Lot of harsh comments about all EVs in general in these comments. This Leaf a first year of a first gen car. Brand new it only had 75mi range. Car was meant to be a city commuter for people with short drives and ability to charge at home. Doesn’t make sense to get if you haul tons of miles daily or rely on public chargers. You choose a vehicle that matches your needs. If a Leaf isn’t it, don’t assume all EVs are trash.
You're right BUT Nissan made a conscious decision to cheapen the car by not thermally managing the battery. This makes owning one in a hot climate a no go.
I had a 2012 just like this (mine had 10/12 bars left on the battery when I sold it), I daily drove it for 3 years putting 18k on it, sold it for used Bolt, then sold that during the recall last year for a Model 3. Of course, the longer range cars are easier to live with and more useful, but the Leaf was awesome for what it was and I still kind of miss it sometimes. Haters gonna hate, but the average American round trip is under 40 miles, and just like Mike in this video, many of us have multiple car households anyway- no reason at least one of them can’t be electric for daily driving (even a short range like this Leaf) if you already have something for longer trips
@@hhjhj393 You’re somewhat on track with a few oversights. Many people now looking at a Tesla have had horrible experiences with BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc. These are people that have had to spend thousands on not only maintaining them to 100k miles, but dealing with countless issues and unexpected mechanical problems. The Tesla is essentially maintainence free and has proven to last well over 100k without major expenses involved. The inverter and battery issues you speak of happen much later in its lifetime and these owners have bought something else by 100k miles.
Change the transmission fluid. It will increase your efficiency. Try unplugging the charger and plugging it back in once it reaches 100% charge. It will then charge the lower cells which increases the range. Also, used cells are available on eBay. The first couple of years had weak cells. 2013 and newer are much improved.
Thank you Mike, I am a seasoned technician with 43 yrs experience, and really enjoy the young guys like you, who seem to be doing such great work honing your careers. I watch all Wizard, Hovie, Monkee wrench Mike. ect. I am a car junkie. I am addicted with no hope of recovery.
Great review, I am thinking about getting one myself my commute to work is only 10 miles total, so the range is not something that would be anxiety inducing. Thanks for sharing!
Mike, I successfully swapped the battery in my 2012 LEAF with a 2015 salvage vehicle (before salvage prices went crazy with used car market). It’s really easy - lots of youtube videos - even putting a 30 or 40kWh battery in an old leaf. Something to consider - especially if you can intercept a salvage vehicle before it is claimed by insurance or can otherwise find a cheap salvage vehicle.
I loved our 2015 leaf, it was our first electric car, it had only lost a bar and could still do 70 miles. We upgraded to a 2019 Hyundai ioniq and consistently get over the 124 miles of range int the city, 90 miles on the hwy. The battery has a life time warranty, Hyundai messed up with that 😉 I drove it from Los Angeles to Canada, stopping every 90 minutes to charge last year, plenty of infrastructure, was a great trip. After 3 years and 24k miles the batteries are still at full health, it’s a 30kW battery with 28kW useable and 95% of our charging is slow (lvl2) charging. Maintenance has been tyre rotation and air cabin filter though I’m keen to change out the 12v to ensure we don’t have it die on us this year. Fuel costs have been a lot less due to free charging at work. We’ve now saved thousands because of this. First major service is the brake flush at 45k miles, so maybe another 2 years. This is our family car, reliability and peace of mind are what’s most important to us, ev’s are great for that, we’ll ours is at least. We can fill the car up in less than 20 minutes on a fast charger, it’s not a huge inconvenience. Instant torque and regen braking are the best!
I would love to see a collab with you and 100%Jake or RichRebuilds to upgrade the battery pack and keep that car alive. I'm not a EV owner, not quite a huge fan but I totally root for mods and upgrades from manufacturer cookie cutter WYSIWYG. Love your passion for autos, Mike!!!
Thanks for this video Mike. I had a 2013 Leaf a couple of years ago that I had to part ways with. The battery life just wasn’t cutting it. I agree with the other commenters (and this isn’t a knock on the Leaf), it was a early-gen EV designed for short city driving/commutes. Unfortunately, I moved across country and my driving habits/needs changed. But, it was a fun little car to scoot around in when I had it and it totally put a smile on my face to hear that startup chime again! Best of luck with the YT channel. I’ll keep watching.
This is an older model 2012 model. This whole review is highly relevant for anyone in the second hand market. I've searched for replacement batteries for the 2012 Nissan leaf (as I was looking at them) and got results. I figured if I create a saver of $25 a week or so (much less than what petrol would have cost) and save for years, in a few years a new battery is waiting there with the cash set aside and ready to go.
Thanks for that Mike, I trust the petrol hybrid the most. We have a new Honda HRV which does at least 50 mpg (UK gallon) .I've owned 4 Lexus hybrid cars and they have served me very well. Regards, Bob M. South Wales
I have 4.5 years of ownership thus far with a 2013 Leaf (the updated version that came around summer of 2013) and after 65 000 miles I still have all 12 battery bars remaining. It's been a really good car to drive, its simplicity makes it popular. Shame that they didn't really update these cars with the current generation, still same old battery management and charging tech, so Nissan left the Leaf behind a bit, one might say. Really polarising to see when compared to how well they developed the Ariya with using more current tech.
I love the Roadmaster and it's siblings: the Caprice and Fleetwood. I hope they have the technology to replace the battery in your Leaf. I think the electric car is the future. I love the V8 engine and gas engines but electric is the future. Great video.
I've heard of higher capacity Leaf batteries being swapped into the early Leaf in Europe, I'm sure with a used 40kWh battery it'd gain a fair bit of useful range. Not sure if there's such services in Kansas, but maybe elsewhere in the US? I'm keen on an EV later on, but at this point the answer to a $300-350 a month fuel bill isn't a $1000 per month car payment.
