The Leaf SL had the solar panel. We had that on the 2013 Leaf we leased
(for some reason that dealer was very determined we should lease, not
buy - maybe some internal incentive).
Our current 2017 Leaf is an SL (because the jump from SV to SL in price
was ridiculous at the time), so no solar panel.
If the Leaf was ever to be left unused and unplugged for an extended
period of time, I would probably have put some kind of maintainer on it,
but in 9 years that has never occurred. It's unusual for it to sit
unused for 3 consecutive days, and even then it's usually connected to a
Level 1 charger. (The gasser sitting unused for 2 weeks at a time is a
definite thing.)
Darryl
On 2026-08-01 10:27 a.m., Peri Hartman wrote:
Here's a 12V battery puzzle. I owned my 2011 Leaf for about 12 years. I
never replaced the battery and the car electronics still functioned
perfectly. It was always parked outside, so the I assume the small solar
panel kept that battery fully charged while the car was parked. Other
than that, I can't imagine I did anything differently than normal.
Peri
<< Annoyed by leaf blowers ? https://quietcleanseattle.org/ <https://
quietcleanseattle.org/> >>
------ Original Message ------
From: "Darryl McMahon via EV" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Cc: "Darryl McMahon" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
Sent: 01-Aug-26 06:57:12
Subject: [EVDL] Re: Keeping a 2017 Nissan Leaf
Interesting. I had battery maintainers (either solar on dash or plug-
in) on all my ICE vehicles over the years. Mostly because they
typically didn't move for weeks at a time as there was pretty much
always an EV of some kind in the driveway to do most of my trips.
It didn't occur to me to put one on the Leaf due to the big DC-DC
converter from the traction pack that should be maintaining the 12-
volt auxiliary.
I'm content that the failed 12-volt battery had served its time and I
think served past its expected life.
As for battery maintainers, I can come up with one of those pretty
easily (I sell an intelligent version). I should put one on the
current gasser - my SO will love having an electric plug hanging out
from the front grill (actually, not so much). Not so unusual around
here where we still have a lot of gassers with either battery blankets
or block heaters or both to improve chance of engine starts on truly
cold days. (Back in my pre-OEM EV days, I carried jumper cables so I
could tap the traction pack to jump start frozen gassers on the cold
days. Can't do that now on the factory EVs because I can't tap the
pack or boost from the auxiliary per the owner's manual. So now I
carry one of the tiny jump packs for that purpose.)
On 2026-08-01 1:08 a.m., Bryce Nesbitt wrote:
That's exactly what the leaf does with a flat 12V battery.
Just replace it, and put the new one on a battery maintainer. Under
$200 at Batteries & Bulbs, expect a 3 year lifetime for the 12v
battery, maye 4 with the maintainer.
-- Darryl McMahon
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Independent Project Manager (sustainable systems)
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