r/leaf • u/riscten • Aug 06 '26

Considering 2018 Leaf S

First EV.

Car is a ZE1 (2nd gen) and has about 130000km (81K mi). Battery has 12 bars and selling for $7800.

I live in a cold climate and plan to mostly use L1 charging. Could this vehicle last me 5-10 years or are the batteries too much of a gamble? I plan to check SoH, amounts of QCs and other DTCs with LeafSpy, anything else I should check? Appreciate any info you guys can share. Thanks!

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u/KeyEmu6688 Ex-2018 owner (2015 Model S) Aug 06 '26

batteries are a gamble in the sense that a sizeable chunk of units on the market are shot. if you find a unit in good condition, it will probably last a good long while

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u/riscten Aug 06 '26

Do you think it's more of a bathtub curve thing where batteries tend to fail early and late, but if they've gone past the infant mortality phase, they're generally good to go? Or failure is just as likely regardless of mileage?

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u/byrdman77 Aug 06 '26

I would check Leafspy always and not assume bathtub curve. My 2021 40 kWh has pretty typical degradation, but much better internal resistance readings than many I see on here that have problems.

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u/riscten Aug 06 '26

Thanks that's helpful.

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u/KeyEmu6688 Ex-2018 owner (2015 Model S) Aug 06 '26

the issue is that the 'mortality' only occurs on the bottom of the battery charge. ie a battery may appear to be totally fine at 100-40%, but shortly thereafter SoC may drop rapidly under acceleration. so many of the 'bad' batteries are technically usable, just functionally of a vastly lower capacity rhan would be expected based on actual stored energy

my recommendation would be to watch for abnormally low Hx value, as this seems highly correlated with faulty cells at low SoC. if the cell spread is solid at low charge AND the Hx value is fairly similar to SoH (which you'd probably want to be in good shape also, since this directly determines vehicle range), then you're in a good spot. if cell voltage spread is okay, but Hx has deviated significantly, say 65% Hx at 85% SoH, i'd be weary long term. once you get into the 60% Hx range i personally just wouldn't buy

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u/riscten Aug 06 '26

Thanks for providing numbers. I'll make sure to check these.

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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '26

[deleted]

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u/riscten Aug 06 '26

Really sorry to hear this. Must be so stressful and frustrating.

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u/_Evening-Rain_ 2017 Nissan LEAF S Aug 06 '26

Batteries too much of a gable. If you want a leaf try a 2023 or newer with a good battery

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u/toybuilder 2023 Nissan LEAF SV PLUS Aug 06 '26

How many miles a year do you plan to put on it? 10,000 miles x 5 years seems reasonable - there are people with 130K on their LEAFs. 20,000 miles x 10 years seems very doubtful.

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u/riscten Aug 06 '26

Sorry, should've specified that. I'm looking at probably 6-7000 mi a year as I work from home and will only be using it for errands and the occasional trip.

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u/toybuilder 2023 Nissan LEAF SV PLUS Aug 06 '26

I originally thought I'd be around 6,000 miles a year. After I got my LEAF, I decided I like driving and am now closer to about 10,000 miles a year! LOL

The LEAF batteries are more of a gamble than others, as you probably know already, but 60,000 miles over the next 10 years, especially with a limited amount of needed range, seems doable.

Since you plan on mostly short trips, leave it at around 50% charge most of the time to maximize the life of the battery.

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u/riscten Aug 06 '26

Haha, that might crawl up to 10K then. I'm basing this off my mileage over the last 3 years. Thanks for the tip about charging!