Bought 2015 Leaf S, Awesome car! Noob questions..

Just got this thing today. I am just so thrilled!

Its a 2015 Leaf S with QC package and holographic kick plates. Also included the EVSE, owners manual, tire repair kit, Nissan emergency road kit, and first aid kit. Also included some sort of thick silver bar with threads on it, and a loop at the other end. Is this for towing?

I picked it up in Mesa AZ, drove it to Anthem AZ. (40 miles hwy). Had 53% battery there, so I plugged it into a Blink L2 charger.

The Blink station acted like it was charging my car and counting the time etc.. But I noticed the lights on the dash were not blinking. The middle light stayed solid. I figured the charger must be broken, so I tried to use the one next to it. But the car wouldn't start! It had power, but I could not get the green car icon and start driving. So with the help of this forum, I disconnected the 12V positive battery terminal for 5 minutes and let the car "reset" itself. Viola! The car was moving again.

So I parked at next one, only to find the touchscreen wasn't working. But there was a sticker on it with a phone number. Customer service was very helpful. I gave them my CC info (im not a member) and they were able to start the station remotely. When I plugged it in, the car made a beep and started blinking lights on the dash! I knew it was going to take a couple hours at least, so I got something to eat, went on a nice run, walked around aimlessly, browsed the internet, etc...

It would have been nice to know what the battery % was during charging. I know people use their cell phone app to view the charge status. But my car is a base model with no navigation or carwings, so I dont believe I can do that. I wanted to turn the car on while charging. to see a status or indicator of charge % it is currently at. But, I was afraid it might hurt the car, or stop the charge. So I relied on the 3 blinking lights on the dash. I sat there wondering how long it would be... Is there a way to check the current charge % while the car is charging?

I left Anthem at 100% and proceeded to go home to Prescott Valley. It was 64 miles, 4000ft elevation gain, 5-10MPH winds, and 85F. I kept the car in eco mode and set cruise control for 58 MPH the whole way. I used no climate control other than the fan (no AC). I arrived home with 18% battery remaining. The low battery warning kicked in right when I entered the driveway! Overall, I was very impressed. I thought it would be a close one, but it managed just fine. My normal everyday routine is only between 5-40 miles round trip, with atleast 30 or 40% city, so I know this car will be perfect, and Ill have no worries about range. If I need to go a long distance, Ill use my ICE. But even then, atleast I know this EV can do it, provided you have access to working charging stations and have the time to wait around...

Blink did charge me $11 for the charging. I spent more on charging then I would have on gas to get home! I understand they need to make money, but its a little on the high side.

I know plugging into my house will be far cheaper than the blink or gasoline. But I have to keep in mind that charging with one of these commercial EV stations will cost me just as much, if not more than gas! I have noticed some are free though, specifically at libraries and other "public" locations.

Driving impressions: Nice and quiet, good 0-40 acceleration. A little slow when flooring it at highway speeds. Not a good handling car. Lots of body roll, heavy understeer and pushes in the corners. Suspension comfort is good, nice smooth ride. Tight interior, very little squeaks or rattles. Controls are simple and easy to get used to. The sound quality of the stereo sucks. Bloated one note midbass that bleeds into the midrange, treble drops off too early. Just dark and muddy sounding with no detail. To be fair, 90% of car stereos I hear are just as bad. They are usually way too bass heavy... Its impossible to get a nice flat sound with the stock EQ. Ill have to mess with the parametric EQ on my phone.

Is it possible to install the premium Bose system from a leaf into the S? I noticed there are empty speaker housings/grills in the trunk area, presumably used for the bose system. Does the premium navigation stereo have built in DSP that the Bose needs to operate properly? WIll the speakers bolt right in place of the base model?

And Im well aware that the Bose system is nothing special, and I can get much better using aftermarket stuff. BUT, im kinda an OEM guy, and dont like Frankenstein builds and other custom stuff. Its just too tacky...

Also included some sort of thick silver bar with threads on it, and a loop at the other end. Is this for towing?

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Yes. The charging behavior you experienced isn't isn't normal, needless to say. Nor was the dead touchscreen. You may have a bad 12 volt battery.

It would have been nice to know what the battery % was during charging. I know people use their cell phone app to view the charge status. But my car is a base model with no navigation or carwings, so I dont believe I can do that. I wanted to turn the car on while charging. to see a status or indicator of charge % it is currently at. But, I was afraid it might hurt the car, or stop the charge. So I relied on the 3 blinking lights on the dash. I sat there wondering how long it would be... Is there a way to check the current charge % while the car is charging?

