What are the Leaf Charging Requirements

New to the board, here on the Oregon Coast, where electric power is $0.0631 cents/KW/h. About as cheap as you cen get.

My question is: What is the minimum AC/AMPS circuit required to charge the Leaf overnight? Is 40 AMP capacity adequate for an overnight charge?

Secondly; Does the Leaf REQUIRE a formal charging system? Doesn't the car have the required electronics factory installed?

I may buy a Nissan Leaf and decide I want another brand of EV sometime in the future. An expensive, dedicated charging station may require expensive modification or even replacement to accommodate the new vehicle. Why buy a dedicated charging station at all? Why not use a simple, standard Ac power 240V 40 AMP AC circuit receptacle? I already have the circuit breaker installed, the cable run to where I want it. Just need to identify the correct AC 240V receptacle. Don't need a survey and will get permit when it suits me.

SiMahDan said:

Secondly; Does the Leaf REQUIRE a formal charging system? Doesn't the car have the required electronics factory installed?

I may buy a Nissan Leaf and decide I want another brand of EV sometime in the future. An expensive, dedicated charging station may require expensive modification or even replacement to accommodate the new vehicle. Why buy a dedicated charging station at all? Why not use a simple, standard Ac power 240V 40 AMP AC circuit receptacle? I already have the circuit breaker installed, the cable run to where I want it. Just need to identify the correct AC 240V receptacle. Don't need a survey and will get permit when it suits me.

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Some of the more technical guys will respond in more detail, I'm sure, but the L2 EVSE has a communication between it and the car. You won't be able to charge on an outlet without coming up with a way to duplicate the signal.

There is a whole section of the forum called "EVSE - Charging Equipment" that covers everything and more about the questions you asked.

But some simple answers - as MWALSH said, the L2-EVSE which is the 240V equipment that is used to fully charge the battery pack in about 8 hours has specific signaling requirements. There is an SAE standard for the connection to the leaf and the signaling, so there would be every reason to believe that any future EV sold in the USA would use that standard, so the equipment will be forwardly compatible to future EVs. (after all, that's the reason for the standard)

Also of interest to you will be discussions about new EVSE equipment that will be coming to the market that would plug into a 240V outlet, see topics related to Leviton.

But the bottom line is you must have an EVSE to charge the Leaf.

EVSE- Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment - not a charger, but equipment that provides electricity to the charger in the Leaf, with control signaling that talks to the inboard charger.

Happy reading, and welcome to the forum.

Let me add to what was said above. They describe what is needed to charge from zero to full in eight hours. That is known as a level 2 charge and requires the dedicated EVSE connected to a 40 Amp 240 V circuit. That costs about $700 for the hardware and anywhere from $500 to $2000 for labor to wire it up. It does use a standard that should be usable on future EVs. However, the LEAF comes with a 120 V EVSE that only needs a 15 or 20 Amp circuit that you may already have. That is called level 1 charging and takes 20 hours to go from empty to full. If you drive much less than 100 miles per day, then this may work for you.

Actually the LEAF uses only 15 (or 16) amps from the L2 (240v) EVSE, so a 20-amp circuit would be sufficient.

However, some EVSEs cannot be configured for a 20-amp circuit, and require a 40-amp circuit.

If installing a new circuit, use 40 amps if you can, 20 otherwise.

Welcome, a LOT more details in the EVSE threads.

Welcome to the board! You'll find so much information here you may never be able to catch up with all of it. Others have basically answered each of the questions you asked, but let me try to summarize:

SiMahDan said:

What is the minimum AC/AMPS circuit required to charge the Leaf overnight? Is 40 AMP capacity adequate for an overnight charge?

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More than adequate. 20A at 240V will charge to full in under 8 hours even if you crawl in in "turtle" mode with the battery as dead as the car will let it get.

SiMahDan said:

Does the Leaf REQUIRE a formal charging system? Doesn't the car have the required electronics factory installed?

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Yes, you must use an EVSE to charge at home. Even the 120v "charging cord" supplied with the car has a built-in EVSE. The actual charger is indeed built into the car, but it won't accept juice from anything that doesn't have an EVSE attached. DC "Quick charge" is a different story, but you won't have that at home, at least not right away.

