New owner,adjusting expectations

Hello all,

Purchased new 2014 SV with Nav/Bose a couple of weeks ago.
I have been very happy with the car so far.
I bought it as a commuter car but did take a leap of faith that it could meet my expectation of getting
back and forth on my daily commute of 30mi each way with no access to workplace charging. So 12.5 hrs of home trickle charge is not quite making it. Not withstanding reduced speeds and frugal use of AC in Hotlanta.
I have already committed to Level 2 charge solution which I am working on this week.

Any potential Leaf owners/lessee should take note that any significant commute should be ready to adapt to the need for a recharge solution that will probably involve Level 2 charging method.
The benefits still outweigh some of the inconveniences especially when you consider the tax credits from state and federal. Hopefully I can also get my employer involved as others I work with have expressed interest in an electric vehicle.
I can really see the EV taking off if they increase range, build a charging infrastructure, and develop faster charging solutions. The technology is already here, making it affordable and available is all that's left.
Thanks to all the many Leaf owners that have contributed to this site as it is a wealth of great information.

I don't know what your expectation was WRT charging, but I don't think anyone who plans on really using the car (60+ miles/day) should expect the trickle charger to meet their needs.

Charging at home (with L2) is a benefit in my opinion. Given my general local use I expect I should be able to charge at home for the vast majority of my usage which is rather convenient compared to having to go somewhere and charge (or fill the tank as in the ol' gas car).

Welcome, and congratulations.

I used the L1 charger for a while, and was really happy when I put in the L2. Besides making your commute easy, you will find you can use the car so much more. I expected to drive my Leaf maybe half the time, but find I am probably driving it 90% of the time when I can recharge so fast.

Any chance they would let you just use a 120 outlet at work? That would totally solve any commuting issues.

Graycenphil said:

Welcome, and congratulations.

I used the L1 charger for a while, and was really happy when I put in the L2. Besides making your commute easy, you will find you can use the car so much more. I expected to drive my Leaf maybe half the time, but find I am probably driving it 90% of the time when I can recharge so fast.

Any chance they would let you just use a 120 outlet at work? That would totally solve any commuting issues.

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Have to agree with this. Also, if the Original Poster had asked here before buying about a 60 mile/day journey you'd have been told that level 1 would not be sufficient. Certainly not blaming you! Just pointing out that the LEAF community is already aware of this limitation.

Since you have a 2014 SV I hope you're getting a level 2 with at least 30 amp capacity - that will allow you to take full advantage of the 6.6 kw/H charger on your LEAF and enjoy being fully charged after just 3.5-4 hours.

Slow1 said:

I don't know what your expectation was WRT charging, but I don't think anyone who plans on really using the car (60+ miles/day) should expect the trickle charger to meet their needs.

Charging at home (with L2) is a benefit in my opinion. Given my general local use I expect I should be able to charge at home for the vast majority of my usage which is rather convenient compared to having to go somewhere and charge (or fill the tank as in the ol' gas car).

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I guess that expectation was derived from the Nissan dealer telling me I would have no problem when I explained my commute to them.

But there is a solution and I am looking forward to that. I will enjoy the car even more so. I do plan to take advantage of the 6.6kw charging.

atljam said:

Slow1 said:

I don't know what your expectation was WRT charging, but I don't think anyone who plans on really using the car (60+ miles/day) should expect the trickle charger to meet their needs.

Charging at home (with L2) is a benefit in my opinion. Given my general local use I expect I should be able to charge at home for the vast majority of my usage which is rather convenient compared to having to go somewhere and charge (or fill the tank as in the ol' gas car).

Click to expand...

I guess that expectation was derived from the Nissan dealer telling me I would have no problem when I explained my commute to them.

But there is a solution and I am looking forward to that. I will enjoy the car even more so. I do plan to take advantage of the 6.6kw charging.

Click to expand...

I would hazard to guess the salesperson was only thinking range on full charge, not time to charge.

Welcome and congratulations.

You'll find a lot of discussion here about range and things that affect it. In very short summary:
1) Highway speeds give you less range than in-town driving.
2) Cold weather gives you less range than warm weather.
3) Running heat or A/C will reduce your range.
4) After a few years, you should expect to lose a small amount of range.
5) The dashboard range indicator is not accurate and also nonlinear. It goes down very fast at first and very slowly near the end. When it shows 10 miles left, you have much more than 10 miles left. When it shows 0 miles left, you still have some range to spare. But if you ever do run out of battery, the car will go into "turtle mode" right there. It isn't a pleasant experience, especially if you do it on the highway in the fast lane. :-(
6) Fully charging the battery and fully discharging the battery will lead to faster capacity loss than running from 20% to 80%. I haven't seen this quantified yet. It may be a major issue or may be just a few percent. Only Nissan knows for sure, and they are not telling.

