(This post was kept here for archive purposes only – please click the button below to view the most up-to-date information)
Latest stats: benchmark your Leaf before buying
Battery ‘State of Health’ (SoH) is an important factor to consider when choosing a second-hand EV. We recommend that you get a copy of a recent scan of the battery before purchasing or settling the price. Most dealers will scan the batteries and show the results if you ask, but otherwise get someone from your local EV Owners group to assist.
Below we have posted the latest data from the Flip the Fleet communal database on leaf SoH measured by LeafSpy (upper) and dashboard bars (lower) for cars. The graphs show the percentiles: 50% is the middle of the pack (half have a higher SoH and half lower); 5% of the EVs have a SoH less than the 5th percentile, and 95% above it.
Be aware that the top (twelfth) bar on the Leaf’s battery health display (extreme right of the dashboard) is worth more than the bars below it i.e. the 12th bar drops off when the SoH drops to around 85%. Thereafter the each remaining bar drops off at about each 6.25% drop in charge holding capacity. Therefore a 10-bar Leaf is likely to have a SoH somewhere between 72.5 and 78.75% SoH.
Below the graphs we present the percentile estimates as numbers for more accurate benchmarking.
If you buy an EV, please sign up at www.FlipTheFleet.org and contribute your data for the people following you: this is the “By EV owners, for future EV owners” approach.
Battery State of Health in percent, by model year
Battery State of Health in bars, by model year
Table view of the two graphs above (the sample for each model year is displayed in the n columns)
Odometer readings for Nissan Leafs participating in Flip The Fleet, by model year, as at 24 July 2017
The large variance in the 2013 data seems odd. Could it be that some 2013 models are Gen1 and some are Gen2? Would it not be more accurate to split the data into Gen 1 and 2s (ZE0 and AZE0 models)? There will also be a future divide to consider between 2015 onwards 24kWh and 30kWh as some are saying there are different performance trends there also. Great work here and not intended as a put down at all 🙂
Would I’d be a good or bad idea to buy a used 2011 Leaf with 29,000 miles? Asking price is $6,900
Hi Larry – thanks for your question! To be honest, we have no idea!!! It really depends on a lot of factors. For example – is this a price that you can comfortably afford? How good is the Leaf’s battery? Will it’s range be enough for you? Do you have a good charger and are there good chargers around your house and place of work, etc etc etc. In our opinion, the decision shouldn’t purely be based on mileage and price. Dima
Kia ora John
Thanks! You make a good point. We’ll split the Gens in the earlier years (and 24kWh vs. 30 kWh from 2015) after the next data upload sequence for the July data. It usually takes about 7-10 days for the bulk of the data to arrive, so check this site out again around the 14 August. You may prove to be right that the wobbles in variation are mainly driven by the model of the car, but I suspect that some of it is also caused by some dealers selecting the quality of the cars they import in complex ways. For a while at least, the dealers seemed to mainly take fairly low mileage cars if they were manufactured early (2011 or 2012), but were more relaxed about the odometer reading for the later models. I guess they are trading off odometer and age to maximise speed of sales and price. They may have been doing similar based on battery State of Health? Gradually these potential legacy effects from ‘country of origin’ and dealer selection will be diluted as the vehicles are used in NZ. Ultimately we’ll need a bigger sample size to understand what’s driving the variation you have noted. Let’s see what emerges next month.
Please don’t feel awkward about critical analysis! We depend on you and our fellow EV owners to provide that peer review. You are the real experts in this, and not just data slaves. Please suggest other questions and help drive the future analysis in ways that we can all learn from.
Cheers
Henrik
Is there a place around Seattle,WA where the SOH can be tested? Any shop?
Hi Fer! We would love to tell you, but to be honest – we have no idea! We are based in Auckland, New Zealand – it’s quite far from Seattle 🙂 I hope you find somewhere local.
Simple. Purchase a Bluetooth OBDII reader from Amazon. Download LeafSpy from App Store or Play Store for your phone. Then, plug in your OBDII reader to the LEAF’s port, (under the driver’s dash by your knees. Link to the reader with LeafSpy and you can get tons of data from your LEAF including SOH, and so much more. Super cool app for LEAF owners.
check you tube for reference, a cheap OBD2 reader of amazon or where ever then leafspy software purchased online gives far more info than you need
cheers
Hi there would a 2014 Gen 2 with a SOH of 85.5% (but dealer claims 12 bars) sound legitimate?
Do bars correlate with SOH?
