Is My Charger OKAY?

Hello,

I'm getting VERY close to purchasing a 2015. And no, I'm not excited, I'm obsessed!

So here's my question. In the 2015 users manual it states:

The Genuine NISSAN charging equipment communicates with the vehicle before Li-ion battery charging starts. If this communication does not occur because other equipment is used, the Li-ion battery will not charge.

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For my home charger I want to get a "Siemens VC30BLKB 30-Amp EV Charger". Am I going to have any issues? I kind of doubt it but of course wanted to check first.

Thanks Much!

ed

First off, please get EVSE vs. chargers straight. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Off the top of my head, I don't know of any compatibility issues between Leafs and Siemens EVSEs.

Can you update your location info via User Control Panel (near top) > Profile (left side)? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

What are your daily driving needs in terms of miles? How much city vs. highway? Will you have the ability to charge at your work/destinations? Also, why purchase?

cwerdna said:

First off, please get EVSE vs. chargers straight. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Off the top of my head, I don't know of any compatibility issues between Leafs and Siemens EVSEs.

Can you update your location info via User Control Panel (near top) > Profile (left side)? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

What are your daily driving needs in terms of miles? How much city vs. highway? Will you have the ability to charge at your work/destinations? Also, why purchase?

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Okay cwerdna, I think I have it. The "Charger" is actually a part of the car. The EVSE is the device that say's "Here's some electricity for you". Sound about right?

My commute is about 55 miles round trip. I have a ton of different routes I can take to work and the miles all stay pretty consistent. When I get the car I'm going to try them all out to see how I make out. The preferred route would be mostly highway at 65MPH. But I know that my be reserved for those perfect 75 degree sunny days. We do get a lot of them. As for the (believe it or not, not so common) crappy cold wintry days they may be "work at home" or all 45 MPH trips. As of right now we don't have a charging station at work but there is at least a dozen of them between my office and home so I'm feeling pretty confident I won't get stuck. That's my story.

One additional question for you as you seem to be pretty knowledgeable. For the 2015 model, is NISSAN still recommending 80% charges?

Thanks Much!

There are known issues with GE WattStations, but the problem appears to lie with the Leaf and not the station (although it matters little which is at fault) and seems to only occur when the power fails while the car is connected and charging. There have been issues with a few Clipper Creep units and the car going into a charge failure 'loop' when connected while on its charge timer, but Clipper Creek seems to have fixed that, and the company's products are well regarded - many of us own them.

As for Siemens, there are a few posts here http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=13446 about Versacharge units failing, and a complaint about their customer service. Most people seem happy with them, but if you want the best service, I suggest Clipper Creek.

eddiebo924 said:

My commute is about 55 miles round trip. I have a ton of different routes I can take to work and the miles all stay pretty consistent. When I get the car I'm going to try them all out to see how I make out. The preferred route would be mostly highway at 65MPH. But I know that my be reserved for those perfect 75 degree sunny days. We do get a lot of them. As for the (believe it or not, not so common) crappy cold wintry days they may be "work at home" or all 45 MPH trips. As of right now we don't have a charging station at work but there is at least a dozen of them between my office and home so I'm feeling pretty confident I won't get stuck.

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Will work let you plug into a 120 volt outlet? As slow as that is, it will be very useful for you, particularly in winter when the battery won't hold as much charge and factors such as standing water/snow/slush/denser air all conspire to reduce the car's range.

If you can plug in at 120 volts at work, rather than get the Siemens, seriously consider the EVSE Upgrade. The owner of that company (and MNL member) will take your stock EVSE and convert it to dual-voltage operation. It's around $300 and thus cheaper than almost any other ready-made EVSE solution. At 20 amps max it won't charge a 6.6kW Leaf at maximum speed (you need a 30+ amp EVSE to do that) but for most people that is sufficient for overnight charging duty. You can then purchase an adapter (also from EVSE Upgrade) to allow it to be plugged into a standard 120 volt 15 amp outlet.

As you live in an area where there is real winter (as opposed to where cwerdna and I live), don't even consider getting the base model Leaf S with that commute. It uses the older-style resistive heater which is VERY power hungry and at freeway speeds on a cold day you could find yourself using up the entire battery by the time you get to work. Get the SV model at minimum, as it and the SL have a more efficient heat pump type heater that works well to about 5 or 10 degrees F when a backup resistive heater kicks in.

I would NOT recommend heavily relying on public charging stations. You could find them broken, already in use (that is getting to be an issue here in SoCal due to EV's being so popular), or worst of all, ICEd (blocked by a petroleum-burning car or non-plug-in hybrid).

For the 2015 model, is NISSAN still recommending 80% charges?

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Nissan has done away with "Long Life Mode" (80% charging) starting with the 2014 models.

The Siemens is an excellent unit. Early ones had firmware bug/s but Siemens swapped them out. There's a new, grey, model which is new on the market.

eddiebo924 said:

Okay cwerdna, I think I have it. The "Charger" is actually a part of the car. The EVSE is the device that say's "Here's some electricity for you". Sound about right?

