Just bought a 2013 Leaf SL

Good day Leaf Owners! I am starting a new job that requires a 50 mile round trip commute, and after careful consideration, A leaf was purchased this weekend for the drive. Lenny was a lease return with 1565 miles (not a typo) showing on the odometer. With 0% interest on a used Leaf, we couldn't pass it up. The drive home was 65 miles, mostly freeway driving in ECO. We left with a 96% charge, and got home with 18% left. Plugged into a house outlet and were back to 86% charge in the morning. I think this is gonna work! I have to say the Leaf is a wonderful car to drive.
Robin

Welcome and enjoy your new ride. Leaf spy is a great tool to use if you don't already have it. Location?

Do you have the opportunity to charge at work? Depending upon your location, and how fast you drive, after a year or 2 it may be difficult to make a 50 mile commute without charging somewhere. As someone else already noted, you would be wise to read the threads on LeafSpy, buy the cheap OBDII dongle, and monitor the condition of your battery.

Hello Robin G, and welcome to our happy group of Leaf drivers. Our MY 2013SL already has over 27,000 in just under two years. We have almost no range loss in that time, so we must have the new battery chemestry, manufactured in 08/13. Lets hope yours will be the same.

One thing you will learn quickly is that speed drains the battery quickly. If you have lots of freeway miles, just slow down a little and greatly increase range. Once a month we take an 84 mile R/T, almost all of it freeway. We just limit our speed to 60 mph going up (do not want to get too many commuters angry with us), and the return trip after 10pm we limit it to 55 mph. We still get home with extra miles, this while using climate control. If we were to take the trip at 65mph or greater, we would have to stop along the way for 30 to 45 minutes to get enough range to get home. We did that once or twice, then got smart and slowed down.

Our Leaf has lots of extra miles hidden below VLBW. Kind of a safety factor. Having a way to measure your battery health is very nice to have.

If you include your location and type of driving you will get much better advice. Good luck with your new leaf, and enjoy it!

Thanks for the advise. I know about Leaf Spy. I'm new at this and haven't used it yet. I took the chance the batteries were OK, given the limited use the car had before we got it, and so far, so good. There is no place to charge at my new work place without extension cords, but they are expanding and building a new facility in the next year. They already know I've gone electric and I will lobby for 120 outlets on the outside of the building at the very least.
I live in Shelton WA, and will be commuting to Lacey. We also have a Diesel Beetle as a back up. if the Leaf can't do it. I know my wife would love to drive the Leaf more ;-)
Robin

I too am the proud new owner of a 2013 Nissan Leaf SL/SV (really not sure what is the differene?). I am really enjoying it; it's loaded - leather seats, heated seats, navigational system, bluetooth, etc.

I quick charge it every day - is it okay to quick charge on a daily basis? I do it for free at one of the utility company's quick charging stations. Takes 30 minutes or so.[][/img]

If it has leather, it's an SL. Quick Charging is mainly an issue in hot weather, so watch the battery temp bars and try not to charge when they show seven bars or more.

A short report..

I so love driving Lenny! I don't sweat being stuck in traffic anymore, other than time wasted. I have altered my commute to drive through DT Olympia on the way home. There are 3 hills down and 2 hills up, so I loose about 3% of the battery's on a 10 mile drive.

Down side is, up until now, an 80% charge with the 120V has worked. Now that winter is getting close in the NW, I have to run the defroster, heater, and wipers.. I have an L2 charger ordered. I don't think the 120 charger can keep up through the week. I'm loosing about 5% range every day.

Up side is there are a few EV converts at my new job ;-)

Robin

I suggest that you block the front grille for the Winter, make sure the tires are above 37psi (40 is good) and try to set the heat no higher than 74F (70 is better), using the seat and wheel heaters to compensate. I did a 43 mile Winter commute using L-1 charging only one year, but that was only 3 days a week.