The official "I got my Leaf" thread

[BudRaymond]

Picked mine up 5/7/11. Car is awesome and totally worth the wait. Still waiting for SCE to complete my 2nd meter panel upgrade. Level 1 charging is a tad slow.

250 miles and counting.

 

[solarman]

I too picked my 'Ocean' Blue LEAF SL + QC at North Bay Nissan in Petaluma on Saturday morning May 7.
I got there early and found it in the lot by its VIN, among quite a few other LEAFs (at least 20) - Not surprising, they are the #1 LEAF dealer.
Victor the salesman explained many of the features. Buying it was a painless experience, no pressure - They made sure it was fully charged for my long 86 mile drive home.
I could have made it without stopping, but decided to charge it at another Nissan Dealership (Boardwalk Nissan in Redwood City) along the way, 16 miles from home.

Brandon at Boardwalk Nissan had e-mailed me that they have 4 L2 charging stations, but failed to mention that they have only one guest charging station at the front of the dealership and it
was occupied. The other charging stations are in the service area - fortunately, a kind saleslady offered to drive it to one of the service area charging stations and after
getting a 90 minute charge I had an extra 30 miles, more than enough to make it home.

Drove 55-60 mph, in ECO mode most of the way home. Avoided using cruise control to save energy per Victor's advice. How much energy can cruise control use?

Once at home I used the supplied EVSE L1 charging adapter to charge it and was pleasantly surprised that it took less than 12 hours to completely recharge...
I measured the L1 charging current draw from my dedicated 120v 20A outlet with a KillaWatt - It draws 12A (1440 Watts)

So far I am very impressed with this car. Very smooth, comfortable and feels safe. Can't wait to figure out all of the controls and navigation doodads....
Interesting tidbit: this car is NEVER really OFF and I wonder what information it is sending back to Nissan about my driving. It keeps asking me to OK or Decline sending data - I asked my dealer and Nissan support about that and was told there isn't currently a way to turn this off. Is this accurate?

 

[Nekota]

I picked up a Brilliant Silver LEAF SL+QC from Sunnyvale Nissan today - 11May11 - and call me a walk in customer being about a mile from the dealer. The amount of time spent with the car and going over the details takes much more time that I expected - and there were many things to unlearn than I expected (I've never been fond of manual reading - searching yes but reading??). It makes a big difference in associating the functions from the book / online pdf with the real controls.

My first impression is the very open and roomy interior. I have a Lexus 400 and the LEAF feels like it has more room inside. The lighting and instrument controls are very bright and at night it really glows - I think I need to turn down the instrument lighting... Handling is smooth with a surprising sharp turning radius - the vehicle does have a solid stable (low center of gravity) - stout feel somewhat like the LS400 - much more that I expected from the diminutive outside size. The thing I like the best -- you cannot stall this vehicle on a grade or driveway slope. It's just like running a variable speed electric drill - full torque at all speeds.

My biggest surprise - the dealer support and their interest and attention to how this car works really impressed me. This is not an ordinary car and they understand selling this requires more attention to the many details and differences. "An iPhone on 4 wheels" quote from Dennis sums it up nicely.

My biggest disappointment - the voice recognition system doesn't like my drawl but I'm not surprised about that. I'm told it "learns" !!

 

[JohnnySebring]

I picked up "LuckyLeaf" at Stadium Nissan in Seattle 5/10. It was in a tree of Leafs lined up inside in a row all detailed to perfection, what a sight! This dealer loves Leafs for sure. I was interested to see what special equipment they have to service Leafs and treated to a tour of the service area. The insulated tool set and safety equipment is quite impressive. My experience with Stadium Nissan was awesome and unique! Free customer parking for Mariner games was offered as well as a Leaf owner.

I live in a very hilly neighborhood in Seattle (98199) and this car is handles them with ease. All that single speed torque and regen braking are a huge advantage compared to my ICE vehicles. Drove 40 miles in the hood visiting family and friends and taking them for all for rides and was never more than a few miles from home.

Todays errand to pick up the EVSE was a 48 mile round trip in the usual Seattle rain, heavy traffic and the worlds most awkward drivers. I drove without regard to range or bars, just battle the traffic and get there and back as fast as i can. The climate control was on to keep defogged in this damp place. I was home with bars to spare, no problem. This car fits my urban 30 to 50 mile a day life style perfectly! Work commute is only 30 miles round trip.

Now the problem is how to keep my ICE cars from rotting from lack of use. Better pour a bottle of Sta-Bil in the tank, as they will sit idle for a long time I think. As soon as L3 charging is common, they are probably gone anyway.

