Drivers urged to steer clear of cheap used electric car that has 'fatal flaw' with battery – Express

A popular automotive TikToker has warned drivers who are looking to pick up a bargain on the used car market to avoid one electric car.

TFLstudios is a TikTok channel in which a number of hosts from The Fast Lane Car YouTube channel offer advice to viewers looking to get a new car.

In a popular video, the presenter Tommy recommended that used car buyers do not buy a first-generation Nissan Leaf, stating that they have a serious design flaw.

He explained: “This is one of the worst used cars to buy. The first-generation Nissan Leafs are getting so cheap, but they have a fundamental, fatal flaw which means I can’t recommend them.

“Now, you can pick up these Leafs, even with low mileage, for [between] $5,000 to $9,000 (£4,000 to £7,000). But these early Leafs, like this 2011, only had 80 miles of range when new and they use an air-cooled battery which degrades quickly.”

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Like many electric models, the first-generation Nissan Leaf, produced between 2010 and 2017, features a battery cooling system to protect it from extreme temperatures that could shorten its life.

However, the air-cooled system proved to be ineffective compared to more conventional liquid-cooling, meaning the lifespan of the battery can be much shorter in these models.

In the case of the 2011 example seen in TFLStudios’ video, with a 70 percent charge it had a claimed range of just 18 miles.

Nevertheless, Tommy suggested that any motorist still interested in buying a cheap Nissan Leaf should check the small graph to the left of the range counter, which can indicate the battery’s overall condition.

He added: “This little graph on the right is actually the battery health. It’s got five out of twelve bars, which means that this battery has less than half of its capacity from when it was new.

“Now, this isn’t to say that every used electric car is a bad deal, I actually think a lot of them are really good, but because Nissan didn’t water cool the batteries, they degrade too quickly, especially in hot climates, and the batteries can be more expensive than the entire car.”