They forgot the EVSE ...doh....

I picked up my 2016 Leaf SV today. It was brought over from a nearby dealership. The salesperson wasn't too familiar with the cars, and somewhere along the line someone completely forgot to put the level 1 charger in the car, most likely at the other dealership. So at the moment I have a 30 k hunk of metal sitting in my driveway, with no way to charge it. They say they're scrambling to get me one tomorrow. Any suggestions on what I should ask for in return for this snafu/inconvenience? I was really hoping to drive it to work tomorrow morning.

You mean they forgot the L1 EVSE (see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668). The charger for L1 and L2 AC charging is on-board the car, under the hood.

Can't they just give you one from a new 2015 or 2016 on the lot? They can then retrieve the missing one on their own time...

You could look for free or reasonably priced public L2 charging via http://www.plugshare.com and their smartphone apps.

They did not have any other Leafs on the lot. Grrrrr.

I also noticed you posted http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21838. If you're going to do 90 miles roundtrip, even if you don't speed, L1 charging (120 volts) is probably not going to cut it if you wish to drive it every day to/from work, assuming no charging at the destination.

On L1, with any substantial amount of highway driving in your 90 mile roundtrip, you will NOT be able to replenish charge quickly enough at home overnight to start with the same state of charge that you began with the night before. At L1, ~1.44 kW comes out of the wall, and figure maybe ~1.1 kW makes it into the battery due to charging losses/overhead. If you charge for say 14 hours, then ~15.4 kWh would've made it into the battery. If you average 3.5 miles/kWh, that means ~54 miles added. Per http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293, if you do 75 mph w/no HVAC usage on level ground, you should average ~3.0 miles/kWh, so 14 hours would add ~46 miles.

You will have to charge to 100% by Mon morning and once you find that you don't have enough juice on some day (e.g. Tuesday or Wednesday), you'll have take your other car until the Leaf has reached 100% (or whatever the acceptable level is) again. You'll need to do this or charge at your destination or have level 2 charging somewhere or supplement it with DC fast charging somewhere.

Thanks. I should be able to trickle charge at work, where I'm parked for 12 hours at a whack. I am only doing that commute 15 days a month. I'm not terribly bothered by having to use the ICE car as a backup plan, just hoping to use the Leaf on as many days as possible. About 30 of those 45 miles is at 80 mph, the rest is 35-50 mph.

If you will be doing that much high-speed highway driving, you will need L2 (240 volt) charging at home. Even with 12 hours of L1 (120 volt) charging at work, you will not have enough time overnight to completely recharge the battery by morning. You need a full 30-ampere EVSE at home (which requires a 40-ampere, 240-volt circuit) to get the most use from your car.

By the way, LEAF has plenty of power to go up hill into the wind at 80+ mi/hr as long as you stay within ange limitations.

Gerry

It will get old not having a proper charge station at home.

Get a 40 or 50 amp circuit installed, and buy one of the multitude of charge stations available (and we sell them, too). I recommend using 6 gauge minimum wiring.

Did you get a 30kWh LEAF?

For the 30kWh LEAF, and assuming a warm battery (over 70F/20C temperature) and level roads with zero cabin heater use, no headwinds:

------------------------------65mph-------------70mph-------------75mph-------------80mph
--------------------------3.9 miles/kWh---3.6miles/kWh---3.3miles/kWh---2.9miles/kWh
--------------------------- RANGE--------------- RANGE------------- RANGE----------- RANGE
100% -- 26.5kWh------103---------------------95---------------------87------------------77

Dealer probably lost one and they will play leap frog until someone does not need the item :roll:

TonyWilliams said:

It will get old not having a proper charge station at home.

Get a 40 or 50 amp circuit installed, and buy one of the multitude of charge stations available (and we sell them, too). I recommend using 6 gauge minimum wiring.

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I agree with Tony--and no doubt the others here--that you need to bite the bullet and install a Level 2 EVSE at home. If you really want to use an EV, you simply have to do it.

This is one of the costs of using an EV, but also one of its advantages--you charge at home and don't have to stop at a gas station or a public charger.

We have a 40-amp EVSE and we get to 93% in 2.5 hours.

Paul

I agree with Tony--and no doubt the others here--that you need to bite the bullet and install a Level 2 EVSE at home. If you really want to use an EV, you simply have to do it.

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In this case he really needs L-2, but you seemed to imply that anyone using an EV needs an L-2 station, and that isn't true. An L-1 station, or even the factory portable EVSE, will work fine for people who don't drive a lot of miles. I've done it for three years and haven't had any major problems as a result.

I also have a 90 mile drive and L1 at work (sometimes) with 10 hr shifts. If it's perfect weather where you are and you drive slow you may be able to do it. If it ever drops down to 30s where you are and if you want to drive over 75 then I'd say it won't work. 10 hrs at work on L1 for me was good for about 40-44% charge (1kW from the EVSE at 10hr but since it slows down the last 1kWh of battery will take longer than an hour). In the winter it can take as much as 80% (18.08kWh) for one way. Factor in that the drive is at least 1hr off the plug and can be more with traffic that means in a day you have no more than 22hrs of L1 hook up and in the worst case winter you could need as much as 36kWh from 22 hrs plugged in.

If you have an L3 on your route and you'd be willing to stop when needed it could work. You may find like others as time passes that you don't want to drive the ICE car when you can't make it and you just don't like it nearly as much.

thumper said:

Any suggestions on what I should ask for in return for this snafu/inconvenience?

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i would ask for the unit they deliver to you to be the EVSEUpgrade.com unit.
My dealer stocks them, and I bought one shortly after I bought the Leaf.
If I had realized what it was, I would have asked for one as part of the deal. They include the 120V adapter they way they sell it.

Now I have 20AMP/248v charging at home, on an existing unused 30 Amp dryer circuit.