The official "I got my Leaf" thread

[ztanos]

Greetings, all!

I've had my sights set on an EV for over a year now (the Gulf breach was the proverbial straw... my continued gas consumption meant I was contributing to the problem) but wasn't ready to pull the trigger, considering the price tag.

After dumping a grand into my 12 year old Miata a month ago, I was ready to take the leap. We test drove the Leaf and the MiEV, making our choice a no-brainer.

I solicited 9 dealers via email ranging from Everett to Olympia asking for the best offer on a Leaf. We were intending to purchase the car so I asked the dealers to not factor in the $7500, knowing that we would never recoup that in our returns. We crunched the numbers every which way, and even after factoring in the sales tax exemption on a new 2012 we found a used 2011 at Eastside Bellevue to be the best price.

At the advice of a salesperson in Edmonds we realized we could get a brand new Leaf with the $7500 rebate if we leased, and if we were determined to own it, we could simply take out a loan and buy out the lease early. As kind as that was for him to give me that tip, our hometown of Tacoma still had the best offer of any other dealer.

We sold the Miata on Monday and used the cash for a down payment on the Leaf the following Thursday. Beautiful silver 2012 SL. Even though we had submitted our application and set the price beforehand we still ended up spending nearly 5 hours at the dealer. That was a total buzzkill considering we were in and out of the dealer in 45 minutes when we bought a new RAV4 in 2004. We still need the ICE vehicle as we still make regular family visits to Wenatchee.

So now we are the proud owners - ahem... leasers, that is - of a Nissan Leaf SL purchased with 94 miles on it, picked up a week ago yesterday. Every day I scour this forum and the interwebs for tips and info. Oh, and I'm trickle charging for now. I did find out we qualify for the EVProject, and Nissan is cutting us a $1000 check on top of that. After reading the boards here I'm trying my best not to chew my nails down regarding the Blink EVSE issues reported. I won't borrow trouble and I'll keep good thoughts.

Thanks to everyone for all the great input you've provided here, and for all willing to be in the vanguard on EVs!

I have family in Wenatchee, also. If I remember correctly there is a charging infrastructure out that far, so you should look into this. I think you could make it in the LEAF.

 

[phaduman]

Bought it yesterday, August 31st 2012!! Wife's new primary car.
2012 Cayenne Red SL from Fremont Nissan, here in Bay area, California. Doris is great, if anyone wants to get a good deal, get in touch with her.
Leased for 3yrs/36K miles, 0-down. 46% residual. 0.00071 money factor. Great monthly (at least I think ). PM me if you want details.

Blink charger installation was also yesterday (got lucky and very helpful Ecotality manager Heather and electrician folks at Mr. Electric of Palo-Alto Mr Armando & Lorie - thank you Folks). The blink charger came with v1.6 and Mr.Electric folks just took out the old MicroSD and inserted new MicroSD with v2.1 today - way better s/w. Wi-Fi was very flaky (I know about Wi-Fi and my tests showed quite a few packets being lost by Blink charger v1.6 - haven't tested 2.1, but hopefully is better). In any case, didn't bother to trust Wi-Fi and installed wired cable from garage to my router.

Car was fully charged at dealership (thank you again Doris), and after 25miles on freeway (with traffic, and AC on for 50% of time), I still had 61miles on GOM (Still learning the lingo folks, bear with me) after I reached home. Wife took it this morning on mostly-free freeway for 20miles and GoM dropped to 29miles remaining. Turned on after 5hrs (showed 32miles remaining, ambient pleasant 75F), and returned 20miles with GoM showing 12miles remaining. Impressed with the accuracy there.

Anyways, first two days experience, so far awesome car. Reading up on "good citizen charging" instructions. Don't know what "Break-in" driving procedure we should follow for electric cars. Appreciate any pointer there, and with any other linkage.
PN
San jose, CA

 

[TonyWilliams]

Bought it yesterday, August 31st 2012!! Wife's new primary car.
2012 Cayenne Red SL.... Don't know what "Break-in" driving procedure we should follow for electric cars. Appreciate any pointer there, and with any other linkage.

