Charging my new car on the way home from seller

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riverview9

New member
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
2
Location
south west Michigan
This will be my first experience with an electric car and I'm nervous about charging away from home in an unfamiliar city for my first charging experience. All the used leafs are 150-250 miles away and I would be driving through Chicago to get home and I see lots of charge points on the map. I want a 2013 or newer for the heat pump (vs resistive heater) and better battery pack

When I first started looking at Leaf's QC wasn't a big deal to me. I average 20 miles of driving a day so even 3.3kw charging wouldn't be a problem for me. I normally take long trips once every 3 years and can easily borrow a car for that. Now that i'm looking at having to stop 1-2 times on the way home to charge I wonder if I should make CHAdeMO a necessity and maybe I would take more long road trips if I had an electric car anyway.

separate topic. I'm still reading about how to charge at home and I'm not understanding the big picture. What's the cheapest way to connect at home if speed and convenience aren't a big issue for me? I live in a house (not apartment) and don't park in a garage but am 20 feet from both the back door and barn with electricity
 
riverview9 said:
What's the cheapest way to connect at home if speed and convenience aren't a big issue for me? I live in a house (not apartment) and don't park in a garage but am 20 feet from both the back door and barn with electricity
If speed and convenience aren't a big issue, then the cheapest way is to simply use a dedicated 120V/15A outlet and use the "trickle charger" (L1 EVSE) that comes with the car. That will charge the car at the rate of about 4mi/hour.

If you want to charge the car faster, put in a 240V outlet and get a L2 EVSE. A LEAF without the charge package (no CHAdeMO, 3.3kW on-board charger) will max out at about 240V/14A. A LEAF with the charge package (CHAdeMO, 6.6kW OBC) will max out at about 240V/28A.
 
It is thought that LEAFs manufactured after April 2013 have an improved pack, and the cars from 2014 perhaps even better.
Buying ChadeMo or not is a cost question <<shrug>>

I towed my LEAF home rather than deal with slow charging. Very cheap dolly or trailer from U-haul if you have a vehicle with a 2 " hitch
 
The biggest benefit of having the CHADEMO charging option is being able to deal better with unexpected events. There have been plenty of times when I had to unexpectedly get a QC to either make it home in bad weather or had to make an unexpected side trip.

Even with 6.6kW charging, it still takes an hour to add roughly 30% charge to the pack (about 25 miles of range, give or take a few). With the 3.3 kW base charger in the S model, that means 15% per hour and less than 15 miles range per hour.

If you can afford it, get a LEAF with the charge package, you won't regret it...
 
With respect to charging at home, ask an electrician to quote an electric stove receptacle install (NEMA 14-50R). Don't mention it's for an EV. For about $300, you can buy an L2 EVSE (ie Zencar 32A) that plugs into a NEMA 14-50R receptacle that will charge at the full 6.6kW rate. I have a NEMA 14-30r and charge at 240V@24A, it's fast enough for me.

You don't realize it now, but being able to charge quickly at home is super convenient and, just like with CHADEMO, will give you more flexibility to deal with the unexpected. I find that unexpected trips are usually fairly short, so with less than an hour of charging at home you can typically deal with them.

Dealing with unexpected trips, using L1 (120V) charging, is pretty much impossible - you have to plan everything, which gets tedious and will ruin your enjoyment of the LEAF.
 
I want a 2013 or newer for the heat pump (vs resistive heater) and better battery pack

The better pack wasn't installed until April of 2013, so make darned sure the build date is April or later. It can be found on the sticker on the driver's door sill.
 
And also, the OP may know but to get the heatpump you need not only a '13 or newer but also NOT an S model. An S even with the charger package will only have the resistive heater. And speaking of the charge package, personally I'd really only want a Leaf with the 6.6kw charger, don't care so much about the QC but the 6.6kw L2 charging is real handy, even if you don't have 32a at home, it's still nice to be able to charge for 30 minutes or an hour while shopping at one of the many free 6.6kw EVSEs around town and gain ~15 or 30% SOC, those SOCs would be half with the 3.6kw charger.
If I were the OP I'd also try and tow the Leaf home with a tow dolly. <$100 to rent but you'd need something like a pickup or full-sized SUV or full-sized body on frame car to tow. While it's true with on the go charging you'd be able to make your trip, I really wouldn't suggest it for your first experiences with the Leaf, I'd reserve such trips for after you've had the Leaf for some time and learn it's range and charging habits :)
BTW a Leaf with a 3.6kw charger will charge at a max of 12a @ 120v and 16a @ 240v, a 6.6kw Leaf should max out at 27.5a @ both 120v and 240v, of course with the correct EVSE and circuit :)
 
Meh, I use the L1 EVSE for everything except a few QC times taking the car waaaaaay too far out of its range (4-QC charges) just because, wanted to see.

I treat it like a rain barrel. The L1 trickles that energy in there, but even the 24KWh pack is a large enough bucket that it doesn't really matter for most people. If the car is parked, it is plugged in. That simple. Sometimes I have a full charge, sometimes not. Sometimes I only get 5% added before I leave somewhere else, whatever.

I have never longed for an L2 charger at home or work. But the QC is an excellent range anxiety reducer since I know I can just CHAdeMO my way whereever if I really needed to.

When I first got the Leaf I was constantly looking at the SOC % to see how much everywhere I went took. It was very educational. But now, I don't care. I just get in and drive. I don't even know how much charge it has most of the time. Rarely to never even get the LBW and that's with lots of high speed driving and above average (for a city dweller) driving.
 
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