Total Newbie Intro & Questions

Hello! I have just joined the ranks of Leaf owners by placing a deposit on a 2022 Black SL Plus. A lot of this is on faith as I just placed a deposit without having the slightest clue what the cost of the car will be as Canada has not yet released its pricing. I am expecting to get delivery by late October - early November depending on how the Nissan runes line up. I traded in a 2 year old Pathfinder so I am perfectly comfortable with Nissan quality and my local service department. No worries there.

I am in British Columbia which is probably the only place in the world that is considering cancelling both words in its name. We will likely be known from now on as Placey McPlaceface.

I've never even as much as touched an electric vehicle (if you don't count my kid's ride-on toy) so the newbieness is palpable. I will try not to ask questions that are too stupid.

Here they come!

1. I have a clothes dryer in the garage with (what I think is) a NEMA 14-30 socket on 30A. From what I have read on this forum that is perfectly suitable for Level 2 charging. If worse comes to worse I can live with Level 1 through my 110V sockets in the garage. I almost never go 200 miles in one day unless I'm travelling (and use a car rented by my company). We also own another ICE car and an ICE pickup. Where I am totally confused is in the charging cable. It seems to be clear in the literature that the Leaf comes with its own charging cable, but then I see an accessory cable that costs about two grand for 110/220V. Is that required or will the Leaf have everything required upon delivery?

2. Since I have two ICE vehicles I will never ever need the back seats. Since they don't fold flat, is there a possibility to remove the seat bottoms to get the seat backs to obtain a flat surface?

3. Our climate here is rainforest similar to Seattle. However, if you've been watching the news you know that this summer it's closer to Tucson. No rain in 3 months and much of the flora is either dying or dead. What I'm getting at is that winters too will now become unpredictable. We traditionally get very little snow and extreme cold but the last few winters have been a crapshoot. Some winters we get one dump of snow that's gone in 3 days and some winters we see a month of snowcover with temperatures approaching -20C (-4F). The Leaf will live in my heated garage but my concerns are of course range and traction. So... What happens to range when the heater is on LAVA mode all day?

3a. I live at the top of the steepest road in town and some icy/snowy days have had trouble getting up and down the street in my Pathfinder's 4WD LOCK mode. Do the 215/50R17s on the Leaf come with an M&S rating or will it be necessary to swap out to Winter Tires?

4. I am a big guy (around the waist, not in height) so I am a bit concerned about the non-telescoping wheel. I love to sit straight up in a car but I am concerned that I will have to place the seat so far back that my short little stubby legs won't reach the pedals. Is there any adjustability in the position of the brake and accel pedal?

5. Although the SL Plus comes with the Bose audio system that seems to get reasonable reviews one of the biggest drawbacks to my Pathfinder SV is that the audio sucks. Nissan puts speakers in the Pathfinder made out of gossamer paper that are non-standard size to boot which makes upgrades necessary but difficult: A $50,000 SUV with 50 cent speakers. I'm not an extreme audiophile but dang it whether I play Pavarotti or Bruno Mars I want to really feel the music. Do current owners of that Bose system find it adequate or am I looking at an expensive visit to my local car audio shop for an overhaul?

6. My favorite feature on my Pathfinder is that there is no seat belt dinging from Hades if I am moving the car around the driveway etc. without my seat belt on. Is the Leaf the same and/or is there a way to defeat that horrid dinging?

7. A disconcerting feature of the Pathfinder is that the adaptive cruise works phenomenally under all conditions except when coming up to a stoplight where the vehicle in front is already stopped. If it's moving even at 1 mph the SUV slows down normally. If it's fully stopped it only reacts at the very last second in a panic brake. Then in stop and go traffic it disengages after 3 seconds of being stopped so needs to be reset. Please tell me that the ProPilot is more advanced than this.

8. Where is the fuel tank filler door? (OK, just kidding about that one)...

Thanks in advance for your replies and glad to be here!

1. You can't use the supplied EVSE with 14-30. Need at least a 40 A breaker and 8 gauge wiring.

4. The steering wheel telescopes now on 2020+ models.

7. ProPilot is a combination of adaptive cruise control and lane centering. The adaptive cruise part will work similar to your Pathfinder. They were not designed to stop in time for a stopped vehicle in front. It was designed to follow the car right in front of you.

