Nissan LEAF in Portugal

The first country in Europe to get the Nissan LEAF in 2011 is Portugal, on the far south-western tip of Europe.

I've flown out to Lisbon in Portugal for a couple of days to drive the Nissan LEAF over here. If anyone has any questions they would like me to get answers to whilst I'm out here, shout now!

How many orders have been placed for a leaf. How many does Nissan intend to deliver in 2011. Starting when?

Mike,

Checkout the "Question" sticky. That lists all the questions we still have about Leaf ...

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1516

MikeBoxwell said:

The first country in Europe to get the Nissan LEAF in 2011 is Portugal, on the far south-western tip of Europe.

I've flown out to Lisbon in Portugal for a couple of days to drive the Nissan LEAF over here. If anyone has any questions they would like me to get answers to whilst I'm out here, shout now!

Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

What are the charging arrangements for the "European (continental) LEAF"?

I guess it comes with a built in 3.3 kW charger, but what about the cable from the car to the wall? Does it contain a "soap on a string", or is it just a straight cable from the LEAF to a standard 16A 230V mains socket that is used in Portugal?

Thanks, and good luck!

I used to live in Lisboa, by the way!

Nice! Now that's the invitation I would have liked to score. Never been to Portugal. :lol:

Wait, aren't you the Mike Boxwell who already gave the Leaf "4 out of 10" on the Fun Factor scale?
The lowest ranking, least fun EV ever made.. hardly seems worth a flight to Portugal, no?

http://www.owningelectriccar.com/electric-cars-fun-factor.html

Norway said:

MikeBoxwell said:

The first country in Europe to get the Nissan LEAF in 2011 is Portugal, on the far south-western tip of Europe.

I've flown out to Lisbon in Portugal for a couple of days to drive the Nissan LEAF over here. If anyone has any questions they would like me to get answers to whilst I'm out here, shout now!

Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

What are the charging arrangements for the "European (continental) LEAF"?

I guess it comes with a built in 3.3 kW charger, but what about the cable from the car to the wall? Does it contain a "soap on a string", or is it just a straight cable from the LEAF to a standard 16A 230V mains socket that is used in Portugal?

Thanks, and good luck!

I used to live in Lisboa, by the way!

Click to expand...

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal,

The cable looks like this:


The cable attahced on the publi EVSE:


Hope it helps

mwalsh said:

Nice! Now that's the invitation I would have liked to score. Never been to Portugal. :lol:

Click to expand...

You should. I'm sure you will like it

ruimegas said:

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal,

The cable looks like this:


The cable attahced on the publi EVSE:


Hope it helps

Click to expand...

Yes, that helps! Obrigado!

In Norway we have thousands of chargingpoints with "normal" 16A sockets, like in the kitchens in Portugal (and most of Europe).

How big/heavy is the "soap" hanging on the cable? Is it waterproof?

Norway said:

ruimegas said:

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal,

The cable looks like this:


The cable attahced on the publi EVSE:


Hope it helps

Click to expand...

Yes, that helps! Obrigado!

In Norway we have thousands of chargingpoints with "normal" 16A sockets, like in the kitchens in Portugal (and most of Europe).

How big/heavy is the "soap" hanging on the cable? Is it waterproof?

Click to expand...

According to NISSAN Portugal everything is water proof and it's not too heavy for the dimension of it.

ruimegas said:

Norway said:

ruimegas said:

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal,

The cable looks like this:


The cable attahced on the publi EVSE:


Hope it helps

Click to expand...

Yes, that helps! Obrigado!

In Norway we have thousands of chargingpoints with "normal" 16A sockets, like in the kitchens in Portugal (and most of Europe).

How big/heavy is the "soap" hanging on the cable? Is it waterproof?

Click to expand...

According to NISSAN Portugal everything is water proof and it's not too heavy for the dimension of it.

Click to expand...

I wish I lived in Lisboa again!

Here in Norway I think I have to wait for the winter-version of the car, unfortunately!

GroundLoop said:

Wait, aren't you the Mike Boxwell who already gave the Leaf "4 out of 10" on the Fun Factor scale?
The lowest ranking, least fun EV ever made.. hardly seems worth a flight to Portugal, no?

http://www.owningelectriccar.com/electric-cars-fun-factor.html

Click to expand...

Yes I am. That was an engineering prototype car and whilst it was very competent, it wasn't the most fun car I've ever driven.

The cars I'm now testing are production models and they are much better and my articles will reflect that.

Incidentally, I have reserved my own Nissan LEAF, reservation number 245 for the UK.

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1050838_does-the-2011-nissan-leaf-deliver-its-100-miles-of-all-electric-range

In other words, enough range remained to bring the Leaf up to a total of 97 miles, just 3 miles short of Nissan’s ideal-range calculation.

While we didn’t use the air-conditioning due to the temperate climate, nor drove at extremes of style, our own test has shown the 2011 Leaf to be capable of the 100 mile range claimed of it. While we tried to keep the Leaf in it’s range-preserving “Eco” mode our day consisted of winding hills, high-speed freeway and city driving.

Is the 2011 Nissan Leaf is more than capable of achieving its predicted range of 100 miles per charge?

Yes.

Click to expand...

I honestly am not sure all this moderated driving is necessary. Unless something wacky happens as the pack charge diminishes, my own test indicates that (in a moderate climate) the LEAF is capable of 90 miles @ highway speeds with almost NO consideration for fuel economy.

Great, i think i found the right subject for my question..

