New member with loads of installation questions!

[Pipcecil]

Although, one more question: would there be any benefit to installing a charging station over doing an upgrade on the cable via EVSEUpgrade?

There is really only two benefits for installing a full EVSE vs using the EVSEUpgrade:

1.) you would retain your portable cord in your car. Depending on how much you plan to use it, it could be a slight annoyance to pack the portable EVSE everyday back into your car. If you don't you won't have an emergency EVSE to charge off of from a standard outlet. So that's a personal choice.

2.) With an full EVSE you can get a higher capacity charging system. Either up to 7.2 kW or even 10 kW hour systems (EVSEupgrade maxes at 6.3, the max your car can charge). It would future-proof your charging system at home. In addition, many other plug-ins will not accept the modified EVSEupgrade (like a volt). If you plan on sharing an EVSE with a potential second vehicle it may not work. All commercial EVSEs *should* work with every car that has the same port (i.e. everyone not Tesla), but there have been specific circumstances where it hasn't been the case (i.e. Leafs and GE EVSEs, but it has been fixed).

So it really depends on what you want.

 

[garymelora]

Hello MikeIB,

We thought we would use the Leaf for more trips, but since it costs us $0.15 per mile for any mile over our 15,000 per year, it is cheaper to just use our ICE for any drive outside the local area.

Sorry to go off topic for this thread, but this caught my eye. Here is my take:
I gladly overdrive my lease miles. I save 8 cents a mile in cost of gas vs electricity driving the Leaf instead of my wife's Kia. That brings the cost of each extra mile to 7 cents. That is like buying a car for $7000 that I know will go 100,000 miles and then be worthless. I'll take that deal.