My list of things I'd like to see changed on the Gen 2 LEAF

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Please, pretty please, I beg you, give us a way to use defrost and circulating fan without using the heater! We've got another round of range anxiety coming as the whether gets colder, we need control of the heater even if the inside temp goes below 60 degrees. It's beyond me why we don't have ultimate control over the most energy consumptive accessory in the car!!
 
TickTock said:
Eliminate the divider between the driver and passenger. I would love to see the front bench seat come back.

Stick shifts, and safety belts, bucket seats have all got to go.. when we're driving in the car, it makes my baby seem so far..
I NEED you here with me, not way over in a bucket seat..
 
my list: For nearly 40k, the fact that you don't have auto up/down on ALL windows is a bit insulting. And the sunvisors??? WTF? These are quite simply the cheapest, crappiest things I've ever had in any car I've ever owned - period. Also, again for the price, there really needs to be a hatch release button inside the car and a handle over the driver's door. Otherwise, I understand they were saving where they could because of the overall cost of new technology (mostly batteries), but come on, changing out all these little things would cost what??? $50? Sticker on our 2012 SL was $38,800-

That being said, I love driving an OEM EV! Kudos to Nissan for doing this car and I am very glad to have been able to reward them for the effort. In the future, however, please offer an upgrade package with a few nicer touches for say $295. You'd more than make the money back for the upgrades and I would have paid it eagerly!

"Luxury convenience package A": - $295
Auto up/down on all four windows
Interior hatch release button
Fabric covered extending sun visors with vanity lights
Driver's side exit assist handle
Dual power ports
 
Here's my list so far, after 1.5 months of ownership.

Some may be duplicates, but I can't read through 13 pages of posts to figure it out. Come to think of it, Nissan probably won't, either.

1. Power "one-touch" up/down rear hatch
2. Charging port ajar indicator
3. Select climate control options (temp, etc.) from remote app
4. Set climate control auto-on via timer (e.g., "Daily at 6am", etc.)
5. Make car "beep" via remote app (to find it more easily in a parking lot), or "Find My Car" using GPS
6. Parking-distance sensors
7. Better speakers (though the audio system is not as awful as some complaints imply, IMO)
8. Sunroof

I think some of these are do-able in the existing vehicle via software upgrades.
 
Hey everyone, I know I am chiming in a little late but I am on the east coast and we just started receiving cars here in NY.

First of all i just want to say thank god this is not a Mitsubishi i lol. that car is crap and that's why i paid the higher price for the leaf it is so much better that the extra $7,000 was worth it.

You have to understand if they wanted to they could have made this car better but the choose not to on purpose. Everything was on purpose. The engineers at Nissan are not stupid, and as much as Nissan is trying to Go green they really don't care about that. They just want to corner the market when it comes to Electrics as Toyota did with the Prius. The price is the main factor. Adding little things here adds up even changing steering is more time in the testing and there fore more expensive so they made the same car all around the world pretty much. I like the option for added features idea but they don't want to add it because they want to make more models with higher price tags giving them a higher profit later on down the road. Or even more price for the future Leaf which when the battery technology gets cheaper will add these features for less over all price.

Nissan supposedly paid $18,000 for the battery pack so a car that should cost 15 thousand goes up to 33. That would be the SV. Believe it or not there are some things on this car that are very expensive like the LED head lights which are worth it because they use a fraction of the power of HID lights, the nav system although flawed is very expensive to put into a car so they cheeped out on everything else. But there is more to this.

for another $6,000 dollars they could have added a 33% bigger battery and more range but then it would be to big a price increase and doing anything less wouldn't make much more sense.

Using lighter exotic materials like the BMW e3 would not make sense because the BMW is only doing it so they can use a smaller over all battery.

The point is Nissan is out to make a profit ! They dont care about the EV drivers but rather their Image and that is good at the moment.

Next they will give you all they things you are asking for in the Infiniti sports coupe EV but if they do it on the LEAF who will buy the INIFINITI ?

Nissan has a history of these things and I should know i currently own 4 Nissans and owned a 1992 pathfinder at one time. for example nissan is very careful about certain things the maxima can never have a RWD or an AWD platform because this would hurt there Infiniti G35/37 brand. the 350z or 370z will never have 4 seats, reasons being for sportiness and less insurance premiums and but the real reason is who would buy the g37 maybe most but then they would lose money on the G37 or just over price the 370 for the market.

Nissan is going to make better cars but there is no point in showing all your cards at the table.

Nissan is planning a Luxury model of the LEAF yes the LEAF not the 2 door Infiniti EV thats a different model.

They will fix all these things in that model and you will pay another say $10,000 to $15,000 for it.

