Buy a 2015 Leaf for $11000?

leafdecision said:

...Question then: what kind of charge rate does an L2 charger have? I have read that 110V is 3-4 miles of range per hour. How much range per hour would an L2 charger give me? It is $1.00 per hour to use the charger, so unless I was getting 8-10 miles/hour out of that, my gasoline car would be cheaper.

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Since you said you were looking at an S with the charge package, L2 charging would be at 6.6 kW (about 6.0 kW to the battery after overhead). If you got 4.0 miles/kWh that would be about 24 miles of range per hour of charging. However, not all L2 charge stations are created equal. Some run at 240 Volts and some run at 208 Volts, so the latter may not charge the car quite as fast as the former. But it's pretty quick compared to L1 charging at 1.44 kW (about 1.1 kW to the battery).

Expect lower miles/kWh in winter and regen when the battery is cold is greatly reduced (at least in older LEAFs, not sure about the 2015s), which means friction braking going down the hill, a major annoyance. Despite the big elevation changes, your efficiency should be pretty good because the Coal Creek Canyon part of your trip will likely be at moderate speeds and your elevation means significantly less drag at any given temperature, compared to sea level. You might see numbers as high as 5 miles/kWh in summer and 3.5 miles/kWh in winter unless driving in snow. Depends on how you drive.

check on chargepoint's site and with your employer. Sometimes ChargePoint works out a parnership with the employers as part of the deal to be able to put the EVSE on property and make it available to outside users. Your company may have a partner agreement which gets you reduced or even free charging.

Also, I'm very possibly wrong on this, but I think that the stereo in the S trim cars does have bluetooth.

It has Bluetooth calling but not music streaming.

Nissan of Sunnyvale is advertising two Leaf S's for MSRP $32,000, Dealer discount $7,001, Nissan Rebate $5,000 = $19,999. Couple this with the CA Rebate of $2,500, the federal tax credit of $7,500 and if you live in the San Joaquin Valley a $3,000 rebate -- resulting in $6,999!! plus sales tax and license. WOW!

Hard part may be driving the Leaf from Sunnyvale to the San Joaquin Valley, but the $$ incentive is there!

Not that I am overanalyzing this or anything....

In a 2015 Leaf "S", the stereo is a standard double-din unit, correct? So I can replace it with an aftermarket unit that has bluetooth streaming/Pandora/whatever and I will not lose any functionality in the other electronics in the car?

I'm guessing the stock "S" speakers are the usual substandard factory base speakers? Are they easy to replace?

For 2015 LEAF without nav, according to Crutchfield:

Usable space behind your dash for a new stereo:9.24"
Radio types that will fit in your dash:

4"-tall ("Double-DIN" style)
2"-tall ("DIN" style)

Leaf with nav = no aftermarket stereo! Now I'm kinda wishing I had gone with the S.

Edit: on recheck, crutchfield states there is currently no dash kit available for the leaf. Bummer, but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there or will be.

You'd likely lose the backup cam if you replaced your stereo. Would love to be proven wrong ;-)

The S doesn't have the backup cam in the stereo.

AlanSqB said:

The S doesn't have the backup cam in the stereo.

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You sure about that? See Rearview Monitor picture at http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/versions-specs/version.s.html.

I stand corrected! When did that happen?

AlanSqB said:

I stand corrected! When did that happen?

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Not sure, but from http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1089545_2014-nissan-leaf-electric-car-84-mile-range-aroundview-standard and http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/presskits/us-2014-nissan-leaf-press-kit, it seems the RearView Monitor became standard on all trims starting w/model year 2014.

adriaanm said:

You'd likely lose the backup cam if you replaced your stereo. Would love to be proven wrong ;-)

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I'd rather have bluetooth streaming than a backup camera, but I guess I can always do what my daughter does - she bought a bluetooth speaker and she sets it on the console between the seats to listen to audio books from her phone. It sounds fine.

leafdecision said:

I'd rather have bluetooth streaming than a backup camera, but I guess I can always do what my daughter does - she bought a bluetooth speaker and she sets it on the console between the seats to listen to audio books from her phone. It sounds fine.

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You can always simply plug an audio cable into the phone. The only downside is you lose the ability to control the playback from the steering wheel controls.

I just plug in the USB cable. Charge and play music at the same time. Steering wheel controls should work. Don't really care as I don't want to be fiddling with my phone while I drive.

adriaanm said:

I just plug in the USB cable. Charge and play music at the same time. Steering wheel controls should work. Don't really care as I don't want to be fiddling with my phone while I drive.

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Will the steering wheel controls on an "S" work with Android through USB?

That is the problem with my daughter's (old, aftermarket) stereo. It won't control an Android, and it doesn't charge through the USB port on the radio, either. It works with her IPod though.

Thanks for all the helpful discussion in this thread. Picked up my LEAF today, ~$10k after discount, rebate, and (eventually) federal and state tax credits.

leafdecision sent you a PM.

nibbler said:

Thanks for all the helpful discussion in this thread. Picked up my LEAF today, ~$10k after discount, rebate, and (eventually) federal and state tax credits.

leafdecision sent you a PM.

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nibbler, I PM'd you back, thanks.

leafdecision said:

I just went and looked at the ez-charge website. I can't find *any* indication on there that Chargepoint is no longer part of the "no-charge-to-charge" program. The only other network on the website that is in Colorado is nrg EVgo, with a grand total of seven chargers in CO, although a couple are within a mile or two of where I work.

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As I said, I would talk to someone at ChargePoint or ez-charge in person. ChargePoint withdrew in the spring of 2014, shortly after the program was announced:

EZ-Charge Program Not So Easy As ChargePoint Exits Nissan Plan (Green Car Reports)
ChargePoint Drops Out Of EZ-Charge – Puts Nissan’s “No Charge To Charge” For LEAF In Jeopardy (InsideEVs)
ChargePoint pulls out of Nissan’s EZ-Charge program, spoiling launch party (Charged EVs)
Plus, there are a few threads here on MNL which touch on the same topic.

( No time to add links, but they can be found easy enough --
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chargepoint+drops+out+of+ez-charge+-golf )

If you do call and something has changed, please report it back here!

Looks like the dealers out west have great prices. I wonder if I could buy one and have it shipped to NC.... Yea no state credit and added shipping but still looks like a better deal than what most dealers around here are offering.

leafdecision said:

Doing a little more investigation, I found that Nissan also gives you $1000 in charging time at a few charging stations. I'll have to look to see if the EV charger in front of where I work participates in the ev-charge.com card deal.

It is kind of a private charger, it is run by a commercial outfit but the building owner asked that it not appear on any websites or directories. I see it in use occasionally. The normal charge is $1 per hour for the first five hours and $5 an hour after that. Ouch. You wouldn't want to forget.

The final kicker is the three years of roadside assistance. At least that way you wouldn't have to have quite as much fear of being stranded.

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$1000 charging time? That's gotta be like 5-6 years of free driving! In my moderate commute, at 2-cents/Km, I calculate I' use about 50 cents/day max. Less than $200/year!