Nissan Leaf - gen 1 - talk to me!

Our neighbours had one. I suspect they come with different battery sizes, but real world range of theirs in winter was less than 20 miles.

They swapped to a significantly more ££ e-golf as the leaf couldn't even manage the school run.

I wish this forum had a decent search, I have to repeat this so often (nothing against OP)

Gen 1 leafs had bad/no battery cooling. This is bad. Means most around today have degraded to 20 mile range.

The (co-developed with Nissan) renault Zoe does have battery cooling and even my 2016 model retains most of its original range. Only thing to go and learn about with Zoe is the many which were sold with a leased battery. But battery owned models are getting affordable.

Sounds like an old ev could be great for your (partners) usage. It certainly is for our similar usage.

I've got a gen 2, and I've been hanging around the FB group which is mostly gen 1 owners.

Our neighbours had one. I suspect they come with different battery sizes, but real world range of theirs in winter was less than 20 miles.

This is not the norm.

The first ones (2011-2013) had rubbish battery management software, along with no cooling system, so there are cars out there with the 24kWh battery that are knackered. Maybe you could find one with a 20 mile range, if you really tried, but that's the equivalent of a smoke belching banger in ICE terms. With your budget you're looking at a car with 60-80 miles of range, the later 30kWh version. The battery health is next to the charge display on the right hand side of the dash, and it had 12 bars when new. Many cars will have lost a bar at that age, but that's no big deal. It is possible to abuse the cars with loads of fast charges and letting it sit at 100% for weeks, but the only way to tell for sure what the state of the battery is beyond the basic bars listed on the dash is to use an app called Leaf Spy and an OBD2 dongle. Unless you are prepared to study what this means it's not really practical to do when buying a car.

They are good cars to drive, the main issues are the battery cooling is non existent and the fast charging connector is ChaDEMO. But, if you're using it only as a local car these things probably don't matter. Just get a 30kWh car with 11 or 12 health bars and you'll be fine. The main selling point is that they are cheap for an EV. And given that EVs are so cheap to run, even with a relatively short commute you may find that you save the cost of the car in fuel so your car ends up being basically free. Our gen 2 was £9k and we will save half that in 5 years on fuel.

It's worth joining the FB group before a purchase, they're quite good.

Gen 1 leafs had bad/no battery cooling. This is bad. Means most around today have degraded to 20 mile range.

The first part of this is true and also applies to gen 2, but I don't think the second is. Loads of people are discussing it in that FB group and there's no-one getting 20 miles. You could easily do half that on a test drive, see if it goes down 50% 🙂

Zoes do have battery cooling, but there are questions over the safety as on the post 2018 test they received a zero star rating..! That said, it wasn't zero when it was designed.

Thanks both.

i did try search, it’s appalling as you’ve already recognised! 😁

bloody hell, is it really that bad?! 20 miles with the bigger 30kwh battery? That’s ridiculous!

that probably explains why you can get a 2016/2017 for under £7000!

I’ll take a look at a Zoe, which is also my daughters name, so she’d be delighted!

bloody hell, is it really that bad?! 20 miles with the bigger 30kwh battery?

No!

Rory will talk to you in his series of vids. He definitely got more than 20 miles!

https://www.reddit.com/r/leaf/comments/jyawfv/actual_range_of_30_kwh_battery_leaf/

I stand (partially) corrected. There’s obviously a bit more nuance to the early leaf problems than I’m aware of. Don’t pretend to be an expert.

On the Zoe zero star rating I remember that one… wasn’t it a bit of a technicality… I’ll look it up.

Must say though, having test driven both at the time I bought my Zoe circa 2019, the leaf is a more refined interior. The Zoe has a definite shopping car slammy door feel to it. On the other hand good useable space for a small family car.

I used one for work, fine to drive. 

Just googled the ncap thing:

The model launched in 2013 and achieved a five star rating.

The model was still on sale in 2020 when new tests were introduced and failed miserably.

It is a remarkably long-lived model. Make of that what you will.

Zoe was the first one I test drove, it was nice as a little nippy city car. I would certainly consider one if I were shopping at that budget - I'd test drive one, you may like/prefer it.

We went with a gen2 leaf because it was a great deal at the time, and it allows us to get to my parents without a recharge - in summer, at least! I had to fast charge it a bit yesterday despite having 3hrs on the granny whilst we were there. I also assumed it had better battery tech than the gen1 but that turns out not to be the case. They don't add cooling to the car but they do update the software through the years - it will now restrict power when driving and charging if it gets too hot, which prevents damage.

Neither Zoe nor Leaf were as good as the Hyundai Ioniq EV though but they are much more expensive than your budget.

I used one for work, fine to drive.

