Older Nissan Leaf range
Discussion
I had a call last night that I’ve got a new job. It’s a job I’ve been aiming my entire career at so a huge move for me and a change of commute to the new site. I currently commute by train, or did until Covid meant working from home so a new car will be needed for the commute. We currently have a very uneconomical discovery and a 16 year old Polo shed which I trust to get me to the station but not the 17 miles each way of the new commute. I’m also sure it won’t pass the new Birmingham clean air regs due out. The commute Albrighton in Shropshire to Central Birmingham. It’s 17 miles each way and I’m considering an electric car for it. I know the older leafs have poor range but as it’ll only be used for less than 40 miles a day would it be appropriate? I’m not sure how much the battery degraded or what to expect in cold weather.
Does anyone have any experience of older leafs or should I be looking at other cars? Quite like the e golf too which I know has a much better range. Ideally I’ll keep cost down as we’ll be moving house next year and would like to limit finance and maintain cash savings for obvious reasons.
Does anyone have any experience of older leafs or should I be looking at other cars? Quite like the e golf too which I know has a much better range. Ideally I’ll keep cost down as we’ll be moving house next year and would like to limit finance and maintain cash savings for obvious reasons.
I run a 2015 24Kw leaf for a 16 mile (each way) cross country commute. Charged to 80%, it was fine in the summer and ok in the winter (I’d trip the low battery alarm occasionally as I got home).
Switched locations and I now have a motorway commute of about the same length, but higher speeds. It’s just about ok in the summer and very very marginal in the winter.
The car still shows 12 bars of battery.
If you fully charge it, I suspect you’ll be fine.
Switched locations and I now have a motorway commute of about the same length, but higher speeds. It’s just about ok in the summer and very very marginal in the winter.
The car still shows 12 bars of battery.
If you fully charge it, I suspect you’ll be fine.
Charge it to 100% every night and it'll be fine. Very very cheap car to run/maintain, sub 2p per mile including tyres+fuel, not much to go wrong, though some rare reports of electronic parking brakes failing.
If you plan to keep it long term (5 years+), there are companies now who offer third party battery upgrades to 40kWh or even 60kWh packs, so as a family hack/run around it may be a car you will never need to sell.
Make you buy one which is 'battery owned', Nissan did a Renault back in 2014 where they sold the car and than you had to 'lease' the battery for £80/month. Even if you buy a used one you still have to pay Nissan £80/month etc, if you don't they can in-theory 'brick' the car over the air by disabling the battery, though I don't think I've heard of that actually happening in real life. So if you see a really cheap one, ask to confirm it's battery owned. On the V5 leased battery cars will say 'flex', avoid those.
If you plan to keep it long term (5 years+), there are companies now who offer third party battery upgrades to 40kWh or even 60kWh packs, so as a family hack/run around it may be a car you will never need to sell.
Make you buy one which is 'battery owned', Nissan did a Renault back in 2014 where they sold the car and than you had to 'lease' the battery for £80/month. Even if you buy a used one you still have to pay Nissan £80/month etc, if you don't they can in-theory 'brick' the car over the air by disabling the battery, though I don't think I've heard of that actually happening in real life. So if you see a really cheap one, ask to confirm it's battery owned. On the V5 leased battery cars will say 'flex', avoid those.
Mr E said:
I run a 2015 24Kw leaf for a 16 mile (each way) cross country commute. Charged to 80%, it was fine in the summer and ok in the winter (I’d trip the low battery alarm occasionally as I got home).
32miles! 80% charge would give a max of 60miles roughly. Wouldn't expect it to be low on battery on the way home. Unless you are having lot's of fun on the country roads 
I haven't got an EV yet, Leaf is tempting but I read about it not having battery cooling, is that something to be concerned about?
V6todayEVmanana said:
I haven't got an EV yet, Leaf is tempting but I read about it not having battery cooling, is that something to be concerned about?
Not unless you rapid charge it, but I wouldn't recommend using a 24kWh Leaf for out of range M way trips, rapid charging one just isn't fun.When I took our one from Leicester to Cardiff it turned a normally relatively straight forwards 150mile 2.30hr trip into a 5hr marathon!!!
