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Comment by madengr | Hacker News Reader

Can go even less. I bought a 2015 Nissan Leaf with 19k miles for $8,500.

That's amazing. I assume that includes (implicitly) $10k federal plus CA tax credit plus $11k depreciation on a base S model.

How old was it when you bought it?

I bought it used in 1/17, so under 2 years old. Base model with QC port. No tax credits available as it was used. Though between the $7,500 federal and $10k KCP&L (I live in KS) rebate, I could have bought a new 2017 for under $15k.

The asshat Nissan dealers wouldn’t budge on list price, so screw buying new. There is a guy locally who only sells used Leafs, as a bunch came off leases, and he flips them from auctions.

http://www.forgetfuel.com

There are lots of Leafs and Model S around Kansas City. I’m sure we have the best charging network in the country.

Just be careful if you’re in a cold climate. A buddy owned one and had to charge his leaf at Nissan dealerships in the cold to make it home after work - and if I recall right, his commute wasn’t more than 15mi/way.

That doesn't sound right. That's only 30 miles, total. This should be easily doable even with the cabin heater + battery heater at high highway speeds. Was this Leaf's battery healthy?

https://www.fleetcarma.com/nissan-leaf-chevrolet-volt-cold-w...

Seems like if it gets cold enough it might be a problem.

Those graphs show a 50 mile range on the Leaf. That’s still enough sub 0F to get me to work and back, twice.

This makes sense - for whatever inane reason (I'm not going to outright say it's malfeasance), Nissan chose to not include active thermal management for their Leaf line of cars. Even the one they sell today only has less effective cooling.

This means that older Leafs have a greatly reduced range. Even my budget Ford Focus EV 2017 ($16k negotiated cap cost) has active thermal management for the battery pack so I might keep it off-lease.

Keep in mind, the Leaf came out 1-2 years before the Model S, and and less that 1/2 the price. It uses totally different style of batteries. Probably all cost cutting. But yeah, cooling would be nice. They did some redesign for 2015, but it is still air cooled.

Sure, but why does the 2018 Leaf not have active thermal management for their battery pack?

If my compliance-car Ford POS has it, surely the top-selling EV in history should have it by it's 2nd version model.

I live in Kansas, and have driven it sub 0F with no issues.

Leaf is my daily commuter. I inflated the tires to 42-44psi and got the extra mileage out of that. The recommended tire of 35psi is way too low too.

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