Hello Mike. I just found out about your channel and subscribed. What you said about your Buick is also true for me, as I try to keep my fleet of '90s vehicles (Altima, Camry, Tacoma) going indefinitely. These vehicles were/are still popular enough that parts haven't become a big problem yet. Plus, without having today's insane levels of technology, I can still work on them. Finally, being retired, the cost of gas doesn't hurt me as badly as it does those that still need to drive every day. This whole 'only built to last the warranty' concept really disgusts me as it will eventually end much of the used car market. Combined with the push to EVs, I feel it's mostly about curtailing private vehicle ownership.
Mike you are a legend for the average joe. We cannot obtain the unobtanium super cars and your reviews are for real people cars. Frightening that you cannot expect a nissan leaf to be be useful beyond 50,000 miles and people need to know that. Keep it coming as we need to know about real cars for real people from an expert like you.
Change and upgrade the high voltage battery. In Europe it has been done a lot and there are Leafs that have done more than 400000 kms by now. Should be relatively easy. Would also make great content. Get CarWizard on board as well with the project.
Great video! There are companies that supply upgrades for this type of Leaf (Muxsan fore example). You can get an upgrade battery in the spare tire compartiment which makes te car more usable. Then you can get a bit more use out of it.
This first Leaf was an awesome little car. It was the first car out of Nissan and the build quality was excellent. It could get a new lease on life if it can get a new battery pack or some new power source.
I agree on the life. I have a 1997 Lincoln mark viii, and 2005 excursion. 10 years is minimum age of cars I buy. electric vehicles are not there they don't charge fast enough and range is to low plus the cost is crazy. My cellphone battery is only good for about 5 years and that drives me nuts. I cannot imagine having to buy a whole new battery. Plus it seems like that is the point the AC compressor on the batteries is going to die. Seem like a lot of expensive maintenance if you want to keep it 10 years.
With your commute, you should absolutely look into a first gen Chevy Volt, or if you can find a reasonably priced 2nd gen Volt. I think they would work great for you.
Could be worth taking it to Nissan and getting all the latest software/firmware applied to it. This could improve range based on the software changes made from customer feedback. Assuming your car still has original software that is.
If we do have 400mile batteries in the near future you could always put that into the leaf and all of a sudden you have a brand new car. Well not totally brand new but the mechanics are still there, more then a gas engine at that age. We just dont have any cheap aftermarket batteries like we do with ebikes because EV's are relatively new. But electric motors dont really care what the power source is, as long as its enough. That being said I like hybrids more and more myself for a more practicle solution, but would consider a cheap EV like a nissan leaf still and maybe DIY a battery replacement. It might just be 1 cell thats bringing the rest down which is usually the case in battery packs and wouldnt take too much money to refurbish. Its the brand new packs with their markups and the dealers who install them with their huge markups and that $1500 of raw battery is now costing you 8k to have inside your car when a $30 replacement cell could have brought you back to 100%. Doesnt have to be that way but we're not there yet.
Great to see another video from you Mike. With the big push to electric cars there must be a huge amount of work going into making much better batteries, much smaller, much lighter and way more storage capacity. If someone comes up with battery technology that takes up 10% of the space, has 10% of the weight, stores ten times the power and costs a tenth of the price of current batteries there will be no reason not to go with electric for both cars and trucks. Of course there are many other applications for such battery technology. Some will say I'm dreaming but revolutionary technology improvements are not all that uncommon. One only has to look at communication between computers and the huge improvement over the last few decades. I am old enough to remember using 300 baud modems :)
so an LS swap then when the battery dies on the leaf? 😉in all seriousness i think an interesting option in the near future is instead of the traditional engine swaps would be to swap in a hybrid engine from something thats had rear damage and been written off, so something thats a small capacity ICE with a decent hybrid system?
VW had a diesel Electric hybrid Passat I think but only imported into the US one year. The Leaf should last ten year. The issue you have is the small battery but that is upgradable. Batteries can be serviced too as Hoovie did with his Prius its a fairly simple swap. The primary failure in a battery pack is usually one of the plurality of cells goes slightly south. That failed cell capacity becomes the total capacity for the whole pack as they batteries are wired in "series" to achieve the high voltage. If they were to try to charge it to full capacity then it could potentially overheat the bad cell. Note that batteres can charge to full voltage well before they charge back to full current capacity. And these battery management systems, for safety reasons, will not tolerate a single cell that is only a fraction below all the others. (Important note - the whole pack might be over 200Vdc but each cell is a very safe low voltage and the packs are easy to work on if you pay attention to the build in safety features.)
Thank you Magic Mike - Subscribed. I follow the CarWizard so I am already used to seeing you. I watch Hoovie a bit less but I am aware of the MB he sent your way. That Leaf with only 50K on it is probably worth a battery given it will give it a new lease on life. The more recent Nissan batteries have the same mounting points but have a significantly larger kWh capacity. There are several videos on youtube documenting Leaf battery swaps/upgrades. Please check out the "fully charged show" channel. Robert Llewellyn has an older Nissan Leaf (2010?) and he had its battery replaced with one of higher capacity and got a more useful range as a result.
You've got the battery health and charge level bars mixed up. Please just battery swap it for a 40kwh cheap pack. You've easily got the skills to do that and you'll love getting 120miles out of it instead. Then CrossClimate 2 tyres and enjoy it all year round when it is defrosted and warmed for you in winter and cooled in summer.
I was blown Away by the hyundi ionic hybrid that I had on loan for about month back in 2018. That car out performed on every measure all cars that I have experienced since I got my licence back in 1982. Why all new cars are not hybrid given the huge downsides of the pure electric car and use is beyond my comprehension.
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din, owning a Leaf In KS. I'd like to explore turbine hybrids. Run the generator turbine on anything flammable, like Chryslers experimental cars.
Fossil Fuels is a misnomer, politicizing a perceived shortage or limited supply. We have hundreds of years of hydrocarbon fuels that are sufficient for a gradual and sensible transition to the alternatives. I have a particular interest in the Aschates opposing piston two-stroke as a three-cylinder powerhouse, lightweight, for hybrid versions of electrically enhanced cars.
