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mrp10000

Active member
Joined
Nov 5, 2016
Messages
28
Location
Albemarle, NC
Got my new to me 2015 Leaf and will begin my daily commute with it tomorrow. Expected low in the morning where I am is around 33 degrees. 14500 miles on this one, and I'm happy to finally call myself a leaf owner.

So far, I like driving in B with Eco mode. I have an L2 Clipper Creek charging station, and commute about 16.5 miles to work, 33 miles round trip.

What advice do you folks have for me? I would like to keep in the garage, but wife has dibs on that one. From what I can gather, age and heat are the biggest enemies of batteries. I live near Charlotte, with my commute limited to highways with speed limits of 55 mph.

Any words of wisdom regarding battery life/maintenance, squeezing an extra few miles on a long trip, etc... would be greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Leaf!

About the garage or not, is the garage heated and cooled? If not, there's probably not much reason to park in there unless that's where your Clipper Creek EVSE (aka charger, charging station, fancy extension cord, etc.) is. You can use the climate control with the car plugged in which will let you get into a pre-heated or pre-cooled car regardless of if it's parked inside a garage or not.

But if your garage is cooled it might help keep the battery cool. Then again you have the newer "lizard" battery that's more heat tolerant. And if the nights get cool then that's a good reason to park outside.

PS. Is this an S, SV or an SL?
 
IssacZachary said:
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Leaf!

About the garage or not, is the garage heated and cooled? If not, there's probably not much reason to park in there unless that's where your Clipper Creek EVSE (aka charger, charging station, fancy extension cord, etc.) is. You can use the climate control with the car plugged in which will let you get into a pre-heated or pre-cooled car regardless of if it's parked inside a garage or not.

But if your garage is cooled it might help keep the battery cool. Then again you have the newer "lizard" battery that's more heat tolerant. And if the nights get cool then that's a good reason to park outside.

PS. Is this an S, SV or an SL?
Click to expand...

The car is an S. It still has more creature comforts than any other car I've owned. Until I get the time, I'm going to just drive and enjoy it (while obsessing over range of course). The garage is not heated or cooled, so I'm pretty relieved to hear it really doesn't matter.
 
Dude, You just got a new car... There are a million things you will learn over time.

The car will easily take you in your round trip no matter what you do to it.. So enjoy the ride an think of it like any other new car you get. It does not need any tips... except... Don't crash.

I think at your point with the leaf is like a person who just bought a flashlight and is worried on how long the batteries will last.. Don't worry.
 
mrp10000 said:
Got my new to me 2015 Leaf .....

So far, I like driving in B with Eco mode. I have an L2 Clipper Creek charging station, and commute about 16.5 miles to work, 33 miles round trip.
Click to expand...
Does your S have both B and ECO? I thought you had to jump up to a SV to get both options. Note on my '13S I do get much more B(or regen) using ECO mode but it doesn't have separate switches :)
 
Have fun with your car. It has about the same miles as my SV has now but I (and my family) put all but the first 428 on mine since May of 2016. With L2 charging you should never need to charge at both ends of your somewhat short commute. My car has been a great workhorse for my family.

I really like replacing the weekly special trip to the gas station with 20 seconds to refuel at home, 10 seconds to plug in and 10 to unplug.
 
mrp10000 said:
The car is an S. It still has more creature comforts than any other car I've owned. Until I get the time, I'm going to just drive and enjoy it (while obsessing over range of course). The garage is not heated or cooled, so I'm pretty relieved to hear it really doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

My car sits outside since I don't own a garage and so far I've seen -36°F in it. But the Leaf is great in that I set up the climate control to automatically come on in the morning before I leave for work. I get out and the windows are all completely defrosted and the interior is warm. With the car preheated I can drive all the way to work without using the heater off the battery at all during the drive. I bought my Leaf in November so I haven't used it during the summer but I'm sure it's the same idea, except it would be pre-cooled instead of pre-heated.

The neat thing about the Leaf is that if you did garage it you could also pre-heat or pre-cool your Leaf and not worry about carbon monoxide poisoning.

The one reason that having a garage would be nice for me would be to keep the snow off of it. We were getting a foot of snow every night for about a week straight and brushing off all that snow got old really quickly. Not only does the car lose it's aerodynamic shape, but the headlights are on top, so they get covered in snow and stop working. But you're in North Carolina (right?) so I'd imagine that that kind of snow isn't as bad of a problem where you live.
 
jjeff said:
mrp10000 said:
Got my new to me 2015 Leaf .....

So far, I like driving in B with Eco mode. I have an L2 Clipper Creek charging station, and commute about 16.5 miles to work, 33 miles round trip.
Click to expand...
Does your S have both B and ECO? I thought you had to jump up to a SV to get both options. Note on my '13S I do get much more B(or regen) using ECO mode but it doesn't have separate switches :)
Click to expand...

It has an ECO switch on the steering wheel, and I can shift into D/B mode to drive. The regen in my old car when driving in L mode (Chevy Volt) was quite pronounced, and I like the way the car slows down when driving this way.
 
IssacZachary said:
mrp10000 said:
The car is an S. It still has more creature comforts than any other car I've owned. Until I get the time, I'm going to just drive and enjoy it (while obsessing over range of course). The garage is not heated or cooled, so I'm pretty relieved to hear it really doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

My car sits outside since I don't own a garage and so far I've seen -36°F in it. But the Leaf is great in that I set up the climate control to automatically come on in the morning before I leave for work. I get out and the windows are all completely defrosted and the interior is warm. With the car preheated I can drive all the way to work without using the heater off the battery at all during the drive. I bought my Leaf in November so I haven't used it during the summer but I'm sure it's the same idea, except it would be pre-cooled instead of pre-heated.

The neat thing about the Leaf is that if you did garage it you could also pre-heat or pre-cool your Leaf and not worry about carbon monoxide poisoning.

The one reason that having a garage would be nice for me would be to keep the snow off of it. We were getting a foot of snow every night for about a week straight and brushing off all that snow got old really quickly. Not only does the car lose it's aerodynamic shape, but the headlights are on top, so they get covered in snow and stop working. But you're in North Carolina (right?) so I'd imagine that that kind of snow isn't as bad of a problem where you live.
Click to expand...


Snot isn't a problem in the Charlotte region, while some winters we see morning temps dip into the teens, and occasionally the single digits, it is for a few days at at time and is not the norm. When we do get snow, it is gone quickly. Thanks for the reply.
 

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