I love that color, and that was my first LEAF. Current ride is black.

Congrats on the car, and you've obviously figured out the idiocy of the GoM. You can click on the range chart link in my signature line to get an idea what the car will really do.

There really isn't any "break in" procedure. Just drive, and come here to learn.

 

[RegGuheert]

Congratulations, phaduman, and welcome!

Don't know what "Break-in" driving procedure we should follow for electric cars. Appreciate any pointer there, and with any other linkage.

Nothing to do for "break-in", but I will give one bit of advice: While it is O.K. to occasionally charge to 100% and then drive, you do NOT want your car sitting around fully charged any more than necessary. Set up 80% end-time-only charge timers (NO start time) to end when your wife leaves for work. She only has a 40-mile RT commute, so 80% is plenty. The car will only spend a little time at 80% and then will spend the bulk of the day at about 60% then it will sit overnight at 40% until it begins automatically charging to get ready for her trip to work. If she needs the full battery some days, she can tell it to charge from her phone or iPad when she awakes and it will get to full in about 2 hours.

Enjoy your LEAF!

 

[mkjayakumar]

There are a few important rules you should follow for good battery care:

- charge to 100% only if you need the full range. Otherwise try to keep your max charge to 80% or lower.

- if you charge to 100%, do not let it sit at that full charge for a long time. It is good to drive it soon to get the charge level down.

SInce you live in a temperate zone, the issues faced by folks in AZ and TX due to high heat should not concern you.

Enjoy your Leaf.

 

[phaduman]

Amazing piece of advice RegGuheert - thanks a ton. Charging for the first time and set to 80% on the Leaf timer 1. Will not use any timer on the Blink charger - Leaf will decide when to start and stop. I will modify your advice a bit on the occasional 100% necessity - as PG&E switches to higher-cost at 7AM and I would want to "End" charging at 6.45 (or so) always, if she needs longer range the next day, she can set that manually on the iphone/ipad before hitting the bed - so that charging still stops before PG&E wakes up .

Thanks for the chart link TonyW and yes mk, I had thankfully read that piece of advice on this forum and will always follow that charging plan (80%)...

...The car will only spend a little time at 80% and then will spend the bulk of the day at about 60% then it will sit overnight at 40% until it begins automatically charging to get ready for her trip to work. If she needs the full battery some days, she can tell it to charge from her phone or iPad when she awakes and it will get to full in about 2 hours....

Quick question on weekend charging: how bad is it for Leaf to sit at 80% charge for a few hours (or a full weekend day in case no driving is necessary?)?

 

[RegGuheert]

Quick question on weekend charging: how bad is it for Leaf to sit at 80% charge for a few hours (or a full weekend day in case no driving is necessary?)?

Frankly, I don't think anyone really knows. Personally, I avoid it since we can make most spur-of-the-moment runs we might need if the car has five or more bars. The difference being that we purchased our LEAF. Since you leased, battery longevity will be a lesser concern, although we don't yet know what three years will bring in your climate.

BTW, I am referring to summertime practice. In the wintertime when it is 25F around here, I will likely keep the car at 80% since it has less range in the cold and it seems there is less damage done to the battery at cold temperatures, even at high SOC.

 

[jpa2825]

Too busy enjoying LEAF to post here. Picked up from Busam Nissan last Saturday & drove it every Day to work this week. Commute is 52 miles mostly freeway.

Friday was a little close because I took some side trips and didn't get started charging until around 2200. Up & gone at 0645 the next morning with marginally enough charge to do RT based on Tony's chart / app. Took surface streets to work. Took an hour instead of 40 minutes, but would have had enough charge to get home. However, met someone for lunch near Busam Nissan so I. Met them there, hooked up to their L2 and charged during lunch.

Interesting story, Busam turns off the L2 unless someone comes in & asks them to turn it on. They said the lights at night might attract copper thieves & they were worried about liability if the thieves were injured / killed if turned on. Sad. (Also, there has been no demand for use, so no negative reaction.)

