Anything, really. But of particular interest is how the range holds up from the original stated, powertrain degradation if any, and other general stuff like fit and finish, electronic gremlins, weather effects etc. Thanks in advance!
Anything, really. But of particular interest is how the range holds up from the original stated, powertrain degradation if any, and other general stuff like fit and finish, electronic gremlins, weather effects etc. Thanks in advance!
I tell everyone to buy more range than they think they’ll need, if they can afford it, for a variety of reasons. Realistically you shouldn’t expect >10% degradation over 10 years on a vehicle equipped with active cooling.
Active cooling is the thing. Basically don’t buy second hand leafs.
Though those are dirt cheap so as a second car to drive in low range (if you work close by or when need to do shopping etc) it’s perfect.
Fair point.
Go in with eyes open.
Yep. Even to this day, after their disastrous history, they still sell brand new vehicles with no active cooling. And AFAIK the only ones doing it. It’s really a shame because they are otherwise really good and affordable options.
And forget taking them on a road trip. The batteries can’t cool down fast enough to charge them. And they STILL use Chademo connectors that are limited to 50kW. Also still the ONLY brand doing that. Which is also a shame because they were at one point innovators in the industry. But these days they don’t innovate anything but expensive disposable garbage.
I think much of the Leaf’s lack of innovation was due to price, the goal was for it to be an everyday car in looks, operation and price, and that last one means it’d never be very profitable, at least not for a long time, so updates just weren’t feasible. A good question is how does the Arriya compare to other brands EVs, since that’s their newest most modern vehicle.
What difference does it make if the car is cheap if it can’t even last 10 years? How much extra would it cost to install a cooling loop, water pump, and radiator?
You’re much better off buying a REALLY NICE gasoline car at that point.
Cost isn’t the only factor to adding a cooling loop, there’s a good chance that they’d have to make room in the pack for the cooling system, which means either a bigger pack or a less powerful pack. As to cost, have to engineer the radiating, plumbing, plumbing mounting, computer controls for the cooling system, and of course the radiator needs good airflow which might require a redesign of the front end, and the charger port is there, so that might need moving which requires more engineering. It snowballs easily.
I actually agree, we leased our Leaf because we wanted an inexpensive electric car, and this was at the height of the Bolt battery mess, so that really only left the Leaf, but we weren’t dumb enough to buy it, use it during it’s best years, then give it back and let it be someone else’s problem.
Yeah but they already redesigned the entire vehicle and still didn’t add active cooling…
There are a lot of very ordinary EVs from Hyundai, Opel, VW, Peugeot etc that aren’t screwed up this way. It’s very much doable. Nissan just fails at making cars.
Do remember that those were designed from the start to have active cooling, the Leaf wasn’t, in fact it’s a great example of a lack of foresight between the lack of active cooling and the Chademo plug.
Thanks, good to know. I live in the tropics, so rain/ water damage is a concern.
Rain / water is not a concern at all unless you’re flooding the car. Even then it’s not the battery that has problems. It’s the low voltage electronics that are the same on any modern car.
If a diesel can survive it, so can an EV.
What exactly are you worried about being damaged by rain?
Electronics, battery pack maybe?
They’re all sealed, just like the electronics on any other vehicle.
Most likely much better for the HV and drive parts. And there’s no air intake or exhaust for the engine either, so it’s a lot less sensitive to water.
12v side is pretty much the same junk that’s in all cars. Apart from model specific mistakes (e.g. Cybertruck), which sometimes happen, all remotely modern cars are waterproof in any sane use.
What is that supposed to mean?
That there are occasionally car models which have design flaws leading to water ingress or condensation issues. Sometimes there’s a fix, sometimes not.
Cybertruck dying in a car wash was one recent example.
It didn’t “die”. The screen stopped working. Likely unrelated.
Flooding?
Not sure if a flood would affect an EV’s electrical system…
As much as it would the electrical system of any other vehicle made in the last 40 years…
Possible, unlikely though below the level that would make any ICE vehicle an insurance write off too, so no real reason to worry about that unless you plan on regularly driving through flooded roads