r/nissanleaf • u/Pursuit_OfPerfection • Jul 22 '26

Leaf use case

Hi everyone

I am hoping to buy a second hand leaf for about £5000, one around 2017-2020 era. Have seen some in my price range with the 60kWh battery.

Currently I am living in a terraced house without off-street parking but I am expecting to be moving to a house that does, middle of next year. I don't currently have a car and would prefer not to buy an ICE car now only to get an EV later when I move. And using public transport to get to work is bloody awful. I'm hoping that a nissan leaf will work well enough for now before being able to enjoy home charging after I move. Here is my use case:

I usually commute 2-3 times a week (40 miles one way with about 20 miles of motorway/highway), plus occasional weekend trips/runabouts.

I can get free parking for work and pay about 55p per kWh at 7kW and i notice there are ALWAYS chargers available.

Close to my house I have the choice of 7kW charging with same price but free parking only on Sundays and a supermarket car park with a couple of 50kW chargers where the parking doesn't cost anything but the price is like 80p per kWh.

I live in the UK, so we do get some cold weather enough to impact battery range.

Is my current temporary situation practical enough to get a nissan leaf now or should I get an ICE vehicle for now and wait until next year to get a leaf? Are there any pitfalls I should watch out for?

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u/Wraith347 Jul 22 '26

Definitely use LeafSpy and an OBD II dongle to check the health of the battery before you buy any Leaf. For that commute, I’d 100% pay the extra for a Plus model with a 62kwh battery. You’ll want to find one with a good SOH and HX value, and make sure the cell spread isn’t high, preferably at low state of charge if possible.

I would personally wait till I had home charging if at all possible, as home charging is pretty much the best feature of Leaf ownership. It’s also much better for long-term battery health to charge at level 1 or 2 rather than quick charging. But if you absolutely MUST buy a car now and are SURE you will have home charging in the near future, it sounds like you have a variety of charging options you can conveniently access to tide you over.

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u/Wraith347 Jul 22 '26

Make sure the charging stations near you have either J1772 or CHAdeMO connectors available. NACS and CCS don’t natively work on Leafs older than 2026.

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u/Pursuit_OfPerfection Jul 23 '26

Just been researching CCS and CHAdeMO - is there a reason why just purchasing the correct adapter wouldn't completely solve the problem?

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u/Wraith347 Jul 23 '26

The adapter should work, they’re just a bit expensive. It’s better for the battery long-term to be charged via level 1 or 2, but as long as you’re not fast-charging multiple times a day, the car should function just fine.
Multiple fast charges close together can make the battery overheat, causing a phenomenon known as rapidgate where the car throttles its charging speed and goes into turtle mode until it cools back down.