If interested, follow one LEAF from order through delivery

Many of you know that I have a (non-commercial) blog (after all, the link is in my signature! ). I started my blog on July 1 of last year, and have been a forum member since July 23 of last year. Without a doubt, MyNissanLeaf is the leading LEAF forum available, and it is gaining traction. After looking carefully, I have not seen a concise start to finish, "this is what happened" narrative of a single LEAF delivery. Due to the nature of any forum, posts are separated and often in various threads. This led me to this idea.

I have created a category on my blog called "Our Delivery". In it you will only find articles relating to the order and delivery of our LEAF. This was created to remove some of the mystery of what goes on in the process, and to provide a "real-world" timeline for those looking forward to (or currently involved in) the process. It also passes on a hint about when your LEAF is about to be built.

We ordered our LEAF September 3, 2010 and currently delivery is estimated for the week of March 25, 2011. If interested, feel free to stop by. If not, I totally understand. I am not trying to take readers away from MyNissanLeaf. I am offering information in a way not currently offered here. Thanks for your consideration.

(If you are wondering where all the posts are from last year on my blog, we are still rebuilding. Our server crashed in January, and not having a backup :roll: required us to repopulate articles manually, which we are doing from cached pages.)

Thanks Leafguy....I'm now able to log back in to your blog. I'll be following your posts.

Thanks Leafguy, You have a great site!! It is indeed complementary to this forum

Guys, thanks for your comments!

Nissan just announced that a ship bearing over 600 LEAFs left Japan on March 10. Based on our estimated delivery of week of March 25, it's possible that our LEAF is on that ship. I will keep you posted.

LEAFguy said:

Guys, thanks for your comments!

Nissan just announced that a ship bearing over 600 LEAFs left Japan on March 10. Based on our estimated delivery of week of March 25, it's possible that our LEAF is on that ship. I will keep you posted.

Click to expand...

I believe that all of the March deliveries are already in the US. It seems that they spend at least a week in port getting the port-installed-options installed, and a week or more to transport to the dealer along with whatever prep the dealer does.

The ship that left on March 10 likely has some of the April deliveries on it.

All speculation of course, but that seems to be the timeline based on the reports from previous deliveries.

LEAFguy said:

Based on our estimated delivery of week of March 25, it's possible that our LEAF is on that ship. I will keep you posted.

Click to expand...

As LakeLeaf said - your Leaf arrived in port shortly before you received your VIN - it's probably been here for a couple weeks already.

It's about 2 weeks on the boat from Japan to Long Beach, then 2-4 weeks in port and then a couple days to a couple weeks from port to dealer depending on where you dealer is, then a couple days from dealer to the new owner.

LakeLeaf and drees - thanks for your input! I am trying to collect as much timeline information as I can to incorporate in my narrative as Nissan's delivery information process is not as comprehensive as Chevy's is with the Volt. That way future LEAF buyers will have a better understanding of what they may expect.

The latest information in our delivery process is now posted here. We have been contacted by the EV Project contractor and have scheduled the installation of our Blink EVSE.

LEAFguy said:

LakeLeaf and drees - thanks for your input! I am trying to collect as much timeline information as I can to incorporate in my narrative as Nissan's delivery information process is not as comprehensive as Chevy's is with the Volt. That way future LEAF buyers will have a better understanding of what they may expect.

The latest information in our delivery process is now posted here. We have been contacted by the EV Project contractor and have scheduled the installation of our Blink EVSE.

Click to expand...

Hey LEAFguy interesting blog! As for timeline, do you have a snapshot from your dealerships dash board? There's a lot of interesting timeline information available there.

ENIAC said:

Hey LEAFguy interesting blog! As for timeline, do you have a snapshot from your dealerships dash board? There's a lot of interesting timeline information available there.

Click to expand...

ENIAC - Thanks! I started it because I was looking for information on the LEAF last year, and as you have undoubtedly found, it is hard to come by factual info presented in an easy to search way. So I started doing research myself and structured my blog in a way that I thought made sense. If you see ways for me to improve the blog, I'd be happy to hear them.

Leon at Mossy Nissan is my dealer. He's been great to work with so far. I'll ask him if he can send me a screenshot of his dashboard.

The "Nissan LEAF: Expected delivery" email has arrived!

We may see our LEAF as early as next week, one week prior to the estimated delivery data on the LEAF website.

Our LEAF has arrived! If you would like to check out day one, just click on the link. I will update the timeline after I get some sleep!

congrats on your new addition!! i hope it meets your expectations.