I suggest that you get to know your "miles per kWh" for your trip under different conditions. Worst case should be cold weather+heat+highway speeds. From full charge to turtle should be roughly 20kWh.

Once you have a sense for that, you'll know when you have to worry and when you'll be safe. There's a great tutorial here on learning to drive for best range.

Bob

Rule number 1: NEVER believe ANYTHING that a dealer tells you without independently verifying it!

atljam said:

I guess that expectation was derived from the Nissan dealer telling me I would have no problem when I explained my commute to them.

Click to expand...

TomT said:

Rule number 1: NEVER believe ANYTHING that a dealer tells you without independently verifying it!

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+1. Especially for a Leaf. Heck the dealer was impressed that I was teaching them things about the car they had no idea it could do.

We've had our '12 SL for a little over 2 1/2 years here in the more moderate midwest (less heat/ much colder winters) than ATL and even at 30 miles R/T week day and about double or more than that on the weekends had planned ahead for L2 charging at home. Here in IL, the state offers a 50% cash rebate on a home charging install so was about $600 out-of-pocket after the rebate for running a new 40AMP connection and Schneider EVlink charger in a big 4-car tandem garage --- prices and variety of L2 charger have improved quite a bit since the late 2011 install so its worth it to check the forum for later installs and with other folks from GA on any local EVSE rebates, etc. We have fairly low kWh rates and charging the car barely increases our electric bill -- we drive between 650 and 950 miles per month so between $8 to $10 month extra depending on our average miles/kWh which goes down in winter, but increases with mild temps. On the weekends, we will split some expected trips and use the L2 charger in-between for a few hours which would help extend the usability versus the standard one quite a bit ... in the long run, unless you have close-by access (i.e., like living close to a Walgreen's which locally for us offer Chargepoint L2 charger -- nowhere near as cheap as charging from home though) it definitely will pay for itself with a quick ROI if you plan to have an EV longer than say a 3-year lease.

atljam said:

Hello all,

Purchased new 2014 SV with Nav/Bose a couple of weeks ago.
I have been very happy with the car so far.
I bought it as a commuter car but did take a leap of faith that it could meet my expectation of getting
back and forth on my daily commute of 30mi each way with no access to workplace charging. So 12.5 hrs of home trickle charge is not quite making it. Not withstanding reduced speeds and frugal use of AC in Hotlanta.
I have already committed to Level 2 charge solution which I am working on this week.

Any potential Leaf owners/lessee should take note that any significant commute should be ready to adapt to the need for a recharge solution that will probably involve Level 2 charging method.
The benefits still outweigh some of the inconveniences especially when you consider the tax credits from state and federal. Hopefully I can also get my employer involved as others I work with have expressed interest in an electric vehicle.
I can really see the EV taking off if they increase range, build a charging infrastructure, and develop faster charging solutions. The technology is already here, making it affordable and available is all that's left.
Thanks to all the many Leaf owners that have contributed to this site as it is a wealth of great information.

Click to expand...

Here is a cheap way to do this and the car will charge almost 2.5 times faster when you do the $25 conversion. I have been very happy with this..
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16948" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TomT said:

Rule number 1: NEVER believe ANYTHING that a dealer tells you without independently verifying it!

Click to expand...

Agreed - And that goes for any car, not just an electric.

Unfortunately the first line of education about Leafs is from the dealer and that their keen interest in selling you one outweighs the real life facts.
On another note, in regards to making my experience with the Leaf a positive one, I added an 240v outlet in my garage(no easy task in my house) and I built the base EMW Juicebox Level 2 charger. This has made life so much better and gave me peace of mind knowing I can recharge in a very short time. Buying a Leaf is like buying an ICE vehicle with a very small gas tank. There is planning to be done but it is manageable. I think that the benefits outweigh the small amount of driving adjustments in your lifestyle. To think that 90% of my driving needs are met with this car, it's pretty phenomenal. In reality, the majority of car owners in this country could do this. Watching that new TV show Extant, the car of the future is electric, just doesn't show them doing the mundane part of plugging in.

In terms of expectations, buyers do need to be aware that the range will decrease, even in the best of situations. So, if the Leaf meets your needs today with very little margin (i.e. you get 85miles and need 80) know that in a few years it is likely it will not meet that need.

Most of my need, for example, is about 45 miles r/t. I expect this will be met for the next 5 years. Today I can make a run to the airport (82 miles) without charging and driving highway speeds. I don't expect this to be true in a year or so (luckily there is a charging station at the airport that I could choose to use when this happens or I can drive a bit slower).

I am a big proponent of managing expectations - satisfaction often comes when expectations are exceeded. This is not the same as an ICE vehicle in that the range changes significantly over time. Although one would think that experience with laptops and cell phones decreasing capacity folks would 'get' the concept of battery aging...