I went and looked at a 2011 Leaf SL from a private seller (in Seattle) who is asking $6,000. The car is in great cosmetic shape but the guy was up front that the battery has only 6 bars left and it tops out around 50 miles range. Per his description, the stated range fluctuates wildly based on recent usage, but around the city it gets about that amount.
I noticed when I test drove it that the stated range at full charge quickly dropped from 48 miles to about 37 in just 2 miles of light driving. He told me that the reason is that he just drove it down from its home in Bellingham about 100 miles away and it's now adapting to city driving. He also said it needs a software update that will adjust its range calculations but i couldn't determine if the 2011 has a software update available.
Does this check out? Should I be concerned about this? Our use case would actually be fine for a 50 mile range, but I would really rather not get stuck with several thousand $$ for a battery replacement.
I noticed when I test drove it that the stated range at full charge quickly dropped from 48 miles to about 37 in just 2 miles of light driving. He told me that the reason is that he just drove it down from its home in Bellingham about 100 miles away and it's now adapting to city driving. He also said it needs a software update that will adjust its range calculations but i couldn't determine if the 2011 has a software update available.
Does this check out? Should I be concerned about this? Our use case would actually be fine for a 50 mile range, but I would really rather not get stuck with several thousand $$ for a battery replacement.