You should have shared your charging experience. Do you have level2? I drive a 2015 Volt and I love it. Great acceleration and the electric only range covers 95% of my needs. These make great 2nd cars.
I believe the technology for battery swap will be forthcoming as the popularity of the EV increases. if the battery goes South, I'm not so certain that I would get rid of it, but rather hang on and see if options evolve over time.
The Roadmaster was an Impala SS in a tuxedo; for it's time, it was classy, it was fast and practical (especially the wagons). The only downside was the OptiSpark, but other that that, it was bulletproof. With the demise of cars like the GM B Body and the Ford's Panther, a lot of newer cars just don't make it that far in the long run. Not only in terms of durability, but with the OEMs decontenting parts as well. I keep thinking to myself, if I was to buy a brand new vehicle right now, what would I get? Probably end up with a Tahoe/Yukon or Suburban, but even they are not what they were once upon a time. The GMT800, for example, was legendary. But I'm not a fan of direct injection, nor am I a fan of AFM of whatever GM calls it these days. That said, I'm very interested and curious to see what your long term "test" will look like with the Leaf. If memory serves me right, Wizard had one as well.
I wish Nissan had liquid cooled the battery pack as thats what will remove that car from ever being a good long term choice. I bought the Model 3 when it came out, have almost 100k miles on it now, and it's been flawless. I switched from BMW's due to the never-ending proactive maintenance and issues that would pop up. Everything about BMW's is expensive, even the fluids, and then you're always listening for the strange engine ticking noise, shudder in the drivetrain, or scanning the hidden CEL codes that always appear. The Tesla performs better and needs nothing but tires.
I looked at these in Australia a few years ago and it just didn’t make sense. At the time 2x the cost of a similar age ICE Corolla and just this sort of very limiting range. Plus it is hot here and the Leaf battery is not cooled thus shortening life further. Really nice car otherwise. I continue to drive and maintain my 2000 Toyota Echo at 80 years of age. I learned to drive on a 41 Chevy farm truck and I’m quite interested in experiencing driving a full electric vehicle before I have to stop driving.
i would love an elec vehicle like a leaf. i am also a little worried about how to replace the battery, hopefully the repairs market builds up once more EVs are on the road.
The main problem with the Leaf is that Nissan totally cheaped out with respect to the battery's thermal management system, especially as it results to cooling. Heat is a battery's worst enemy and the the cooling mechanism for the Leaf's battery is outside air blowing over the case. That's it. My Lexus CT draws in cabin air and with a fan blows that air inside the battery pack over the battery's cells. My Ford Escape Hybrid goes further and has a separate AC evaporator in the rear to cool the battery with refrigerated air..all controlled by the car's computer. When the time comes to rebuild or replace your Leaf's battery, you will be faced with a difficult choice. More range would be nice, but with more or higher capacity cells in its case, it is only going to get hotter making the issue worse.
The old Leaf is a poster child for poor battery management, and the reason so many people think BEV batteries will degrade quickly like the lithium cells in their smartphones and cordless tools (their management systems are necessarily simpler and target a shorter life). BEV owners must also learn that how you treat the battery will affect its life, just like you can extend the life of a gasoline engine by treating it kindly.
1st gen Leaf reviews to pretty much the same: the batteries are degraded with no reasonable new replacement option and the rest of the car is trouble free. It's really too bad
Don’t own a Leaf. I have a VW EV. I get 85 miles of range. But I rarely drive more than 15 miles at a time. 3 years of ownership. Zero dollars in maintenance. Depends on what someone wants or needs in there car.
I bought one as well 2 weeks ago. I paid $2450 - The heater doesn’t work but I don’t need it for that. If you need a battery, we have a map with 46 locations that swap and rebuild batteries. You can see my two old LEAFs by searching for #LEAFsavesMyParkingSpot
@Magic Mike the Mechanic, hey Mike, I think fossil fuels are going to be around longer than people think. It's being utilized as a political tool/weapon. The talk about reducing emissions etc., has been an ongoing theme with combustion engine-equipped vehicle manufacturing as new technologies have been developed along with the introduction of hybrid vehicles as opposed to the rage about "getting rid of all combustion engine-equipped vehicles and go ALL ELECTRIC!!!" So now we're making all of the hybrids on the road obsolete as well given that they obviously have a combustion engine?! It's nonsense. And lets not forget that for now, the large majority of electrical energy production comes from fossil fuels. The "charging stations" for electric vehicles are by in large part currently utilizing FOSSIL FUEL for their power generation BECAUSE "renewable energy sources" SIMPLY CANNOT handle the same capacity of demand. That was apparent when California suggested, "GO GREEN AND BUY ALL ELECTRIC CARS!!" and then just days later they tell the public, "PLEASE DON'T PLUG IN YOUR ELECTRIC CAR TO CHARGE IT!! THE POWER GRID IS OVERLOADED DUE TO THIS HEAT WAVE!!" Ok so with the TINY fraction of all-electric vehicles in CA alone, if a "heat wave" passes through, the state gov't is telling people to NOT charge their vehicles. What would it look like if CA had 99% ALL electric vehicles instead of maybe 1-3%. -_- So it's a bit hypocritical to suggest "We're saving the planet with ALL-electric vehicles coz we won't need a fossil fuel to burn for combustion", sure you're just burning it at the coal and natural gas fired power plants providing power to the charging stations... -_- Let's also not forget about the mining of lithium as well as the disposal of the same! It's a very hazardous substance. Imagine if instead of "trillions of barrels of oil in the ground which we DIDN'T PUT THERE OURSELVES AND WE use for a VARIETY of things not just combustible fuels..." but instead we had TRILLIONS OF TONS OF LITHIUM polluting the environment THAT WE WOULD HAVE PUT THERE. All of the rage about "mankind has done this/that amount of damage to the environment with it's industrialization!!" and yet what about the damage from the "industrialization of mass-produced lithium-powered vehicles." Again, it's just being utilized as a tool/weapon by politicians to fit their agendas and fill their pockets. They're not interested in the slightest with "protecting the environment" especially as they continue to use fossil fuels more than the average citizen as they drive in convoys, fly all around the world for "meetings" instead of video conferencing etc... I mean how does one claim to be "environmentally conscientious" whilst taking a private jet several thousands miles across the country or even around the world to "receive an environmental award for conservation". Absolute hypocrisy.