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Yep. The above is correct for L1 and L2 AC charging. The EVSE is basically a smart safety switch w/GFCI. It emits a pilot that tells the car the max available current available (https://code.google.com/p/open-evse/wiki/J1772Basics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false, that the car's OBC must comply to.

eddiebo924 said:

One additional question for you as you seem to be pretty knowledgeable. For the 2015 model, is NISSAN still recommending 80% charges?

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As has been mentioned, Nissan removed the option w/the '14+ model year. :roll:

RonDawg said:

As you live in an area where there is real winter (as opposed to where cwerdna and I live), don't even consider getting the base model Leaf S with that commute. It uses the older-style resistive heater which is VERY power hungry and at freeway speeds on a cold day you could find yourself using up the entire battery by the time you get to work. Get the SV model at minimum, as it and the SL have a more efficient heat pump type heater that works well to about 5 or 10 degrees F when a backup resistive heater kicks in.

I would NOT recommend heavily relying on public charging stations. You could find them broken, already in use (that is getting to be an issue here in SoCal due to EV's being so popular), or worst of all, ICEd (blocked by a petroleum-burning car or non-plug-in hybrid).

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Yep. Get the SV or above w/the hybrid heat pump heater.

As for public stations, OP should check out their reliability and whether they're regularly blocked/ICEd via http://www.plugshare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Everyone else has answered your questions pretty well. Have fun! It sounds like you've done your homework. It's always better to make sure that potential owners/lessees have realistic expectations/uses cases within the Leaf's capabilities than to buy/lease and find it won't work at all.

Example of a story of someone who was totally misled: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13264&start=70&hilit=shaming" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Welcome Ed. I'm a relatively new ('15) owner up in Fort Collins. I've learned quite a bit in the short time so PM me if you have any local questions.

I'm also still a bit worried about my occasional commute to Denver in really cold weather. I make it there with charge to spare, charge at work, and drive home with no problems now, but I worry that cold days may have me breaking out the SUV.

Not sure what direction you are going from Firestone, but there are good Quick Chargers in almost all directions.

-Alan

Thanks much everyone. I'm feeling pretty confident. I'm very lucky that if I need to work from home, I can. And if I need to go to work, I'll take the Santa Fe ICE machine. I'm so looking forward to it.

And. . . I have about a 9.5 kWh Solar System getting installed in January. Over sized it a bit to take care of the house and the car. I'll be sure to post as to how it's working out.

ed

eddiebo924 said:

And. . . I have about a 9.5 kWh Solar System getting installed in January. Over sized it a bit to take care of the house and the car. I'll be sure to post as to how it's working out.

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NICE!

I've been looking to go solar too. They keep talking about price per kWh dropped 80% in past 5 years, but you still need inverters and mounting and installation.

May I ask? How does your estimate look on overall installed price? I assume it will be grid-tied? Everything I see online is either out-dated, or panels only, or "call us for a free site evaluation".

Locally, I only have a 50c/rated kW rebate from local utility, and the 30% federal tax credit to take the bite off the price. And in MN, rates are under 12c/kWh. I'm thinking that the $7,500 credit from the LEAF will make a nice dent in a 7.5kW array, and help me point to something when people tell me how dirty the electricity my car uses can be.

kikngas said:

eddiebo924 said:

And. . . I have about a 9.5 kWh Solar System getting installed in January. Over sized it a bit to take care of the house and the car. I'll be sure to post as to how it's working out.

Click to expand...

NICE!

I've been looking to go solar too. They keep talking about price per kWh dropped 80% in past 5 years, but you still need inverters and mounting and installation.

May I ask? How does your estimate look on overall installed price? I assume it will be grid-tied? Everything I see online is either out-dated, or panels only, or "call us for a free site evaluation".

Locally, I only have a 50c/rated kW rebate from local utility, and the 30% federal tax credit to take the bite off the price. And in MN, rates are under 12c/kWh. I'm thinking that the $7,500 credit from the LEAF will make a nice dent in a 7.5kW array, and help me point to something when people tell me how dirty the electricity my car uses can be.

Click to expand...

So I sat down with three different companies. Two of them were larger nationwide companies and one of them local. They were all very good and very helpful but the local one won out by a long shot. They were even a little more expensive but I felt really good about them so that's who I went with. Here are all my numbers for my purchase: http://www.screencast.com/t/yUd4YPhtDDb

Again, I went large because I wanted to try to cover all of the power used by the house (around 12,500 kWh's per year) and a good portion of the vehicle (I estimated 17,000 miles per year which equals about 5,100 kWh's per year). I went high on the miles/kWh's just for my estimate. I probably won't drive that much and I also will be charging in places other than my house. So as for the bottom line, I should be coming close to being right on.

I know too much information but . . . I also did another little check. I figured out what I pay for gas and electric each year and it comes out to about $3,700 that I WON'T BE PAYING. That being the case, I'll have a less than 10 year ROI. Maybe I'm dreaming but even so, Solar Panels & an Electric Vehicle just can't be that wrong.

ed

Wow, that's almost $2k cheaper than I got a quote for on a 20 panel SunPower system from a place in Boulder back in February. Could you PM me the name? I'm going to try to get a system when Fort Collins Utilities starts their rebate program back up next year.

Here is a link to the OpenEVSE page on J1772.

https://code.google.com/p/open-evse/wiki/J1772Basics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;