[nzpaul]

Hi, hope you can help.

I apologise in advance if this is a common question but I haven’t really seen it listed anywhere.

We’re in New Zealand and looking to buy a second hand leaf. Our local EV dealer has a 2016 30X (I believe that’s an Acentia in some countries) arriving from Japan in a few weeks that ticks most of the boxes for us.

The thing is, the car has 12 bars but the leafspy graph shows a SOH of 82.8%. (at 36% SOC)

I’ve heard that the SOH can sometimes be temporarily boosted with a quick charge or two, but the question is, is it likely that this SOH is just temporarily lower? possibly due to not being used much recently?

To put it another way, which of these is most likely do you think?

A) The 12 bars are overstated and it’s likely to drop one to two bars almost straight away

B) The SOH is understated, and is likely to increase to possibly 85+% once it’s being used regularly

or

C) It’s anybody's guess

Thanks

 

[cah197]

The Jap import Leaf 30s were known to have an issue with the BMS software.

Get the dealer to update this, and it should show a better SOH.

The only way the SOH might improve with charging is by slow charging to 100% to let the cells balance. But this is not an exact science.

 

[nzpaul]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I forgot to mention that I did ask the dealer if the new firmware had been installed on the 30 models prior to the photos being taken and he said they should definitely have been.

I did also see the opposite of this in a model where the 30S had lost two bars but the SOH was at 87%!

It's all a bit confusing to a newbie

 

[Hermit Dave]

Leaf generally exhibit 3% degradation/ year. For 2016 model , 85% wouldn’t be far. My own 2016 is at 87%

Boosting by rapid chargers isn’t a one way thing. Its a temporary thing due to BMS confusion. From what I’ve read Leaf30 lose their first bar at 82.5% - as long as the range it offers today works for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Aragorn]

check the battery firmware, if its 4A, 4B or 6A it needs an upgrade.

Mine on 6A also did the "low 80's but still 12 bars" thing. It eventually lost the bar around 81% i think, but gained it back after the software update, its now up around 87%

 

[nzpaul]

Thanks for all the advice.

As I mentioned the car is currently in transit from Japan, and I'm pondering if I should put a deposit on it. It's refundable if we decide it isn't the car for us, so there isn't that much risk.

I've asked the dealer if the car would have the new firmware and he said it should - I'm just hoping that it doesn't and it'll turn out to be a bargain

BTW I've attached the leafspy graph - I don't know if that indicates anything else about the cars health (I'm still new to this)

 

[ahutcheon]

I don't see anything worrying in that; the 10mV spread between cells at relatively low SOC I read as reassuring. Others will know more about how low you need to get SOC for a weak cell to really show up?

 

[Aleras]

High number of Quick charges for number of miles. 191 Vs 77 l1/L2

No active cooling on the leaf. Mine has had 18qc at 21k as a comparison. All be it that is very low.

 

[Scrooge]

High number of Quick charges for number of miles. 191 Vs 77 l1/L2

No active cooling on the leaf. Mine has had 18qc at 21k as a comparison. All be it that is very low.

But what if the QCs were a 5-10 min splash and dash?

 

[Aleras]

But what if the QCs were a 5-10 min splash and dash?

Looking at the total number of charges this doesn't seem to be the case though ? Relatively few l1 / L2 charges. Far less in total than the QC.

191qc Vs 77 l1/L2

 

[nzpaul]

Thanks for all the help.

I'm slowly learning more about the leaf

 

[Ozpol]

I have an imported leaf 30kw. Have had it for just over 12 months. The actual car itself has been great, but the battery experience has been so so. I purchased the car with 6500 km. It now has 19500 and the battery SOH is at 78% and I have lost 2 bars. I am on the 6A firmware and am aware that there now is a 6b available. I probably would stay away if it does not have the 6b firmware installed.

 

[ahutcheon]

Looking at the total number of charges this doesn't seem to be the case though ? Relatively few l1 / L2 charges. Far less in total than the QC.

191qc Vs 77 l1/L2

Yep, it's 50 miles per charge overall, so each charge has on average been more than half the battery. Bad? Dunno. If it's been one quick charge a week on a car that's been used for short trips that won't have cooked the battery.