It’s not hard to build something that last 30 years. There are old Honda Civic everywhere that are 30 years old. Hopefully the new sodium batteries replace lithium.
From the point of view of a city or small inter-city drive BEVs are fine at the moment. My biggest issue with them is kind of what you've described with battery life. If the battery cannot be swapped or repaired, then they will just produce more waste, so from an environmental point of view we will actually make the problem worse not better. Also, I doubt a lot of batteries from these vehicles are being recycled and producing Li-ion batteries is not the most ecological thing to do. So with this in mind I actually resent the fact that they are marketed as an ecological solution when in fact they are not. I am not event going to go into the matter of how the electricity that they use is produced, because that is another major factor but it is extremely variable depending on where you are located. So yeah, the are cool but they are not what they are being advertised as.
What's the total range on your leaf? Yea. That's the REALLY BAD THING, about electric cars. It's when it's time to replace the actual battery. Yes , I agree with the TORQUE of electric. My 1st time in one was tesla D9. Their 900 F.P.T. TORQUE MONSTER. SCARY FAST. I'm for electric for like my everyday driver. But! I'm a MUSCLE CAR, Freak. I LOVE my 2000 Trans am. NOTHING LIKE, the sound of a V8 LS engine.
Hybrid electric like Volt was the smarter way to go (so naturally GM abandoned it). Electric cars are pretty much all good _except_ for the batteries. Battery tech is just so, so far behind everything else. What worries me though is that companies see the many issues with current battery tech as a sure-fire way to guarantee the forced-obsolescence of electric vehicles.
Infrastructure, Battery Life, and Price is what is going to hold up EV only Cars For some time to come. Better for the planet?? Is still up for debate and weighs heavily on what you want to believe.
I disagree on the diesel electric hybrid for touring. Hybrids are just.. garbage. Electric cars have and are still getting better, faster than people even realize, to the point that honestly gas cars will be irrelevant within the next 5 years.
Correct not for towing or long distance but ideal for short shopping in town trips. Longer battery range can be achieved by smooth predictive driving, conservative use of climate especially heating, high energy efficiency tires and higher pressures. I have what you call a Chevy Volt plug in hybrid in Australia and yes, when the main battery pack dies it will be a lawn ornament. This is so sad as I keep her like new as if it left the show room yesterday. The problem of replacement battery packs either OEM or aftermarket is not available or viable. Manufacturers have further made battery packs disposable since. To me this is like welding all engine parts together so that there is zero possibility of repairs later. So Much for environment... the green revolution is just another scam in the real world 🌎
Parking for semi truck's in America is 💩. If you stop after the sun goes down your not finding a spot. Electric truck's with enough places to charge 😂.
I've had so many arguments with my anti-oil/gas friends about electric OTR trucking being a myth. Diesel is great for torque, electric, not so much. I'm sure over the years these technical issues will be solved but 'electric cars/trucks' these days are a goof, something to play around with..
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Lot of harsh comments about all EVs in general in these comments. This Leaf a first year of a first gen car. Brand new it only had 75mi range. Car was meant to be a city commuter for people with short drives and ability to charge at home. Doesn’t make sense to get if you haul tons of miles daily or rely on public chargers. You choose a vehicle that matches your needs. If a Leaf isn’t it, don’t assume all EVs are trash.
You're right BUT Nissan made a conscious decision to cheapen the car by not thermally managing the battery. This makes owning one in a hot climate a no go.
I had a 2012 just like this (mine had 10/12 bars left on the battery when I sold it), I daily drove it for 3 years putting 18k on it, sold it for used Bolt, then sold that during the recall last year for a Model 3.
Of course, the longer range cars are easier to live with and more useful, but the Leaf was awesome for what it was and I still kind of miss it sometimes.
Haters gonna hate, but the average American round trip is under 40 miles, and just like Mike in this video, many of us have multiple car households anyway- no reason at least one of them can’t be electric for daily driving (even a short range like this Leaf) if you already have something for longer trips
@@hhjhj393 You’re somewhat on track with a few oversights. Many people now looking at a Tesla have had horrible experiences with BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc. These are people that have had to spend thousands on not only maintaining them to 100k miles, but dealing with countless issues and unexpected mechanical problems. The Tesla is essentially maintainence free and has proven to last well over 100k without major expenses involved. The inverter and battery issues you speak of happen much later in its lifetime and these owners have bought something else by 100k miles.
Change the transmission fluid. It will increase your efficiency. Try unplugging the charger and plugging it back in once it reaches 100% charge. It will then charge the lower cells which increases the range. Also, used cells are available on eBay. The first couple of years had weak cells. 2013 and newer are much improved.
Thank you Mike, I am a seasoned technician with 43 yrs experience, and really enjoy the young guys like you, who seem to be doing such great work honing your careers. I watch all Wizard, Hovie, Monkee wrench Mike. ect. I am a car junkie. I am addicted with no hope of recovery.
Great review, I am thinking about getting one myself my commute to work is only 10 miles total, so the range is not something that would be anxiety inducing. Thanks for sharing!
Mike, I successfully swapped the battery in my 2012 LEAF with a 2015 salvage vehicle (before salvage prices went crazy with used car market). It’s really easy - lots of youtube videos - even putting a 30 or 40kWh battery in an old leaf. Something to consider - especially if you can intercept a salvage vehicle before it is claimed by insurance or can otherwise find a cheap salvage vehicle.