I live in Sweden and think the Nissan Leaf will be perfect for me..

questions....

As I can understand, the standard charging is with a blue socket 230v 16A connector.. Is there other alternatives for charging?

Like a standard euro 2-pin "household" contact? ..

Is it possible to lower the 16A to 10A or 6A charging to be compliant with "motor heat" outlets in Sweden that is 6 or 10A ..

Regular standard 2 pin household contacts are fused at 10A in Sweden..

EDIT1:
One more question.. Will there also be any possibility to charge with 400v 16A (6,4kW?) at home? It would be nice to have that possibility

taztaz said:

Great, i think i found the right subject for my question..

I live in Sweden and think the Nissan Leaf will be perfect for me..

questions....

As I can understand, the standard charging is with a blue socket 230v 16A connector.. Is there other alternatives for charging?

Like a standard euro 2-pin "household" contact? ..

Is it possible to lower the 16A to 10A or 6A charging to be compliant with "motor heat" outlets in Sweden that is 6 or 10A ..

Regular standard 2 pin household contacts are fused at 10A in Sweden..

EDIT1:
One more question.. Will there also be any possibility to charge with 400v 16A (6,4kW?) at home? It would be nice to have that possibility

Click to expand...

Hi from Norway,

The car will not "know the difference" between an industrial 16A 230V socket and a household 16A 230V socket (called "Schuko").

There is a "soap on a string" in the charging lead which tells the car whether to use 16A or 10A. I don't know whether it will go so far down as 6A, but I guess it could.

I think a 3-phase 400V charger would be interesting. Note though that it would be 11 kW! (3 x 16A x 230V).

Unfortunately the winter-version is not available until the end of 2011!

Norway said:

taztaz said:

Great, i think i found the right subject for my question..

I live in Sweden and think the Nissan Leaf will be perfect for me..

questions....

As I can understand, the standard charging is with a blue socket 230v 16A connector.. Is there other alternatives for charging?

Like a standard euro 2-pin "household" contact? ..

Is it possible to lower the 16A to 10A or 6A charging to be compliant with "motor heat" outlets in Sweden that is 6 or 10A ..

Regular standard 2 pin household contacts are fused at 10A in Sweden..

EDIT1:
One more question.. Will there also be any possibility to charge with 400v 16A (6,4kW?) at home? It would be nice to have that possibility

Click to expand...

Hi from Norway,

The car will not "know the difference" between an industrial 16A 230V socket and a household 16A 230V socket (called "Schuko").

There is a "soap on a string" in the charging lead which tells the car whether to use 16A or 10A. I don't know whether it will go so far down as 6A, but I guess it could.

I think a 3-phase 400V charger would be interesting. Note though that it would be 11 kW! (3 x 16A x 230V).

Unfortunately the winter-version is not available until the end of 2011!

Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for that information.. Yes I guess I can use Schuko through an adapter then

On the "soap on a string" box there must be a possibility to manual set the 16A or 10A setting then because there is no way for the "soap" to know the difference..

Ahh so thats how you calculate the 3-phase connection.. Thanks for that info!

taztaz said:

Ok, thanks for that information.. Yes I guess I can use Schuko through an adapter then

On the "soap on a string" box there must be a possibility to manual set the 16A or 10A setting then because there is no way for the "soap" to know the difference..

Ahh so thats how you calculate the 3-phase connection.. Thanks for that info!

Click to expand...

The "soap on a string" either has different "pig tails" for different currents, or a switch. I think this should be unnecessary in Europe, where almost every single single-phase socket is 16A. The "soap" should be built into the car.

If you have three-phase with 25A fuses in your house, you can draw over 17 kW!

Norway said:

taztaz said:

Ok, thanks for that information.. Yes I guess I can use Schuko through an adapter then

On the "soap on a string" box there must be a possibility to manual set the 16A or 10A setting then because there is no way for the "soap" to know the difference..

Ahh so thats how you calculate the 3-phase connection.. Thanks for that info!

Click to expand...

The "soap on a string" either has different "pig tails" for different currents, or a switch. I think this should be unnecessary in Europe, where almost every single single-phase socket is 16A. The "soap" should be built into the car.

If you have three-phase with 25A fuses in your house, you can draw over 17 kW!

Click to expand...

Ok so i can choose currents? Thats perfect.. And no.. its not unnecessary since we may need that in Sweden In my house i have 3-phase 16A, had 20A from beginning but no idea to pay extra money for it when i manage with 16A . I will have a 230v 16A outlet and also a 400v 16A outlet in case i need to charge faster

But as i said before, in Sweden there is already a infrastructure built with engine warmer outlets, espeacially in the northen parts of Sweden.. But also in southen parts of sweden some companies have this.. Where I work we have 15 outlets with 230v 10A in our parking lot.. It would be perfect for electric car charging All this outlets are built to be used at the same time too

Sounds like 200-240v and 6A, 10A, 13A, 16A settings are generally "needed" over there, and 12A is also needed for the USA. Future uses (faster L2 charger in the EV) would use 20A, 24A, 32A and maybe others.

So, any One-Current Control Pilot setting will not be suitable. The user needs to be able to "match" the EVSE to the current capacity of the source.

So, for EVSEs that are "movable" (or portable), like "brick on a cord" (or "soap on a string), as buyers we need to insist upon having user-settable "Max-Current" settings in the EVSE. Carrying 2, 3, or 4 different EVSEs is just not satisfactory.