Best Practices for a first time leaf owner

Hi there
We just leased a 2015 Leaf last week, and we have been driving around to work without any problem. We plug our charger into our garage 110V outlet and it charges for 9-10 hours.
Are there any tweaks/suggestions/concerns etc that we should do or watch for? When we plug in the charger, we don't even look at the dashboard, or try to "time" the charge to stay at 80 %. Is there something else we should be doing? I know this sounds like a very trivial question, but we are first time users of an electric vehicle. I know some of you watch your dashboard intensively to recognize battery degradation, or regen power in eco mode etc. What "best practices" would you recommend, so that we have an enjoyable experience with the leaf, all throughout the 3 year lease? Thanks, and I sincerely apologize if this issue was covered somewhere but I did not see it. BTW, we have never charged at any public facility, and hate paying for charging. thanks!

I'm not driving a Leaf but EV "best practices" apply to any electric car. I have a VOLT and a RAV4 EV. I charge them both at home. After a few times charging them with their 120V chargers, I quickly investigated the advantages of a Level 2 EVSE. There simply is no comparison between level 1 and 2 EVSEs when it comes to "how long" it takes to charge.

My advice to you, even though you leased your Leaf, would be to invest in a L2 EVSE. This will cut down your charging time considerably. The real benefit of this is financial since you will no longer have to charge "immediate". Instead, you can do "scheduled" charging. By recharging only during overnight periods, generally not before midnight, you will lower your electric bill.

There are many L2 EVSEs to choose from. Prices range from about $300 to $1000. Many are available to buy online with lots of product reviews to help you decide which one is right for you. You can check them out on Amazon.com.

Now, if and when you "upgrade" from L1 to L2, here are a couple tips to keep in mind.

1. The LENGTH of the output cable is probably the most important feature. 18' is better than 12'. 20' is better still. But, I recommend getting the longest cable you can afford, where 25' is about the longest you will find. Trust me, any additional cost for a longer cable is well worth it.

2. No two EVSEs are the same. All L2 EVSEs require a 240Vac (single phase) source of power, but how they "connect" to your house is what matters. You'll probably need a "new" outlet wired into your garage. Proper planning is essential and you may need to consult with a licensed Electrician. There could be extra costs to provide a proper 240V power source to any L2 EVSE.

3. An important consideration of any EVSE is its "portability". You may find it beneficial to use your own L2 EVSE to charge on the road while on an out of town trip or at a friend or relative's house. This is called "opportunity" charging. Ideally, you can charge FASTER as well with your (portable) L2 EVSE at 240V provided you are properly prepared. Don't expect all 240V outlets to be the same. The most common in most cases is an AC power receptable for an electric dryer. It's called a NEMA 10-30R and it is rated for 30A. All L2 EVSEs can use it, but NONE come with the adapter cord for that type of receptacle. You will have to buy the adapter separately probably from the same company as the EVSE manufacturer. Adapter cords only need to be 12" long and therefore are fairly inexpensive.

4. Get a L2 EVSE that is "future proof". You can save money with an EVSE with an output power rating that is just enough to match your LEAF. Try to think ahead. What possible EV will you be driving after the LEAF? Think BIG! If someday you have a TESLA, the minimum L2 EVSE you will need is one with a 10kW output power rating. This means you will need a 240V source of power in your garage rated for a full 50 amps and a L2 EVSE rated for 10kW (40 amps). Don't skimp out. A power source of 40A means you can only charge at 32A max. An outlet rated for 30A (like an electric dryer) means you can only charge at 24A. If you have access to a full 50A outlet, but your EVSE is only rated for 240V at 16A (3.8kW), that is all the power you can use from the outlet even if the car "could be" charged at 5.8kW (240V at 24A). In order words, don't hesitate to "OVERKILL" on your L2 EVSE's power rating. What you don't use now, you may well need in the future!

You can still charge at lower amperage. It just takes longer, go back and read my introduction to this post to understand the importance of choosing the "right" EVSE.

If you plan to charge it at home most of the time you might want to investigate your electric rates, EV rates, Time of Day rates.

Charging pattern also depend on your usage, How far (round trip) is your work commute?

Most Home Chargers wind up putting in a 240V charger to get the car charged faster.