What did you end paying? I’m considering doing the same thing
I loved our 2015 leaf, it was our first electric car, it had only lost a bar and could still do 70 miles. We upgraded to a 2019 Hyundai ioniq and consistently get over the 124 miles of range int the city, 90 miles on the hwy. The battery has a life time warranty, Hyundai messed up with that 😉
I drove it from Los Angeles to Canada, stopping every 90 minutes to charge last year, plenty of infrastructure, was a great trip. After 3 years and 24k miles the batteries are still at full health, it’s a 30kW battery with 28kW useable and 95% of our charging is slow (lvl2) charging.
Maintenance has been tyre rotation and air cabin filter though I’m keen to change out the 12v to ensure we don’t have it die on us this year. Fuel costs have been a lot less due to free charging at work. We’ve now saved thousands because of this. First major service is the brake flush at 45k miles, so maybe another 2 years.
This is our family car, reliability and peace of mind are what’s most important to us, ev’s are great for that, we’ll ours is at least. We can fill the car up in less than 20 minutes on a fast charger, it’s not a huge inconvenience. Instant torque and regen braking are the best!
I would love to see a collab with you and 100%Jake or RichRebuilds to upgrade the battery pack and keep that car alive. I'm not a EV owner, not quite a huge fan but I totally root for mods and upgrades from manufacturer cookie cutter WYSIWYG. Love your passion for autos, Mike!!!
Thanks for this video Mike. I had a 2013 Leaf a couple of years ago that I had to part ways with. The battery life just wasn’t cutting it. I agree with the other commenters (and this isn’t a knock on the Leaf), it was a early-gen EV designed for short city driving/commutes. Unfortunately, I moved across country and my driving habits/needs changed. But, it was a fun little car to scoot around in when I had it and it totally put a smile on my face to hear that startup chime again! Best of luck with the YT channel. I’ll keep watching.
This is an older model 2012 model. This whole review is highly relevant for anyone in the second hand market.
I've searched for replacement batteries for the 2012 Nissan leaf (as I was looking at them) and got results. I figured if I create a saver of $25 a week or so (much less than what petrol would have cost) and save for years, in a few years a new battery is waiting there with the cash set aside and ready to go.
Dont get a leaf. They are a money pit, becasue they dont have battery cooling. The battery degrades super fast.
@@04dram04 depends on your location and usage. Battery cooling is irrelevant if you don't have extreme heat or don't use 400v charge...
Thank You for All that you are doing for our Planet Earth.... Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ ☮ ❤
Thank you. Enjoyed watching. I agree battery technology is not here yet
I love the honesty.
Thanks for that Mike, I trust the petrol hybrid the most. We have a new Honda HRV which does at least 50 mpg (UK gallon) .I've owned 4 Lexus hybrid cars and they have served me very well. Regards, Bob M. South Wales
You can swap in a 2nd gen Leaf battery from a salvage car. You'll end up with 200+ miles.
I have 4.5 years of ownership thus far with a 2013 Leaf (the updated version that came around summer of 2013) and after 65 000 miles I still have all 12 battery bars remaining. It's been a really good car to drive, its simplicity makes it popular. Shame that they didn't really update these cars with the current generation, still same old battery management and charging tech, so Nissan left the Leaf behind a bit, one might say. Really polarising to see when compared to how well they developed the Ariya with using more current tech.
I love the Roadmaster and it's siblings: the Caprice and Fleetwood. I hope they have the technology to replace the battery in your Leaf. I think the electric car is the future. I love the V8 engine and gas engines but electric is the future. Great video.
I've heard of higher capacity Leaf batteries being swapped into the early Leaf in Europe, I'm sure with a used 40kWh battery it'd gain a fair bit of useful range. Not sure if there's such services in Kansas, but maybe elsewhere in the US?
I'm keen on an EV later on, but at this point the answer to a $300-350 a month fuel bill isn't a $1000 per month car payment.
There’s a shop in Portland OR that offers the battery upgrade swaps
best solution is to sell the car .
A few shops do it in Quebec. Imported many first gen leafs from California and put salvage new gen batteries.
@@sd6w7 yeah but you still end up with a shit EV. Buy a Kia EV6 or model 3
@@Chris-hw4mq no need for a car, I'd rather get the investment return until my Aptera is ready ;-)
Hello Mike. I just found out about your channel and subscribed. What you said about your Buick is also true for me, as I try to keep my fleet of '90s vehicles (Altima, Camry, Tacoma) going indefinitely. These vehicles were/are still popular enough that parts haven't become a big problem yet. Plus, without having today's insane levels of technology, I can still work on them. Finally, being retired, the cost of gas doesn't hurt me as badly as it does those that still need to drive every day.
This whole 'only built to last the warranty' concept really disgusts me as it will eventually end much of the used car market. Combined with the push to EVs, I feel it's mostly about curtailing private vehicle ownership.
Mike you are a legend for the average joe. We cannot obtain the unobtanium super cars and your reviews are for real people cars. Frightening that you cannot expect a nissan leaf to be be useful beyond 50,000 miles and people need to know that. Keep it coming as we need to know about real cars for real people from an expert like you.
I agree with you....they really need to do diesel hybrid tech on cars...
what about Volvo TwinEngine? V60 TwinEngines make use of the 2.4 Turbodiesel 5cyl along with a hybrid system
They won't because of egregious emission controls they require for diesels now drives the price up
I wonder if you could install a solar panel on the roof with a charge controller
Change and upgrade the high voltage battery. In Europe it has been done a lot and there are Leafs that have done more than 400000 kms by now. Should be relatively easy. Would also make great content. Get CarWizard on board as well with the project.
All kinds of options for the battery you can go through the cells and find the week ones, they do make aftermarket packs now so that's good news!
A really great and exciting youtube adventure would be electrifying that SLK.
Great video! There are companies that supply upgrades for this type of Leaf (Muxsan fore example). You can get an upgrade battery in the spare tire compartiment which makes te car more usable. Then you can get a bit more use out of it.
