Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
I've seen Leaf owners in Vancouver, WA with a rapidly degrading battery. I really don't think the '11-'13 batteries weren't designed to hold up well. It's been a while since I looked into it, but I wonder how the so called lizard batteries have been holding up?
The i3 battery should hold up much better since it has active thermal management.
Heck, even my 3 kWh Prius battery has active management (a fan).
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There are 4 or 5 different battery chemistries in the Leafs so far, some better and worse than others. They are:
- Worse Model Years 2011, 2012 and 2013's built up through April 2013
- Better MY 2013's built from April 2013 and all MY 2014's
- Better MY's 2015 and 2016's with the 24kW (Lizard) batteries.
- Worse All 30kWh batteries (MY's 2016 and 2017).
- Unkown The 40kWh battery (MY's 2018 and beyond).
All of them are mainly affected by ambient temperature. There are people who have some of the "worse" batteries in that list that live in places like Minnesota that still have more than 80% battery capacity even after 5 or more years. But if you live in a hot area like southern Arizona all of these batteries fail quickly with the 2's and 3's lasting just a bit longer than the 1's and 4's.
The 2's and 3's (Lizard) batteries do hold up a bit better than the others. But not as well as they should. I find it a bit perturbing that the 30kWh batteries are just about as bad as the 2011 and 2012's. The 40kWh battery has also been known to have problems like not wanting to rapid charge. Some say the Leafs with the #2 and 3 batteries mentioned above are really the only way to go if you get a Leaf. You can do more with them and get more out of them than the newer Leafs. You'd think that batteries would get better with newer models, not worse!