shellabee said:
LEAFer said:
Speaking of maintenance on a used LEAF ... it would be wise for all used-LEAF buyers to ensure the annual battery check has been done (to keep the battery warranty (as little as it may mean) in force ). Naturally, you should try to get the service paperwork from the seller and/or find out where the car had its service done.
Unfortunately, the dealership I bought it from didn't have any of that info, but I should be able to schedule this battery check myself at my local dealership, right? What about oil changes and stuff? Can I go anywhere or is Nissan the best option? How often do you get maintenance?
Had to laugh at this one.
This vehicle is nothing like any you have ever owned, so erase a lot of what you think you know about caring for and driving a car and restart your education.
This one is a whole lot easier to learn though.
No smog checks, no belts, no timing chains, no pistons, no problems as long as you understand the vehicle, which through the above post I read that you don't really know what you have yet. That is great in some ways, so no worries.
Let me help you learn a little. There is no fuel filter and in some ways, there is no fuel. There is power stored in the 24KWH battery, and about 20KWH is usable. Popular belief is that if you keep the battery between 20% and 80% charged, it will last more than ten years. With none that old we just don't know yet, but it is a mistake to top it off as often as you can - especially if it is not discharged below the 80% level. High heat should be avoided, which is why quick charging might not be good for the batteries. Some degradation of the battery will happen - how fast is not known yet, all we can do is guess at this point. I hope to have at least 50% of my battery still usable in ten years time, but so far I haven't had any real loss. Some people have seen a rapid degradation, and high heat is the suspect. I have to wonder if the insulation on those battery packs has a defect, but so far we just don't know yet.
Turn on the power use screen after you start the car. It is found by touching the blue button on the lower right of the display, and then hit the power option. This will show three pie graphics that display how you are currently using that 20KWH. If you just have the car on it pulls very little power, the climate control can pull more power, and the big circle is what you are using or gaining when you are driving. From there it is pretty easy to figure out how much power you will use to get where you are going. If you are using all 80kw the drive motor can put out, you will run out of power from a full charge in just 15 minutes. You really can't do that since they have limited the top speed at 94 or so, but if you have four flat tires or are driving through cement you could in theory do it. Most of the time you will use less than 20KW, and that means one hour of driving. This is another way of figuring out how far you can go, without trusting the number the car is telling you - which is not to be trusted. If you ever see a low battery warning, figure you have less than 20% of the usable batttery left, or about 4kwhs. If you are on flat ground and go slow, you could go for another hour if you only use 3-4kw for total power.
While that sounds hard, with a little effort it can be done, and your speed will not be 5mph either. The optimum speed stated by Nissan is 37MPH.
When driving keep in mind the best thing to do is use no energy, nor gain any energy. I utilize N to do this, which can be engaged by holding the shifter to the left for a few seconds and then letting it go. You then use kinetic energy to get the maximum distance. If you are coasting downhill you may need to slow the car - don't use the brakes, shift it back into D and feel the regen slow you. Need to slow down faster? Shift to ECO.
If that sounds too hard and you don't want to be troubled with the shifter, you can in effect do the same simply by using your foot on the pedals. A light foot on the brake engages more regen but if you hit the brakes hard, you go straight to the brakes and you get no regeneration at all. Glance at the energy use screen to get the dial as close to zero as you can.
Charging the car on its own power is the greenest way to charge the car. I drive mountain roads, and I still have 95% or more of my brake pads. I pretty much only engage the brakes to come to a full stop.
Don't worry too much about maintenance. Rotating the tires is all I have done to mine, and I have 20,000 miles on it. I am overdue for my third rotation, they should be done every 6000 miles or so. I suppose I could get a filter for it too at this point.