Enjoying Pepper immensely. Based on commute, I am almost forced to charge as much as possible because I use more than I can put in during the week. Will time the charge for Monday morning to hit as close to departure time as possible. Until I am able to justify expense of L2 at home (station or Phil's mod) OR find a charging solution at work (working on it), this seems the only option. Still will probably only be able to drive 4/5 days when it gets cold or I have side trips.

I leased, so treating my battery this way is less of a concern for me

 

[Msquared]

As I said in my intro thread, I had NO plans of buying a Leaf. I was driving a 2011 Hyundai Elantra Limited and was mostly happy with it, other than its terrible in-town gas mileage. It delivered on the freeway, but in my hilly neighborhood and my with my numerous short trips, I was averaging under 20 mpg!

My husband was very serious about trading his car (2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track) for the 2012 Xterra Pro-4X.

To make a long story short, while we were there getting his Xterra, we ended up picking up a Leaf, too, and trading both of our Hyundais for Nissans.

Nothing against Hyundai at all. I was and still am a forum moderator for a Hyundai forum, and have gotten both flack and support for my decision to switch. DH and I both loved our cars, but he needed to trade his for a more practical, rugged vehicle. My car was fine, but I discovered how great of an electric car candidate I'd be, lol.

Now, the dealer I got my Leaf from had a TON in stock. They had at least 2 in every color available. So I basically had my pick of the lot. No waiting - instant gratification! Mine is a Glacier Pearl one (2012, SL). Has the blue console and the decals on the side, which I have a love/hate relationship with. :roll:

 

[EatsShootsandLeafs]

Picked up an SV today. It is replacing a third gen Prius, which was almost up on its lease. That Prius was the first alt-energy (if hybrid counts) car I have owned and from day one have sung its praises, really a great car. However, with the lease over and Toyota no longer giving these away in cracker jack boxes as they were when the "accelerator problem" was causing a PR nightmare, I had to either lease at a much higher rate or buy it out (which I was going to do). Well, I saw what nissan is doing to move Leafs now and instead went that route. I may own another Prius, as it's necessary for my family to have at least one gas car (we do road trips), and that car continues to be a masterful piece of engineering, tweaked to Kingdom Come by Toyota.

Oh yeah, back to the Leaf. Well, 100 "MPGE", plus the brute awesomeness of the electric power train and I think it's going to work out well as a commuter car.

It seems that even more than the Prius the average Leaf owner is a data-obsessed fanatic, so I think I'm going to fit in here just fine.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Picked up an SV today. It is replacing a third gen Prius, which was almost up on its lease.....

It seems that even more than the Prius the average Leaf owner is a data-obsessed fanatic, so I think I'm going to fit in here just fine.

Sorry, again, for confusing you with this guy on the other thread.

Did you buy or lease. Welcome to the LEAF world. I'm driving my second one, which I leased. My first car was a purchase that started to have the battery degradate.

Welcome aboard,

Tony

 

[EatsShootsandLeafs]

Picked up an SV today. It is replacing a third gen Prius, which was almost up on its lease.....

It seems that even more than the Prius the average Leaf owner is a data-obsessed fanatic, so I think I'm going to fit in here just fine.

Sorry, again, for confusing you with this guy on the other thread.

Did you buy or lease. Welcome to the LEAF world. I'm driving my second one, which I leased. My first car was a purchase that started to have the battery degradate.

Welcome aboard,

Tony

No worries Thanks for all the data and numbers you compile about this car.

This one was leased for 24 months. I would have taken 39, but that would have had a higher monthly payment. I'm in the North East and don't expect any meaningful capacity loss during this time.

Will be interesting to see over the next two years how the battery packs play out, whether new leafs get larger packs, what replacement costs are on old, etc. as they'll impact my likelihood of buying this out at lease-end or not. There aren't many Leafs in this city (I've seen two at the most since they launched).

 

[BrendanDolan]

Well, over two years have passed since I started doing marketing, ordering, training, and sales for Boardwalk, and we've dominated LEAF sales in the US.

Why didn't I get my Black SL last year? The love of my life lived too far, and the range, and our charging issues kept it from making sense.