1. Although you could purchase an aftermarket 24a EVSE which would be the max you could charge at continuously on your 30a circuit. You could also purchase an adjustable with a 24a or less L2 setting EVSE, Amazon is a good place to look.

3. Running the heat a lot and in sub-zero temps you could expect the range to drop by 30%? I know with my 24kw Leaf battery I can lose 50% going from 70 summer miles down to as much as 35 sub-zero miles, generally though in not sub-zero temps it's more like 50 miles with moderate heat use.

3a-You really need snow tires for traction, if you really don't want to have to change tires twice/year you might want to try winter rated all-season tires like Michelin Cross-Climate's, I had excellent results last year with them, worlds better than regular A/S tires like the Ecopia's or Michelin A/S that come on a Leaf.

6. My Leaf has, and I've enabled, a way to turn off the seat belt buzzer but I don't know if the new Leafs do, it might require an aftermarket program like LeafSpy Pro, $20 where you get your apps.

Congrats and welcome to the forum. Hope your new car comes soon.

We have 2 2019 Leaf Pluses with the 2nd one replacing our minivan.

Please post your EV adventures once you have the car.

Thank you very much for all the great info. I am so relieved that the telescoping wheel is in the Leaf as I was quite concerned about how I was going to wedge my big gut in there.

Although I'm Canadian I am definitely not a cold weather lover so when we get the really frigid temps and the range is so severely affected I might just fire up the ICE pickup and leave the Leaf nice and warm in the garage.

Similarly with the tires. My Dodge Dakota has some really aggressive tread on its oversized M&S tires and is pretty well a go anywhere kind of vehicle. I would really like to rely on the Leaf 12 months of the year but it's probably wise to have that sort of assured backup. Again, many winters we have like 3 or 4 days of snow so it's not a huge deal.

My wife doesn't want to drive her ICE car in bad weather anyway, so we are accustomed to using the Pathfinder or the Dakota anyway.

It's music to my ears to not have the seat belt music in my ears, so I will definitely check on how to turn that thing off. That LeafSpyPro looks like a really fascinating must-have software!

Very interesting that both the basic adaptive cruise and the much more advanced ProPilot still won't recognize a stopped car until it's time to toss out the boat anchor. I will definitely have to keep in mind that in those cases the Leaf will react like the Pathfinder.

I will have to research the BC rebates for installing auto charging devices. I understand that you can apply for 50% cash back for both the device and installation.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong but my calculations show that if I do about 50 miles a day and keep the Leaf in the garage for about 18 hours a day, I should be able to keep that battery pretty close to full with just the 110V. There are a couple of dozen charging stations a few minutes' drive away so I can always go for a quick charge when required. Again, to confirm, the cable that comes with the car can plug in to any conventional 110V socket, right?

I really appreciate all the fantastic input. Thank you again and I will definitely keep you posted as to my Leaf adventures!

There are two charging cables that can come with a Leaf. Both the 120 volt only and 120/240 cables will work on 120 - as long as you have the included adapter installed on the dual voltage cable. If those 50 miles a day aren't spent going 110kph, then 120 volt charging should suffice. If you have a 30A dryer outlet, though, it's well worth spending about $300 on a 24 amp charging station.

If you get a Plus model, I believe it will come with the dual voltage EVSE (charging cable). It needs a minimum 40-ampere circuit with 14-50 receptacle and minimum 8 AWG wire. If you have an unused dryer outlet (14-30 receptacle), then I recommend purchasing an EVSE that is adjustable or a fixed unit rated at 24 amperes (for a 30-ampere circuit) because 240-volt charging is more efficient and it gives you more daily mileage capability without using public chargers. If you are using the clothes dryer, then I do not recommend frequently unplugging the dryer and plugging in the car. Consider adding another 240-volt circuit for the car if installation costs are reasonable.