A hybrid is a great solution for this time. Cheap and has a great range without anxiety. Drive where and how you want.
I agree, not there yet. Not a fan of having to trash a perfectly good car because replacement batteries are too expensive.
This first Leaf was an awesome little car. It was the first car out of Nissan and the build quality was excellent. It could get a new lease on life if it can get a new battery pack or some new power source.
I agree on the life. I have a 1997 Lincoln mark viii, and 2005 excursion. 10 years is minimum age of cars I buy. electric vehicles are not there they don't charge fast enough and range is to low plus the cost is crazy. My cellphone battery is only good for about 5 years and that drives me nuts. I cannot imagine having to buy a whole new battery. Plus it seems like that is the point the AC compressor on the batteries is going to die. Seem like a lot of expensive maintenance if you want to keep it 10 years.
With your commute, you should absolutely look into a first gen Chevy Volt, or if you can find a reasonably priced 2nd gen Volt. I think they would work great for you.
Magic Mike - Loving your vids, man. Keep up the great work. 👍
Could be worth taking it to Nissan and getting all the latest software/firmware applied to it. This could improve range based on the software changes made from customer feedback. Assuming your car still has original software that is.
Your points a lot sense!
If we do have 400mile batteries in the near future you could always put that into the leaf and all of a sudden you have a brand new car. Well not totally brand new but the mechanics are still there, more then a gas engine at that age. We just dont have any cheap aftermarket batteries like we do with ebikes because EV's are relatively new. But electric motors dont really care what the power source is, as long as its enough. That being said I like hybrids more and more myself for a more practicle solution, but would consider a cheap EV like a nissan leaf still and maybe DIY a battery replacement. It might just be 1 cell thats bringing the rest down which is usually the case in battery packs and wouldnt take too much money to refurbish. Its the brand new packs with their markups and the dealers who install them with their huge markups and that $1500 of raw battery is now costing you 8k to have inside your car when a $30 replacement cell could have brought you back to 100%. Doesnt have to be that way but we're not there yet.
Great to see another video from you Mike. With the big push to electric cars there must be a huge amount of work going into making much better batteries, much smaller, much lighter and way more storage capacity. If someone comes up with battery technology that takes up 10% of the space, has 10% of the weight, stores ten times the power and costs a tenth of the price of current batteries there will be no reason not to go with electric for both cars and trucks. Of course there are many other applications for such battery technology. Some will say I'm dreaming but revolutionary technology improvements are not all that uncommon. One only has to look at communication between computers and the huge improvement over the last few decades. I am old enough to remember using 300 baud modems :)
Great video - a lot of us are scratching our heads about the same issues with EVs right now. Seems like it could be an excellent second car though.
I loved the leaf it’s problem is it doesn’t have a cooling system which prematurely degrades the battery.
Do you think you could see yourself doing battery swaps/upgrades on EVs (as an automotive technician) once they become available?
A battery swap on this car would total it. The 24kwh battery is like $10k new
A year later. You you still have the Leaf?
So how long do they last or years or miles like how long really do they supposed to last? Are they good for out of town get aways or just locally
Your Roadmaster would be my choice! Had a sedan and it was so good.
so an LS swap then when the battery dies on the leaf? 😉in all seriousness i think an interesting option in the near future is instead of the traditional engine swaps would be to swap in a hybrid engine from something thats had rear damage and been written off, so something thats a small capacity ICE with a decent hybrid system?
VW had a diesel Electric hybrid Passat I think but only imported into the US one year.
The Leaf should last ten year. The issue you have is the small battery but that is upgradable. Batteries can be serviced too as Hoovie did with his Prius its a fairly simple swap. The primary failure in a battery pack is usually one of the plurality of cells goes slightly south. That failed cell capacity becomes the total capacity for the whole pack as they batteries are wired in "series" to achieve the high voltage. If they were to try to charge it to full capacity then it could potentially overheat the bad cell. Note that batteres can charge to full voltage well before they charge back to full current capacity. And these battery management systems, for safety reasons, will not tolerate a single cell that is only a fraction below all the others. (Important note - the whole pack might be over 200Vdc but each cell is a very safe low voltage and the packs are easy to work on if you pay attention to the build in safety features.)
Thank you Magic Mike - Subscribed. I follow the CarWizard so I am already used to seeing you. I watch Hoovie a bit less but I am aware of the MB he sent your way. That Leaf with only 50K on it is probably worth a battery given it will give it a new lease on life. The more recent Nissan batteries have the same mounting points but have a significantly larger kWh capacity. There are several videos on youtube documenting Leaf battery swaps/upgrades. Please check out the "fully charged show" channel. Robert Llewellyn has an older Nissan Leaf (2010?) and he had its battery replaced with one of higher capacity and got a more useful range as a result.
I wonder if climate makes a difference, my friend had 2014 with 65k miles and still gets 70 miles in summer with just only 1 bar gone so far.
You've got the battery health and charge level bars mixed up.
Please just battery swap it for a 40kwh cheap pack. You've easily got the skills to do that and you'll love getting 120miles out of it instead.
Then CrossClimate 2 tyres and enjoy it all year round when it is defrosted and warmed for you in winter and cooled in summer.
I was blown Away by the hyundi ionic hybrid that I had on loan for about month back in 2018. That car out performed on every measure all cars that I have experienced since I got my licence back in 1982. Why all new cars are not hybrid given the huge downsides of the pure electric car and use is beyond my comprehension.
Great informative video! Keep up the great work!
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din, owning a Leaf In KS. I'd like to explore turbine hybrids. Run the generator turbine on anything flammable, like Chryslers experimental cars.
There are lots of replacement battery options available that will easily double your range.
How long until the battery completely dead 🔋and is not usable anymore ? How many miles
Fossil Fuels is a misnomer, politicizing a perceived shortage or limited supply.