Hi Matt, yup, this sounds about right! Our understanding is that a 24 kWh Leaf will lose it’s first “bar” of health at around 85% SOH what you say fits this criteria.
Hi there at what percentage of SoH or bars on the battery does the car normally considered to be unusable.Thanks
Hey there! Kind of hard to say, probably impossible. Even it it had 1 bar, or 30% (they may not be one and the same), it may be enough for someone to make a short local commute to the shops – so it really depends on what you need your car to do. Dima.
How important is the LeafSpy Hx figure, and should one avoid a car with a history of fast charges? I’m currently looking at a 2013 Gen2 (39,000km) with the following:
SOH 82.45%
Hx 76.19%
Battery appears well balanced at 10mV (if I understand this correctly).
However, it has had 468 Quick Charges as against 28 L1/L2.
Would this be one to avoid?
Many thanks.
Richard – I am in the market for a used Leaf and I want to understand what you said in your comment. WHERE can I find the history of what kind of charges that a used vehicle had?
I didn’t know that this was even something that could be “found out” about a used car. I currently don’t own a Leaf, so I’m coming at this from a point of ignorance.
This sounds very interesting and super-informative..
Please explain.
THANKS SO MUCH!
Yanni
Hey Yanni,
It’s actually relatively easy – using a suitable OBD2 dongle and the LeafSpy app on a smart phone, you can connect to the car and find out the count of “QCs” – quick charges and “L1/L2s” – slow charges. Hope this helps!
Dima 🙂
That’s a shame, I was hoping your question would get answered!
If a used 2015 Nissan Leaf with SOH of 79.12% with just 19,422 miles seems to be bad. Do you think this is a true statement?
Hi Larry,
That is a relatively low SoH compared to cars of a similar age.
Kind regards,
Daniel
Hi guys,
I am looking at buying a Nissan leaf g 2011 40000 km 9 bars soh 70% $10500
Is this a good buy?
Hi Mario, thank you for your question. While we can’t comment on whether it’s a good buy or not, you may wish to check out this page instead for benchmarks – perhaps it will be useful to you: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/benchmark-your-leaf-before-buying/
Not happy with resale of my Gen 1 Leaf that I bought for $14,000 within 12 months .
Battery is showing 8 or 9 bars , and I can’t get anyone to buy it off me.
Even the so called expert dealers don’t want to know about it— got one offer of $5,000 — so it leads me to assume all leafs will eventually be unsaleable once the batteries degrade to a poor distance —
No body talked about resale values in any of the articles promoting electric cars —- now I know why —
don’t think I will go anywhere near them until they have invented a non degradable battery material.
Is my assumption and logic Correct ??????
Hi Dennis,
Yes, your logic is correct – Batteries are for toys!
How long before electric cars are charged road user charges , and my guess is it could be up to $2,000 a year to register one so that road maintenance in the billions can be paid for .
Anyone got any estimates ???
In Indiana, USA we pay $150 per year with the plate for road taxes. This is based on the average ICE car at 12,000 miles paying about $130 / year in pump taxes. I’m not sure why they rounded up to $150.
No, but I have some facts. In NZ RUC is Pay in advance as you go. I buy RUC for my light diesel truck as I need it, about $350 for 5,000km. If you get your warrant from VTNZ you can pay RUC there so every 6 months you can update it. I’m guessing that the government could reasonably add RUC to EV warrants in arrears without too much hassle.
In any case it is 72c per 1,000km as of July 1 this year.
Your figure is wrong I think my little Peugeot diesel is $76.80 /1000km.
I think the value in electric vehicles is going to be gone once road user charges start.
Comparison:
My diesel per 100km RUC+Diesel =$7.68+$7.50(5L@$1.50)=$15.18/100km
My hybrid petrol $8/100km(4L@$2.00L)
An EV compare 100km RUC+power=$7.68+$6(20kwh@$0.30)=$13.68/100 and now there is the nissan note Hybrid which uses even less gas than my hybrid
Totally correct The government and those recommending electric vehicles without full disclosure of these facts should be held accountable
We need to take into account the savings that we are making by having an EV. My wife commutes 90km round trip 4-5 times a week and her travel costs have fallen by 75% from about $65 a week to $65 a month, that difference needs to be included in the accounting for whether we get a good deal on resale.
I’m looking at a 2016 Leaf SL with 30kw battery with 20,200 miles. The AHr=66.92 The SOH is 84.20% and the Hx= 62.45%. 4QCs & 505 L1/L2.