SiMahDan said:

I may buy a Nissan Leaf and decide I want another brand of EV sometime in the future. An expensive, dedicated charging station may require expensive modification or even replacement to accommodate the new vehicle.

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No problem. Every EV you buy for the foreseeable future will be able to use any EVSE you have. Some future EVs (not the gen 1 LEAF or Volt) may be able to charge faster if your EVSE supports 40A or more.

SiMahDan said:

Just need to identify the correct AC 240V receptacle. Don't need a survey and will get permit when it suits me.

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True that you don't have to get the $100 Aerovironment survey. Call Nissan and ask for a waiver. Most 240v EVSEs have to be hard-wired, but there are exceptions. If you go the receptacle route you will have to get the receptacle that matches whatever EVSE you get.

I want to thank all of you who replied to my post. I have been enlightened. I understand the setup now. I already have a newly run 120V / 20Amp circuit available that powers an air compressor, which could power the Level 1 charging.

Most Americans own more than one car so buying into this technology, (open road EV), won't change that. Local. short trip driving accounts for most miles driven in the US and the NEV, (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), is perfect for that.

The Leaf or Volt is overkill for me. I already have three cars and a pickup truck. Most of my driving is local and amounts to no more than 10-15 miles per day, (or less). What I need is an NEV, which sells for about 1/3 of the price of the Leaf or Volt. I have heard the same argument repeatedly for years, "The battery technology isn't good enough", like a mantra. Maybe that ihas been true for over the road EV's but NEV's and electric conversion kits have been available for years for light duty vehicles and those who had the wherewithal to do the conversion.

The problem has been to get an NEV or conversion car insured. While some folks, (a limited few), were successful at acquiring insurance for conversion cars and NEV's, I was not successful in that regard. I think the insurance market has eased or opened up since I last tried, but I have not tried for a couple years to solve that problem.

Thanks again to all who replied to my post.

NEVs in CA are limited to streets with 35 mph (or less) speed limits.

I can only go 3 blocks before I have to exit the "neighborhood" and use a 45 mph city street. So, NEV is useless ("landlocked") here.

On the other hand, San Clemente apparently limited all their street speed limits to 35 mph or less, possibly just so the local NEVs could roam freely into, out of, and around town.

Thanks for your comments. I have to emphasize two points. The first is universal, "Speed Limit" means Do not go faster than the posted speed. You can go slower if you can drive slower safely, (Basic Speed Law"). So you can drive 25 MPH on a posted 45 MPH street if you don't impede traffic.

Secondly, there are many, many American communities that simply do not have the traffic pressures you Californians have. (One reason I left years ago). My small Oregon Coast community is a typical American small town where 25-35 MPH is the rule for the entire community. Some NEVs do travel at 35-45 MPH.

Sadly, the Gizmo has been discontinued, but not because it didn't work. But there are other manufacturers of NEVs such as: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGLL_enUS372US372&q=neighborhood+electric+vehicle&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=hqLlTPK2GJDUtQOs9uCwCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CD0QsAQwAQ&biw=1280&bih=795

The choices are vast.

SiMahDan said:

The first is universal, "Speed Limit" means Do not go faster than the posted speed. You can go slower if you can drive slower safely, (Basic Speed Law"). So you can drive 25 MPH on a posted 45 MPH street if you don't impede traffic.

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While that is true, it is illegal in most areas to drive your NEV on the road in an area where the posted speed limit exceeds a certain value (typically that means you are restricted to roads with 35mph speed limits and lower as gary said).

i had an NEV (just sold it tuesday, you missed out on a great price!!) it must be driven on roads with speed limits under 45 mph. i drove mine daily and you are right, for many, it is all you need and if the Leaf had not come along, i would never had sold mine.

but i bought mine Nov 8th, 2007 and never had any issues getting insurance. now the insurance company had to provide me provisional insurance because the could not immediately confirm that the VIN for my Zenn was valid (they could not even confirm that a Zenn was a car!!) but those issues were resolved.