Can I own a Leaf without a garage?

I am planning to buy a 2016 Leaf. I live in an apartment in Southern California, and therefore I do not have a garage. However the apartment does have covered car port, and my parking space has a regular 110 volt outlet. Here is my plan, buy a Step Up and Step Down Voltage Converter, to convert to 220 volt. Then buy an plug-in EV charger such as TurboCord. Will this set up work?
The charger suppose take 240 volt, would 220 volt work as well? with slightly longer charging time?

I am a newbie, so please forgive me if this topic has already been discussed.

If you only have a 110 outlet there, then you don't need to buy a level 2 EVSE. Just remember you are going to get about 4 miles of range for each hour of charge.

Be sure to check with property management that you can tap that outlet to charge your car. You don't want to buy and then find out you aren't allowed to charge.

My Leaf is virtually never in the garage, and it gets damned cold in the Winter, here. You will need to not just get permission for the outlet, but investigate and make sure it can handle a constant 12 amp load for hours on end. With a 15 amp circuit that means nothing more than a low-wattage light or two on at the same time. If that pans out, you should be fine as long as you don't need more miles per day than L-1 (120 volt) charging at home can provide. How many miles a day will you drive at most?

Also, the voltage converter isn't going to work. That outlet you're using is most likely a 15 amp circuit, so it can only safely deliver 80% of that amperage continuously, so at most it can supply 1440 watts (80% of 15 amps is 12, 12 amps x 120 volts is 1440 watts). Most if not all 240 volt EVSEs are of at least 15 amps, 15 x 240 = 3600 watts.

One other thing is you might actually be better off without a garage, as it will be cooler at night outside.

I used to park mine outside the garage overnight, running the 110V charger under the almost closed garage door, to keep the car cooler. I'm in Florida, so the garage heats up throughout the day.

We park our Leaf and e-Golf outside all the time, and have no issues. You cannot however, step up 120v to 240v and plug in a Level 2 EVSE - the amperage would be far too high.

If you want 240v 30A charging, you have to wire the whole circuit for that.

If in area with hot, sunny summer, parking outside is likely not good for the battery. Even a non a/c shaded location offers some benefits. If the Leaf is a lease, probably the battery condition 2-3 years out may not be a concern.

blinder said:

I am planning to buy a 2016 Leaf. I live in an apartment in Southern California, and therefore I do not have a garage. However the apartment does have covered car port, and my parking space has a regular 110 volt outlet. Here is my plan, buy a Step Up and Step Down Voltage Converter, to convert to 220 volt. Then buy an plug-in EV charger such as TurboCord. Will this set up work?
The charger suppose take 240 volt, would 220 volt work as well? with slightly longer charging time?

I am a newbie, so please forgive me if this topic has already been discussed.

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A voltage converter would create a big danger in that the car would be expecting far more amps from the circuit than would be available, creating a BIG overload. And it's completely unnecessary. The 120V EVSE that came with the vehicle will charge the car as quickly as can be done with a 120V circuit. The conversion will be done by the car itself when it converts 120V AC into over 400V DC.

The important thing, as others have noted, is to get permission from your complex and make sure the circuit can handle the load.

Thanks for all the info.
I commute to work 65 mile round trip. the reason I am thinking about a voltage conversion set up is because I heard a regular 110 volt takes over 20 hour to fully charge the battery. And that obviously would not work for me, and thats why I need 240 volt charging.
Any recommendation for apartment resident?

blinder said:

Thanks for all the info.
I commute to work 65 mile round trip. the reason I am thinking about a voltage conversion set up is because I heard a regular 110 volt takes over 20 hour to fully charge the battery. And that obviously would not work for me, and thats why I need 240 volt charging.
Any recommendation for apartment resident?

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You have to understand the difference between "voltage" and "energy." The amount of energy available in that circuit will stay the same, so increasing the voltage just decreases the amperage, leaving the total kilowatts pumped into the car the same. You are proposing something worse than a Perpetual Motion Machine, I'm afraid - they don't purport to pull energy out of thin air. ;-)

Anyway, your only real option is to get your apartment complex to run a dedicated 240 volt line - undoubtedly at your expense. The good news is that if they are willing to do that, the cost is substantially lower than installing a charging station. Given a 240 volt, 30 amp (even 20 amp would work with the right charging cable) outlet, you could, with a 240 volt charging cable, charge in a few hours.

Depending on where you live, your apartment may be eligible for an EVSE installed by EVgo.

http://www.nrgevgo.com/

blinder said:

Thanks for all the info.
I commute to work 65 mile round trip. the reason I am thinking about a voltage conversion set up is because I heard a regular 110 volt takes over 20 hour to fully charge the battery. And that obviously would not work for me, and thats why I need 240 volt charging.
Any recommendation for apartment resident?

Click to expand...

Yes a 240 volt setup will charge must faster, but it is not possible to do it by using a 120v circuit to power a 240v convertor, as the "amount" of power will be limited to what the 120v circuit would provide, and it would be very dangerous and a possible fire hazard to the wiring/circuit when the 240v charging equipment tried to draw the higher amount of amperage from an undersized circuit.

Given your daily commute range and the time it would take to charge that much on a L1 charger, you are going to have some real problems unless you consistently can charge at work or get L2 charging at a daily lunch or dinner stop.

And as noted above, using converters won't get you more out of a circuit that is likely 120v and 15amp and could be quite dangerous if you try - something the property manager would/should object to.

