We bought a 2014 LEAF SL (leather interior) just as the '15s were coming out. We had free Level 2 charging at work, so I was able to run the car nearly free for the time I had it before I retired. It was quiet, fun to drive and probably the most reliable vehicle we've ever owned. The poor car was broadsided just over 2 years ago and the insurance company totaled it. It's a shame, as I really miss it. At 8 years and 45Kish miles, the traction battery had only lost one (of 12) bars, so the range was around 75 miles with a full charge. Plenty for our needs, but it was only used around town and back and forth to work.
My first EV was a used 2012 Leaf. I loved it so much that I swapped out to the Bolt and now the Ioniq 5. My Leaf would go a whole 20 miles in the winter haha. Oh, that backup camera was an aftermarket one... that's why the lines are so goofy! The stock ones are part of that "hump" where there release is and it's above where you put your hand to open the gate.
It's crazy to think back on these bad boys, they were absolutely cutting edge 10-12 years ago. The original Leafs are good for one thing now - your kid's first car
Most modern EV’s that aren’t Fiat’s and Leaf’s don’t have major degradation. Especially if in the case of a Tesla, you don’t supercharge it every day. Plus most manufacturers have a warranty that protects against excessive degradation and will replace your battery for 10 years 150,000 miles if it loses too much in that time.
Correct, modern EVs use a completely different generation of batteries that are both cheaper and much more resilient. If you go with a good EV manufacturer like Tesla, Rivian, Hyundai/Kia or GM who produce dedicated platform EVs, you shouldn't have to worry about it for years to come.
@@acerIOstream yep, those early Nissan Leafs got NMC battery chemistry.. not very good in long term.. I even ahve two packs from Leaf at home :D most of todays EVs uses LFP, the best one for longetivity, or then Li ion which is mostly used for long range models. I hope sodium ion soon comes to EVs as cheaper alternative, and solid state as most safest, durable and most energy dense of all of these
@@acerIOstream most definitely, and I had a 2013 Volt that was fantastic, I got it 90k. When it was seven years old, still was getting 41 miles range, at 140k 40miles👌💯
Okay that backup camera “taking flight” bit made me laugh out loud. My downstairs neighbor is likely wondering what’s wrong with me! 🤣 Great video as always!!!
I drove my 2011 Leaf SL for 13 years and about 45k miles. It was a second car so I just used it for short trips. I never had any issues with it other than its very short range. Nissan wanted $13k to replace the battery with the same KWh as it came with. I sold it to CarMax with 5 battery capacity bars remaining.
The leaf is probably the worst example possible to demonstrate this point. They're notorious for having some of the worst degradation of any EV ever made, mostly because of Nissan's poor choice not to add active battery thermal management.
I had a 2017 Leaf. The dealer checked for me. 13% capacity loss in 1.5 years. I think that the newest version still uses the same thermal management. I would not buy another one.
The heat really kills the battery in these things. Average range of a used model on the market in Phoenix is 15 to 30 miles. Could have something to do with constant A/C use as well
Currently saving up for my first car, and I’m glad the 1st gen leaf popped up on my radar. I love “new” technology, and it seems the best option (within my budget of 5-6k) and my commute isn’t more than 40 miles on a bad day. Problem is, I live in Louisiana. I’d get the Chevrolet Bolt for its added range and thermal management system if I could, but the lowest price I saw on AutoTempest was 9.8k. Gonna do my best to take care of the battery once I get it in these summers that go up to 95F. If anyone lives in an area as hot as that with a Leaf, please let me know what your degradation was like over the years.
I'm also looking at the Bolt, for greater range and battery tech. I did test drive a Gen 2 Leaf but that ChaDeMo charger kills the deal, even though most of my charging would be at home. I'm in Oregon, we had 31 90F+ days in my city this year.
@@ziploc2000 Makes sense. Within the week I posted that comment, my situation changed which makes the bolt my only option now lol. I wish us both luck in our purchase.
@@theredpineapple9485 Picked up a used 2022 Bolt today. 13k miles on the clock. Much more refined than my old 2007 Mazda 3 that I traded in (for a pittance). Plan is my wife and I share this to cut down on our joint gas-guzzling. She mostly drives our 2010 Honda Odyssey because she hated the Mazda (it had a very noisy retro-fitted exhaust), and a minivan with one person in it makes no sense. We'll keep that as our second vehicle and use the Bolt as much as we can, especially around town. The dealer also had a 2017 Bolt in, but we went with the newer one for a bit more money. We have solar panels on our roof, so the Bolt is powered by sunshine and unicorn farts.