 

[planet4ever]

I too picked my 'Glacier' Blue LEAF SL + QC at North Bay Nissan in Petaluma on Saturday morning May 7.

You got a Glacier Blue? How come they wouldn't give me an Ocean Pearl?

Just teasing - congratulations on finally getting it.

Ray

 

[BnBinSD]

My Leaf reached Mossy Nissan El Cajon on Sat., May 7, but I was out of town 500 miles away celebrating my granddaughter's 1st birthday, so didn't pick it up until Wed., May 11.

It truly drives like a dream, effortless, smooth and quiet. It would make a great car for traveling if only the battery technology was there.

Karl Kirker made the pickup process relaxed and easy, and he'd been supportive throughout the long wait with helping to change the Eco package and questions. Mossy Nissan El Cajon has 3 L2 EVSE's - one just inside the sales entry that is only available during business hours, and two in a service area (2nd driveway) available 24-hrs, although they may be in use during work hours of course, and you would need to request permission thru the receptionist to use them during the day. They might also be blocked by other cars, so no guarantee. Karl said they're open to all.

Loving it!

 

[Essiemme]

Finally, the very first non-company Leaf was delivered, here in Portugal.

Congratulations to Mr Filipe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSzqb_v5FKw&feature=player_embedded

 

[evmike]

Picked up my red LEAF at Boardwalk at lunch today. They are delivering 30 LEAFs today. They offer a lease program to get the $7500 credit instantly from the Federal government. Apparently everyone but Tesla went for the lease program. The fun part is the $75000 is your down payment so you leave the dealership without spending a dime.

It is fun to pull out your iPhone and turn on the AC while you are on the way to the car.

The car is very quiet. Just a slight whine from the electric motor. Much quieter than my Prius.

 

[LEAFfan]

The fun part is the $75000 (you mean $7500) is your down payment so you leave the dealership without spending a dime.

If you leased, then there is a $1999 down payment required. So if you left without putting that down, then you obviously haven't leased this car. There are many posts about the leasing program on this forum.

 

[lemketron]

The fun part is the $75000 (you mean $7500) is your down payment so you leave the dealership without spending a dime.

If you leased, then there is a $1999 down payment required. So if you left without putting that down, then you obviously haven't leased this car. There are many posts about the leasing program on this forum.

Actually, I was another (oddball, I guess) who did not go for the lease at Boardwalk, and it was a complete surprise when they pushed it simply as a short-term way to get the $7500 immediately (and use that as your "down payment" to effectively take the car with "no money down"). I've read pages and pages here about the lease, but I guess I missed any posts talking about people taking the lease and then immediately re-financing afterwards. I assumed that "leasing" meant you were leasing it for three years, and I didn't feel like paying extra for the option of walking away after three years.

I understand that it means you get the $7500 immediately, and you get all of it (in case there was any doubt you might qualify for the full amount from the IRS). On the other hand, it means (in my case anyway) having to re-qualify for financing in a couple of months, and possibly losing out on my pre-approved 2.49% rate from Valley CU. It also means paying a $300 lease buyout fee when you re-finance.

I opted to keep things simple and finance it as I had always intended, since I didn't have time (right then and there when I wanted my car) to figure out what other disadvantages they might not be telling me. I didn't want to just take their word for it seeing as how they had already "forgotten" about my entire pre-negotiated discount when they first presented the invoice to me at full retail. (I'm curious if that was an honest mistake or if it happened to anyone else?)

 

[LEAFfan]

Oh, if you two didn't make the $1999 down payment, then your payments will be much higher, but I guess you could do it that way if you don't mind paying more for the car.

 

[evmike]

Yes I don't intend to actually lease the car. When you are in a higher tax bracket the dreaded Alt Min comes and robs you of your tax credits. If you take the lease you get Nissan to apply for the $7500 which they are sure to get so they take that as the down payment. You wait 3 months and pay off the lease with no prepayment penalty and about $400 in interest. So I thought a $7100 rebate in the hand was better than a potential Alt Min wipeout.

 

[gascant]

Got the call yesterday and arrived at 9:30 this AM to pick it up.
The entire process took just shy of 2 hours. Aaron and Kahssay at Stevens Creek were great and gave a very thorough demo. Now I am home, and what a great drive it was. I went 15.6 miles home from the dealer, a mix of surface streets and freeway. The car had 95 miles range as delivered without climate control, but 68 with it (assuming A/C). I drove with fan only and got home with 82 miles of range remaining, while using 2 bars on SOC. While pulled over to send a text message, a couple of Apple employees came up to me and asked me how I liked the car. "Fantastic so far, but it's only 1/2 hour old", I said. I'm so happy to be an owner now. The odyssey is over and the journey begins!