Regarding tires and cold weather: The 17-inch OEM Michelins are actually classed as M+S, but my experience (with both 2015 and 2019) is that they are marginal on dry pavement and terrible in the rain so I would not want to depend upon them in even moderate snow. I believe your cold weather range will not suffer as much as some of the previous posts indicate because your temperatures should be moderate (since you describe your climate as similar to Seattle). When you say below zero, I assume you mean below 0 C while many in the USA might assume you mean below 0 F. The heat pump works well in temperatures above about 20 F and the resistance heater will not run a lot until the temperatures drop down near 0 F. You can also preheat the car without discharging the battery when it is plugged in at 240 volts. Preheating works while plugged in at 120 volts, but preheating uses the resistance heater which draws more energy than 120-volt charging can supply so there will be a net loss of charge (not too much though).

I am happy with the speakers included with the Bose system in my 2019 SL Plus and was happy with the similar system in my 2015. The speakers in the 2011 were marginal and I was planning to upgrade them before the car met its untimely demise. Like you, I also prefer to sit with the seat back upright. Unfortunately, the head restraints on the front seats angle forward severely so I am forced the recline the seat slightly more than ideal to keep from having my head forced forward and down. The 2011 did not have this issue, but 2015, 2019, and the 2021 I test drove all force me to recline the seat slightly more than I prefer. You will probably get used to it. I am sure you will enjoy the car.

The heat pump works well in temperatures above about 20 F and the resistance heater will not run a lot until the temperatures drop down near 0 F.

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A minor quibble, but the resistance heater does run quite a bit once the temps drop to and below 32F, not 0F. The heat pump stops providing substantial heat when temps hit the mid teens Fahrenheit, but the resistance heater is supplementing it quite a bit when temps fall below Freezing.

... Although I'm Canadian I am definitely not a cold weather lover so when we get the really frigid temps and the range is so severely affected I might just fire up the ICE pickup and leave the Leaf nice and warm in the garage ...

... I would really like to rely on the Leaf 12 months of the year but it's probably wise to have that sort of assured backup. Again, many winters we have like 3 or 4 days of snow so it's not a huge deal ...

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Based on that last comment, you live in Vancouver. Over the last 4 years of owning my LEAF, I've only once ever had traction problems in the winter and that was thanks to icy conditions. With the low center of gravity and mass of the battery pack, as long as you have decent tires you'll be fine. Having said that, I have Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3s on my LEAF now - they are amazing in the snow.

As far as range expectations go, 30% reduction is about right as long as you rely mostly on the seat warmers to keep yourself warm. Heavy rain has a pretty big impact on range too - I would say about 25%. Another tip - use the climate control timer or the app to prewarm the LEAF's cabin in the winter time. You'll be toasty warm and get better range too.

Having said all that, your LEAF has tons of range anyways, so you can probably just blast the heater

FYI, you should be able to make it to Whistler and back on a single charge, although you'll need to charge in Hope or Merritt to make it to Kelowna in summer.

Make sure you install PlugShare on your phone, so you can easily find all the local charging options

Don't rely on 120V charging, it will diminish your enjoyment of the car. If you already have a 30A circuit available, then buy an adjustable EVSE that you can set to 24A and keep the stock EVSE in your trunk. You can buy something decent for about $400 CAD.

I purchased a Zencar adjustable EVSE, factory direct, and it's been extremely reliable:

https://bit.ly/38v1JqB

Welcome to the fun!

Yes buzzer can be off, not sure exactly how but yes.

Studded snow tires are a must in Vermont hills where it is snowy or icy for months at a time, but with them the car does amazingly well- as good as any 2wd car.

If your use is like ours, the dryer circuit you have will be fine, overnight charging will take care of your needs easily. Use the built-in timer to keep the charge under about 80%- for our use, we run the charger for five hours a night (adding about 30% charge) but only on the nights it is plugged in: when the battery is below about 40% we plug in. This can all be over-ridden easily if you are getting too low or if you need a full charge the next day. As others have said, you will soon be used to the car and will have all of its needs figured out. And yes just use the heater in the winter- it does greatly reduce range but at ten below you gotta be comfy as well!

Hi folks, over 24 hours ago I wrote a long tome replying to all your great input but I don't know if the mods are reviewing it and haven't released it yet or if it's vanished into the ether. Could I ask the mods to check their queue to see if they can find it as I didn't keep a copy. If not I guess I'll type my sausage fingers down flat again and reconstruct it! Thanks!