Nissan has done alot right even if people dont like the changes for instance their Bluetooth is all you need and a real good smart phone. Siri works so well i keep saying to my self What car wings ????
second the seats are not motorized for a reason. they are heavy. motored seats easily weigh an extra 50lbs each. so that makes the car a 100lbs heavier which means less efficient. so basically they can afford to do it in the Infiniti which will have a better battery pack and a more powerful motor and Lighter more Exotic build materials for a much higher Premium or any one of those would help enough to add weight in other areas.

Here are my fixes

the one thing my mom cant stand about this car is the Auto locking as soon as you drive. sorry but even in NY there isn't serious crime or kids in the front that will just swing the door open. That is highly irritating to me. but this is done for lower insurance premiums. so i guess i gotta learn to live with it. every time i hear it click in lock position i quickly and intuitively unlock it and go on my way lol.
the other thing we as a family cant stand is no Leather option. Like seriously i would have paid an extra $1500 for the car for leather. but i am sure they are saving that for later leaf models or the Infiniti Brand. Cloth tends to be cooler as well so its more breathable and more energy efficient.
the Final pet peeve is the light colored interior. I know the reasoning behind it. it will keep it from getting as hot in the summer. save more energy etc etc. but even for the door kick panel are which isn't there its just the door, the color could have been gray lol i cant even kick the door open i have to get out like an old lady lol.

well I hope i get some constructive criticism on my response and i didn't just waste all this time writing to a post that is no longer read lol.
 
FirstLEAFinNY said:
...the one thing my mom cant stand about this car is the Auto locking as soon as you drive. sorry but even in NY there isn't serious crime or kids in the front that will just swing the door open. That is highly irritating to me. but this is done for lower insurance premiums. so i guess i gotta learn to live with it...

Page 3-5 of my owner's manual shows how to disable the auto-lock feature.
 
Nubo said:
FirstLEAFinNY said:
...the one thing my mom cant stand about this car is the Auto locking as soon as you drive. sorry but even in NY there isn't serious crime or kids in the front that will just swing the door open. That is highly irritating to me. but this is done for lower insurance premiums. so i guess i gotta learn to live with it...

Page 3-5 of my owner's manual shows how to disable the auto-lock feature.

On my page 3-5, it explains how to activate or deactivate the auto UNLOCK feature when the car is turned off. The doors still lock automatically at 15 mph...
 
unhookt said:
...4. Set climate control auto-on via timer (e.g., "Daily at 6am", etc.)...
How is what you want different from what the current climate control timer does? You can set it for every day of the week at a specific time or set Timer 1 for some days and Timer 2 for other days of the week. It works really well.

What it won't do is let you set the desired final temperature since it uses a preset 77º, although you can get a different temperature by selecting a time after you plan to drive away, so that it doesn't have as much time to preheat or precool the car.
 
GaslessInSeattle said:
Please, pretty please, I beg you, give us a way to use defrost and circulating fan without using the heater! We've got another round of range anxiety coming as the whether gets colder, we need control of the heater even if the inside temp goes below 60 degrees. It's beyond me why we don't have ultimate control over the most energy consumptive accessory in the car!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ and let us keep the cold air off of the feet!!!!
Reddy
 
Actually, I want a firmware upgrade for GEN1 :)

My biggest issue is with the limited charging options:
- We're told to keep it below 80% for battery life
- If we need >80%, but want to limit time at high charge level, it would be good to have a screen that allows us to "Charge to X %, completing at 7am (or whatever time you plan on getting into the car)"; and 'X" needs to be much more configurable than 80/100%. I don't want the car coasting downhill when in ECO, just because I don't have a way to charge to 98% and therefore start at 100%.

Love the car, though!!
 
Note--I used to have a GM EV1--so some of these comments are due to a comparison between the two.

Add the following
  1. Internally heated front window (saves on energy for defroster)--only drawback is that radar detectors don't work well when the front window has a copper layer.
  2. Use pushbuttons instead of the puck/mouse for shifting--I've gone into reverse umpteen times when I meant to go forward.
  3. Improve the braindead timer function--there are so many problems with the current one--e.g., timers should be location dependent (e.g., active only at home), timers should "know" when to turn on even if the schedule changes (e.g., if you have Su-Th midnight to 6 am and Friday 10 pm to 6 am, if you plug it in Th at 11 pm, it won't turn on!!!(see, at midnight it starts the friday schedule, and is waiting for 10 pm).
  4. Make it easier to open the charge port--e.g., have the switch next to the parking brake.
  5. 6.6 kw charger.
  6. adjustable regen (e.g., off, low med high)
  7. synchronize the dash clock with the GPS clock
  8. state of charge meter--after you've driven the car a while and developed some experience with the size of the "fuel tank", a SOC meter will provide much more useful range info than the current range meter (aka random number generator)
  9. get rid of all the other meters except the speedo--they're annoying and useless (well, a battery temp meter might be useful for those who really flog their vehicles--such as going up and down long hills)
  10. instead of the white dot thingy, have an instantaneous power/regen indicator--maybe like the graph on the energy utilization screen
  11. show some indication of regen vs mechanical braking--perhaps a pie chart, or an indicator of mechanical force
  12. speedo and state of charge should be digital indicators, not bars
  13. lower drag coefficient--this car has the same size motor and battery as the EV1, but the highway mileage sucks.
  14. lower frontal cross section (same reason as lower drag coefficient)
  15. design the steering wheel with buttons that make sense, rather than the current random distribution of semi-useless buttons (who uses the top one on the left, for example)
  16. light for the charging port
  17. an interior that is less likely to get dirty--no white/light beige armrests
  18. cooler pedestrian warning sound--the current one is ignored by pretty much everyone--something like 'star trek' sounds will get more of a response
  19. a real horn, though it is relatively simple to upgrade the OEM one
  20. design the cover to the level 2 port so that the lid can't close unless the cover is closed (the level 3 port has a big enough cover) --otherwise, we'll keep on forgetting to close the cover
  21. heat pump instead of less efficient resistance cabin heater
  22. and allow the 'timer defeat' switch to be effective for as long as the car is parked--this will allow EVSE sharing--remove the plug from one car, put in another, return to first after finished; or remove from own car and put into a second car when you're driving away
 