 

[Ready2plugin]

Yes I don't intend to actually lease the car. When you are in a higher tax bracket the dreaded Alt Min comes and robs you of your tax credits. If you take the lease you get Nissan to apply for the $7500 which they are sure to get so they take that as the down payment. You wait 3 months and pay off the lease with no prepayment penalty and about $400 in interest. So I thought a $7100 rebate in the hand was better than a potential Alt Min wipeout.

You may want to double check this. The $7,500 is not suppose to be subject to AMT.

 

[townsat]

Picked mine up today at North Bay Nissan. Took a little longer than expected, just because they were busy with others picking up their cars. Otherwise, Ron Coury and Randy were great. Very committed to EVs, straightforward, and helpful. The drive back to SF was uneventful, smooth, and peaceful. Picked my son up from preschool and drove around the Presidio in blissful quiet. Then up and down some hills in Pac Heights. I think this car was built for San Francisco: great up and down hills with regen, most places you want to go don't pose a range problem, and at least on my commute through Marin County driving below 65 mph is pretty accepted. (The speed limit on 101 in Marin is actually 55 mph.) Got a big thumbs-up from a CHP cruiser passing me in the left lane. He seemed to be the only person who noticed, even though I've yet to see a Leaf anywhere. Overall, I can't believe I'm driving an electric car.

 

[OrientExpress]

We have had our Leaf since Tuesday, and everywhere we go, we seem to draw a crowd. The car seems to be a chick magnet too. Wife is not liking that part however.

So far, great car, I waxed it today, but had to clay the paint because it was so rough and full of crap, I have never seen a new car paint finish that full of contamination. After it was cleaned, it was fine however.

Starting to play with CarWings, turns out I am ranked 187/519 in my energy usage, and am ranked Platinum at 4.5 m/kwh. I also set up some RSS feeds to see how the car will be reading me the news.

The only things I'm not loving is the voice command to use the phone and navigation. It sounds great, but it has a very structured syntax with no shortcuts, i.e. no "Call Julie at home" like my other cars. last nit is that the armrest seems too low, in comparison of how high you sit.

This is a tall car, but with its low CG it handles very well. All in all I give this car an A ~ A-. For a Rev 1 it is very well done.

 

[lemketron]

We have had our Leaf since Tuesday, and everywhere we go, we seem to draw a crowd. The car seems to be a chick magnet too. Wife is not liking that part however.

Hmmm. I haven't found that to be the case. Must be something to do with being in Silicon Valley (mostly single techie guys?).

So far, great car, I waxed it today, but had to clay the paint because it was so rough and full of crap, I have never seen a new car paint finish that full of contamination. After it was cleaned, it was fine however.

Is it ok (or perhaps recommended) to wax it right away? I notice the finish feels very rough; the dealer used that as an excuse to pitch me their interior/exterior protection plan, but I passed and figured I'd just have it waxed (and clayed if that's ok), and maybe ScotchGuard the interior (assuming the "eco-friendly" interior materials don't balk at the idea of being sprayed with such chemicals).

I also set up some RSS feeds to see how the car will be reading me the news.

You can do that? I saw the feeds thing but haven't had time to read through all of the manuals yet. Will it really read you the news?

The only things I'm not loving is the voice command to use the phone and navigation. It sounds great, but it has a very structured syntax with no shortcuts, i.e. no "Call Julie at home" like my other cars.

I thought I did read somewhere that you can change a the voice prompts, presumably to make it easier to issue such commands.

last nit is that the armrest seems too low, in comparison of how high you sit.

Agreed.

This is a tall car, but with its low CG it handles very well. All in all I give this car an A ~ A-. For a Rev 1 it is very well done.

Agreed again. I'm more impressed with every passing day, and everyone who rides in it is absolutely blown away, especially Prius owners. I tell my friends "This is the future - right here!"

 

[Lanzer]

Had quite an adventure today as I took a crash course on how to use the public chargers and managed to do everything wrong!

Finally got my blue SL from Northbay Nissan. I had a great experience as both Ron and Adam were superstars. The challenge for me was my 85 mile drive back to San Jose after picking up the car in Petaluma.

The plan was to get a charge half way through. I found Premier Nissan as the only charging station that Carwings found along my route. Called them before heading down but was told that "we can't have people coming in day after day, this is not a charging station." So much for the Nissan network!