XLH said:

Hi folks, over 24 hours ago I wrote a long tome replying to all your great input but I don't know if the mods are reviewing it and haven't released it yet or if it's vanished into the ether. Could I ask the mods to check their queue to see if they can find it as I didn't keep a copy. If not I guess I'll type my sausage fingers down flat again and reconstruct it! Thanks!

Click to expand...

If someone else has posted ahead of you when you click "Post," then you get a message to that effect, and your message isn't posted - you have to click on 'post anyway' or something like that. It's easy to miss this annoying "feature" and thus lose your post.

Ah, so it's vanished! OK, back to Square One! I'll write it up again and post in the morning. Thank you very much for the info!

That little 'feature' got a LOT of us for years before we figured it out.

LeftieBiker said:

That little 'feature' got a LOT of us for years before we figured it out.

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+1000

I try to remember, before pressing "Submit" to copy everything I wrote to the clipboard. That way, worst case, I can just start a new post and paste in the contents from the clipboard.

I don't leave the page until I SEE the new post published.

OK, let's try this again! I am definitely taking the advice to always write a long post in a saved Notepad txt file and then copy and paste as "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!"

Have to start out by profoundly thanking all the phantastic pholks who provided all that invaluable input. I really appreciate all your suggestions and it goes to prove that the people on this forum are among the nicest and best you'll find anywhere.

The charger: After a bit of digging, that situation is now resolved as BC Hydro (our electric utility) offers this:

Single-family homes can get a rebate of up to 50% of the purchase and installation costs of an eligible Level 2 EV charger, to a maximum of $350.

Click to expand...

So a full professional installation is now definitely a go. I've tried to find the Zencar in Canada but am coming up with a blank. If possible I'd rather not import one from the US as the border has been a real challenge to deal with lately.

The tires: I had a great experience with the tires I plunked on the SUV I had before the Pathfinder. They were Goodyear Assurance and not only were they perfect for year round use. They gripped wonderfully in literally all conditions from warm dry to cold icy and every kind of wet. Deep snow flummoxed them a bit but then again the tread wasn't designed to be aggressive enough to deal with that. We get deep snow here on Vancouver Island at sea level like maybe once every couple of years and it's usually gone in less than a week, so the Dakota with the huge mudder tires will get its most intensive use then. Remarkably the Assurance tires showed no scalloping, excessive wear or any other nasty effect of using winter tires year round. It was the first winter tire I've ever used that didn't feel like it was filled with Nickelodeon slime in dry cornering. Do the Michelin Cross-Climate tires have similar characteristics?

The audio. Great to hear that I don't have to succumb to a thousand dollar plus upgrade at my local car audio store. I'm looking forward to blasting everything from Pavarotti to Bruno Mars.

The head restraints. I had exactly the same problem with my Pathfinder when I first got it. It seems that Nissan believes the driver's preferred position is staring at their own knees. I implemented a simple fix on the very first day. I pulled the head restraints out and put them in again backwards. Since they are asymmetrical, the position now is perfectly comfy. Are the Leaf's head restraints similar? I sure hope so!

PlugShare: Will definitely use. There are a couple of dozen charging stations within a few miles of my house and about a hundred in the area I will likely drive the Leaf 99% of the time. That's one of the great things about Vancouver Island. You basically have one highway with a couple of major branching-off roads. That's about it. There seem to be about 300 charging stations on the island which very well may be the highest charger ratio per capita anywhere in North America. BC has the highest electric vehicle market share and the island has the highest share in the province, so we are certainly in the running for electric vehicle wonderland.

Heating: The Leaf will live in my garage where the temp has never dropped below 15C 60F. Personally I can't stand seat warmers. My wife uses hers 6 months of the year and I feel like I'm sitting on a BBQ grille. I'll surely take the advice to just blast the heater on cold days and let the range take the hit.

