Looking to buy a pre-owned certified Leaf

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kpleaf

New member
Joined
May 19, 2023
Messages
4
It looks like a great EV but I don't know anyone who has one that I can ask questions - i.e. perfomance, durability, charging and so on. I'm located in the SF Bay Area and looking at different dealerships selling pre-owned certified EVs and Hybrids. The hybrids seem to be a little harder to find these days and it was what I wanted as we don't have a charging station in our condo complex. But since I work from home and basically run shopping errands, take my pup to the dog park the EV may work as I may not have to charge it so often.

Any helpful thoughts would be greatly appreciated. :?:
 
This is a place to ask.

I'm guessing you're looking at model year '18 and newer. https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=26662 is more geared towards gen 1 ('11 to '17).

You can start by Googling for press kits for each model year then looking at their specs tab.
https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/release-77b5f147884a4439bd10c4d9207f2237-us-2018-nissan-leaf-press-kit comes up for 2018 leaf press kit
https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/us-2019-nissan-leaf-plus is for '19 and so on.

Again, click on the Specs tab to see non-Plus (40 kWh) vs. Plus (62 kWh until it became 60 with '23). Nissan marketing trim letters are from lowest to high: S, SV, SL.

Don't really recommend many non-Tesla pure EVs unless you can charge at home, work or places you will be for hours at a time anyway.

Check Plugshare the app and/or web site for charging stations. You'll want to filter by J1772 for level 2 and CHAdeMO for DC usually fast charging. Public charging is usually not cheap.

CHAdeMO (larger inlet on the left) for DC charging has been optional on Leaf or a long time. It's the larger on the left. See https://thedriven.io/2018/12/10/what-is-chademo-charging/. J1772 is used for 120 volt level 1 and 208 to 240 volt L2 AC charging.

There was a significant MSRP drop for '22 Leafs vs. '21. However, before then, Leafs tended to be discounted significantly.

Click on pricing tab of these:
https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/2021-nissan-leaf-press-kit?selectedTabId=release-ad1b5dbcf828bffcdda68d7aee053e53
https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/2022-nissan-leaf-press-kit?selectedTabId=release-25819c9aeb4792ebec3d4ddceb046966
 
Do you have access to a decent even just 120v outlet, say in a garage or outside outlet? I kind of agree that relying on just public chargers can be a pain, it can be done but can be problematic as well.
Now we live in a cold climate which makes EVs more challenging but my brother got by for several years living in an apartment, only using public chargers, a mix of free L2s mostly at grocery stores and mostly free QCs at a local college. He was paying <$100 for an outside open parking space but this mid-winter had an option for a more expensive reserved underground spot and what finally sold him on that was he was able to find the one and only one spot that had a 120v outlet on the wall in front of the spot, and it was open. He took it even though I believe it was ~$140 but he said it was so nice to not wake up to a not cold, not snow-covered, charged car.
Now when he first moved into this apartment he asked if they had a place to charge his EV and was told no(he even offered to pay) but that super moved and this time he didn't ask. Now he doesn't make it obvious and pulls up quite close to the wall as to not make it too obvious and also tries to mostly charge at night and it sounds like his spot is somewhat dark so if you have access to even just a lowly 120v outlet, it might make life much easier for you.
The OEM Leaf EVSE(charger) is 12a fixed(unless new ones are different) so your outlet should be on a 20a circuit and even then not loaded down with something else that draws a significant amount of power as to not trip the circuit. You can purchase adjustable EVSEs that will allow you to limit charging current down to 8a(6a is the lowest the Leaf will charge at) so that might be an option too, although at 8a you'd probably have to leave the Leaf plugged in whenever it wasn't being driven and even that might require occasional public charging.
Cheaper adjustable EVSEs like I spoke about can be found on Amazon for <$200 and if interested I can provide some links.
 
kpleaf said:
It looks like a great EV but I don't know anyone who has one that I can ask questions - i.e. perfomance, durability, charging and so on basket random. I'm located in the SF Bay Area and looking at different dealerships selling pre-owned certified EVs and Hybrids. The hybrids seem to be a little harder to find these days and it was what I wanted as we don't have a charging station in our condo complex. But since I work from home and basically run shopping errands, take my pup to the dog park the EV may work as I may not have to charge it so often.

Any helpful thoughts would be greatly appreciated. :?:

Utilize online resources such as manufacturer websites, EV forums, and owner reviews to gather information about specific EV models. Many EV owners share their experiences, including performance, durability, charging, and other aspects of ownership.
 
Thanks much. I bought a pre-owned 2018 Leaf SV. Handles like a dream & has great pickup. I decided to go electric because I work from home & don't drive much except for errands, going to the dog park vet appointments, all very local stuff so I won't have to charge that often.
 
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