2015 SL limited to 6.6kW charging at 240v?

For 240v charging, the owner’s manual states “Maximum rated input 32A” and “Maximum power consumption 7.7kVA”. In my experience, 28A and 6.7kW is the highest I’ve seen my EVSE record.

I fount a forum post from 2014 where someone mentioned 7.7 from the owner’s manual, but there was no further discussion or explanation. Evspecifications.com reports the number as 7.4, but says the onboard charger limits this to 6.6.

Does anyone have more detailed information (not speculation) on this?
Is the owner’s manual wrong, or can I somehow charge at 7.7kW (or 7.4)?
Is the 300 watt discrepancy between the owner’s manual and evspecifications explained by the 300 watts needed to run the battery heater during charging at cold temps?

Yes the highest I've seen is 6.6kW output from my EVSE (27.5a @ 240v) which would mean even less actually going into the battery. There is always losses converting wall power to the battery and I've read its somewhere around 300w, which is why L2 and the closest to 27.5a is more efficient than lesser L2 or for sure L1 which requires longer to charge and therefore you have a longer time of the wasted 300w of power.
The maximum 32a input is probably just being conservative on the ratings as EVSEs are rated for 100% use cycle and you never want to max things out for more prolonged use.

The ratings in the manual are wrong or misleading. The maximum current the onboard charger can draw is 32 amperes, but that only happens if the voltage is low. As Jeff said, it will draw about 27.5 amperes at 240 volts (about 6.6 kVA or 6.6 kW at unity power factor). My 2015 would draw about 30 amperes at my workshop garage with actual 212 volts on a nominal 208-volt circuit. The voltage would need to be lower than 208 to get current higher than 30 amperes. My 2019 will draw a little more current than the 2015 under similar conditions so its charging power is slightly higher (a little over 6.7 kW is typical).

My 2013 SL, with Juicebox Pro 40, sees 251 Volts and 6.6kW which translates to 26.29 Amps

Our 2019 Leaf is not charging on the new residential system just installed at our complex, which is working like a charm for the Tesla people. After plug-in, we quickly get a fault and are shut down. The system is 208 volt, 32 amp. SImple question: is there a solution that will allow us to charge? I see many have the same problem, but none seem to have found a solution.

Welcome. You should still be able to charge at Level 1, 120 volts, as the 208 volt system should also provide that. If you can get some 20 amp 120 volt outlet circuits, then you can buy 16 amp, 120 volt charging stations or cables. It would be slow, but charging at 16 amps instead of the 12 provided by the Nissan charging cable would be a significant improvement.

I think the only solution is to buy another EVSE that tolerates the 208V.

It might be possible to modify the Nissan EVSE to work at 208V but like you, I haven't heard of anyone being successful at doing that.

Gmeggs said:

Our 2019 Leaf is not charging on the new residential system just installed at our complex, which is working like a charm for the Tesla people. After plug-in, we quickly get a fault and are shut down. The system is 208 volt, 32 amp. SImple question: is there a solution that will allow us to charge? I see many have the same problem, but none seem to have found a solution.

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It might be the EVSE the complex is using causing the issue as I've charged on 208 Volt systems for years with my Leaf(s) without any issues. Do you know if they installed a "Charge Point" network or did they just find some cheap Amazon EVSE and install that?

I might have that wrong too, are you using the EVSE that Nissan provided you? I can tell you that won't work on 208V from what others here have posted about in the past.

Gmeggs said:

Our 2019 Leaf is not charging on the new residential system just installed at our complex, which is working like a charm for the Tesla people. After plug-in, we quickly get a fault and are shut down. The system is 208 volt, 32 amp. SImple question: is there a solution that will allow us to charge? I see many have the same problem, but none seem to have found a solution.

Click to expand...

If you are using the dual voltage Nissan EVSE, it will start to charge and quickly give fault indication/shutdown. I have tested the Nissan EVSE that came with my 2019 SL Plus and verified it charges fine using the adapter on 120 volts or without the adapter on 240 volts (NEMA 14-50 receptacle). It will not work on a 14-50 receptacle at 208 volts nominal (212 volts at my workshop garage). The car will charge fine at 208 volts with a suitable EVSE. I have a Clipper Creek unit at my garage that I use periodically.

I think the only solution is to buy another EVSE that tolerates the 208V.

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I was thinking at the time I replied that the car itself wouldn't accept 208 volts. If it's just a matter of buying a different L-2 station that can handle 208 volts and 'feed' the car with it, then of course that's the best way to go. Clarification, folks?

I think GerryAZ noted above that he has successfully used a ClipperCreek EVSE on a 208V supply,

It's odd since the EVSE simply passes its supply voltage to the on-board charger but the limitation seems to be the (Nissan supplied) EVSE, not the OBC.

The car will charge fine on 208 volts nominal with a suitable EVSE. Actually, the onboard charger will charge with some voltage drop on a 120-volt circuit (I tested the 2011 down to about 100 volts--not recommended) so anywhere between 100 and 252 with a suitable EVSE. I have no way to know the absolute maximum voltage for the onboard charger and have no intention to test it.

I have a Clipper Creek HCS-50P EVSE (needs a 50-ampere breaker and is capable of delivering 40 amperes continuous) purchased in 2016 that plugs in to a NEMA 14-50 receptacle at my workshop garage on nominal 208 volts (usually about 212 volts line-to-line). The wall-mount L2 AeroVironment EVSE (with Nissan logo) that I purchased in 2011 for my garage at home is also rated for 208-240 volts. I also have a Nissan portable EVSE from my 2011 that was modified by EVSE Upgrade to work on both L1 and L2. It also charges fine at 208 volts nominal (adjustable 6 to 12 amperes at 120 volts and 6 to 24 amperes at 208-240 volts).

As noted before, the dual voltage Nissan portable EVSE that came with my 2019 will charge on 120 volts with the adapter (NEMA 5-15 receptacle) or on 240 volts (NEMA 14-50 receptacle), but it will not charge at 208 volts. It will start to charge and then shut down after a few seconds so I suspect it has voltage sensing with low voltage shutdown and will not tolerate 208.

GerryAZ said:

The car will charge fine on 208 volts nominal with a suitable EVSE. Actually, the onboard charger will charge with some voltage drop on a 120-volt circuit (I tested the 2011 down to about 100 volts--not recommended) so anywhere between 100 and 252 with a suitable EVSE. I have no way to know the absolute maximum voltage for the onboard charger and have no intention to test it.
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As noted before, the dual voltage Nissan portable EVSE that came with my 2019 will charge on 120 volts with the adapter (NEMA 5-15 receptacle) or on 240 volts (NEMA 14-50 receptacle), but it will not charge at 208 volts. It will start to charge and then shut down after a few seconds so I suspect it has voltage sensing with low voltage shutdown and will not tolerate 208.

Click to expand...

We have/had some Leafs at my work (formerly) at lot more of all different model years including 2015 and really all over the map from '11 to at least '21 or '22. For L2 charging, we only have 208 volt charging on our ChargePoint CT4000 EVSEs. They charge fine. I charged at 208 volts on these and older CT2000 series for over 6 years across two '13 Leafs.

A lot of public L2 charging is only 208 volts due to it being common for commercial power in the US. It's rare that I even end up plugging into public/workplace 240 volt J1772.

Back to 100 volts, I'm guessing it's fine. Japan's AC voltages are 100 and 200 volts.