Used Leaf Purchase - What to look for

Just starting the hunt...conventional vehicle, I know to what to look for...but when I read your threads, I see terms such as bars, GIDS, etc. There is such a glut of 2011-13 vehicles, all within a reasonable range, all with less than 20k miles.

Help me with the electrical indicators and what to look for? Need something other than color and trim to classify them.

Thank you

David

OK, firstly, the bars.
http://www.pluginamerica.org/surveys/batteries/leaf/survey.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There's a picture on the right-hand side a little less than half-way down that explains them. You want 12 capacity bars.
However, it's come to light that some dealers reset the battery management unit and that makes it show 12 bars again (at least for awhile), so it might be good to equip yourself with an Android phone and Leaf Spy, and a Bluetooth OBD-II module to verify. (I bought mine without this, but I've since bought one. They're inexpensive and handy!)
One thing you might want to do is look at the CarFax or Autocheck reports if you have access to their VIN numbers. If it's from a northern state (the more northern the better), the battery is less likely to have degraded in its earlier days. Autocheck has a 30-day unlimited VIN search for less than CarFax offers for 5 VINs, so I recommend them based solely on that (I am not affiliated with either).
If you find one from a northern state and low mileage, it's unlikely to have suffered much battery degradation, and you can be more at ease about it even without the Leaf Spy check.

It is also likely that the 2013 and newer Leaf has a better battery chemistry than the 2011/2012 versions, which were made in Japan and are otherwise of somewhat better build quality. (The 2015 and newer Leaf supposedly has a much more heat-resistant battery than any of the earlier years.) If you are trying for the most capacity possible, I suggest you focus on 2013 and newer used cars. If you don't need more than, say, 40 miles of range, the earlier Leaf may prove to be a good buy.

GIDs and amp-hours (AH) are both measures of actual battery capacity for a particular car. I'll let the people who have LeafSpy explain those.

davidbwatkins53 said:

Just starting the hunt...conventional vehicle, I know to what to look for...but when I read your threads, I see terms such as bars, GIDS, etc. There is such a glut of 2011-13 vehicles, all within a reasonable range, all with less than 20k miles.

Help me with the electrical indicators and what to look for? Need something other than color and trim to classify them.

Thank you

David

Click to expand...

Having recently bought a used Leaf, and having read a LOT of threads on this forum, I would suggest buying a 2013 SV or SL model. Look for both charging ports in the front, and make sure it has the SD card in the radio, and the included charging unit (120 volt EVSE) works.

Narrow down the choices for the ones you are most interested in. If you can, get pictures of the displays for each car. If you could also get a Leaf Spy reading for each one, it would be easy to tell which to avoid.

LeftieBiker said:

It is also likely that the 2013 and newer Leaf has a better battery chemistry than the 2011/2012 versions, which were made in Japan and are otherwise of somewhat better build quality. (The 2015 and newer Leaf supposedly has a much more heat-resistant battery than any of the earlier years.) If you are trying for the most capacity possible, I suggest you focus on 2013 and newer used cars. If you don't need more than, say, 40 miles of range, the earlier Leaf may prove to be a good buy.

GIDs and amp-hours (AH) are both measures of actual battery capacity for a particular car. I'll let the people who have LeafSpy explain those.

Click to expand...

I'd treat the 2011-2013 and early 2014s as though the battery is the same. Some very late 2014s got the 2015 quality pack.

Do leafspy, check autocheck/carfax for prior states owned / registered in.

Have fun buying a $9000 one even if it only has 11 or 10 bars if you can handle the range drop.