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I have looked at a few 2012 Nissan leafs, out of curiosity.

Virtually all of them have over half their original battery life. That’s low enough to be restrictive in a car, but far from dead.



Keep in mind that those are dinosaurs in the ev world. Battery is air cooled and can't really fast charge.

They're great commuter cars though if the range is enough or you charge at work

Source, I have one :)


And if it’s the very first gen of the Leaf, then, as far as I know, they don’t have thermal management for the batteries. So it greatly stresses them both for discharge and charge and that manifests as reduced capacity.

Lithium cells are happy when they are around 20-25 degrees Celsius (about 75F?) but they don’t enjoy when it’s hot or cold. Likewise, they don’t enjoy full charges and discharges which I’d guess more probable in a smaller range car.

All in all, the first gen Leaf might not be a good benchmark for a more modern EV. Many things should be better now.


A lot of the cheap old ones have 35-60 miles of range. Enough to get to town but not back


But fine for a local errand car, at the right price.

And there are a couple places working on replacement battery packs.




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