New Owner

[lanidrac57]

Hi,

I will be the new owner of a 2015 SV Leaf (white) in 2 days (Nov 27). We live in Quebec and purchased the car directly at Nissan dealer. We will also have a L2 240v 30a charging station installed in about 5 days. I know we pay waaaayyyy more then in the USA but i think we got a pretty good deal. Car was 37k + tx (4k). We got 6k off for trade in (Honda Element) , 8k off from Canada for buying an EV, 4,2K off from Nissan since the 2016 were here and 4k off (wife dont pay taxes). So ended up paying half the price....

We used to travel with a Mazda CX-9 and Honda Element so we are pretty excited to pass in front of gaz station and just waved at them. I traded the Element (2007) in the deal and kept the CX-9 when we need to travel far with the kids or need to carry other kids to baseball. We never travel more then 70km around for our daily stuff (Work, Shopping, Familly Activitie..) We are pretty excited aldo the kids thinks the car is pretty UGLY!!! Of course they would have preffer the Z but, not a good choice for familly.

So if any of you got any advice or tips, feel free to do so , but i will try to go through this board. ... Also one quick question... Is it true that Leaf's owner are like Jeep's owner or motocycle's owner, they wave at each other when passing by on the road? thats so funny!!!

Eric

 

[Bob]

Congratulations on your new car. We hope you like it as much as we like ours.

There are lots of tips on this forum. Some of the members here work very hard to maximize miles per kWh. Others drive like the world is about to end. You can find advice for both types of people and those in the middle as well.

My personal tip is to never let the car run low on energy. Charge every night. If there is any chance of needing more than 50 miles (80 km) in a day, plan on going home for a charge or having a reliable charging stop along the trip.

You can't believe the little "range remaining" numbers on the dashboard. The feeble little computer in this car is too stupid to know what hills or freeways you plan to take, so it never gives a good estimate. Just stick with the 50 miles / 80 km per charge, and you won't go wrong. You'll also become familiar with the 12 bar "charge remaining" indicator. That gives a better sense of range remaining.

If you're a geek, you may want to get an Elm327 device (US <$10 on ebay or dx.com) and use it with a smart phone app called Leaf Spy to read the OBDII port and learn more about your car. If you're a normal person, just drive and love it!

I hear that other cars make exhaust!

Bob

 

[RonDawg]

One thing that is for sure with an electric car: speed kills....your range. The slower you go, the further you go. Of course you have to weigh that against being run over and/or becoming the victim of road rage.

Especially in an environment with a harsh winter like Quebec, preheating while plugged in will make your commute more comfortable while helping to preserve range (not to mention the luxury of getting into a pre-warmed car on a chilly morning). Use the seat and steering wheel heaters.

As far as Leafers waving to each other, that was true when the car was new, but I have not noticed that lately. Perhaps it's an LA thing and Leafers in other parts of North America are a lot friendlier.

 

[lanidrac57]

Thanks to you both for the anwers and the tips... Cant wait to get the car tonight and yes i'm a geek so i will go for all the little tools and apps for this car and try them.

 

[seanxushen]

I am in Ontario and just got a 2015SL. For the deal that you have got, I got very similar deal except last part "wife don't pay tax". I didn't get that part. Why?

 

[minispeed]

My best tip for you (if you haven't put them on already) is run either Nokian or Michelin Xice winter tires. They are both very low rolling resistance. I have nokians on the leaf and xice on the prius, they both get amazing economy, even better than most all season tires and both work very well in snow and ice.

70km will be fine for you in even the worth weather. I drive 70km to work and in -30C the most I ever used last year was 80% battery. I was conservative with the heat and would always wear my warmest jacket and even got a 12v heated blanket for when driving solo and wanting to go faster.

Seat heaters take much less energy than the regular heater, unfortunately the seat heater on high (and steering wheel heater) hit thermal shut offs if you just leave it on. Best practice is to turn it on then when it gets toasty turn it off (or for seats flip it to low) before it gets too hot then repeat as it cools. It's kind of annoying but it works.

If you're using quick charge in the winter try to do it with a warm battery. For example if you drive 60 km then park near a quick charge for a long period of time it will be better to charge as soon as you get there and then park. If you park and let the battery cool then go right to the quick charge it will be slower with a cold battery. As a rule of thumb expect quick charge to take about twice as long when it's below freezing.

 

[hmmwv]

I too wish the steering wheel heater has a better control scheme, it heats up to a temperature that sometime is uncomfortable to touch so I have to cycle it on and off, if it just heats up to a reasonable level then I can just leave it on the whole trip.