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You can start a Leaf while it is charging, and look at the dash state of charge display.

Driving impressions: Nice and quiet, good 0-40 acceleration. A little slow when flooring it at highway speeds. Not a good handling car. Lots of body roll, heavy understeer and pushes in the corners. Suspension comfort is good, nice smooth ride.

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Good news: it isn't the car, it's the tires. First, inflate them to 40psi. (Some people do 44psi, but if the road is hot, 40 is safer, while still improving handling and range.) If the handling is still unimpressive, you have the OEM Ecopias, aka "ECrapias." If the "body roll" doesn't turn out to be from underinflated tires (and 36psi is underinflated on this heavy little car) it may need new struts. Better tires, even cheap ones, will improve the handling a lot. Congrats on the new car.

When you say "tight interior" I assume your talking about the rear seats and cargo area? I've always found the front seat seating to be quite spacious, MUCH better than other EVs I tried and basically the reason I ended up with a Leaf, I agree about the rear seats and cargo area, quite lacking
I also don't really like the stereo that much, it's basically the reason I mainly listen to silence in my Leaf. Not sure if it's the same but my '12 SL(non Bose) does sound better than my '13S, but I'm imagine the Bose would sound even better. No idea how hard it would be to swap the radio for a better sounding OEM radio but I'd guess not too easy.
I run with 50psi on my stock Ecocrapias as I originally ran between 35-40 and the front tires wore quite badly on the outsides. I've now moved those to the rear and want to make sure the old rears don't also wear on the edges, and so far so good. I agree the Leaf isn't going to win any slalom races but it gets you from here to there in reasonable fashion and comfort.
Sounds like you had some initial issues that aren't really the norm, glad you stuck through it and I think you'll be happy in the long run. I've never used a public charging station although I did recently sign up for a ChargePoint card as a new HyVee grocery store opened near me and they all have several free ChargePoint EVSEs. I doubt I'd pay to charge much as it seems quite expensive and charging at home and work seems to keep me covered but it's nice to have in case of emergencies, just not normal day to day charging.

Those "three blinking lights" also indicate general battery charge by 1/3's of the battery.

I prefer just to use the 6.6 kwh the charger will add and an estimate of how many kwh's the battery needs... I don't have carwings either...

jjeff said:

When you say "tight interior" I assume your talking about the rear seats and cargo area? I've always found the front seat seating to be quite spacious, MUCH better than other EVs I tried and basically the reason I ended up with a Leaf, I agree about the rear seats and cargo area, quite lacking

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By "tight" interior, I meant tight tolerances with the plastics, and overall good build and assembly quality. I am used to cars where the interior noise level is very high from engine noise, wind noise, and rattling due to poor fit and finish. The leaf has none of these problems...

As far as interior space, I find the car quite roomy for its size. It fits in my tiny garage just as well as my ICE 08 Focus coupe. Yet it has far more interior room.

I have a feeling that the charging station somehow tripped up my Leaf, and the car went into some sort of overload protection. Once I reset the 12v battery, all was good. Im gonna take the car into Nissan for a checkup just to make sure nothing is going on. If there is something wrong, the warranty will cover it.

Your description of the handling sounds like the tires were at 36 psi or less. 44 psi in the original Ecopias greatly improves wet stopping distance, handling, stability in cross wind, and tread life. I think the single blue light on the dash indicated that charge timer was active--disconnecting 12-volt battery deactivated the timer and allowed immediate charging. The big eyebolt is for emergency towing--it screws into the left front corner after taking out a little square plastic cover. The grills in the hatch area are not for speakers--they are vents to allow HVAC air to exit for flow through ventilation. The speakers are in the doors and there are little tweeters in the front pillars (at least on SL with Bose). The Bose unit has the subwoofer in it and mounts directly to the floor. I have no idea how hard it would be to connect it to the factory S radio--would likely need custom wiring.

Enjoy the car.

Gerry

Hello from a fellow Arizonian and welcome to the Leaf family.

I would recommend that you update the location in your profile as sometimes it helps members to answer your questions if the location plays a role with certain issues.

I think the single blue light on the dash indicated that charge timer was active

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No, when the charge timer is preventing a charge immediately, you get all three lights alternating - I call it the 'charge timer dance'. I think the single light is the car trying to charge the 12 volt battery. The accessory battery's voltage at rest needs to be checked ASAP.