Pricing: Since I placed the deposit on the Leaf without any pricing specification, (hi, gimme a grand and I'll tell you how much more money you'll have to give me later... great business if you can pull it off...) it's great to see the Nissan press release yesterday showing the price drop will be somewhat close to the one previously announced in the US. I applaud Nissan for this move as if any of us live long enough to actually see an Ariya in the flesh, they had to put significant pricing distance between it and the much more downmarket Leaf. I think the price/value ratio with the new pricelist (and rebates) is just about perfect and Nissan will move all the 2022 Leafs it can find chips for.

Name: When I was going to uni in California I remember having to keep explaining to my friends that the hockey team wasn't the Toronto Maple Leaves. I guess I will have to pull out those old discussions with the people that keep talking about the Nissan Leaves. :mrgreen:

I'm about to hit SUBMIT, so I have saved my txt file and I have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

XLH said:

OK, let's try this again! I am definitely taking the advice to always write a long post in a saved Notepad txt file and then copy and paste as "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!"

Have to start out by profoundly thanking all the phantastic pholks who provided all that invaluable input. I really appreciate all your suggestions and it goes to prove that the people on this forum are among the nicest and best you'll find anywhere.

The charger: After a bit of digging, that situation is now resolved as BC Hydro (our electric utility) offers this:

Single-family homes can get a rebate of up to 50% of the purchase and installation costs of an eligible Level 2 EV charger, to a maximum of $350.

Click to expand...

So a full professional installation is now definitely a go. I've tried to find the Zencar in Canada but am coming up with a blank. If possible I'd rather not import one from the US as the border has been a real challenge to deal with lately.

The tires: I had a great experience with the tires I plunked on the SUV I had before the Pathfinder. They were Goodyear Assurance and not only were they perfect for year round use. They gripped wonderfully in literally all conditions from warm dry to cold icy and every kind of wet. Deep snow flummoxed them a bit but then again the tread wasn't designed to be aggressive enough to deal with that. We get deep snow here on Vancouver Island at sea level like maybe once every couple of years and it's usually gone in less than a week, so the Dakota with the huge mudder tires will get its most intensive use then. Remarkably the Assurance tires showed no scalloping, excessive wear or any other nasty effect of using winter tires year round. It was the first winter tire I've ever used that didn't feel like it was filled with Nickelodeon slime in dry cornering. Do the Michelin Cross-Climate tires have similar characteristics?

Heating: The Leaf will live in my garage where the temp has never dropped below 15C 60F. Personally I can't stand seat warmers. My wife uses hers 6 months of the year and I feel like I'm sitting on a BBQ grille. I'll surely take the advice to just blast the heater on cold days and let the range take the hit.

I'm about to hit SUBMIT, so I have saved my txt file and I have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

Click to expand...

I also imported my Zencar EVSE and really like it, that said Amazon or probably a seller on Amazon also sells various flavors of the Zencar EVSE, Of course some people like to go more mainstream and avoid the Chinese built EVSEs in which case I'd suggest a Clipper Creek or being in Canada I believe the Canadian built Grizzly brand is highly rated. I personally like a portable or plug-in EVSE but you can also go wired.
The Michelin Cross-Climate tires are a good winter also rated for summer use, they have the icon of the mountain with snowflakes just like a dedicated winter tire, I'm not familiar with the Assurance tire, are they also winter rated or just a good All Season tire? If just A/S and you want to use them in the winter/snow I'd really suggest the Cross Climates, besides they have a really cool tread pattern, IMO anyway.
I'm also not a huge fan of seat warmers but will use them to take the chill out of a very cold seat but I REALLY like the heated steering wheel and in the winter I basically leave it on all the time, well my Leaf like most other peoples has a bad habit of turning itself off after a week or so or maybe it's based on how many times you start the vehicle and in that case as soon as I feel or notice it's turned itself OFF I turn it back on.
Yes your post went through just fine this time, welcome to MNL.

I've tried to find the Zencar in Canada but am coming up with a blank. If possible I'd rather not import one from the US as the border has been a real challenge to deal with lately.

Click to expand...

You can order a Zencar EVSE directly from Zencar, which is less expensive than an Amazon listing and allows you more customization options (you want a NEMA 14-30P, perhaps a longer cord, and a 24A setting in the mix).

Zencar charges separately for shipping, so you should know exactly how much you are paying for the EVSE. At the time I ordered mine (3 years ago), total price was a little over $400 CAD.