Her and I are living with one another now, and the LEAF makes sense. Took my Silver SL home tonight.

 

[galletgun]

Just leased a 2012 Nissan Leaf SL in Ocean Blue. Work for Royal Nissan Suzuki in Baton Rouge, LA. Always loved sports cars, but here I am driving a Leaf.

Love this car. Smooth ride, high tech, and the cool factor is through the roof!

 

[chuckb]

Got our Leaf today. My wife is going to drive it back and forth to school... she's a teacher.

Got an excellent deal I think... 1700 down and 162 / month on a 24 month lease.

Now I'm just trying to figure out how to get a 240 home charger installed on the cheap.

Chuck & Amy

 

[EVDrive]

Got our Leaf today. My wife is going to drive it back and forth to school... she's a teacher.

Got an excellent deal I think... 1700 down and 162 / month on a 24 month lease.

Now I'm just trying to figure out how to get a 240 home charger installed on the cheap.

Chuck & Amy

Wow that is an amazing lease price. I should have leased.

 

[WarwickBen]

Picked up my new Black SL yesterday, after reading on this blog for a month or two. This is a great resource!
Decided to lease, because I can still get the state/federal tax credits (I live in Colorado). Have gotten a lot of stares from the neighbors, but I'm excited about not paying OPEC any longer. Should be a fun experience!

 

[MrIanB]

Picked up my new Black SL yesterday, after reading on this blog for a month or two. This is a great resource!
Decided to lease, because I can still get the state/federal tax credits (I live in Colorado). Have gotten a lot of stares from the neighbors, but I'm excited about not paying OPEC any longer. Should be a fun experience!

Way to go Warwick. Enjoy and get out there and drive!!!!

Ian B

 

[sparky]

Picked up my new Black SL yesterday, after reading on this blog for a month or two. ....

Wow.
Considering this forum is more and more like a LEAF battery death-watch and wailing wall, I'm impressed you went ahead and got a LEAF after spending a couple of months here. What about the LEAF sold you? Why not a Volt or a Prius?
I'm sure Nissan would like to know.

Nice color BTW. Same here. Welcome!

 

[PorlockJunior]

Hi, all. Only got into this site a few days ago. Must say it's surprisingly troll-free. Do you have an amulet for +3 against Autoblogs?

Anyway, got my red SL today. Quick summary of the process, which gave me a surprise or two:

I have always hated the whole bullshit process of buying a car. Over the years the industry has lost thousands of dollars in sales, actually tens of thousands, because I always put off buying a new car as long as possible or longer, just to avoid the business. Yeah, weird.

Last time I bought a car I paid CarBargains to get firm quotes for me, and chose one and bought. Marvelously little hassle, and I believe I saved money because the deal was so much better than I'd have managed to negotiate. This year, I tried to do the same, but CarBargains does not deal with the Leaf. They mumbled something about its being a specialty car.

So, I took those old quotes, read over various wise advice on getting a good price, and composed my own letter requesting a quote. Looked up every dealer within about 25 miles of my town just north of San Francisco, and found 9 of them. That's a lot. Sent one to each: 2 by email, where the website gave the name and address of a sales manager type; 7 by snail mail. All of these went out last Tuesday, September 25.

Pause. Wanna guess the response?

On the Friday, 3 days later, I got a quote, clean and no-nonsense, by paper mail. One day each way for transit, and that's prompt enough. What's interesting is the competition: NONE. After 8 days (haven't picked up my smailmail today), only one of 9 places had bothered to try to sell me this car.

Memo to Nissan: Could there be a reason your sales are lagging?

So I went to that one after calling them this morning, and got the car. No problems, no phonies beyond the need to try to sell a bunch of extended warranty stuff which no dealer can fail to do. Courteous and efficient from the moment I walked in, and the sales manager decided I must be the guy who had called in. In and out in 1 1/2 hours, just as the sales manager had said on the phone. Remember, no arrangements before this day except the quote.

Oh, right, maybe the name of the dealer is of interest? Nissan of Oakland.

Guess I'll comment on the car next.