25K miles in Oregon, I would take the more Northernly one.

And paying $2K of a $5K repair to just extend when it happens also doesn't seem like a generally bright idea to me. I would pocket the $2K difference and use it to pay for a brand new battery when the time comes. This of course assumes there's a Nissan dealership on the island that can do a pack repair without shipping it back to mainland USA and back again because then shipping will make it much more expensive.

Last time I was in St. Lucia they had a few Leaf's running around for some sort of pilot project. Perhaps they have published some information since then (2 years ago).

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 2013 Leaf ( or at least the ones built after March of 2013) has a battery that better resists degradation over time, but it isn't nearly as good as resisting heat-induced degradation. In fact, even the 2015+ "Lizard Pack" is proving to be not very heat resistant. You might end up being a great source of information on how the 2013 pack resists constant excessive heat. ;-) The way I see it, you have two choices if you want to keep a good amount of available range in the pack: You can buy the lowest mileage 2013 built after 3/13 they can find you, or you can buy the highest mileage Leaf built *before* April 2013, preferably with at least two capacity bars already lost, and hope you qualify for a new replacement battery pack. I don't think any of us can tell you which choice is the better one, although the first is the safer bet to have at least 40-50 miles of range for a few years... unless the pack degrades rapidly in your heat.

 

[OrientExpress]

The current best pick for a used LEAF is the 2014 model manufactured after March of 2014. This model has the current battery chemistry pack, and has shown to be very reliable. The SV is still your best buy, especially if you can find one with the LED headlight option. I would thing that Quick Charging would not be a concern, but having the higher capacity on board charger would.

 

[Noctillio]

Thanks for the replies;

At the present time there's no Nissan dealership on the island that can do a pack repair, so even under warranty it would have to be shipped back to Florida, ($1,300 each way!) so I'm leaning towards the lower mileage option. There's talk of Nissan doing replacement packs in the future but on these islands that could mean next week or next century!!!


The power is somewhat unreliable here with power outages a semi regular occurence. That's the main reason I got a level 2 charger, I figure I'll charge as fast as possible before a potential outage! I have a grid tied solar system with battery back up, but I'm not sure my batteries could handle charging the car as well as running the house.
I'll also be keeping my jeep at least through hurricane season untill I've had a chance to get a feel for the

The company bringing the Leaf's in is a solar power company based in Florida so the car is more than likely from there or close by.

As for the 2014 option that would be guranteed less than 20,000 miles

 

[LeftieBiker]

I suggest you avoid the GE Wattstation L-2 charging station, as it can cause severe damage to a Leaf if charging is interrupted by a surge or power failure. GE insists that the Leaf's J-1772 charging protocol isn't properly implemented, but the Wattstation seems to be the only L-2 unit that does this. Clipper Creek is a good choice, especially if you don't need extra features like a display screen.

 

[paulcone]

Clipper Creek is a good choice, especially if you don't need extra features like a display screen.

Agreed, I've had a Clipper Creek a few months and it seems solid. My friend offered me his broken Blink charger but I said no .