Considering Leaf as our 2nd vehicle

Someone on the Leaf forum was questioning whether something had been reset on it (BMS I think)...since it was a full 12 and 30k miles built in Jan 2013 and used in a warmish climate (St Louis)

 

I purchased a new OBDII and will use LeafSpy to tell.

 

Well, we pulled the trigger and got a 2015 Leaf over the weekend. I'm in awe at what a great vehicle you can get for the price. Let me know if you have any questions, but I highly recommend it as a second complementing car to a Prius.

 

I hear 5% annual thrown around on the Leaf forums. Obviously a little more in hotter climates and less in cooler or more temperate climates.
I think a general rule of thumb is that you will most likely have a little lower degradation annually the larger the battery is. I saw a recent study on Teslas that show most of them still have well above 90% 100k-200k into life.
On the 2015 Leaf we bought LeafSpy is showing 97% left. But the odometer is less than 10k as well.

 

As you know from owning a PiP, so many variables. With all the right conditions I don't think 100 miles is unreasonable at slower highway speeds. 120+ should be doable if it's slower around traffic and great weather I would think. Again, just bought it a few days ago and it will mainly be my wife's car. So it may take a while for me to truly learn it.
Compare it to your PiP...what is your average miles/kwh around town? I would guess it's 5-6. The Leaf has 21 usable kwh.

 

Lots of variables go into degradation as well. Age, miles, battery temps, speed you drive at, how many quick charges, climate you live in. The climate you live in is obviously the most important. The very best batteries are being seen in the Pacific Northwest due to their steady low temperate climate. The worst are seen in states like Arizona. So you want to check where your battery came from if buying used. Mine came from Georgia, which isn't ideal, but oddly almost all used Leaf's around here come from GA so I didn't have much of a choice. Age can matter as much as or more than mileage can. Have seen some fabulous 2013's and some crappy 2015's though. Total stab in the dark, but I would guess most Leaf's see anywhere from 10-20% total degradation after 30k. Total guess though, there are far more educated (although more biased) opinions over at the Leaf forum.

 

True, but buying a used Leaf at these prices is basically protecting yourself from much of the downside. And, honestly, if gas prices skyrocket, we could see a super rare situation where a vehicle appreciates, or at least holds steady.

 

Is that round trip or one way?

 

Correct, a first gen Leaf may be cutting it pretty close in the winter for you. A 2016 or 2017 with a 30kWh pack should be enough for you, though. No idea how used prices are on those, but I'm guessing they should be coming down nicely considering some are coming off lease soon, plus the new 40kWh is probably driving the 30's down.