I took time to read the manual during lunch and found the following: The center light on solid indicates the charge timer override button has been pressed and car is ready for immediate charging. All 3 lights blinking indicates charge timer active and waiting to charge. The 3rd light (driver side) blinking indicates that 12-volt battery is being charged. The 3rd light will also blink for up to 5 minutes if power to EVSE is interrupted while charging. The 3rd light will also flash when climate control timer is active, remote climate control (if equipped) is active, and when Li-ion battery heater is active.

Gerry

I have an idea about your charging issue. The Leaf S has a simple charge timer that has an end time only - the car decides when to charge when the timer is active. It appears that your car may have an active timer. If so, it may be ending the charge at the same time every day, regardless of SOC, because when you plug it in affects the end of charge SOC. Long shot, maybe, but check the timer section of the menu.

eyedrop said:

By "tight" interior, I meant tight tolerances with the plastics, and overall good build and assembly quality. I am used to cars where the interior noise level is very high from engine noise, wind noise, and rattling due to poor fit and finish. The leaf has none of these problems...

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Well, the car might start developing rattles. My used '13 (built 5/2013) I bought over a year ago had an intermittent buzz/rattle coming from around/behind the eyebrow speedometer. I tried to get it fixed at least twice. 1st time they couldn't repro. 2nd time they spent a lot of time trying and believe they fixed it. Unfortunately, the fix seemed short-lived and I'm out of the 3 year/36K warranty. If I weren't so busy w/work and other things, perhaps I'd have brought in for the attempts earlier. And, the issue seems easier to repro than before.

The was a slight intermittent knocking/rattle on the driver's side, sounding like it came from the rear doors or B-pillar area. I actually didn't care much about it. They tried to fix it by lubing something (door gaskets). It didn't really help but I didn't care. Now, of course after the 3 year/36K is up, I hear the same prob on the right side.

At least there isn't any high engine noise nor wind noise.

LeftieBiker said:

I have an idea about your charging issue. The Leaf S has a simple charge timer that has an end time only - the car decides when to charge when the timer is active. It appears that your car may have an active timer. If so, it may be ending the charge at the same time every day, regardless of SOC, because when you plug it in affect the end of charge SOC. Long shot, maybe, but check the timer section of the menu.

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A simple test for that is to push the timer override button on the dash. Basically overrides any timer that may be set and allows immediate one time charge.

This is crazy. It's a 2015 car. There is no reason that the car should rely on cryptic blinking lights to notify users of behavior. When the car is doing ANYTHING, there should ALSO be a message on the dash or system display/nav with more detailed information.

Bob

With the S model, you may want to go into the speedo display menu and make sure that the auto charge time, and pre heater controls are "off".. I have not used the controls much but know you can set the charging times and I believe that they STAY set until you turn them off....

congrats.. I have the 2015 S also..

OP here. I haven't had a charging issue since the incident at the blink charger. All I can figure is the charger timer was on. Or, maybe the Blink charger tripped the car up. Only reason I say that is because the car wouldn't even start without resetting the system by unplugging the 12v battery....

I was running about 35 PSI in the tires when I got it. I tried 44 psi. The car came with brand new Ecopias. And while there was an improvement in handling, it is still overall an underwhelming car during spirited drives in the twistys. To be fair, its no better or worse than cars like the Versa, Fiesta, Yaris, etc... I guess im just used to sports cars (came from a 04 Z06, Mustangs, Miatas, motorcycles etc..) When these Ecopias wear out, I might switch to a more sporty tire. I feel like the main thing holding it back is the soft suspension with lots of body roll. Being FWD with all that torque doesn't help either...

Another thing I noticed is the unpredictable feel of the brake pedal. It seems quite touchy, either on or off. I find myself inching forward in traffic on accident, or suddenly stopping faster than I like. I havent really tested its limits with brake fade....

Overall, Its a great car for every day driving. Its very nice not paying for gas. And its really a blast jackrabbiting stoplights. The power is really decent 0-40 and its a fun car to abuse its limits without having to worry much about wear and tear. Also, no more waiting 20 minutes to give it "the beans". A regular gas car needs time to warm up before its safe to "floor" it... Also, I dont feel like Im wasting money when stopped at long red lights. Its just super economical and pretty fun to drive.

Now only if they stuck this drivetrain in a Miata, it would be a real drivers car!

Your really owe it to yourself to drive a Leaf with good, sporty tires, even LRR ones. I'm also wondering if your car has worn or defective struts. Also, check the resting voltage of the 12 volt battery - you will probably find it below 12.5 volts, in which case you need to top it off with an external charger or maintainer, occasionally. And don't leave it plugged in while not charging - that will drain - and kill, pretty quickly, if done repeatedly - the 12 volt battery.