buy a 2012 or a 2013 upgrades worth the money?

Hi all,
I am new here and am planning on buying my first EV. I am in the process of purchasing a 2012 leaf sl from carvana.com and am awaiting delivery. However, I have recently became aware of some of the upgrades offered in the MY13 leafs i.e. faster charging 6.6 KW, better heater.

My question is are the upgrades worth the extra price. It looks like I would have to fork out about another 2-3k to get a MY13.

I will not be able to charge at home as i live in an apartment complex without EV charges but my work offers free charging and gas stations nearby offer DC fast charging.

Where are you what city? Yes if you have no work or home charging it is hard. The 6.6 is a big deal. the heater is helpful. and the sv/ sl is worth the upgrade IMO.

I am in Raleigh, NC. I am also dead set on not getting an s, it will be an sv or sl. what are the differences in MY13 sv and sl?

The SV has a cloth interior and the SL has leather only, and a little solar panel that only helps keep the accessory battery charged if you park for hours in the sun.

The length of your commute is a big issue here. The difference in charger speed shouldn't matter much if you will mainly charge at work, but if you also plan to 'opportunity charge' while out shopping or doing other things, the 6.6 is a real plus. What matters more is range, along with range while using the cabin heater. If the commute is short, the power-sucking resistance heater in the 2012 might not be a big issue. The 2013 SV has a heatpump / resistance heater combination that saves lots of power in Winter temps above about 26F. Also keep in mind that the 2012 will probably have less capacity to start, and will probably lose it somewhat faster over time. It will probably have somewhat better build quality, though, as the first two years were made in Japan, and the 2013+ Leaf is made in the US. I would avoid 2013 Leafs made before April of 2013, as they may, according to circumstantial and anecdotal evidence, have inferior (similar to 2012) battery pack longevity.

^^^
Agree w/the above except partly w/the work one.

These may help too.
http://sfbayleafs.org/news/2013/01/2013-nissan-leaf-product-highlights/
http://sfbayleafs.org/commentary/2013/09/2013-vs-2011-nissan-leaf-whats-new-whats-gone-whats-changed/

Re: work, even if charging at work, if the EVSEs (charging stations are 30+ amp), a car w/6.6 kW OBC will be done quicker and tie up the space for less time. This could make a difference if the the ratio of cars to J1772 handles is poor. It allows the space to be freed up faster and allowed the driver to start charging later/need less time to reach full/desired charge.

'13 S comes in black cloth only. '13 SV is available in light or black cloth. '13 SL is available only with black leather. '11 and '12 regardless of trim was light interior only, which many complain got soiled/dirty easily. Also '13+ has dedicated heater on/off button. '13 SV and SL also have available has features that didn't exist on the '12 such as the Around View Monitor (love it) and better (Bose) stereo (enjoying it).

I'd totally take a '13 over '12, but I'd have to hear the prices first. Battery condition is quite important, if owning. And it seems like the '11 and '12 batteries tended to degrade a lot worse than the '13s after the point that Leftie mentioned.

Re: work, even if charging at work, if the EVSEs (charging stations are 30+ amp), a car w/6.6 kW OBC will be done quicker and tie up the space for less time. This could make a difference if the the ratio of cars to J1772 handles is poor. It allows the space to be freed up faster and allowed the driver to start charging later/need less time to reach full/desired charge.

Click to expand...

That's true, although I think that most of the EVs & PHEVs that you'd find in a typical work parking lot would have 3.3kw chargers, and if the OP means L-1 charging, then it doesn't matter anyway.

LeftieBiker said:

Re: work, even if charging at work, if the EVSEs (charging stations are 30+ amp), a car w/6.6 kW OBC will be done quicker and tie up the space for less time. This could make a difference if the the ratio of cars to J1772 handles is poor. It allows the space to be freed up faster and allowed the driver to start charging later/need less time to reach full/desired charge.

Click to expand...

That's true, although I think that most of the EVs & PHEVs that you'd find in a typical work parking lot would have 3.3kw chargers, and if the OP means L-1 charging, then it doesn't matter anyway.

Click to expand...

Depends on what you mean by "most". We definitely have no PHEVs at work w/above 3.x kW OBCs. There seem to be few of those. Only one I can think of is the short-lived rare Accord PHEV, which we have 0 of at work.

As for EVs, actually, off the top of my head, I'd guess somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 have 6.x+ kW OBCs. Besides '13+ Leafs S w/charge package + SV and SL, we have some Tesla Model S, a Merc B-Class ED, a whole bunch of VW e-Golfs, a few FFEs, a # of BMW i3's and a bunch of Fiat 500e's.

The only lame ones are the '11 and '12 Leafs, the unknown # of base '13+ Leaf S models, and the Chevy Spark EV (which we have almost none of).

I was talking about the total number of BEVs plus PHEVs, not each category. Anyway, we don't really disagree.

So it sounds like MY13 is a lot better. how much more would you pay for a 13 vs a 12. I was planning on buying a 12 for $9500 How much more would you pay for a 13? it seems like they are about at least $2-3k more?

I guess if I could have purchased a '13 for $2000 more than the '12 I got, I would have done it, unfortunately in my market at the time they were more like $4k more and I couldn't justify it.
Note unless your sold on Leather or a few other things(I guess cruise would be another one) don't overlook a '13S with the charger package. It was my first Leaf and personally I like it quite a bit better than my '12SL, even though the SL has lots more go-gaaas. I appreciate the longer range of the '13(of course I suppose a degraded '13 could actually have a worse battery than a like new '12 but in my case the '12 was missing 2 bars and the '13 was missing no bars) and the difference, well really makes a difference. I also appreciate the much better regen on the '13 and the dark interior, I can't stand the light interior of the '12, but it is what it is. Also no one has mentioned the lack of the dash SOC% indicator, only available on '13 and later. Sure you can use LeafSpy on your cell phone or try and find a aftermarket gauge to add yourself but it's just nice having it right on the dash, also IMO the GOM on the '12 is basically worthless, on the '13 at least it's in the ballpark. And it has been mentioned but the lack of a way to turn off the heat on the '12 and older models is really shortsighted, again you can purchase an aftermarket switch for the '12/11 models but it's nice having it on the dash. If you live an a colder climate the switch is a must IMO, that is if range is at all important to you.

erniehart said:

So it sounds like MY13 is a lot better. how much more would you pay for a 13 vs a 12. I was planning on buying a 12 for $9500 How much more would you pay for a 13? it seems like they are about at least $2-3k more?

Click to expand...

I'm in the process of buying a 2013 SL with premium package for $13k from Carvana, which was the best deal I could find on one around me. Carvana had one listed at $14.5k as well recently, and I couldn't really find any differences between the two, other than color (black vs gray).

http://www.bmvwcars.com/inventory.aspx?md=LEAF&cursort=asc&mk=Nissan seems to have a good supply of Leafs off of lease with decent prices. They haven't had one in the color/trim I want and I don't know much about them as a business, but I assume you could get one shipped to you in NC for a few hundred dollars or so.

Check here for a 2013 Leaf trim level comparison: http://insideevs.com/2013-nissan-leaf-overview-and-specifications/