I don’t know much about what Hx is. Do these numbers looks typical and reasonable for a 2016 Leaf SL? I’m concerned that it could be a “boat anchor” in just a couple of years and very difficult to sell?
Thanks!
Again totally correct . When range gets to an unacceptable level, the electric car is worthless , as people are finding out .
Until battery degradation is solved , I feel they are a terrible way to go , and the loss of productivity waiting charging , is not what N Z wants with its already poor productivity record!!!!! Am I right or wrong ???? Think very acrefully everyone !!!!
Hi I have been reading through the comments. Can you not replace the batteries in the car when they become so low that they don’t hold a charge anymore. I always assumed you could and it is worrying?
Yes you can. Not sure about NZ but Nissan Japan do it and various private companies around the US and Europe do replacements and range extenders
Does anyone know who in NZ would be able to replace Leaf batteries and how much the going rate is for them at different levels of SOH? One of the biggest concerns for buying a Leaf is resale value when battery gets low…
Hey, they are working on it:
https://www.eeca.govt.nz/funding-and-support/low-emission-vehicles-contestable-fund/low-emission-vehicles-contestable-fund-successful-projects/nz-made-ev-battery-module-for-nissan-leaf/
Hi I am tossing up between Leaf 2011 with 24K battery; SOH 77% or Leaf 2012 with 24K batter; SOH is 77%. Price for both of them are $12200. Do you think it’s a good price to buy something like 77% SOH. Which one would be better? Need expert opinion please!
Petrol prices are only going to go up as we have reached peak oil. Being reliant on an energy source (petrol) that needs to be imported puts the economy at risk of stock markets and international disruptions.
Plus your supporting the reduction of CO2 emissions/climate change. I really don’t think the idea of on-selling is logical either. Shouldn’t we just run our vehicles to the absolute ground and stop being consumption addicts and capitalist monkeys
That’s what I want to do, so my question- besides the usual battery and tyres replacement issue etc- what else can go wrong with the cars? Is their a market for spare parts? Do they need spare parts? What paint colour degrades the least? I have no idea about about the internal workings.
Thanking you kindly
I am not an engineer BUT… I have been informed that the problem with the environmental argument is that it is hugely dependent on where you live and – more importantly – how electric power is made where you live. I now live in BC, and I confess I was very confused when I first came here (from Bermuda where we make our electric power by burning oil… no other viable choice at present) and people referred to their “Hydro” bill. What could a cognate of water possibly have to do with power production, I thought in my ignorance. Ah… we make most of our power here in BC from dams on rivers and such (i.e. water falling and turning a turbine) a kindly local explained. So HERE having an electric car does reduce CO2 emissions. In Bermuda, for example, we would just be changing the location of where the filth we were putting in the atmosphere was produced by driving an electric car. ‘Nuff said?
Hi all, very useful info indeed!
I’m just wondering if someone has ever tried to put one of those solar panels on top of the roof of a Leaf to help recharge/prolong trips?
Also, how many k’s can a Leaf run for if SOH is 88%?
Thanks
Sifa
I own a Japanese Import Nissan NV200, it is showing an 11 bar battery status on the far right hand side of the graph, I understand that the Nissan Leaf is supposed to show a 12 bar battery status from new, does this also apply for the Nissan NV200?
I am looking at a second hand env200. Battery SoH is at 84%, about the highest I have seen in NZ for this vehicle. Is it likely that I will need to change batteries in the near future?
Hello,
I’m trying to understand my 2013 leaf and the hiccups it seems to be having.
Its got 10 bars which claims to do 72miles on a max charge.
This ofcourse isn’t at all what I see, sometimes 6 bars would go for 15 miles. Recently I made a 36mile trip which gave me 4 bars spare going one way and the exact same return trip return with a full charge, we had to recharge again mid journey.
Also I know I have a 24 kWh battery but usually the pod point app shows 7kwh for a full 3hr charge to 12 bars, so little bit confused, if the car is under charging or it’s expected to be low.
I got a device and tried a leafspy app. I’m not fully sure if the stats below are any good. There’s some red and blue bars but I can’t find out if red or blue is good or bad.
Bat Sts: AHr= 49.36 SOH= 75.25% Hx= 53.92% 390.18V -0.58A odo=62,083 mi 84 QCs & 4786 L1/L2s
min/avg/max = 4.048 4.065 4.076 (28 mV)
SOC= 85.8%
Would very much appreciate your help
Park of any EV power drain will be from the way you drive at any given time and if you used the air con or heater as of course these eat through power as well. Could that be the difference from the 2 journeys?