V6todayEVmanana said:
32miles! 80% charge would give a max of 60miles roughly. Wouldn't expect it to be low on battery on the way home. Unless you are having lot's of fun on the country roads
I haven't got an EV yet, Leaf is tempting but I read about it not having battery cooling, is that something to be concerned about?
80% charge in winter gave me an indicated 52-54 miles once it has worked out how much power it needs to run the heater. I’d get a low battery alarm at 16 miles, which suggests my trip was ~18 miles each way. I haven't got an EV yet, Leaf is tempting but I read about it not having battery cooling, is that something to be concerned about?
I’d average 4.1 miles a kw in the summer, more like 3.6 in the winter. Sustained speed and the cold are bad for range.
sebdangerfield said:
I had a call last night that I’ve got a new job. It’s a job I’ve been aiming my entire career at so a huge move for me and a change of commute to the new site. I currently commute by train, or did until Covid meant working from home so a new car will be needed for the commute. We currently have a very uneconomical discovery and a 16 year old Polo shed which I trust to get me to the station but not the 17 miles each way of the new commute. I’m also sure it won’t pass the new Birmingham clean air regs due out. The commute Albrighton in Shropshire to Central Birmingham. It’s 17 miles each way and I’m considering an electric car for it. I know the older leafs have poor range but as it’ll only be used for less than 40 miles a day would it be appropriate? I’m not sure how much the battery degraded or what to expect in cold weather.
Does anyone have any experience of older leafs or should I be looking at other cars? Quite like the e golf too which I know has a much better range. Ideally I’ll keep cost down as we’ll be moving house next year and would like to limit finance and maintain cash savings for obvious reasons.
I work in Norway a month on / 2 at home and have a 30kw 2017 leaf there. Public transport is a nightmare, I absolutely need a car, only do the same 30 or 40 miles a day on average and charge at work for free with the supplied granny cable so have no range or charging issues. A mate does a 10 mile trip twice a week as a second car when I am home so keeps it ticking over. Still 80 miles range in winter, practical and gets the job done for my 'local' work runaround. Horses for courses and it looks like a leaf will fit you fine as a work taxi as well, even a 24kw in winter if home charged overnight and cannot charge at work.Does anyone have any experience of older leafs or should I be looking at other cars? Quite like the e golf too which I know has a much better range. Ideally I’ll keep cost down as we’ll be moving house next year and would like to limit finance and maintain cash savings for obvious reasons.
But I would not have a leaf as my main drive even if it had 600 miles range because it is a pretty awful car, so be warned and test one. Cheap ev but not a great cabin with uncomfortable seats, so so rear visibility, really crap infotainment / communications system and poor quality in general.
Great advice folks, thankyou. Some really useful opinions. I hadn’t thought about the comfort levels, I just assumed it’d be ok. I also hadn’t considered how the motorway and steady speed would affect the range, my commute will be almost entirely motorway.
I’ve just had a pcp quote back for an e golf from a local main dealer. I was just making sure all bases were covered. It’s hugely expensive! For comparison our discovery had about £32,000 financed which came in at £305 per month over 3 years and the e golf, with £24,000 to finance is £394 over 4 years. It also had a £95 admin fee which just put me off even further. I think it’s pushing me more toward just getting the older leafs and no finance.
I’ve just had a pcp quote back for an e golf from a local main dealer. I was just making sure all bases were covered. It’s hugely expensive! For comparison our discovery had about £32,000 financed which came in at £305 per month over 3 years and the e golf, with £24,000 to finance is £394 over 4 years. It also had a £95 admin fee which just put me off even further. I think it’s pushing me more toward just getting the older leafs and no finance.
sebdangerfield said:
Great advice folks, thankyou. Some really useful opinions. I hadn’t thought about the comfort levels, I just assumed it’d be ok. I also hadn’t considered how the motorway and steady speed would affect the range, my commute will be almost entirely motorway.