We have hundreds of years of hydrocarbon fuels that are sufficient for a gradual and sensible transition to the alternatives. I have a particular interest in the Aschates opposing piston two-stroke as a three-cylinder powerhouse, lightweight, for hybrid versions of electrically enhanced cars.
You should be receiving more love
You should have shared your charging experience. Do you have level2? I drive a 2015 Volt and I love it. Great acceleration and the electric only range covers 95% of my needs. These make great 2nd cars.
Is insurance expensive for EV in US??
Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱 🖐
Yes, it is because EVs are expensive. Insurance would not cover battery degradation
@@thedopplereffect00 does insurance cover when engine or transmission dies?
Thanks Mike
I believe the technology for battery swap will be forthcoming as the popularity of the EV increases. if the battery goes South, I'm not so certain that I would get rid of it, but rather hang on and see if options evolve over time.
The Roadmaster was an Impala SS in a tuxedo; for it's time, it was classy, it was fast and practical (especially the wagons). The only downside was the OptiSpark, but other that that, it was bulletproof.
With the demise of cars like the GM B Body and the Ford's Panther, a lot of newer cars just don't make it that far in the long run. Not only in terms of durability, but with the OEMs decontenting parts as well. I keep thinking to myself, if I was to buy a brand new vehicle right now, what would I get? Probably end up with a Tahoe/Yukon or Suburban, but even they are not what they were once upon a time. The GMT800, for example, was legendary. But I'm not a fan of direct injection, nor am I a fan of AFM of whatever GM calls it these days.
That said, I'm very interested and curious to see what your long term "test" will look like with the Leaf. If memory serves me right, Wizard had one as well.
I wish Nissan had liquid cooled the battery pack as thats what will remove that car from ever being a good long term choice. I bought the Model 3 when it came out, have almost 100k miles on it now, and it's been flawless. I switched from BMW's due to the never-ending proactive maintenance and issues that would pop up. Everything about BMW's is expensive, even the fluids, and then you're always listening for the strange engine ticking noise, shudder in the drivetrain, or scanning the hidden CEL codes that always appear. The Tesla performs better and needs nothing but tires.
I looked at these in Australia a few years ago and it just didn’t make sense. At the time 2x the cost of a similar age ICE Corolla and just this sort of very limiting range. Plus it is hot here and the Leaf battery is not cooled thus shortening life further. Really nice car otherwise. I continue to drive and maintain my 2000 Toyota Echo at 80 years of age. I learned to drive on a 41 Chevy farm truck and I’m quite interested in experiencing driving a full electric vehicle before I have to stop driving.
the only problem with the Nissan Leaf is the charge port is located at the front! So if you're in a nose to tail accident, how would you charge it?
Lol, pretty much every gas car has radiator up front and if that gets busted you can't drive it
i would love an elec vehicle like a leaf. i am also a little worried about how to replace the battery, hopefully the repairs market builds up once more EVs are on the road.
What do you get highway speed like 65mph can you get close to 30 miles?
Mostly opinions here but it is what it is
The main problem with the Leaf is that Nissan totally cheaped out with respect to the battery's thermal management system, especially as it results to cooling. Heat is a battery's worst enemy and the the cooling mechanism for the Leaf's battery is outside air blowing over the case. That's it. My Lexus CT draws in cabin air and with a fan blows that air inside the battery pack over the battery's cells. My Ford Escape Hybrid goes further and has a separate AC evaporator in the rear to cool the battery with refrigerated air..all controlled by the car's computer. When the time comes to rebuild or replace your Leaf's battery, you will be faced with a difficult choice. More range would be nice, but with more or higher capacity cells in its case, it is only going to get hotter making the issue worse.
Diesel hybrid!! Yes, you have also seen the light! For today that is.
The hybrid gas or hydrogen like prius or the fords get great MPG and go forever. electric motors great life span if maintainted .
cool video
Interesting vid
Also it wasn’t the whole battery but just a couple of cells even though it said the whole battery was going
I think there is a company in Germany that recycle leaf batteries check the youtube channel fully charged for details.
I would charge it at the lowest amp setting possible - 6 amps if you can.
Check out Edison Motors! They're building semi trucks with train-style diesel electric drivetrains.
You can easily get a 30kw battery you have the 24kw and easy to change them and for you it will walk in the park!!!
The old Leaf is a poster child for poor battery management, and the reason so many people think BEV batteries will degrade quickly like the lithium cells in their smartphones and cordless tools (their management systems are necessarily simpler and target a shorter life). BEV owners must also learn that how you treat the battery will affect its life, just like you can extend the life of a gasoline engine by treating it kindly.
Why don’t you hook up with rich rebuild like hoovie and have him redo your battery. It saved Hoovie thousands.
I’m just saying…
I love these 3 anti manufactured obsolescence channels. Hybrid are the way to go rationally speaking. Reliability, low emissions.
1st gen Leaf reviews to pretty much the same: the batteries are degraded with no reasonable new replacement option and the rest of the car is trouble free. It's really too bad
Don’t own a Leaf. I have a VW EV. I get 85 miles of range. But I rarely drive more than 15 miles at a time. 3 years of ownership. Zero dollars in maintenance. Depends on what someone wants or needs in there car.
That's a big problem with electric cars. Cost of batteries are more then the value of the car. And what happens to the lithium batteries?
I bought one as well 2 weeks ago. I paid $2450 - The heater doesn’t work but I don’t need it for that.
If you need a battery, we have a map with 46 locations that swap and rebuild batteries.
You can see my two old LEAFs by searching for #LEAFsavesMyParkingSpot
put a cummins in there somehow - rolling coal in a leaf would be epic :-)
@Magic Mike the Mechanic, hey Mike, I think fossil fuels are going to be around longer than people think. It's being utilized as a political tool/weapon. The talk about reducing emissions etc., has been an ongoing theme with combustion engine-equipped vehicle manufacturing as new technologies have been developed along with the introduction of hybrid vehicles as opposed to the rage about "getting rid of all combustion engine-equipped vehicles and go ALL ELECTRIC!!!" So now we're making all of the hybrids on the road obsolete as well given that they obviously have a combustion engine?! It's nonsense.