RSH said:

Congrats. Leafguy, on the new car. Maybe we have a new standard for measuring distance traveled: Miles per Bar. It might be interesting over time to find out how reliable that turns out to be; it would certainly be an easy quick reference when driving.

Click to expand...

it would really mean little or nothing. miles per bar would have to assume a constant driving state. same speed, no change in direction (wind does affect performance), elevation, etc.

i do think that bars remaining is a much better way to judge range than the stated range indicator.

DaveinOlyWA said:

RSH said:

Congrats. Leafguy, on the new car. Maybe we have a new standard for measuring distance traveled: Miles per Bar. It might be interesting over time to find out how reliable that turns out to be; it would certainly be an easy quick reference when driving.

Click to expand...

it would really mean little or nothing. miles per bar would have to assume a constant driving state. same speed, no change in direction (wind does affect performance), elevation, etc.

i do think that bars remaining is a much better way to judge range than the stated range indicator.

Click to expand...

Yes, of course you are correct. But I can't help but wonder whether the cars having sudden stop syndrome that I have read about dropped maybe two or three bars on the screen suddenly, or if a gradual loss of bars went unnoticed because the new driver was not referring to the number of bars left. In reality, I know nothing, as my car is not scheduled for delivery until week of April 15. I was kind of kidding with a small dose of hopeful potential reality.

RSH said:

Yes, of course you are correct. But I can't help but wonder whether the cars having sudden stop syndrome that I have read about dropped maybe two or three bars on the screen suddenly, or if a gradual loss of bars went unnoticed because the new driver was not referring to the number of bars left. In reality, I know nothing, as my car is not scheduled for delivery until week of April 15. I was kind of kidding with a small dose of hopeful potential reality.

Click to expand...

actually we are all wondering if we have all the real details to make a determination. in all instances Nissan was unable to detect a problem with the car or the monitoring system. i cant help but think that Carwings allows them a much higher level of monitoring then they are providing us, but that is only a guess. but i find it hard to believe they would not take advantage of that data set.

i have been monitoring range and performance and how it relates to my driving style and destinations for years. i have pushed my Leaf to the edge many times but have never run out nor been close. i hit turtle mode one time, but also did 122 miles in a day while calculating the exact amount of charge i would need to make it 50 miles to my home. i got home without hitting turtle mode so guessing i probably had at least 2 miles to spare maybe which was added as a buffer.

but that is because the route i drove was done in my Prius hundreds of times and i knew that my performance coming home would be better than my performance going there. others who have not the experience will sell themselves short.

this is to be expected. the only thing here is the claims of having 15 miles of range then dying in the middle of the next block, etc. but the thing is, its hard to remember exactly what the car said if you have no concerns. its like checking the remaining bars you have left in the first 10 miles. i dont. i probably should just to get another data point, but i find that one to be the least important. not that i am saying i am right and the more data you have, the better.

guys - thanks for the congrats and the feedback.

Russ - the idea of miles per bar is not mine, but one that several others here have mentioned. After accumulating mileage in the LEAF, I see the possibility of saying something like this to someone using the car for the first time - "The "gas gauge" has 12 bars on it. On average, I've been able to go between XX and XX miles per bar. So keep an eye on those bars and know that if you only have four bars left, plan on the short side of that equation just to be on the safe side. And that means the equivalent of "running on fumes". If you don't drive that way in your car now, I suggest you not try to drive that way in the LEAF."

LEAFguy said:

guys - thanks for the congrats and the feedback.

Russ - the idea of miles per bar is not mine, but one that several others here have mentioned. After accumulating mileage in the LEAF, I see the possibility of saying something like this to someone using the car for the first time - "The "gas gauge" has 12 bars on it. On average, I've been able to go between XX and XX miles per bar. So keep an eye on those bars and know that if you only have four bars left, plan on the short side of that equation just to be on the safe side. And that means the equivalent of "running on fumes". If you don't drive that way in your car now, I suggest you not try to drive that way in the LEAF."

Click to expand...

I'd suggest substituting "fuel" (or any of a number of other less petroleum-centric terms) for "gas." Let's hit the road running with the new terminology!

Glenn

Glenn said:

I'd suggest substituting "fuel" (or any of a number of other less petroleum-centric terms) for "gas." Let's hit the road running with the new terminology!

Glenn

Click to expand...

Glenn - My thinking was this - when talking to someone not really familiar with EVs, to use language that they are familiar with (including the allusion to "running on fumes").

Day Four - including applying for the California $5,000 rebate and having a 6'4" guest driver behind the wheel.