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Dropped $1,800 on a used Nissan Leaf battery, and now I can't tell if it was smart or stupid
I bought a 2013 Leaf three years back for $6,500, knowing the battery was at about 8 bars of health, and decided to roll the dice on a salvage pack for $1,800 instead of paying the dealer $8,000 for a new one. The swap worked great for about 14 months, got me from 45 miles of range up to almost 70, which was plenty for my 22 mile round trip commute in Sacramento. Then last month it started dropping bars fast, and my mechanic says the salvage pack was probably sitting in a wrecked car in a hot yard for who knows how long before I got it. On one hand I saved thousands and got over a year of use, on the other hand I'm right back where I started and out $1,800. Is it better to gamble on used EV parts for cheap and hope, or just eat the cost of new cells that are actually rated for the heat?
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mark_green3h ago
Solar gain matters more than age for those salvage packs. A car sitting in a Phoenix or Vegas yard bakes the cells way worse than one parked in foggy coastal junk yard, and the seller usually has no idea which one you're getting. Next time ask for the VIN off the donor car and look at where it was registered, since a Bay Area wreck pack might still have decent life left. Also worth checking if you can find a pack from a 2015 or newer Leaf, since the lizard chemistry they switched to handles heat a lot better than what came in your 2013.
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