Leaf Owners from The Greater Cincinnati, OH Area

I took delivery of my new Leaf on Wednesday.... I left the dealer with a range of 75 miles and arrived home 16 miles later with about 72 miles range still left... I was quite content... I used "B" and Eco mode and was only on the highway for about 6 miles... And those 6 miles were stop and go along with some steady driving under 35.... The AC was running but not maxed out....

So that was my first EV experience and I must say after having always gotten gas when I had 70 miles left in my GV this was a new experience... I assume once you approach 15 its a good idea to be within this range back to the barn so to speak...

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Leaf. I live in Maineville and used to work downtown Cincinnati. I parked for free in the Westin hotel garage. You can charge Level 1 there for free. You can charge Level 2 at Sawyer Point, just east of the Purple People Bridge. It costs $4 for the parking. You can also charge Level 2 for free at the outlet malls just north of Cincinnati off 63.

Tell us about your Leaf. What color and equipment?

My 2014 pearl white Leaf is the SL with premium package. So navigation and the Bose system came with it along with the quick charge port... I am hoping that we see the quick charge stations in Cincinnati before too long... I chose the white color only because my car sits out in the direct sun all day long at work... And white is a cool color.... Ie it does well not absorbing the summer heat.... I think I would have taken the silver as well for the same reason....

Great information regarding the charging points in Cincinnati. We do head out to the downtown area from time to time... The Sawyer Point garage would be a great spot to park.

By the way the Leaf is the first smaller car that I have owned where my wife complimented how comfortable the front seats are... She has a finicky back and many car seats put a squeeze on your lower back....

By the way, I run up to Mainville all the time... Actually a little north of Mainville... I go to the Elegant car wash and frequent Deyo's restaurant which is located behind the car wash.... East Grandin Road....

Hello, picking up my Leaf S Wednesday the 23rd, live in Elmwood Place, leased the cheapest one I could find instead of buying used, now need to find out why the 220 volt charging cords are so expensive when the charger is built into the car

I have a Leaf SL with all the options. I wanted a white one, but one wasn't available when I got mine. I live near Elegant Auto Wash and I am planning to eat at Deyo's soon.

The Leaf has been a great car. It has changed my view of transportation. I have learned to slow down and smell the roses.

Kubla said:

Hello, picking up my Leaf S Wednesday the 23rd, live in Elmwood Place, leased the cheapest one I could find instead of buying used, now need to find out why the 220 volt charging cords are so expensive when the charger is built into the car

Click to expand...

The 220 volt EVSE is so expensive so that folks can make money on it. I bought the Siemens unit from Home Depot for $850 I believe. An electrician put in a new plug in my garage for $120. I took a credit for the full amount on my 2013 income taxes. You can find less expensive options on this site. You can even make one yourself. You should definitely get one.

Ordered the clipper creek 20 amp 240 version since the leaf s I bought only has the 3.3 KW charger, just have to drill a hole through the garage wall for the wiring, good thing we have a nice Hilti 76 rotary hammer at work I can borrow

I bought Clipper Creek 220 unit from their web site.... The unit was under $600 and had a 30 amp charge rate. My electrician charged me $190.00 to run a 50 AMP wire from our basement box to the garage along with installing a 220 female receptacle in the garage.

We have a Turbo Charger at work which allows both 110 and 220 (16 AMPS) charging. WE have this unit because it can be easily removed from our outside box when not in use. We would have installed another CC unit except that we did not want the box left outside all of the time. By the way a 110 at work would have been fine as I have later learned....

I have found that I am typically staying above 50% charge on a daily basis after using the Leaf all day going to work (16 miles), lunch ( 8 miles ); errands (8) miles; and returning home (16 miles). So I probably could have lived with the 110 unit that came with the car. In fact today I left my home with a 100 mile range and arrived at work (16 miles) with 95 miles range showing... I was at about 5.6 miles per kw as I recall..... The Leaf does surprise me with its performance....

I have heard that Nissan is beginning to expand their installation of EVCS systems in additional markets... However,Cincinnati is still not on the list... I would enjoy seeing a few Super Charger sites in our area... I would think that more folks would begin buying EVs in our area...

So at what percentage battery remaining charge can one expect to see reduced driving performance... I have wondered if this happens as you approach 10-20 % battery remaining ....

True but there is a certain elegance about running home on a busy saturday, plugging in to a lev 2, taking a quick shower, coffee, browse a sec on ipad and bam, back to 100% (in this case. 100% of 80%)

Love having the level two charger.

I heard from my dealer today that supposedly Nissan is working on a 200 mile range Leaf... At first it really got my attention.... But the current range of my LEAF has not limited my local driving... And 200 mile range would not be enough for me to want to take it on a trip...

So cooler weather is starting to arrive in Cincinnati... It will be interesting to me to see how much the battery range decreases as the outside weather temps continue to decrease. I am not quite sure if I am seeing some reduction in range due to the 48 degree morning temperatures... In August I was fairly regularly seeing 100+ mile driving ranges going to and from work on my typical route... The past few days I have noticed a low 90 range.... At 20 and 30 degrees my assumption is that I will notice a substantial loss in range like 20 - 30 % ??? Time will tell... And for sure we will see those temps or colder in Cincinnati this winter...

I must say that I enjoy the Leaf as much today as the first day I drove it home. So far I have not gotten the range below 32 miles before charging up again. That said I keep telling myself that I need to get down to 10-20 % or less charge just to satisfy myself on range anxiety....

Kubla said:

Hello, picking up my Leaf S Wednesday the 23rd, live in Elmwood Place, leased the cheapest one I could find instead of buying used, now need to find out why the 220 volt charging cords are so expensive when the charger is built into the car

Click to expand...

Just do this and call it a day.. $25 and you get a L2 conversion that works very well
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16948" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the EVSE
Here is what I did.. for $25 you can have a 12A 240V charger which will be more than enough for your needs of such low mileage driving. This will land in the 3.3Kw (actually a bit less). For example if the trickle charger says you need 5 hrs for charging to full. The 12A 240V will be done in about 2 hours time or less. It is much more than twice faster... You will find this more than enough for your needs. My daily drive is 32-35 miles and this is more than enough to replenish. Also do check you work may have free changing .. I have that too. Being close to Nissan dealership makes it even easier for you.
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16948

I also installed the 240V point in my garage on my own. It is very easy.. look up some you tube video's and they can teach you the same. Luckily my Breaker box was in my Garage too. So all I needed was a outdoor 4 wire AWG 10 a L14-30R and an outdoor box with lid(Lowes).
Double 30AMP Breakers (Lowes). This whole thing cost me less than $40. You will need to make space in your breaker box and need 2 contiguous slots in the breaker box to get the two phases of 120V + 120V. Very easy if you can turn off current to your breaker box and watch some you tubes.. and understand what you are doing. The breaker are just insert and lock...

Of course you can spend the $287 and send your EVSE for an upgrade to EVSEupgrade.com and get a high power which can go unto 30A.

Already bought a clipper creek EVSA and finally finished running my 50 amp 240 circuit for my motor home which the EVSA is hooked up to