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I recently bought a second hand Nissan Leaf (2015 model, so the battery is already 7 years old), and I have to say my experience with it has been fantastic, eve

I recently bought a second hand Nissan Leaf (2015 model, so the battery is already 7 years old), and I have to say my experience with it has been fantastic, even through the winter. The range is about 70-80 miles of general town driving 30-40mph in the UK winter, so cold, but not freezing most of the time. The range doesn't seem to be noticeable different between warm and cold days. Average temp is probably around 5c. The range does drop noticeable on motorways. I haven't done a proper test, but I suspect it's probably only good for 40ish miles at 70mph. As a second car it's brilliant. It's saved us a load on petrol doing the local trips, school runs, short commute, etc. Even with the current high power prices in the UK. It very much depends on what you plan to use it for, but if your usage profile fits what the car does well, it's a really nice car. I plan to do a proper blog post at some point analyzing some data on it. Maybe after the summer and I'll see if the range improves.

bombcar 5y ago
How much did it run you, and did you consider a newer model?
- SimonPStevens 5y ago
  £9800. 28,000 miles on the clock. Battery still reporting 12 out of 12 for health. I did look at a few other used models, one a couple of years newer, but a lot of miles on the clock and quite a bit more expensive. This one I got just had the best balance of price, age, condition, etc of the cars I saw. I briefly looked at new ones, but prices started at around £27k, and I didn't really want to spend that much. I tend not to buy new cars.
bestouff 5y ago
I have a Renault Zoé, and live in the French Alps (1000m altitude) with harsh winters, and so far this little car has been marvelous. I wouldn't go back to an ICE car for my regular commute.
- SimonPStevens 5y ago
  I looked at a Zoe too, it's an equally nice car that fits the exact same niche for short range or town driving. It mostly just came down to the fact the particular leaf I found was the best balance on price vs age for what was on the market at the time. I'd have likely been just as happy with a Zoe had I found a good one.
zackmorris 5y ago
Came here to say the same thing. I recently bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf, which has a bit of a reputation as the first really good electric commuter vehicle model/year, and it's the best car I've owned by a wide margin. I will never tire of leaving every other car on the line from every stop haha. It charges to 80 miles in the summer and 60 (effective) in winter. Keep in mind that I lose about 10 miles of range if I run the heater the whole time. So that's really comparing 80 to 70, and that's with 2 bars lost off the battery after 9 years. The only time I ever got range anxiety was last minute shopping once around the holidays when I got home with 7 miles left. So I'm happy to live with 10-15% less range in freezing whether. A few details: * It uses a lithium manganese battery, which I believe performs better in the cold, that is kept warm by an internal heater that I've never observed to reduce range. Personally I prefer lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), as it's the easiest/cheapest battery to make, arguably the safest, but also tends to be about 10% heavier. I really wish there was an open source approach to building them for hobbyists, since the only complicated part is maybe the carbon fiber, but I digress * I almost bought a (2015?) Fiat 500e, as it had a little better performance. But the one I test drove had a conservative white pearlescent paint job that made me consider my retirement, so maybe I dodged a bullet. But holy (mackerel) was that thing fast. Also the smaller roof size wouldn't have left much room for the planned solar panel(s) * I always charge overnight on ordinary 120 V for about 8-11 hours (I think, from memory?) and never notice an issue. They say that trickle charging is bad, but the physics just doesn't support that. My feeling is that the rush towards 240/400 V fast chargers was to appease a fossil fuel industry that wanted to preserve the muscle memory of filling up with gas, but I certainly don't miss the gas station. Our electric bill is $20/month more to drive 300-400 miles on electric to commute to a neighboring city, which is like 1/7 the cost of driving my 15 mpg truck (electrics get around 100 mpg equivalent) * The battery is 24 kWh, but they also have 30, 40 and 62 kWh upgrades. At some point I may opt for the 40 with a small LiFePO4 reserve battery in the trunk to buffer the solar energy and roughly double my range, but haven't decided yet, maybe I'll max it out: https://leosons.com/nissan-leaf-battery-upgrade-frequently-ask-questions/ https://leosons.com/nissan-leaf-battery-upgrade-frequently-a... Edit: how could I leave without mentioning the heated seats, steering wheel and instant-on electric heater/defrost. Most comfortable winter driving I've ever experienced. Also I'm not affiliated with Nissan, they just won me over for finally doing going engineering: good/fast/cheap pick any THREE!

bombcar 5y ago

How much did it run you, and did you consider a newer model?