I found the Leaf quite comfortable and pleasant to be in. The older ones are not the quietest on the motorway but not terrible, and the seats are good. It's easy to drive, very smooth and low effort.Even if you are mostly motorway you won't have a problem only doing 34 miles a day unless the battery is really knackered.
aestetix1 said:
sebdangerfield said:
Great advice folks, thankyou. Some really useful opinions. I hadn’t thought about the comfort levels, I just assumed it’d be ok. I also hadn’t considered how the motorway and steady speed would affect the range, my commute will be almost entirely motorway.
I found the Leaf quite comfortable and pleasant to be in. The older ones are not the quietest on the motorway but not terrible, and the seats are good. It's easy to drive, very smooth and low effort.Even if you are mostly motorway you won't have a problem only doing 34 miles a day unless the battery is really knackered.
gangzoom said:
Charge it to 100% every night and it'll be fine. Very very cheap car to run/maintain, sub 2p per mile including tyres+fuel, not much to go wrong, though some rare reports of electronic parking brakes failing.
If you plan to keep it long term (5 years+), there are companies now who offer third party battery upgrades to 40kWh or even 60kWh packs, so as a family hack/run around it may be a car you will never need to sell.
Make you buy one which is 'battery owned', Nissan did a Renault back in 2014 where they sold the car and than you had to 'lease' the battery for £80/month. Even if you buy a used one you still have to pay Nissan £80/month etc, if you don't they can in-theory 'brick' the car over the air by disabling the battery, though I don't think I've heard of that actually happening in real life. So if you see a really cheap one, ask to confirm it's battery owned. On the V5 leased battery cars will say 'flex', avoid those.
There are companies out there that do an extender battery packs, plenty of aftermarket businesses out there now to cater for used EVs: https://muxsan.com/If you plan to keep it long term (5 years+), there are companies now who offer third party battery upgrades to 40kWh or even 60kWh packs, so as a family hack/run around it may be a car you will never need to sell.
Make you buy one which is 'battery owned', Nissan did a Renault back in 2014 where they sold the car and than you had to 'lease' the battery for £80/month. Even if you buy a used one you still have to pay Nissan £80/month etc, if you don't they can in-theory 'brick' the car over the air by disabling the battery, though I don't think I've heard of that actually happening in real life. So if you see a really cheap one, ask to confirm it's battery owned. On the V5 leased battery cars will say 'flex', avoid those.
V6todayEVmanana said:
Mr E said:
I run a 2015 24Kw leaf for a 16 mile (each way) cross country commute. Charged to 80%, it was fine in the summer and ok in the winter (I’d trip the low battery alarm occasionally as I got home).
32miles! 80% charge would give a max of 60miles roughly. Wouldn't expect it to be low on battery on the way home. Unless you are having lot's of fun on the country roads I haven't got an EV yet, Leaf is tempting but I read about it not having battery cooling, is that something to be concerned about?
Middle aged and old Leafs (Series 1 and 2, up to the 2017 facelift) have an option in the charging menu to charge only to 80% and automatically stop. This was apparently to extend the life of the battery because, they said, maintaining charge between 20 and 80% is 'kinder' to the battery. Current Leafs do not have this option I believe. It is said that charging to 100% and leaving the car standing for long periods is detrimental to the battery, but charging to 100% overnight and driving off in the morning is fine. There is much folklore surrounding these matters...
More knowledgeable owners please feel free to correct/amend.
More knowledgeable owners please feel free to correct/amend.
motco said:
Middle aged and old Leafs (Series 1 and 2, up to the 2017 facelift) have an option in the charging menu to charge only to 80% and automatically stop. This was apparently to extend the life of the battery because, they said, maintaining charge between 20 and 80% is 'kinder' to the battery. Current Leafs do not have this option I believe. It is said that charging to 100% and leaving the car standing for long periods is detrimental to the battery, but charging to 100% overnight and driving off in the morning is fine. There is much folklore surrounding these matters...
More knowledgeable owners please feel free to correct/amend.
That makes sense, thankyou. More knowledgeable owners please feel free to correct/amend.
I think the leaf is our best option then.
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