Kieran973
Well-known member
Hi everyone,
So, first, some context for the thread title.
I recently rented a 2017 Leaf for 24 hours because I'm thinking about buying one. I find dealership test drives stressful, awkward, and not very helpful, so lately I've been renting specific EVs/PHEVs on Turo for 24 hours and doing a more extended test drive that gives me a better sense of the car's real world efficiency, ride and handling, seat comfort, etc. Also, because of the charging situation where I live, renting allows me to test how the car charges at my place.
I don't own my own home - I rent an apartment that has a detached garage in the driveway. This garage has electricity with several 120V outlets, but the garage itself is old and while I am no electrician, some of the wiring looks like not the most professional work. I actually paid an electrician recently to come out and put a GFCI and plastic rain cover on the 120V outlet that I plan to use for whatever EV or PHEV I end up buying.
Anyway, when I got the rental 2017 Leaf home and plugged it into the 120V outlet in the garage with the brand new GFCI, the car wouldn't charge. The green "ready" light on the EVSE was lit up, and the plug icon was lit up on the Leaf's instrument panel, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't get the Leaf to actually charge. I read all the relevant sections in the Leaf manual, and I read several threads addressing similar problems on this very forum, and I tried all the fixes that worked in those situations (like making sure the charging schedule in the infotainment screen was turned off), but none of this worked. The weird thing is that I rented a Prius Prime in April and plugged it into the exact same 120V outlet and the car charged just fine. So at first I thought maybe there was a problem with the EVSE that came with the Leaf. But when I returned the Leaf the next day, the owner used this same EVSE and plugged it into a 120V outlet at his house and the Leaf took the charge.
Any ideas why this might have happened?
More importantly, which brings me back to the question in the thread title: are Nissan Leafs particularly sensitive to charging issues? Like are they more prone to not taking a charge than other EVs or PHEVs? The reason I ask is, again, the Prime had no problem charging in my garage. Also, when I took the 2017 Leaf to an EVGo quick charge station (after it wouldn't charge on the 120V outlet at my apartment and I had to return it), it charged for 16 seconds before abruptly turning off, and then I had to restart the whole process all over again. I'm considering both the 2017 and the 2018 Leaf, but if the Leaf is more fickle when charging compared to other EVs/PHEVs, I might have to go with a different option. I also may need to get the electrician back over here, but I'm trying to avoid paying for any more capital improvements to my landlord's property since I don't own it.
Any insight anyone could provide would be appreciated.
So, first, some context for the thread title.
I recently rented a 2017 Leaf for 24 hours because I'm thinking about buying one. I find dealership test drives stressful, awkward, and not very helpful, so lately I've been renting specific EVs/PHEVs on Turo for 24 hours and doing a more extended test drive that gives me a better sense of the car's real world efficiency, ride and handling, seat comfort, etc. Also, because of the charging situation where I live, renting allows me to test how the car charges at my place.
I don't own my own home - I rent an apartment that has a detached garage in the driveway. This garage has electricity with several 120V outlets, but the garage itself is old and while I am no electrician, some of the wiring looks like not the most professional work. I actually paid an electrician recently to come out and put a GFCI and plastic rain cover on the 120V outlet that I plan to use for whatever EV or PHEV I end up buying.
Anyway, when I got the rental 2017 Leaf home and plugged it into the 120V outlet in the garage with the brand new GFCI, the car wouldn't charge. The green "ready" light on the EVSE was lit up, and the plug icon was lit up on the Leaf's instrument panel, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't get the Leaf to actually charge. I read all the relevant sections in the Leaf manual, and I read several threads addressing similar problems on this very forum, and I tried all the fixes that worked in those situations (like making sure the charging schedule in the infotainment screen was turned off), but none of this worked. The weird thing is that I rented a Prius Prime in April and plugged it into the exact same 120V outlet and the car charged just fine. So at first I thought maybe there was a problem with the EVSE that came with the Leaf. But when I returned the Leaf the next day, the owner used this same EVSE and plugged it into a 120V outlet at his house and the Leaf took the charge.
Any ideas why this might have happened?
More importantly, which brings me back to the question in the thread title: are Nissan Leafs particularly sensitive to charging issues? Like are they more prone to not taking a charge than other EVs or PHEVs? The reason I ask is, again, the Prime had no problem charging in my garage. Also, when I took the 2017 Leaf to an EVGo quick charge station (after it wouldn't charge on the 120V outlet at my apartment and I had to return it), it charged for 16 seconds before abruptly turning off, and then I had to restart the whole process all over again. I'm considering both the 2017 and the 2018 Leaf, but if the Leaf is more fickle when charging compared to other EVs/PHEVs, I might have to go with a different option. I also may need to get the electrician back over here, but I'm trying to avoid paying for any more capital improvements to my landlord's property since I don't own it.
Any insight anyone could provide would be appreciated.