I think that statement is justified.

@molgrips I missed your original post whilst writing mine. Much more reassuring.

we live in a small village called Aberporth in west wales, the kids walk to school, so it’s shopping in Cardigan (12 miles round trip), after school delights and occasionally Aberystwyth or Carmarthen - 80 miles would do us fine.

thanks for all the feedback so far.

Also a Leaf is a much bigger car in the back than a Zoe, plenty of room for adults back there.

An early bangernomics gen1 Leaf is on my list for MrsRNP if/when her beloved Volvo dies. 40mile range seems to be lowest for a £4k car. That's fine for our useage.

I have a 2014 24kwh leaf. Had it since almost new miles (4k) and 18 months old..  Now on 80k. That 20 mile range is nonsense - literally never ever heard even the worst degraded battery going that low even in Norway temperatures.

Mine has degraded from around 80 miles in the summer to a whopping jaw drop low 70 miles in the summer - in 8 years and 76,000 miles. 

I drive it like I stole it always. Its been serviced twice.

It has never failed an MOT. literally all I've spent is 1 x wheel bearing and tyres, it EATS tyres. 10k if you are lucky per tyre.

There was gen 1 = rubbish don't buy.

gen 2 = 24kwh - generally regarded as the best for the money (my one)

gen 2.5 = 30kwh - most Ok but some battery overheating issues due to cramming in the extra 6 kwh with no extra managenment software.

and the new ones which are silly money for what they are and are basically the old ones with a body kit and some software tweaks.

5k for a well kept 24kwh gen 2 Tekna with 6.6 charging with 11 bars left - mileage is completely irelevent as long as the bodywork and suspension are good, would be my choice right now

I’m happy to retract that 20mile statement fully based on the above, but also looking for slight clarification from the wiser leaf owners here before I come up on another thread getting it wrong. So:

That 20 mile range is nonsense – literally never ever heard even the worst degraded battery going that low even in Norway temperatures.

yep, happy to retract but I’m just going on worst case complaints I’ve heard, probably BS based on the weight of evidence above

There was gen 1 = rubbish don’t buy.

why’s that then? Is it that they are indeed poor on battery degradation but I’ve just overstated the level of impact? Seems to be the case.

Don’t wanna put anyone off the purchase of an older EV, I think they’re brilliant and there are some bargains to be had. Just a purchase to be made with eyes wide open. I plan to run our Zoe for ever and EVer…

I think people are getting confused here and even wikipedia doesn't help much conflating two models.

There was a gen one Leaf. it was mainly available in the US but there were a few over here. It was available from 2010-2012. came in an S and SV spec. It has 24 kwh battery but a slightly lower range than the 2013-2017 gen 2. It also has an electric handbrake that breaks (no pun intended) all the time and is massively expensive to fix. It also has no heat pump for the heating/air con, just a normal heat exchanger  which means its range is impacted even more. No option for the faster charging circuit (6.6) and probably a few other bits of crapness I've forgotten.

This is not a good buy, even if you could find one - 90% of the 'traditional' leafs you see are NOT this car. The only way you can tell is its funny little wheels and a slightly smaller charging door on the front. Inside it DOESN'T have a foot pedal 'hand brake' but a button by the gear knob.

If ever a Leaf was going to have a circa 20 mile range this would be it but I've never heard of one below 40 miles.

The gen 2 is the one everyone thinks of as a gen 1

This is the one available from 2013 - 2017 and came in tekna and a lower spec which I can't remember what it was called but i think began with A.

Then in 2017 they chucked a slightly bigger battery in (30kwh) and dropped the 3.3 charger just leaving the faster 6.6. This didn't do a great deal for the range but did create some heat issues.

Basically though it was still a great EV

So any Leaf is a good second hand buy from 2013 onwards and I also don't want to put anyone off a secondhand EV

Phew...glad we got that sorted

I drive it like I stole it always

it EATS tyres

I'm not quite sure I'd blame the car for that...!

I also don’t want to put anyone off a secondhand EV

EVs in general are brilliant, even old ones. It's a far better way to power a car than all that messing about with pistons, valves, smelly fuel, cam belts, exhausts, spark plugs, oil, piston rings etc etc.

I think the Leaf is the only one without battery cooling and is hence susceptible to abuse. It's still a great car because it's electric, but even then other cars are even greater. Just be aware that none of the above reflects EVs in general, just this particular car.

I am the proud owner of a 2015 Leaf with a 24 kW battery and 170000 kms on the clock.

Mine still has 11 bars, and this weekend it took me skiing and winter climbing on Saturday tho' that is reliant on a couple of rounds fast charging as it's about 150kms round trip with some largish hills. (70kms to first charge, then big hill up, park for day, then quick charge on way down to get home)  It will do about 120 kms in summer on rolling terrain, and winter is very variable as it depends on how warm it is when it's charged overnight, amount water, rain etc.