I would sign-up with ChargePoint and Blink so you have there cards, so if you need to a Range Extending Charge to get somewhere or get home you can. Down load both of there apps, and also download PlugShare's app.

EVs are intended to be just like cars. Charge them and drive them. It's that simple.

If you're only doing short trips, you don't have to worry about range. Just charge every night and enjoy it. If you need to take long trips on one charge, then there are some tips for best driving practices. In general, slower gives you longer range. So you'll get great range in town, but poorer range with high-speed highway driving. Running the heat or AC also reduces your range, so when possible, use the seat heaters rather than cranking up the heat and heating the whole cabin.

After a few weeks, you'll have a good sense of how to interpret the GOM (digital display of remaining miles). For now, treat it as a wild guess at remaining range and pay more attention to the "bars" on the far right, with 12 bars being 100% charge and 0 bars meaning precious little range left. Depending on your driving style, one bar can be 4-8 miles. Also, the lower bar contains more miles than the upper bar. You'll get a sense for it. Try to avoid getting stuck with no charge left. That's really a bummer. :-( When you get down to 2 bars, head home or head to the nearest charging station.

Bob

Try not to recharge the car when it shows six (or at least more than six) battery *temperature* bars on the dash display. This will minimize heat-related degradation.

Get a small battery charger or maintainer and top off the 12 volt accessory battery once in a while.

My advice to you, even though you leased your Leaf, would be to invest in a L2 EVSE. This will cut down your charging time considerably. The real benefit of this is financial since you will no longer have to charge "immediate". Instead, you can do "scheduled" charging. By recharging only during overnight periods, generally not before midnight, you will lower your electric bill.

Click to expand...

This depends entirely on whether or not you have time of use metering. If you don't it's unlikely an L-2 EVSE will pay for itself. It may not even if you do. In any case, if L-1 works fine for you, it's all you need.

finance4kids said:

Hi there
We just leased a 2015 Leaf last week, and we have been driving around to work without any problem. We plug our charger into our garage 110V outlet and it charges for 9-10 hours.
Are there any tweaks/suggestions/concerns etc that we should do or watch for? When we plug in the charger, we don't even look at the dashboard, or try to "time" the charge to stay at 80 %. Is there something else we should be doing? I know this sounds like a very trivial question, but we are first time users of an electric vehicle. I know some of you watch your dashboard intensively to recognize battery degradation, or regen power in eco mode etc. What "best practices" would you recommend, so that we have an enjoyable experience with the leaf, all throughout the 3 year lease? Thanks, and I sincerely apologize if this issue was covered somewhere but I did not see it. BTW, we have never charged at any public facility, and hate paying for charging. thanks!

Click to expand...

Drive it like you stole it.
At the end of the lease turn it in.
Repeat.

dsinned said:

Get a L2 EVSE that is "future proof". You can save money with an EVSE with an output power rating that is just enough to match your LEAF. Try to think ahead. What possible EV will you be driving after the LEAF? Think BIG! If someday you have a TESLA, the minimum L2 EVSE you will need is one with a 10kW output power rating. This means you will need a 240V source of power in your garage rated for a full 50 amps and a L2 EVSE rated for 10kW (40 amps). Don't skimp out. A power source of 40A means you can only charge at 32A max. An outlet rated for 30A (like an electric dryer) means you can only charge at 24A. If you have access to a full 50A outlet, but your EVSE is only rated for 240V at 16A (3.8kW), that is all the power you can use from the outlet even if the car "could be" charged at 5.8kW (240V at 24A). In order words, don't hesitate to "OVERKILL" on your L2 EVSE's power rating. What you don't use now, you may well need in the future!

Click to expand...

However, balance that with the realities of the electrical infrastructure of your home. The bigger the EVSE you buy, the more likely something else has to be upgraded, like the panel (circuit breaker box) or even the "drop" (the feed from the utility, whether from a pole or underground).

You should contact a qualified electrician to see what your current service is capable of adding, and buy the largest EVSE that it can accommodate. If you live in an older home, that could be as little as a 16 amp model. If it's old enough, or your panel is full enough, you could have to do the upgrade anyway, and in this case do plan for future proofing.

BTW, we have never charged at any public facility, and hate paying for charging. thanks![/quote]
What about 2 years of no charge to charge program?

Edy said:

BTW, we have never charged at any public facility, and hate paying for charging. thanks!

