Adventures in EV-land, part 1.

[Nutsodeluxe]

Good morning, all, from Melbourne, Australia.
My first EV, a 2019 Leaf e+G with 86,000km on the clock and 94% SOH, has arrived from Japan and is about to come out of quarantine, ready for compliance. With luck I'll have it on the road in the next few weeks.
I've driven several EVs (Tesla S, X & 3 plus BMW i3) and ridden in Leafs but never driven one, strangely, though I've done a lot of homework and I'm confident I've got a good deal on this one.
The purchase and import process has been smooth so far, but I'll wait until the car is roadworthy and registered (and I've driven it!) to make a final judgement. Happily, and surprisingly, the car also arrives with a spare set of alloy wheels and tyres, plus assorted other accessories, like chrome door handle covers & a spare gear shift mushroom!!!
What I'm hoping to gain from the collected wisdom of this site is how to make the most of this vehicle, which will mainly be a city car.
Before I fork out for LeafSpy Pro, is there a better or simpler alternative for someone who's comfortable but not proficient with tech?
I'm getting a Zappi smart charger installed at home and I already have solar panels and a battery, so advice on the most effective & cheapest charging techniques would be welcomed.
Of course, anything else you can throw my way will be good, too.
I'm looking forward to what's ahead!

Cheers - Nutso

 

[pmbdk]

Welcome!

What do you need LeafSpy for? I have it and love it, but honestly I have not really used it for more than checking the SoH of the pack as well as the individual cell voltages. However, I have experimented a bit with the Dropbox functionality which works fine, so maybe it could be used for some long-term statistics. But again: Why? ;-)

I can't say anything about solar, but I will be watching here, as my goal is to get solar in the coming years; obviously being from Denmark probably makes a bit of a difference in the economics compared to sunny Australia...

 

[Nutsodeluxe]

Thanks for your reply. Good question re LeafSpy!
I suppose I saw so many people mention it here that I assumed it was a "must-have" for any interested EV driver, but if the car itself tells me most of what I need to know, that's fine, and cheaper, too.
Regarding solar, as you say, it would be a very different story in the icy north, but since we got our system 2 years ago, power prices here have risen hugely, but we now only pay a small amount through winter and nothing for most of the year.
It will be interesting to see what difference EV charging makes to that picture.

 

[pmbdk]

Depending on you normal work hours I would definitely get two EVs instead of one. Charge one while you use the other during the day... ;-)

 

[benjwhite9]

I agree that the LeafSpy is just a nice-to-have, not a must-have. I use it for:
checking the battery SOH (state of health)
disabling the "selective" door unlock feature (but I think this can be done through the dash now)
reading number of L1, L2, and QC charge cycles

 

[Nutsodeluxe]

Well, here she is: out of quarantine & just waiting for a compliance plate before registration.
Appears to be in excellent condition!
I'll have to wait for a dongle before properly checking battery status, but so far, I'm very happy

 

[hd.]

Hey Nutso, that is one prrtty looking leaf! Is it bad manners to ask how much you paid? We just bought a 2nd (Australian) hand imported e+X, a little fewer Ks, but only 93% SOH. Though I dare say we would not have been game to import it ourselves!!

Ours also has a dashcam, front only. No idea how to work it...

 

[Nutsodeluxe]

Hey Nutso, that is one prrtty looking leaf! Is it bad manners to ask how much you paid? We just bought a 2nd (Australian) hand imported e+X, a little fewer Ks, but only 93% SOH. Though I dare say we would not have been game to import it ourselves!!

Ours also has a dashcam, front only. No idea how to work it...

Not rude at all. In fact, I'm in the process of writing an article explaining the whole thing, including costs.
All up it was about $29k on the road.
The car honestly looks & drives like new, so I'm pretty happy with that.
For comparison, the Good Car Company has an identical car (same colour, spec & kms) minus the nice wheels and they're asking for $45k.
Now to work out how to use those bloody dashcams.......

 

[cornbinder89]

I wonder if those forward facing cameras were something installed and hooked to insurance company equipment? Kind of like those in Russia. They may not be hooked to anything now.

 

[hd.]

Not rude at all. In fact, I'm in the process of writing an article explaining the whole thing, including costs.
All up it was about $29k on the road.
The car honestly looks & drives like new, so I'm pretty happy with that.
For comparison, the Good Car Company has an identical car (same colour, spec & kms) minus the nice wheels and they're asking for $45k.
Now to work out how to use those bloody dashcams.......

Wow! i guess it pays off to go straight to the source. Ours has been about $33k all up, so not as good a deal -- but still better than Good Car (bless 'em)!

 

[Ancient1]

Yours looks exactly like mine, with the exception of the steering wheel being on the wrong side! My wife even named ours Scarlet. I do really like the wheels on yours - any indication of the manufacturer? Aftermarket wheels aren't common for Leafs, so I would love to know if yours are available here in the States.
Thanks.

 

[Nutsodeluxe]

Yours looks exactly like mine, with the exception of the steering wheel being on the wrong side! My wife even named ours Scarlet. I do really like the wheels on yours - any indication of the manufacturer? Aftermarket wheels aren't common for Leafs, so I would love to know if yours are available here in the States.
Thanks.

Yes, they are nice wheels. I got lucky - didn't even realise it had aftermarket ones. These are actually bigger than standard - tyres are 225/45 R18
The brand is Leonis. I assume they're Japanese. See pic.
Suprisingly, the car also came with another set of wheels and (winter) tyres, but they were 17 inchers. See 2nd pic. That brand is Wedsport - also Japanese, and very nice.