2012 Leaf 65% SOH advice please!

Hi All,

Looking for advice/feedback on a 2012 Leaf I'm looking at for a second car for city runabout duty. Will not be used every day, typical usage probably 5-10 miles a day, and worst case about 20mi.

2012 Leaf
80,000mi
9 bars
65.84% SOH (sigh..)
4748 L1/L2s (jeez..)
from Florida (explains above)
$~3.5k
Otherwise clean overall, mechanically sound, and drives well.

Looks like it was charged almost daily for most of its life. And I'm sure life in FL didn't help. But for the mission and price, it sounds like a reasonable match.

Can I reasonably expect 40 mi of range under good conditions out of this car? Maybe 20-30mi in ~30F weather (winters here are pretty mild)? How much further degradation should I expect over the coming 2-3 years if I take reasonable care of the battery?

TIA!
D

You don't say where you are located. The 2011 and 2012 LEAF's have a miniature 5 kW electric water heater for cabin heat so using heat takes a toll on range. The air conditioning compressor is very efficient and very effective so cooling does not reduce range too much. I suspect the traction battery has been replaced at least once because I would expect the capacity to be much lower than the LEAF Spy numbers you posted if it was the original battery. I made my 52-mile round trip (26 each way) commute when my 2011 SL was down to 8 capacity bars before the original battery was replaced by Nissan. I used air conditioning to be comfortable without worrying about the impact on range. I modified the HVAC controls to keep the water heater from drawing power when I did not need heat but still wanted ventilation. My car did not have heated seats or steering wheel so I used my heated motorcycle jacket and gloves to minimize heat use in the morning during the coldest months. I also preheated or precooled the cabin while the car was plugged in so that I left home with a full charge each morning..

Based upon my experience, I believe you can expect at least 30 miles of range in moderate temperatures (assuming tires with reasonable rolling resistance such as the Bridgestone Ecopias that were original equipment). My experience with all three LEAF's is that performance tires reduce range on the order of 15 percent (more or less, depending upon tread compound, size, and inflation).

Without knowing the history of the battery and the recent driving/usage/charging patterns, I cannot even guess how much additional deterioration you will see in 2 to 3 years.

Here is the math:

New 24 kWh pack is about 21.5 kWh usable
65% SOH means 21.5*0.65 = 14 kWh usable

To avoid range anxiety, the driver will not want to go below 20% SoC

Remaining usable = 14*0.8 = 11.2 kWh
***** Important *****
This presumes a well balanced pack with no weak cells. You have to look at the LEAFSpy cell voltage histogram to know if this is true.

In hot climates the AC will pull about 4 kW for the first 15 minutes of driving, so figure 1 kWh per trip

kWh that can be spent on miles: About 10 kWh

Depending on driver, etc, expect 3 - 4.5 miles per kWh

Expect 5% degradation per year.

Would be good to have an AHr rating (also from LeafSpy) so you can correlate with the SOH (which can mean different things to different people). I was getting ~50 miles range on a 2011 8-bar loser (before warranty replacement), so I'm thinking you could get 40 miles--assuming no heater usage on a 2012.

Thanks everyone for the detailed and helpful replies!

The previous owner did tell the current seller that the original battery has been replaced.

I'm in the general vicinity of NYC so winters are relatively mild but summers do get hot. Is is possible to retrofit the heater from a newer model with a bit of elbow grease?

The Ahr number from leafspy was 42.0 and it was showing 14-16mV at the top right of the screen, which I think is the variance between the highest and lowest charge cells. I didn't get a screenshot of the histogram page but I did get these two.

Leaning towards "go for it" at the moment :shock:

You can't retrofit the newer heater - apples and oranges, structurally. You can make (or find one used that was pre-made by a now-defunct vendor) a little bit of wiring harness that will let the heater in your car be turned on or off by you, leaving the blower always available. Remarkable that that switch wasn't there to start with, isn't it?

I thought at first that your were a good fit for a Gen I Leaf, but your hope for 40 miles of range gave me second thoughts. You have to think of the car as a "city car" only. If not, you'll be disappointed and frustrated.

LeftieBiker said:

You can't retrofit the newer heater - apples and oranges, structurally. You can make (or find one used that was pre-made by a now-defunct vendor) a little bit of wiring harness that will let the heater in your car be turned on or off by you, leaving the blower always available. Remarkable that that switch wasn't there to start with, isn't it?

I thought at first that your were a good fit for a Gen I Leaf, but your hope for 40 miles of range gave me second thoughts. You have to think of the car as a "city car" only. If not, you'll be disappointed and frustrated.

Click to expand...

Thanks yes I've heard of the harness. Good to know.

Fundamentally what I need is about 20mi regardless of conditions. I guess that would translate to roughly 30-40 miles of "ideal" conditions. Sounds fair?

Yes, as long as freeway driving isn't involved, 20-25 miles in average secondary and city driving is realistic. And in Winter, think of driving it as a test of character: if you run the heat more than is needed to defrost the windows, you have Failed. The punishment for Failing can involve tow trucks, and even walking large distances.

Leefy said:

Fundamentally what I need is about 20mi regardless of conditions. I guess that would translate to roughly 30-40 miles of "ideal" conditions. Sounds fair?

Click to expand...

That's about all you can expect on a cold day. The AHr reading you provided suggests that the next capacity bar is about to drop...which will make it an "8 bar" car (the old warranty replacement trigger).