I have to disagree, Lithium is the better choice for colder climates if your budget allows for it and you plan on keeping the Leaf for a long time, like you bought nearly brand new for example. As others here will will probably post, AGM is far superior to Lead Acid for battery life because it can handle not being fully charged all the time and thus doesn't lose capacity as quickly as the Lead Acid. When it comes to colder climate, Lithium holds capacity much better than AGM or Lead Acid, which is what you need to start the Leaf, but has a lower limit. If you live in a location where the temperature can get below -40F/C frequently, AGM is the best option as that is the limit of Lithium. Single digit temperatures for weeks though, from my own experience, has no effect on the Lithium, works just fine and always starts the Leaf right away. The Leaf charging algorithm does not provide much power to the 12V battery if the voltage is high all the time, thus for Lithium, keeps it from being overloaded with current in cold weather since it can still hold +13V in even the coldest of times. Before I changed out the 12V battery in my wife's Leaf (2018), I took her 12 V battery to Nissan and a local auto store to test the battery. Both of them said it was just fine via their own testing machines, but those are testing for a gas vehicle, not an EV. Doing a simple drain test, you can see from the video that the voltage drops a lot, even when putting a +160 watt load on it (which is still less than the power it takes to just turn on the Leaf), so this Lead Acid battery, while it "looks" like it is fine, is actually way below it's 36 AH rating in capacity and thus would probably leave my wife stranded in cold weather trying to start her Leaf. We don't live in a location of extreme cold, actually can get quite hot here and the Lead Acid still has given a slow death.
Budget aside, if you live in a place where temperatures frequently get below -40F/C then, I agree, Lead is the only thing that can safety work in those temperatures. If you live anywhere else, even if in a colder climate, but not that cold, Lithium can still work just fine. Budget though will reign though, just so people understand that if you go the cheap route (Lead Acid), be prepared to replace it every few years like my wife did. AGM will buy you a lot more time, just a better battery technology. I don't know what the time limit is on AGM, some other's here will have a better idea. Lithium will work for at least 7 years in climates that are above 0F (-17C) in my experience, would have to wait for someone from a colder climate to post their Lithium results to get a better idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRk4TvITjdQ
jjeff said:
knightmb said:
15 minutes of lights shouldn't kill the battery, just means it is failing, replace it to your budget allocation. Lead acid for cheap, AGM for long term use, Lithium forever use.
While I agree a Lithium 12v battery is probably the way to go in warmer climates, if the cost is OK with you, in colder climates, the OP lives in CO, I think an AGM battery is probably the best comprimise. Lithium batteries don't like extreme cold, by extreme, I mean low single digits or below zero F. A lithium works OK in EVs for the traction battery in cold climates because it has enough capacity to actually use the battery to heat itself for shorter periods of time but a 12v battery just doesn't have the capacity and I don't believe any 12v batteries would have a built-in heater and even if they did, it would kill the battery after not too long of running the heater.
Personally, I think a decent 51R AGM battery is the best for climates where the temps get below zero.