Do I really need a high speed charging port?

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gringostar

Active member
Joined
Feb 17, 2015
Messages
28
Location
Santa Ana, CA
Hi

I live in orange county Ca. I'm looking at two identical 2013 Leaves for sale. One has a high speed charging port and the other does not. The price difference is $1000. I live one mile from work and my average daily drive is about 40 miles. Plus I own a gas vehicle. Do I need the extra port? Is it worth the extra dough? Thank you.
 
OP,

Those two cars differ by more than just the CHAdeMO port. Do more homework, starting from the buying guide Lefty wrote.

As for the extra port ? <<shrug>>
I think of it as insurance. Insurance is never a bad thing, but it can be poor value.
 
I believe if a '13 lacks the QC port it may also lack a backup camera, if that's important to you you might want to verify. Also for sure if it lacks the QC port it will only have the 3.3kw charging and not the 6.6kw charger, if that matters to you, which it might not due to your limited needs. I always like the 6.6 charger as most free charging is at least 6.6kw, charging at 3.3kw cuts your free juice in half.
 
jjeff said:
I believe if a '13 lacks the QC port it may also lack a backup camera, if that's important to you you might want to verify. Also for sure if it lacks the QC port it will only have the 3.3kw charging and not the 6.6kw charger
The above statements are not true at all.

I had a '13 SV w/premium package. I had the 6.6 kW OBC for sure (have pulled 5.7 to 6.6 kW from L2 EVSEs). All '13 SV and SL have 6.6 kW OBC. I also had the Around View Monitor (4 cameras, including rear) since it was part of premium. That vehicle had no CHAdeMO inlet as that would be part of the LED headlights + quick charge package.

My former leased '13 SV with both packages had all of the above...

BUT, for '13 S trim, a base S will only have 3.x kW OBC and no CHAdeMO inlet. The charge package on S trim adds CHAdeMO inlet and upgrades OBC to 6.6 kW. Looks like that also adds RearView Monitor.

One can consult Specs tab of https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/release-698a9e429ae04602b683514427ca41ba-us-2013-nissan-leaf-press-kit, searching for quick charge.
 
I also had a '13 SV with Premium and no Charge package, and it had the 6.6 OBC. All of what Cwerdna writes above is correct. The backup camera was a separate option if Premium wasn't present.
 
Information about packages gets fuzzy over the years.
Let's just leave it as: 6.6 kW L2, QC and back-up camera were present in various combinations in some of those 2013 cars.

Best to ask about each one that a buyer cares about.

Of all three options, we find the 6.6 kW OBC to be the one that has been and remains the most useful to us since we can take advantage of it at home and away. The camera is poor quality and displayed on a small, low quality screen. CHAdeMO is close to absent in our city, and we rely on home charging to supply the range radius our LEAF wanders in. When I bought the car, I thought that CHAdeMO would extend the life of the car when its range was no longer sufficient to go out and get back. That has not turned out to be the case because its daily use has turned out to be a 15 mile radius. The few times we took the LEAF further from home, it was to a destination with L2 charging nearby. And so once again, 6 kW charging was appreciated. I should mention that we almost always have another car option to use so the LEAF is benefiting from a selection bias of when it is used.

----
I just noticed that my Sig shows QC and back-up camera but I didn't note the 6.6 kW it also has. I must have thought that QC also implies a 6.6 kW OBC
 
SageBrush said:
I must have thought that QC also implies a 6.6 kW OBC
It would on '13 to '17 Leafs of all trim levels.

As for backup camera, since I've never owned or driven an S trim, I can't comment. I will say that the Around View Monitor camera quality on my 2 former Leafs is much better than that of what's on my '19 Bolt w/GM Surround Vision + a '19 equipped the same I drove and a '17 Bolt Premium I rented for a day.
 
cwerdna said:
jjeff said:
I believe if a '13 lacks the QC port it may also lack a backup camera, if that's important to you you might want to verify. Also for sure if it lacks the QC port it will only have the 3.3kw charging and not the 6.6kw charger
The above statements are not true at all.

I had a '13 SV w/premium package. I had the 6.6 kW OBC for sure (have pulled 5.7 to 6.6 kW from L2 EVSEs). All '13 SV and SL have 6.6 kW OBC. I also had the Around View Monitor (4 cameras, including rear) since it was part of premium. That vehicle had no CHAdeMO inlet as that would be part of the LED headlights + quick charge package.

My former leased '13 SV with both packages had all of the above...

BUT, for '13 S trim, a base S will only have 3.x kW OBC and no CHAdeMO inlet. The charge package on S trim adds CHAdeMO inlet and upgrades OBC to 6.6 kW. Looks like that also adds RearView Monitor.

One can consult Specs tab of https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/release-698a9e429ae04602b683514427ca41ba-us-2013-nissan-leaf-press-kit, searching for quick charge.
As the OP didn't say what Leafs he was looking at I was talking about a '13 S, the one I have and I can say for sure the QC port and 6.6kw charger go hand in hand. All '13S models had a tiny backup camera screen, it was the '13 SV where a backup camera of any kind was an option depending on packages. I drove a used '13 SV that lacked a backup camera and was shocked it didn't have one yet it was standard on any S models of that year. I believe by '14 a backup camera was standard on all Leafs regardless of packages, although as you said a better all-around camera was an option for all but the S models.
In my 7 years of Leaf ownership, I've probably only used the QC half a dozen times, basically at the dealer when getting things serviced but I do take advantage of the faster L2 charging speed frequently, others in states that have more QC options may feel differently.
 
jjeff said:
In my 7 years of Leaf ownership, I've probably only used the QC half a dozen times, basically at the dealer when getting things serviced but I do take advantage of the faster L2 charging speed frequently, others in states that have more QC options may feel differently.
This matches my experience. I've used the CHAdeMO twice, both times to just try it out. My wife has used it a little bit more, but more on a lark and never because it was actually needed for a trip.

I've asked myself why it has turned out this way. Certainly part of the answer is that CHAdeMO in my city is pretty crappy, but the other answer is that our LEAF is a near-to-home errand and gym car by virtue of its limited range. CHAdeMO does not change its basic nature. A 6.6 kW OBC, on the other hand, makes it a better near-to-home and gym car.
 
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