I love the simplicity and functionality of the mk1 Leaf. I think I'd get one just to store it, waiting for technology to evolve for a battery swap to be economically feasible and have a super cheap and 'cool and OG experience' electric car in 2035 😂
EV's are great second cars for people who have a short distance to travel. With very little car maintenance it's a great have for a specific set of people.
I leased a '14 which thanks to State tax credits was virtually free at the time. I didn't buy due to concerns of range as the battery aged and cost/availability of a replacement. They sre surprisingly fun to drive low center of gravity, short wheel base they handle nicely. Regen on the brakes means they stop. I loathe automatics but the torque of the EV and CVT work nicely. Even at full range, in my commute and side trips, range even new was not quite enough. I'd have to take another vehicle on certain days. You can get more range on surface roads learning techniques conserve and recover energy using hills. If I had an evening trip into town after work it was all highway which would eat up range.
Like the owner figure it out it's a great commuter car . If you're not traveling that far to work and back and to the grocery store . Will do its job. The owner has other cars longer distance .
Halogen headlights need to go Every Vehicle. All needs led headlights on all vehicles by 2025 of 2030 and 2050 going be no more Halogen headlights for good.
@@kevinheneghan74 the issue with that is LED headlights are way the hell to bright and unfortunately the government doesn’t want to regulate it properly so that other drivers aren’t blinded by a cold white beam straight to the eyes. But the government will never fix that because they lack any sort of common sense when it comes to lighting regulations
Bought a2015 Nissan Leaf SV with tech package and it gets 70 miles per charge. Basically perfect condition and I'm replacing the battery for less than $10,000.00 next year. I bought the car for $4,000 💲👍 basically less than $20,000.00 for an EV that gets 215 miles per charge. Not as fast as a Tesla but still a GREAT car for the price.
I second the "Who Killed The Electric Car" recommendation. Everything that conspired to kill the EV1 is what has a so behind on electric vehicles today.
I'm guessing that backup camera isn't aimed right. Also the biggest reason the range is bad now is that to make this vehicle cheap, the batteries had no cooling system so they always ran hot. Also the range wasn't great for the US which led to the batteries being cycled a lot.
The reason nobody talks about him them is because they’re total crap. I bought one with 10,000 miles on it Colorado car used it here in San Antonio Texas for two summers and it was down from 85 miles range to 30. should be illegal to sell these things with passive air cooling for that big old battery pack.
If you want a fast charge that leaf you're not going to find very many charging stations because it doesn't take a standard charge you have to find a specialized chademo which are being phased out So fail for not even mentioning that
You lump all EVs as having similar degradation as the Leaf. Modern EVs have thermal management that is night and day to the primitive air cooling that Leafs had. It has been found that high mileage Teslas have had negligible degradation despite many charges.
They are charge by coal, so they will save us from global whoring. And they help employ modern slavery with all the rear earth materials. Its a win win
"It's not...'not fun'."
That right there is the sort of stuff that makes this one of my fave YT channels.
We bought a 2014 LEAF SL (leather interior) just as the '15s were coming out.
We had free Level 2 charging at work, so I was able to run the car nearly free for the time I had it before I retired. It was quiet, fun to drive and probably the most reliable vehicle we've ever owned.
The poor car was broadsided just over 2 years ago and the insurance company totaled it. It's a shame, as I really miss it. At 8 years and 45Kish miles, the traction battery had only lost one (of 12) bars, so the range was around 75 miles with a full charge. Plenty for our needs, but it was only used around town and back and forth to work.
Is a group of Leaves called a tree?
digital multch
Thats a bag of leaves
believe it or not this is one of my most anticipated cars for you to review
My first EV was a used 2012 Leaf. I loved it so much that I swapped out to the Bolt and now the Ioniq 5. My Leaf would go a whole 20 miles in the winter haha. Oh, that backup camera was an aftermarket one... that's why the lines are so goofy! The stock ones are part of that "hump" where there release is and it's above where you put your hand to open the gate.
Kudos to Nissan to trying something bold. It's awful in multiple ways, but kudos to risk-taking.