Personally I think it's very good, I've just replaced the winter tyres and a couple of shocks, that's about it.  IF you can live with the range, go for it.  They're a bit better than early gen E-golfs from friends experiences.

I’m looking at changing my wife’s car. Currently a 2012 petrol Mercedes C250 AMG estate.

it’s brilliant but she only does about 4k miles a year and never more than a 50 mile round trip. Occasionally I take it to work or a longer journey.

Does it need changing?

We've a 2012 Ibiza estate that's refusing to have any issues on 120k - plan is to keep it until the scrapyard.

A colleague in my last job loved on a farm with extensive solar and wind power and had an old leaf.

It was abused and caked in mud and cow faeces.

It would only just do the 24 mile round trip to work in summer.

In winter if he use the heater he would not make it! He would dress up in bobble hat and big coat.

He loved it, perfect for his usage, he reckoned he effectively got paid to drive it.

@matt_outandabout interesting point, and that was our original plan.

Technically it doesn't need changing but we'd probably gain a couple of grand changing cars, then there's a saving on fuel v's electric, we've already got the charger and the charging rate is something like 7p / KWH and, finally, road tax is about £260 on the Merc versus zero on the Leaf.

Some nice little financial benefits for a "slightly" more appropriate car.

As per the other thread, the heater in mine (which is a heat pump) makes very little difference to the electricity consumption. The cold weather affects the battery itself much more.

Does it need changing?

We’ve a 2012 Ibiza estate that’s refusing to have any issues on 120k – plan is to keep it until the scrapyard.

As above you stand to save a lot of money even with modest mileage, especially if you don't need to put money into the car.

I have 2017 Leaf and my mum has 2016 Zoe. Both low mileage, home charged, and well looked after. Range remains around 70-80 miles for both. Leaf has been great.. very low total cost to run. Zoe has been very expensive including servicing and various electrical issues. Now sat in the garage unable to charge owing to a broken air con pump. Cost will be at least £3k to replace that.

Ioneonic
Now sat in the garage unable to charge owing to a broken air con pump. Cost will be at least £3k to replace that.

How the hell?
Is it a special one that also cools the battery or something?

OP, have a look at this review of an original  gen1 Nissan Leaf (its Robert Llewllyn's  own one) reviewed after owning it for 10 years. Whilst showing its age, it definitely didn't have just 20miles of range...

Shortly after that video was done he did the rather cool thing and got the battery replaced for a 40kWh one, it made quite a big difference...

Go for a later gen 1 with the type2 connector (still CHADEMO though) , bigger battery (30kWh or above)  and you'd have a really solid little runabout.

I've got a 2016 Leaf with the bigger battery. Happily gets me from south Manchester to ladybower and back with an xl Bird AM29 in the back (front wheel off). Range holding up well, the dash tells me it'll do 100 miles some days, although it probably wouldn't ever make that, but the 70 to 80 discussed above would be easy. I'd recommend.

Ioneonic

Now sat in the garage unable to charge owing to a broken air con pump. Cost will be at least £3k to replace that.

How the hell?

Is it a special one that also cools the battery or something?

Garage says it's on the same circuit so if the ac is broken then it trips the charging. Suspect there are good reasons for that from a safety perspective but 3k is a massive hit. They will then recheck the charging circuit.. no guarantee that will fix it!

I have a gen 2 2015 leaf. 24kwh one. We bought it in 2018 with 3300miles on it. We've done 25k since and it's still a marvellous car. 

Range tells us it's down to 86 in the winter with heating on at best but it's never really changed in real world use. We've limited the rapid charging and generally do about 80-90 miles a week as my wife commutes 27miles round trip three days in it. It's still showing full battery life and when it's in at nissan for its annual check it's showing excellent battery health. 

It also is remarkably well put together and has had zero repairs in all the time we have had it. Four tyres and that's it. 

I'd buy another in a flash. 

I have a 2012 Leaf. The original Japan build Gen 1 with pensioner beige interior. It has about 30-40 mile range. If you live within that distance of Southampton, you are welcome to borrow it for a few weeks.

It is as exciting as a domestic appliance, say a microwave oven, but similarly useful. You can't get rid of your existing hobs and ovens but it does some stuff quite well. Other than that, it is so bland that I can't think of much to say about it. I think it is red/purple?

The thing I will say about my gen2 is that it is incredibly quiet. No motor noise of course and very little road noise too.

Just found this I made when I bought the car :

Disagree about road noise. As noisy or noisier than a Range Rover or mercedes E Class