And lets not forget that for now, the large majority of electrical energy production comes from fossil fuels. The "charging stations" for electric vehicles are by in large part currently utilizing FOSSIL FUEL for their power generation BECAUSE "renewable energy sources" SIMPLY CANNOT handle the same capacity of demand. That was apparent when California suggested, "GO GREEN AND BUY ALL ELECTRIC CARS!!" and then just days later they tell the public, "PLEASE DON'T PLUG IN YOUR ELECTRIC CAR TO CHARGE IT!! THE POWER GRID IS OVERLOADED DUE TO THIS HEAT WAVE!!" Ok so with the TINY fraction of all-electric vehicles in CA alone, if a "heat wave" passes through, the state gov't is telling people to NOT charge their vehicles. What would it look like if CA had 99% ALL electric vehicles instead of maybe 1-3%. -_-
So it's a bit hypocritical to suggest "We're saving the planet with ALL-electric vehicles coz we won't need a fossil fuel to burn for combustion", sure you're just burning it at the coal and natural gas fired power plants providing power to the charging stations... -_- Let's also not forget about the mining of lithium as well as the disposal of the same! It's a very hazardous substance. Imagine if instead of "trillions of barrels of oil in the ground which we DIDN'T PUT THERE OURSELVES AND WE use for a VARIETY of things not just combustible fuels..." but instead we had TRILLIONS OF TONS OF LITHIUM polluting the environment THAT WE WOULD HAVE PUT THERE. All of the rage about "mankind has done this/that amount of damage to the environment with it's industrialization!!" and yet what about the damage from the "industrialization of mass-produced lithium-powered vehicles."
Again, it's just being utilized as a tool/weapon by politicians to fit their agendas and fill their pockets. They're not interested in the slightest with "protecting the environment" especially as they continue to use fossil fuels more than the average citizen as they drive in convoys, fly all around the world for "meetings" instead of video conferencing etc... I mean how does one claim to be "environmentally conscientious" whilst taking a private jet several thousands miles across the country or even around the world to "receive an environmental award for conservation". Absolute hypocrisy.
I traded my Teslas in for a RAV4 Prime and Lexus because shit quality too many repairs.
What repairs?
@@aussie2uGA here is one of my cars repairs list - ruclips.net/video/4kWOburq4Fc/видео.html
It’s not hard to build something that last 30 years. There are old Honda Civic everywhere that are 30 years old. Hopefully the new sodium batteries replace lithium.
From the point of view of a city or small inter-city drive BEVs are fine at the moment. My biggest issue with them is kind of what you've described with battery life. If the battery cannot be swapped or repaired, then they will just produce more waste, so from an environmental point of view we will actually make the problem worse not better. Also, I doubt a lot of batteries from these vehicles are being recycled and producing Li-ion batteries is not the most ecological thing to do. So with this in mind I actually resent the fact that they are marketed as an ecological solution when in fact they are not. I am not event going to go into the matter of how the electricity that they use is produced, because that is another major factor but it is extremely variable depending on where you are located. So yeah, the are cool but they are not what they are being advertised as.
What's the total range on your leaf? Yea. That's the REALLY BAD THING, about electric cars. It's when it's time to replace the actual battery. Yes , I agree with the TORQUE of electric. My 1st time in one was tesla D9. Their 900 F.P.T. TORQUE MONSTER. SCARY FAST. I'm for electric for like my everyday driver. But! I'm a MUSCLE CAR, Freak. I LOVE my 2000 Trans am. NOTHING LIKE, the sound of a V8 LS engine.
First!
Hybrid electric like Volt was the smarter way to go (so naturally GM abandoned it). Electric cars are pretty much all good _except_ for the batteries. Battery tech is just so, so far behind everything else. What worries me though is that companies see the many issues with current battery tech as a sure-fire way to guarantee the forced-obsolescence of electric vehicles.
Infrastructure, Battery Life, and Price is what is going to hold up EV only Cars For some time to come. Better for the planet?? Is still up for debate and weighs heavily on what you want to believe.
The batteries degrade so fast on these, that they are not worth buying. They dont have battery cooling
The irony is that if these EV's only last 10 years, then they are much worse for the environment than ICE cars
I disagree on the diesel electric hybrid for touring.
Hybrids are just.. garbage. Electric cars have and are still getting better, faster than people even realize, to the point that honestly gas cars will be irrelevant within the next 5 years.
Correct not for towing or long distance but ideal for short shopping in town trips. Longer battery range can be achieved by smooth predictive driving, conservative use of climate especially heating, high energy efficiency tires and higher pressures. I have what you call a Chevy Volt plug in hybrid in Australia and yes, when the main battery pack dies it will be a lawn ornament. This is so sad as I keep her like new as if it left the show room yesterday. The problem of replacement battery packs either OEM or aftermarket is not available or viable. Manufacturers have further made battery packs disposable since. To me this is like welding all engine parts together so that there is zero possibility of repairs later. So Much for environment... the green revolution is just another scam in the real world 🌎
LS Swap it!
LS swap it !!!
It sorta looks like PC principal from South Park
Parking for semi truck's in America is 💩. If you stop after the sun goes down your not finding a spot. Electric truck's with enough places to charge 😂.
I've had so many arguments with my anti-oil/gas friends about electric OTR trucking being a myth. Diesel is great for torque, electric, not so much. I'm sure over the years these technical issues will be solved but 'electric cars/trucks' these days are a goof, something to play around with..
Electric not great for torque? Have you even looked at specs of electric cars? That's simply a false statement
@@thedopplereffect00 Pulling a heavy load will drain the battery fast. Diesel has proven itself time and time again..
@@jgonzz10028 total available energy is not torque. The EV has higher torque, but honestly for only about 75-125 miles until it's empty.
🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂EV's🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂
The leaf is a clown car. A joke.