Click to expand...

What about 2 years of no charge to charge program?[/quote]
Thanks to everyone who has responded. The "No charge to charge" program is really a farce for us. All Nissan dealerships are at least 20 miles away from us. Most charging stations around us are Chargepoint, and they don't participate anymore (according to the phone reps).
We have very few public charging options available and all of them involve paying at least $ 0.4/kwh.

finance4kids said:

Edy said:

BTW, we have never charged at any public facility, and hate paying for charging. thanks!

Click to expand...

What about 2 years of no charge to charge program?

Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone who has responded. The "No charge to charge" program is really a farce for us. All Nissan dealerships are at least 20 miles away from us. Most charging stations around us are Chargepoint, and they don't participate anymore (according to the phone reps).
We have very few public charging options available and all of them involve paying at least $ 0.4/kwh.[/quote]
Too Sad to hear about that, sounds very nice and helpful at the beginning, when nissan make the announcement.

Some very good responses, in particular from dsinned.

My input:
Note that Nissan recommends the 120V EVSE for limited emergency use only.
Some people have used it for a long time without problems yet, but in general that is a bad idea unless you have a newly properly installed dedicated circuit with high grade receptacle using properly tightened screw connections.

Previous info from another thread:

mikelb said:

...
Trickle charging should be safe, though, right? I wouldn't necessarily need to have the circuit certified for it or anything, should I? If I were to go to a friend's house, would I be safe plugging into their outlet?

Click to expand...

How safe 120V charging is depends on how lucky you are.
Very few garages have the correct properly installed high quality single outlet supplied by a single breaker.
Code only allows using 80% of the circuit rating for a long term continuous load.
So on a 15 amp circuit nothing else should be on the same circuit while the car is charging.
And a lot of 120V gets put in poorly using push in connections.
One person had a bad fire most likely from staples that had damaged the cable in the wall.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As a newcomer,
Start with Stoaty's guide http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5508&hilit=+stoaty%27s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
See Tony Williams' range chart http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293#p101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I would suggest only a few things:

--Get an L2 EVSE (240 volt)
--If convenient, use the charging timer to charge to around 80% unless you need 100%.
--When possible, finish charging to 100% within a couple of hours of departure
--When possible, don't charge when the battery is hot (wait a few hours or until middle of the night to charge)

If too inconvenient or not possible to do items 2-4, don't worry about it.

you will learn a different way to drive, where you try to maximize your use of the energy rather than flooring it without thinking.
mostly, this comes from wanting to stretch the range. you will get a new appreciation of how much MORE energy it takes to move a car at 75 mph than at 60-65mph.
it also will provide longevity for your battery; i.e. less degradation because of less usage, heat and recharging.
this is minimized somewhat if you lease and decide the battery LIFE is not an issue, but getting maximum range will still be important for some trips.

KJD said:

finance4kids said:

Hi there
We just leased a 2015 Leaf last week, and we have been driving around to work without any problem. We plug our charger into our garage 110V outlet and it charges for 9-10 hours.
Are there any tweaks/suggestions/concerns etc that we should do or watch for? When we plug in the charger, we don't even look at the dashboard, or try to "time" the charge to stay at 80 %. Is there something else we should be doing? I know this sounds like a very trivial question, but we are first time users of an electric vehicle. I know some of you watch your dashboard intensively to recognize battery degradation, or regen power in eco mode etc. What "best practices" would you recommend, so that we have an enjoyable experience with the leaf, all throughout the 3 year lease? Thanks, and I sincerely apologize if this issue was covered somewhere but I did not see it. BTW, we have never charged at any public facility, and hate paying for charging. thanks!

Click to expand...

Drive it like you stole it.
At the end of the lease turn it in.
Repeat.

Click to expand...

Actually, don't do that, you're just screwing over the guy that buys the returned car.

Vincerama" [b said:

Drive it like you stole it.
At the end of the lease turn it in.[/b]
Repeat.

Click to expand...

Actually, don't do that, you're just screwing over the guy that buys the returned car.[/quote]

Fair warning then. Stay away from 300613 when it goes on the used market in 2017 :twisted:

It's cooperative behavior like that that has gotten us where we are today.

How about we all just drive it however we want to drive it since we're the ones leasing them? I'll tell you how to drive your car when I start paying your lease payments