My wish list is different than most here.

1) Battery chargers should come 3 sizes small medium and large. I am fine with the base model being 14 amp, but we need a 30 amp option and we need a 50 amp option. The J1772 spec goes to 80 amps.

2) Battery packs should also come in 3 sizes 24kwh as the base 30 kwh as the next step up and 36 kwh as the top of the line model. Let the customer decide how much range they are willing to pay for.

3) Heater control that has a fan ONLY mode.

I really do think the Leaf is an outstanding car as is. The changes I have listed will take the car to the next level. :)
 
KJD said:
My wish list is different than most here.

1) Battery chargers should come 3 sizes small medium and large. I am fine with the base model being 14 amp, but we need a 30 amp option and we need a 50 amp option. The J1772 spec goes to 80 amps.

2) Battery packs should also come in 3 sizes 24kwh as the base 30 kwh as the next step up and 36 kwh as the top of the line model. Let the customer decide how much range they are willing to pay for.

3) Heater control that has a fan ONLY mode.

I really do think the Leaf is an outstanding car as is. The changes I have listed will take the car to the next level. :)

Build in charger should be 6.6, the smart extension cord (current EVSE) could come in three.
2. Battery packs should be 24, 36, 48 vice 24, 30, 36.

Like the previous post on all others. Heat pump, heated windshield for defrost etc.

JJL
 
N952JL said:
Build in charger should be 6.6, the smart extension cord (current EVSE) could come in three.
You mean 3 kW at 120v?? I don't think so. That would be 25 amps even before accounting for charger losses and required downrating. How many 40A 120v outlets have you seen? Answer: None. The closest you are likely find is TT-30 outlets at an RV park. (They look like this.) Downrating for continuous duty means you can't pull any more than 24 amps from those. Allowing for charger losses, you would end up with about 2.2 - 2.3 kW.

With an "ordinary" electrical plug the most you can legally pull is 12A x 120v = 1.44 kW, which is what the LEAF charger currently supports. (About 1.0 - 1.1 kW make it into the battery compared to 3.3 kW at 240v.) The special 20A plug with a rotated pin could be used, and would plug into a household outlet with a "T" slot. See this, for example. That could legally pull 16A x 120v = 1.92 kW, which might translate to as much as 1.5 kW going into the battery if the charger was upgraded to support that.

Ray
 
planet4ever said:
N952JL said:
Build in charger should be 6.6, the smart extension cord (current EVSE) could come in three.
You mean 3 kW at 120v?? I don't think so. That would be 25 amps even before accounting for charger losses and required downrating. How many 40A 120v outlets have you seen? Answer: None. The closest you are likely find is TT-30 outlets at an RV park. (They look like this.) Downrating for continuous duty means you can't pull any more than 24 amps from those. Allowing for charger losses, you would end up with about 2.2 - 2.3 kW.

With an "ordinary" electrical plug the most you can legally pull is 12A x 120v = 1.44 kW, which is what the LEAF charger currently supports. (About 1.0 - 1.1 kW make it into the battery compared to 3.3 kW at 240v.) The special 20A plug with a rotated pin could be used, and would plug into a household outlet with a "T" slot. See this, for example. That could legally pull 16A x 120v = 1.92 kW, which might translate to as much as 1.5 kW going into the battery if the charger was upgraded to support that.

Ray
the original quote had 1. the charger should come in three sizes, small medium and large. My comment was to correct the statement. The charger is built into the car. for MY 2012 and earlier it is 3.3kW for MY 2012 it will be 6.6. My comment was for the 240v EVSE. They could come in small medium or large. Or like my SPX is switchable all the was to 32A.
 
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