Goodbye Leaf, Hello Bolt Thanks to Carvana

I just saw a dealer estimate for a 70,000 mile Bolt replacement battery. $29,000, start to finish.

jkline said:

I just saw a dealer estimate for a 70,000 mile Bolt replacement battery. $29,000, start to finish.

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I find this hard to believe, mostly because MOST bolts had their batteries already replaced due to the recall. Not sure why someone would need to have their battery replaced already unless there's more to the story.

GerryAZ said:

5. For those who are buying or have already purchased EVs with CCS, make sure you have multiple charging locations identified when traveling.

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I owned a Leaf from 2015 to 2018, and now again from 2021 till now. I've Fast-charged over 200 times between two vehicles. I'm not a 'road trip' person, and I definitely wouldn't waste my time doing a 'real' roadtrip in my 2015 Leaf, but even for moderate trips, say 170 miles, Chademo is a nightmare. I've learned to be a VERY good planner using Plugshare, checking for recent reviews, etc. etc., and always planning stops where there are other chargers (EA or eVGO) nearby, as you mentioned.

That said, the only times I've come close to being stranded was when I got to spots where there was only 1 Chademo connector out of the 2 or 3 towers, and it was out of order. And in every single one those occurrences, there were multiple available CCS connectors. Might some of those been out of order, perhaps, but very likely not all of them.

I was recently in a position to choose between a 2023 Leaf S and a 2023 Bolt, both at MSRP with no add-ons. Even though the 150 mile (perfect world) range of the Leaf would suffice infinitely better than our 2015, and I like the idea of the lower payment of the Leaf (after calculating in 2022 Fed rebate), I decided that the extra range of the Bolt, and the connector being CCS, made me choose the Bolt. Had the Leaf been CCS, I would have gone with the Leaf.

Interestingly enough, I talked my mother in to selling her 2018 Volt and buying the Leaf in question (VOLT values are crazy !). I look forward to comparing the build-quality, ride, etc. between the two, but I will have no regrets. (I will miss the large cargo volume of the Leaf)

LeftieBiker said:

I'm not sure if the Bolt EUV is small in comparison to the Leaf.

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The interior seems almost as large as the Leaf's, because of smaller seats, but with all seats in use the Bolt has nearly no interior cargo space. The Leaf is much larger when it comes to carrying both 4-5 people and cargo.

EDIT: and it's my understanding that the additional space in the EUV is largely used for extra rear leg room, along with a bit more space available in the "cargo" area.

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The Bolt EUV has Much more rear legroom than a leaf, but both Bolt models have noticeably less cargo space. When we make Costco runs in the Leaf we have no problem fitting all our stuff in the back, but with our Bolt we'll be putting the TP / Papertowels in the large back seat.

bmw said:

I can hardly believe that you sold your 2017 S for $19K to Carvana. Six months ago I sold my 2017 S to a dealer for $12K, maybe I could have gotten a bit more. They sold it in just a few weeks for just under $16K. So they made a tidy profit. Since I was anxious to get an S+, which were very hard to find, I accepted the deal. Still, to me there is no way I would pay $19K for a 2017 Leaf. That is more than I paid when I bought it new after the $7500 tax credit. New, the S cost me just over $16K after the tax credit.

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Leat S is $28,040. The $7,500 rebate would get you to about $20k. How do you get to to "just over $16k" ?

My daughter and her 6'2" boyfriend came to visit. This was the first opportunity to put more than two people in the Bolt. I drove, big guy sat in the front passenger seat reasonably comfortably, and their 1.5 pieces of luggage went in the cargo area.

More than that would have been cramped. :lol:

Car is now 4 months on the roads since its battery transplant (recall) with 6k miles. I think it may have finished its new car battery pack song and dance and has settled down to 188 Ahr capacity. With its reasonable pack thermal control and our willingness to not cook the pack at high SoC during summer months, I expect the battery to fade into obscurity as something not worth talking or thinking about. Just the way I like it.