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Chargpunk

New member
Joined
Oct 8, 2018
Messages
1
Hey all. Thank you for having this forum. I just took a look at the advice topic for first time leaf buyers and I'm covered on a lot of basics. I just thought I would make a thread for thinking out loud about my search and purchase of a used Leaf in the hope that I could get feedback and advice on the decision.

I live in California, near LA. I do not have a place at home to charge, since the garage will be full for a while (we just moved this summer and organizing junk is difficult). I need a hatchback that can fit my recumbent folding trike (I'll get the dimensions and post them here later). I have been thinking to get a Leaf for a while because I am a student, used Leaf's are well within the range of cost that I can afford, and the cost of energy is way cheaper through a battery. Plus, I really love the thought that when the car gets too old, it can be renewed with a cheap battery rather than having to replace an engine at a price that would cost close to buying something brand new. Long living and economic is what I am after. Being good to the environment is a nice bonus too.

I was advised to check edmunds for a good deal. A cursory search doesn't look bad so far. Aiming to cap at $8000, but could really use any cost reduction below that that works for what I need and is a deal.

As I said about not having a place to charge, I'm thinking I could use a ChargePoint charging station near where I live and where I work to charge, get food, and get at least a half hour of charge out of it as needed. Is that what EV life is like? Or will I be stressing myself out for not having it plugged at home over night?
 
If you do not have a way to consistently and reliably charge at home, DO NOT GET A FULL ELECTRIC VEHICLE other than a Tesla, and even then I'd be wary. You CANNOT rely on public charging to be able to charge your car, as too many things can go wrong (broken/"hogged"/"ICED"). Plus most charging stations in the greater LA area are NOT free, and could very well eat up any savings from driving an electric car.

If you have to have a Leaf, clean the crap out of the garage and if necessary put what you cannot dispose of into storage. The monthly rent of storage will probably eliminate any savings from not having to buy fuel though. And that assumes your garage or home has a robust circuit and outlets in good condition that make it safe for charging; keep in mind charging an EV at 120 volts is like leaving a space heater on full blast for many many hours, up to 20 in the case of a 24 kWH Leaf.

Replacement batteries for a Leaf are NOT cheap. Nissan used to offer them for $5500, now it's up to around $8500. Someone recently started a thread where they still owe $8k on a Leaf they bought used and now it has dropped its 4th bar. Leaf owners in Japan do have access to a refurbishment program which is something like 1/3 the cost of a new battery, but Nissan USA has not offered that here. AFAIK there isn't yet a 3rd party battery replacement program for the Leaf like there is with the Prius.
 
IF the garage has very good wiring you can use a high quality, heavy duty extension cord to allow charging with the car's 120 volt Level 1 charging cable. As noted above, though, that isn't a fast way to charge. What are your range needs? Give the maximum, not the average.
 
Chargpunk said:
and the cost of energy is way cheaper through a battery.

Sometimes true, but often not true if you use public charging. Find out the cost by finding the station on ChargePoint's webpage.

https://na.chargepoint.com/charge_point

For a random example, "80 S Lake Ave Pasadena, CA" is a 6.6kW shared dual head charging station. Need to pay for parking as well, so might be a bad example.

If the only car car charging, you get about 6kWh for $1 if you charge exactly an hour. Not bad at $0.17 per kWh. However, if you charge a half an hour looks like the cost is still $1. And if shared, you get only 3kW. So a half hour charge shared would be $0.67 per kWh... Which is pricey. Plus parking fee.

To convert to gasoline (very rough) multiply by 8 to 10. $6.67 per gallon is expensive.

Second example. Priced by the kWh. "253 E Foothill Blvd Arcadia, CA" $0.30 per kWh. Slightly cheaper than gasoline.

As for your price to charge at home, too complex for me to figure out.

https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/wcnav_externalId/a-fr-elecrate-schel


Next is the bother factor. What if you need a charge, and the public station is in use?
 
Chargpunk said:
I do not have a place at home to charge, since the garage will be full for a while (we just moved this summer and organizing junk is difficult).
I have found that you don't need to get the Leaf into the garage to charge there. With the Leaf in the driveway up close to the garage door (not too close), the EVSE's cord is long enough (well over a car length) to reach the Leaf's charging port. The garage door has a rubbery thing on the bottom that can close over the EVSE cable without any damage (that I've noticed). I've done this with my wife's EVSE which is plugged into the ceiling outlet next to where the garage door opener plugs in, and with my EVSE, which is plugged into a wall outlet well away from the garage door.

As an aside, I'll mention that our EVSEs are both on the same circuit, but we've never charged at the same time (which would blow the circuit breaker), because I always use a timer and charge in the wee hours, and she never uses a timer and charges as soon as she gets home. We have blown the circuit breaker, but only because the garage circuit also includes the bathrooms, and she has used a hair dryer a couple times while the Prius is charging.
 
Honestly there are so many way to get an electric cord either 15A or 40A outside your garage that should be no reason not to get an EV. But I think you need to charge at home to really enjoy the car. oh wait, i need to out and plug in my leaf now. thanks.
 
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