Should I buy this leaf (leafspy screenshot included)

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LMF5000

Active member
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Messages
41
Found this leaf locally for €11k (for reference, a brand new leaf is currently €39k locally but gets a €12k govt grant for a final cost of €27k). It's a 2017 with the full spec (locally called Tekna, with 360° cameras, and heated seats).

Owner found themselves in a situation where they didn't need to use the car and left it parked in a garage for a year without it being started, moved or charged. The dust and leaves, general condition, light rust on the brake disks etc. all attest to that. The 12V battery was killed over this period and replaced with a new 12V battery by the current owners before we came for a viewing.

The leafspy screenshot is how we found it on the viewing. The car hasn't been driven since the insurance was allowed to lapse, so it's safe to assume that's how it was stored. Cell voltages hovering around the sweet spot of 3.92V. The SoH is very low (70%) for a car with only 17,000km. I suspect it's just the BMS being pessimistic due to the year of storage and I hope a few full charge/discharge cycles will restore the "true" SoH value. I'm a little concerned about the one cell in particular that's 40mV lower than the rest of the pack.

Physically speaking it needs a good cleaning but everything I tested (including air conditioner) seems to work and suspension strut tops have surprisingly little rust. Brake fluid and coolant look to be in good clean condition. Tyres have lots of tread left.

I've attached leafspy screenshot below (VIN removed for privacy) -
pDwnRbj.jpg
 
SOH won't go up much I image if you do exercise the battery with consistent driving. It's showing about 20 kWh of capacity, so subtracting 0.5 for shutdown, you have about 19.5 kWh to work with at full charge. High speed driving at 4 m/kWh will get about 4 x 19.5 = 78 miles (125 km) under perfect driving conditions, no climate control. Expect less when using climate control in very cold or hot conditions, high hills, high winds, etc.
I think the 30 kWh battery packs need a BMS firmware update too; to fix calibration issues, so what it shows might not even be correct, it could be a lot better.
I would investigate it's recall history too, see if it has that BMS update.
 
LMF5000 said:
I suspect it's just the BMS being pessimistic due to the year of storage and I hope a few full charge/discharge cycles will restore the "true" SoH value. I'm a little concerned about the one cell in particular that's 40mV lower than the rest of the pack.

If the Nissan s/w update has already been applied and enough time/driving has elapsed for calibration to occur, believe the SOH
The weak cell is definitely a problem, particularly given Nissan's stonewalling when it comes to fixing this defect.

So it comes down to this: you will probably have crappy range and undesirable pack behavior at low SoC until (and if) the warranty kicks in to replace the pack.
 
I wouldn't buy any 30kWh battery pack--especially one that's already exhibiting a weak cell at that low mileage.
But that's just me.
 
So, I currently own a 2022 leaf with 40kWh battery, and my wife owns a 2016 with 24kWh battery.

The used leaf in this post is one that my dad is considering buying. I'm kind of the friendly go-to leaf advice person in the family but this one had me on the fence. Are the 30kWh batteries really that bad?
 
LMF5000 said:
The used leaf in this post is one that my dad is considering buying. I'm kind of the friendly go-to leaf advice person in the family but this one had me on the fence. Are the 30kWh batteries really that bad?
Yes.
I would actually take your 24 kWh (lizard) Leaf over a 30 kWh, but probably not an older (non-lizard) Leaf--unless I knew I was going to replace the battery pack (like I did).
 
Some 30 kWh packs are OK
Some 30 kWh packs are bad

Some 30 kWh packs are a good gamble in terms of warranty repair/replacement
Some 30 kWh packs are a poor gamble in terms of warranty repair/replacement

The LEAF your father is considering falls into the bad pack, poor gamble lot.
 
LMF5000 said:
So, I currently own a 2022 leaf with 40kWh battery, and my wife owns a 2016 with 24kWh battery.

The used leaf in this post is one that my dad is considering buying. I'm kind of the friendly go-to leaf advice person in the family but this one had me on the fence. Are the 30kWh batteries really that bad?

Yes, for some reason, a lot (but not all) of the 30 kWh battery packs were as bad as the very first battery packs on the 2011-2012 models. Some have been able to exploit that warranty loop-hole to get a 40 kWh installed on them as a replacement, but the Leaf must have the BMS update already and lost a lot of bars within the mileage warranty to qualify. Then you must have a good dealership that has a Leaf tech or just someone really knowledgeable in this to replace the whole pack properly under warranty.
 
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