So unless you can convince the complex to upgrade your circuit or add an EVSE to the complex, I really don't think a pure BEV is the solution for you. As noted above, Evgo touts a program that your complex might find acceptable.

Another option would be the i3 with range extender. You can L1 charge and get a decent amount of your commute covered electric and finish it off on gas. Or a Volt would work too. Of course, these also assume that the complex will let you charge. Better check into that first.

OK. sounds like my plan of converting 110v to 240v is not going to work.
I am another option. My apartment has a wall mount AC which draw power from a 220V socket. I can run an 220v extension cord to my car port and have an EV charger plug into it.
I am not electrician, I believe AC unit draw more energy than other house hold appliance. So will this set up provide enough to charging the Leaf battery?
220V may takes slightly longer charging time than 240V, but it will be much faster than 110V set up that come free with the car. Am I right?

Not exactly. The high voltage circuits are now all 240 volts - 220 volts is an old standard that is no longer used by power companies. The outlet for the window A/C can charge your car, but how fast depends on how much amperage is unused on that circuit. You may need an EVSE like the EVSE Upgrade unit, which can be dialed back to as little as 16 amps at 240 volts. If only say, 10 amps is free on the circuit, you still have a problem.

As far as I know, EVSE Upgrade can be dialed down to 6 amps.

If you end up having to dial the amps way down, you will be at the same point as with the 120v circuit... Too long to charge, with the distance you will be driving each day. If it is a dedicated 240v circuit, you might be ok, you need to find out how many amps the circuit breaker is, and of there are more than just the one AC on it.

My first impression is: Don't do it! Although this "might" work in a temperate climate like CA, I would never even consider it in a colder climate, without a garage or at least charging overnight at home. If you do then here are some suggestions:

1) You need WRITTEN permission from the apt complex, get a lawyer involved. Be prepared to pay for all electrical costs, including modifications. Even then, somebody will see that you are "getting special treatment". They will try to equate it to getting $100 worth of gas every night (ya, I know it's crazy but some people just don't understand). In any case, the parking spot must be dedicated to ONLY you. What happens when some pissed off person decides to park in the spot? You can't charge, can't get to work, and get fired because it happens to be a very important day for your boss. Unlikely, but still Murphy's Law suggests that it will happen.

2) You will absolutely need to install a 240 V charging station, I'd suggest the ClipperCreek HCS-40 or 60. Now you will need to worry about other people using it, or worse, stealing the cable. You commute of 65 mi/day is not possible with L1 120V charging (which does require about 20 hr to fully charge from zero). You "might" get 50 mi/day average in CA, but only if you plan on driving less than 65 mph. Here's an estimate: 50 mi/d x (KWH / 3 mi) x hr/1.2 KW = 14 hours of charging. Will you be parked at home for at least 14 hr, everyday? For 65 mi, you need closer to 18 hr of charging. Hmmm, that will work only if your commute and number of hours worked is 24-18 = 6hr. Good luck with that one. I wouldn't mind that job. Even if you hypermile into work, driving less than 50 mph, you "might" get 4-5 mi/KWH, so the best case might be 11-12 hours of charging. It's possible, but I wouldn't want to count on it everyday.

3) Find alternative charging at work. See #1 and get WRITTEN permission.

4) Using www.plugshare.com, find alternative charging at your lunch or coffee spot. Be prepared to do this EVERYDAY. This will only help supplement your charging needs. However, if you get the 2015 Leaf with the DCQC and 6 KW charger, you might only need a 20 min to 2 hr boost, respectively. In any case, this is only supplemental and you will still need either #1 or #3.

Reddy said:

My first impression is: Don't do it! Although this "might" work in a temperate climate like CA, I would never even consider it in a colder climate, without a garage or at least charging overnight at home. If you do then here are some suggestions:

1) You need WRITTEN permission from the apt complex, get a lawyer involved. Be prepared to pay for all electrical costs, including modifications. Even then, somebody will see that you are "getting special treatment". ...

2) You will absolutely need to install a 240 V charging station, I'd suggest the ClipperCreek HCS-40 or 60. Now you will need to worry about other people using it, or worse, stealing the cable. You commute of 65 mi/day is not possible with L1 120V charging (which does require about 20 hr to fully charge from zero). ...

3) Find alternative charging at work. See #1 and get WRITTEN permission.

4) Using http://www.plugshare.com, find alternative charging at your lunch or coffee spot. Be prepared to do this EVERYDAY. This will only help supplement your charging needs. ...

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I wouldn't give up just yet, although in the end Reddy may be proven correct.

1) Written permission is definitely necessary, but I don't think a lawyer needs to be there creating an adversarial atmosphere. If both you and the apartment manager have some common sense, it should be possible to figure something out.

2) I don't think installing the 240V charging station is essential. There are people here who get along without it. I did for a long time too, but I wasn't commuting 65 miles/day. Also, you're not going be charging from "zero," especially with a newer LEAF, so a more realistic time would probably be 13 hours/day, as I always figure 5 mph (1 mile / 12 minutes) when charging at 120V. This is a perfect example where the EVSE 240V upgrade to the original charger available from Ingineer would be great. That way, you've got it in the car instead of sitting at the apartment complex.

3) I think that charging at work would really be the key to everything, as that will be 8 or 10 hours worth of charging at 120V, if it can be arranged. Once again, great advice to get everything in writing. It may turn out that people there would be fine with it, either as a job benefit or even a paid amount every month for electricity used.

4) This also goes along with #3, which if the employer won't allow it maybe there is a nearby location with a charger.

Some things absolutely can't be done, but I still think this is still possible.