So this called for plan B, to plan a longer route (100 Miles) and detour through San Francisco to use the free public chargers which Carwings pointed me to. Now this is where my poor planning kicked me in the nuts. Upon arriving at the station I found that all the free charging stations are hosted by Chargepoint and you can't use them unless you active them with a "chargecard". I called the 800 number and was told that they can actually activate the charger without a card over the phone, but those chargers were for members of the San Francisco Driveshare program and I can't use it. With only 16 miles left on my Leaf I'm starting to sweat...

The rep from Charpoint was nice enough to look for a nearby charging station. She found one 5 miles away, but only to inform me that those chargers are for employees only. My heart sank as I wondered how much would it be to tow my car to a charging station. Then I was told that there is a free and available one that's 11 miles away. I was pretty lucky as I got 16 miles left in the car, but at the moment I'm feeling anything but!

The charging station was apparently near the coast, far away from any city center or any businesses for that matter. As I drove closer I started to worry if I had typed in the right address... When the GPS said "you've reached your destination", I was looking at a building that's still under construction and with no occupancy. I panicked, thinking that the representative might have pointed me to a future location. Though I realized that I was looking at the wrong side of the road. The other side host a series of unsuspecting buildings that resembles warehouses. One of which was Blue Ribbin, a cleaning supply distribution company. Apparently the owner of the company had installed not only a public charger but also an array of solar panels. On their front desk is an LCD display showing the output of their solar array. A cleaning supply company hosting clean fuel. I'm impressed!

So with 5 miles left in my Leaf I managed to find a charging station. The folks at the company were really friendly and many stepped out to check out my baby. Most of the staff were impressed how roomy the car is, which broke the "electric cars are like golf carts with doors" stereotype. :lol: Many noted how cute the car is, which might or might not be a good thing. I knew that as the first wave of Leaf drivers we're going to show the world how feasible EV's are, and now this is actually happening.

I'm now a happy Leaf owner and putting together a cheatsheet for buyers regarding public transport and charging. After a lot more reading, turns out there are free and paid level 2 chargers spread all over the Bay Area. Hope there's a little bit that I can contribute to the community.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Had quite an adventure today as I took a crash course on how to use the public chargers and managed to do everything wrong!

Finally got my blue SL from Northbay Nissan. I had a great experience as both Ron and Adam were superstars. The challenge for me was my 85 mile drive back to San Jose after picking up the car in Petaluma.

The plan was to get a charge half way through. I found Premier Nissan as the only charging station that Carwings found along my route. Called them before heading down but was told that "we can't have people coming in day after day, this is not a charging station." So much for the Nissan network!

Which Premier Nissan was that? Was it:
Premier Nissan of Fremont
5601 Cushing Parkway, Fremont CA 94538
Phone: (510) 668-8600
http://www.PremierNissanOfFremont.com

I've talked with Premier Nissan of San Jose and their policy is to allow public access to their chargers 24x7. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3376&hilit=premier+nissan&start=20
Premier Nissan of San Jose
1120 Capitol Expressway San Jose, CA 95136
Phone: (800) 410-1479
http://www.NissanOfSanjose.com

It sounds like you should add your experience, with Premier Nissan of Fremont, I presume, to this thread: Dealers Who Offer Public Charging (and those who don't)

You can also call and ask Premiere Nissan of if they'd like to change their policy in light of:
The PluginCars.com story LEAF Owner Denied Charge at Local Nissan Dealership
That story was spawned from this thread on this forum: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3719&start=80 While the circumstances were different, Nissan is being very public about installing chargers at dealers.

Sure the dealers has the right to restrict access, we and the press also have the right to discuss it. And it's not entirley clear but to get their LEAF zero emission certification, they had to install 2 chargers in the lot for access by customers and one in the service bay for service. We're still working out what Nissan corporate requires and what the dealers have to do with regards to access to the two chargers in the lot.

But Nissan corporate has mentioned them as part of the charging infrastructure and these stations are getting listed on public charging directories. Not to mention putting the stations in CarWings!!! That's the part that really gets me. If you don't want people to use the charging station DON'T ADVERTISE THE CHARGING STATION'S EXISTENCE TO ALL LEAF DRIVERS IN CARWINGS!!! DUH!

If they wan't to restrict the charging station, we can help them by making sure it's marked as restricted in the charging directories and in the press. We already have a few press contacts interested in the issue!

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Hope there's a little bit that I can contribute to the community.

You've already started contributing by relaying your experience. Let us know which Premier Nissan it was and we can work with that dealer to get the charger accessible to the public or removed from the charging directories. It alos points out that we should talk to the charge point people and and maybe have them set a default filter that excludes non-public chargers unless asked for. We can't have your experience be the norm for EV drivers in the future. This sort of experience would hinder mainstream adoption of EVs.