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Wow, that’s astonishingly cheap. What’s wrong with these? How is the range? Can they drive at highway speeds?

Yes, the original leaf has 110hp, does 0-60 in 9.9 and tops out at 93mph. It is similar in performance to other entry-level cars in the US, like a Yaris, Fit, etc.

They are cheap because they are similar in performance to other entry level economy cars, and the warranty for the battery is up. If the battery fails you’re in the ballpark of 6 or 7 thousand dollar repair.

Dunno about the Leaf but at least with the Prius the battery is composed of individual cells that fit on a rail, so a lot of failures can be corrected by testing cell voltages and figuring out which one has failed and only replacing that one single one, which is usually substantially cheaper than a full rebuild.

From what I've read, it's harder to fix the Li-ion packs, and in an electric car that relies entirely on the pack, degradation affects the driving experience more than a hybrid where you'd see it manifest itself as an MPG decrease.

The combination of information and parts available to fix Toyota NiMH packs is a big factor in why I own a vehicle with one :)

In practice you just trade in your old pack for a new one and let a professional deal with refurbishing or upcycling it into a wall battery.

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