New LEAF owner in Phoenix

[dcxplant]

Ooooooh, scary!! I leased a 2012 LEAF SL yesterday, and I live in Phoenix, AZ!

I drove the car 62 miles yesterday, in a mix of highway 65-70mph, city, and two laps around my neighborhood (Fountain Hills, AZ) which is an extremely hilly neighborhood with steep hills.

The battery was at 96% when I left the dealer lot, and I had one, yes ONE batt bar left when I pulled into my driveway. It did not go into the "turtle mode" although I expected it to when the batt got to one single bar left.

I plugged in the trickle 120v charger, opened up my LEAF app on the old iPhone, and, wait for it....21 hours to full charge :shock: Yikes...

I can't use an installed 220v Level 2 charger, so I will be looking for an alternative. My normal daily driving is less than 40 miles and most days are around 20 miles.

So far, I really love this car.

Likes:
Plenty of range for me.
Super quiet. After one day, I'm already spoiled (I drove our 4Runner after the LEAF and holy smokes what a noise maker!).
Keeps up w traffic well.
Love the entertainment package (SL trim, GPS/XM/Bluetooth/USB/steering wheel controls etc.)
Comfy/Good ergos for me.
Flying saucer noises the drivetrain makes.
Backup camera rocks!!
Backup beeper (just loud enough without being obnoxious).
No GAS!
No oil changes.
No engine maintenance. (My Lexus ES recently cost me a mass air flow sensor ($$), and two coils ($$).
Lease rate that is just SICK!

Dislikes:
Interior gets dirty FAST!! I have a three year old boy... Seat covers PRONTO!
Low resistance tires lack grip, and are stiff. (I can live with that).
No light in the charger hood. Um, HELLOOO Nissan! Yeah, I"m talkin' to you!
Trickle charger should have twin 110v plugs so you can plug into both plugs of an outlet.

I find it curious that the lack of traditional maintenance (oil changes, serpentine belts, 60K and 90K services etc.) is not touted more when talking about EV's. Most of the attention is on the lack of fuel and the cost of electricity. An EV saves a ton of money on scheduled maintenance and the periodic engine problems of ICE cars.

Happy driving!

PS:
I pay little attention to the "guess o meter" and instead will watch my driving habits in relation to the batt bar indicator. I look at this car like a giant phone or laptop when it comes to battery indication and useful time left. We all know our phones and laptops intimately when it comes to batt bars and length of service left, and I expect I'll learn that with this car too.

Not stressed.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Check out the range chart in my signature line to help you learn the range with fuel segments.

Welcome to the EV world.

Tony

 

[dcxplant]

That's handy Tony, but, you know I'll be putting that to a test!

How did you come up w that?
Erich

BTW,
My neighborhood has a car hop every Sat. morning at a local diner, I'll be there next Sat w/ the hood up along side the hotrods, should be a lot of fun :lol:

 

[adric22]

With 20 to 40 miles daily driving, you'll probably be able to squeak by with just the 120V charging. Even if you drive further one day, you may be able to make up the charge the next day.

Depending on what your electrical configuration is around your home, you may be able to get an EVSE upgrade to your 120V charger and be able to charge twice as fast without actually installing any sort of charging station.

 

[dcxplant]

With 20 to 40 miles daily driving, you'll probably be able to squeak by with just the 120V charging. Even if you drive further one day, you may be able to make up the charge the next day.

Depending on what your electrical configuration is around your home, you may be able to get an EVSE upgrade to your 120V charger and be able to charge twice as fast without actually installing any sort of charging station.

Yup!

I put the trickle charger on last night at 1800hrs, this morning at 0630 I checked the LEAF app on the phone and it shows a 75% charge, 75miles avail, and 5 hours to go. So, as the guess-o-meter in the car, charging is also subjective, as this is half of what the original charge estimate was (21 hours). Experience with the car will let me more accurately estimate battery charging and mileage on my own.
-----------------


I've had some interesting encounters w other motorists already. I've had several double-takes, and a guy followed along w me, changing lanes to see different angles of the LEAF etc.

Then a Z4 (BMW) at a red light jumped at the green, so I had to see what would happen if I mashed the pedal to the floor . I was not disappointed! and the Z4 was very surprised.

The last encounter was a large Ram pickup tailgaiting me (I was 5 over the posted). I zipped ahead to gain distance so he could change lanes and go by. He gave the LEAF a funny sideglance.

 

[TonyWilliams]

That's handy Tony, but, you know I'll be putting that to a test!

How did you come up w that?
Erich

Oh, just me and a bunch of my friends driving electric and recoding data. We did a bit of data recording over in Phoenix, which might be entertaining:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=228326#p228326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[dcxplant]

That's handy Tony, but, you know I'll be putting that to a test!

How did you come up w that?
Erich

Oh, just me and a bunch of my friends driving electric and recoding data. We did a bit of data recording over in Phoenix, which might be entertaining:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=228326#p228326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Holy smokes!

 

[TickTock]

Super quiet: Yup - you'll never want to go back. All my ICE's feel so clunky.
No charging port light: If you park in the garage, just set your headlight timer to the 30 second delay. Reflection off the wall is more than enough to find the port.
Trickle charger should have twin 110v plugs so you can plug into both plugs of an outlet: Agree. That or a longer cord on the 120V side so the weight can rest on something other than the plug. A short (4ft) heavy duty ext. cord works (I keep one in my trunk).
Interior gets dirty: Yup. The day I picked mine up I scheduled to have leather installed. Dove Grey matches the interior very well.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

No charging port light: If you park in the garage, just set your headlight timer to the 30 second delay. Reflection off the wall is more than enough to find the port.

Many of us use this: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2502. It's not available at Lowe's any more but still available on line. I recommend it highly.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

NM. Wrong thread.

 

[LEAFguy]

Erich, the more you drive it, the more you'll like it.

If you can install a 240-volt outlet (or already have one), you might look into doing the evse upgrade (search it on Google or found in the forum here). For a few hundred dollars you will then have a portable dual 240-volt/120-volt unit. Based on your current driving distances, you should be able to use your stock evse just fine. The modded unit could be the alternative that you're looking for.

Have fun!