SimonPStevens 5y ago
£9800. 28,000 miles on the clock. Battery still reporting 12 out of 12 for health. I did look at a few other used models, one a couple of years newer, but a lot of miles on the clock and quite a bit more expensive. This one I got just had the best balance of price, age, condition, etc of the cars I saw. I briefly looked at new ones, but prices started at around £27k, and I didn't really want to spend that much. I tend not to buy new cars.

bestouff 5y ago

I have a Renault Zoé, and live in the French Alps (1000m altitude) with harsh winters, and so far this little car has been marvelous. I wouldn't go back to an ICE car for my regular commute.

SimonPStevens 5y ago
I looked at a Zoe too, it's an equally nice car that fits the exact same niche for short range or town driving. It mostly just came down to the fact the particular leaf I found was the best balance on price vs age for what was on the market at the time. I'd have likely been just as happy with a Zoe had I found a good one.

zackmorris 5y ago

Came here to say the same thing. I recently bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf, which has a bit of a reputation as the first really good electric commuter vehicle model/year, and it's the best car I've owned by a wide margin. I will never tire of leaving every other car on the line from every stop haha. It charges to 80 miles in the summer and 60 (effective) in winter. Keep in mind that I lose about 10 miles of range if I run the heater the whole time. So that's really comparing 80 to 70, and that's with 2 bars lost off the battery after 9 years. The only time I ever got range anxiety was last minute shopping once around the holidays when I got home with 7 miles left. So I'm happy to live with 10-15% less range in freezing whether. A few details: * It uses a lithium manganese battery, which I believe performs better in the cold, that is kept warm by an internal heater that I've never observed to reduce range. Personally I prefer lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), as it's the easiest/cheapest battery to make, arguably the safest, but also tends to be about 10% heavier. I really wish there was an open source approach to building them for hobbyists, since the only complicated part is maybe the carbon fiber, but I digress * I almost bought a (2015?) Fiat 500e, as it had a little better performance. But the one I test drove had a conservative white pearlescent paint job that made me consider my retirement, so maybe I dodged a bullet. But holy (mackerel) was that thing fast. Also the smaller roof size wouldn't have left much room for the planned solar panel(s) * I always charge overnight on ordinary 120 V for about 8-11 hours (I think, from memory?) and never notice an issue. They say that trickle charging is bad, but the physics just doesn't support that. My feeling is that the rush towards 240/400 V fast chargers was to appease a fossil fuel industry that wanted to preserve the muscle memory of filling up with gas, but I certainly don't miss the gas station. Our electric bill is $20/month more to drive 300-400 miles on electric to commute to a neighboring city, which is like 1/7 the cost of driving my 15 mpg truck (electrics get around 100 mpg equivalent) * The battery is 24 kWh, but they also have 30, 40 and 62 kWh upgrades. At some point I may opt for the 40 with a small LiFePO4 reserve battery in the trunk to buffer the solar energy and roughly double my range, but haven't decided yet, maybe I'll max it out: https://leosons.com/nissan-leaf-battery-upgrade-frequently-ask-questions/ https://leosons.com/nissan-leaf-battery-upgrade-frequently-a... Edit: how could I leave without mentioning the heated seats, steering wheel and instant-on electric heater/defrost. Most comfortable winter driving I've ever experienced. Also I'm not affiliated with Nissan, they just won me over for finally doing going engineering: good/fast/cheap pick any THREE!