It's crazy to think back on these bad boys, they were absolutely cutting edge 10-12 years ago. The original Leafs are good for one thing now - your kid's first car
Not many cars had backup cameras in 2013 as the law didn't into effect until 2018, so that's a nice feature to have
My 2008 Prius has one. (It sucks)
Most modern EV’s that aren’t Fiat’s and Leaf’s don’t have major degradation. Especially if in the case of a Tesla, you don’t supercharge it every day. Plus most manufacturers have a warranty that protects against excessive degradation and will replace your battery for 10 years 150,000 miles if it loses too much in that time.
Correct, modern EVs use a completely different generation of batteries that are both cheaper and much more resilient. If you go with a good EV manufacturer like Tesla, Rivian, Hyundai/Kia or GM who produce dedicated platform EVs, you shouldn't have to worry about it for years to come.
@@acerIOstream yep, those early Nissan Leafs got NMC battery chemistry.. not very good in long term.. I even ahve two packs from Leaf at home :D most of todays EVs uses LFP, the best one for longetivity, or then Li ion which is mostly used for long range models. I hope sodium ion soon comes to EVs as cheaper alternative, and solid state as most safest, durable and most energy dense of all of these
@@acerIOstream most definitely, and I had a 2013 Volt that was fantastic, I got it 90k. When it was seven years old, still was getting 41 miles range, at 140k 40miles👌💯
just don't drive over a speed bump in your hyundai ioniq
Tesla fanboy 😂
Okay that backup camera “taking flight” bit made me laugh out loud. My downstairs neighbor is likely wondering what’s wrong with me! 🤣 Great video as always!!!
I drove my 2011 Leaf SL for 13 years and about 45k miles.
It was a second car so I just used it for short trips.
I never had any issues with it other than its very short range.
Nissan wanted $13k to replace the battery with the same KWh as it came with.
I sold it to CarMax with 5 battery capacity bars remaining.
When i was a kid, i loved it, i wanted one, but it costed half a million pesos
This is an exceptionally good video from you. You gave it a lot of thought and effort, and it shows. I like this!
The leaf is probably the worst example possible to demonstrate this point. They're notorious for having some of the worst degradation of any EV ever made, mostly because of Nissan's poor choice not to add active battery thermal management.
I had a 2017 Leaf. The dealer checked for me. 13% capacity loss in 1.5 years. I think that the newest version still uses the same thermal management. I would not buy another one.
The heat really kills the battery in these things. Average range of a used model on the market in Phoenix is 15 to 30 miles. Could have something to do with constant A/C use as well
There are mods to this car that allow you to trade your trunk for more range, so you get more like 150-200 iirc.
That might be tempting. Especially since this isn't the most cavernous wagon rear end anyways
Currently saving up for my first car, and I’m glad the 1st gen leaf popped up on my radar. I love “new” technology, and it seems the best option (within my budget of 5-6k) and my commute isn’t more than 40 miles on a bad day. Problem is, I live in Louisiana. I’d get the Chevrolet Bolt for its added range and thermal management system if I could, but the lowest price I saw on AutoTempest was 9.8k. Gonna do my best to take care of the battery once I get it in these summers that go up to 95F. If anyone lives in an area as hot as that with a Leaf, please let me know what your degradation was like over the years.
I'm also looking at the Bolt, for greater range and battery tech.
I did test drive a Gen 2 Leaf but that ChaDeMo charger kills the deal, even though most of my charging would be at home.
I'm in Oregon, we had 31 90F+ days in my city this year.
@@ziploc2000 Makes sense. Within the week I posted that comment, my situation changed which makes the bolt my only option now lol. I wish us both luck in our purchase.
@@theredpineapple9485 Picked up a used 2022 Bolt today. 13k miles on the clock. Much more refined than my old 2007 Mazda 3 that I traded in (for a pittance).
Plan is my wife and I share this to cut down on our joint gas-guzzling. She mostly drives our 2010 Honda Odyssey because she hated the Mazda (it had a very noisy retro-fitted exhaust), and a minivan with one person in it makes no sense. We'll keep that as our second vehicle and use the Bolt as much as we can, especially around town.
The dealer also had a 2017 Bolt in, but we went with the newer one for a bit more money.
We have solar panels on our roof, so the Bolt is powered by sunshine and unicorn farts.
I love the simplicity and functionality of the mk1 Leaf. I think I'd get one just to store it, waiting for technology to evolve for a battery swap to be economically feasible and have a super cheap and 'cool and OG experience' electric car in 2035 😂
Currently in Norway 90% of all new cars are electric.
Amazing what can be forced upon people with taxes and tariffs
But Norway has half the population of London, so your Trump card is really a joker!
It shows a trend
@@larryk731 in norway yes
@@Markcain268 Only 50% of new car sales are EVs in China, but the population is bigger than that of London.
EV's are great second cars for people who have a short distance to travel. With very little car maintenance it's a great have for a specific set of people.
It's a street legal golf cart.
That sounds fun.
That’s a good solution for many people.
The perfect around town car
I leased a '14 which thanks to State tax credits was virtually free at the time. I didn't buy due to concerns of range as the battery aged and cost/availability of a replacement. They sre surprisingly fun to drive low center of gravity, short wheel base they handle nicely. Regen on the brakes means they stop. I loathe automatics but the torque of the EV and CVT work nicely.
Even at full range, in my commute and side trips, range even new was not quite enough. I'd have to take another vehicle on certain days. You can get more range on surface roads learning techniques conserve and recover energy using hills. If I had an evening trip into town after work it was all highway which would eat up range.
Like the owner figure it out it's a great commuter car . If you're not traveling that far to work and back and to the grocery store . Will do its job. The owner has other cars longer distance .
The halogen headlights are not energy efficient. LED headlights are efficiency.
Technically they are more energy efficient then the old school incandescent headlights that fell out of use in the 70s
Halogen headlights need to go Every
Vehicle. All needs led headlights on all vehicles by 2025 of 2030 and 2050 going be no more Halogen headlights for good.
@@kevinheneghan74 the issue with that is LED headlights are way the hell to bright and unfortunately the government doesn’t want to regulate it properly so that other drivers aren’t blinded by a cold white beam straight to the eyes. But the government will never fix that because they lack any sort of common sense when it comes to lighting regulations
@@bulbman256 led headlights are best for all vehicles for American and world.
Bought a2015 Nissan Leaf SV with tech package and it gets 70 miles per charge.
Basically perfect condition and I'm replacing the battery for less than $10,000.00 next year.
I bought the car for $4,000 💲👍 basically less than $20,000.00 for an EV that gets 215 miles per charge. Not as fast as a Tesla but still a GREAT car for the price.
I second the "Who Killed The Electric Car" recommendation. Everything that conspired to kill the EV1 is what has a so behind on electric vehicles today.
I'm guessing that backup camera isn't aimed right. Also the biggest reason the range is bad now is that to make this vehicle cheap, the batteries had no cooling system so they always ran hot. Also the range wasn't great for the US which led to the batteries being cycled a lot.
Just bought a 2013 Leaf 3 days ago!
How do you like it so far ?
The reason nobody talks about him them is because they’re total crap. I bought one with 10,000 miles on it Colorado car used it here in San Antonio Texas for two summers and it was down from 85 miles range to 30. should be illegal to sell these things with passive air cooling for that big old battery pack.
If you're savvy by pass the battery with a flywheel generator easy for a smart guy.
5:24 did you notice how ridiculous it is that reverse is pushing forward and D is backwards..
Like most every trend they come and go
Your cup is ridiculously too big. It is your cup that fails the test not the car
I clicked on this video when it was posted 18 seconds ago
I'd rather have a MOPED!
You doing another golf cart review?
I would probably buy a used bmw i3 with the generator instead of the Nissan leaf.
8:06 no its what is common with these leaves.
If you want a fast charge that leaf you're not going to find very many charging stations because it doesn't take a standard charge you have to find a specialized chademo which are being phased out So fail for not even mentioning that
Looks more like hatchback then sedan
You lump all EVs as having similar degradation as the Leaf. Modern EVs have thermal management that is night and day to the primitive air cooling that Leafs had.
It has been found that high mileage Teslas have had negligible degradation despite many charges.
The newer ones are better
Not RHD? Strange😂
Did you have range anxiety during the filming of this car?
Just leave it be …
i'd buy this for like 3k max
That’s what they can sell for.
I cant believe anyone would purchase an EV regardless of make.
2 views bro fell off
EVangelists "EVs are the future !"
The Future "we'll see about that"
Ugly car ,crap range . Definite no from me.
BOOOO EV BOOOO
Lol…. EV’s are bad ass.
@@MugatuJag he’s saying boo erns.
Why is it electric not gas? Why are Electric vehicles taking over our streets here in Canada and all of North America
They are charge by coal, so they will save us from global whoring. And they help employ modern slavery with all the rear earth materials. Its a win win
05:00 BIG FRIGGIN BOTTLE FAIL!!!
9:24 That's a 996, not 997