Intro and Question

[golfcart]

The other option you guys have me considering knowing my wife's car may not suit her needs sooner than later is just suck it up, drive the van and make double payments on the LEAF to eat this horrible depreciation so I'm not upside down it. Then I can ditch it if needed.

Given that you got both a $7500 federal and $5000 state tax credit, your net cost for the S model shouldn't have been much more than $15k. Maybe less if you bought it when Nissan was offering $5k cash back. I just paid $22k and some change for mine (with the charge package) after Nissan $5000 cash back and got 0% financing to boot. I can't imagine that it'll depreciate that much on you, just take the money from the tax credits and put it towards the car. Then if it goes from $15k to $10k in 3 or 4 years you'll be fine. The only reason I'm not doing that is because they gave me 0% for 72 months so I'm gonna put it towards the mortgage instead. I also plan on driving this car forever. The savings from gas, oil changes, brake jobs, timing belt replacements, spark plug replacements, air filter replacements, etc... should be enough to pay for a new battery in 6 or 7 years if I need one.

In terms of the commute, I think you are making the right call with just having 1 leaf. 70 miles without charging at work will likely be pushing it after a few years of battery degradation. Are there any ways she could get charging at work? If not, your commute is only 45 miles between charges which you should be able to do even at 60% capacity... which should be 6 - 10 years away, maybe longer. At which point there may be cheap battery upgrades or replacements available. It still seems like a great commuter for you in the long term. I don't think it is a bad situation since you already said you really like driving the leaf yourself.

 

[rogersleaf]

I have considered the EVSE upgrade, but I have wondered how that would affect the water resistance of the brick. In this scenario the brick would still be inside, but what if I use it elsewhere like a friends house. Also they don't have a pigtail to go to a L15-30 outlet so I would have make one myself and I'm not exactly sure how I would go about that at this point.

I guess I could email the EVSE upgrade people and see if it would work...... couldn't hurt....

Just a couple of suggestions for managing the factory evse "brick" if wet weather is a concern.

1). Cheap & simple is to get a 5-gal plastic bucket with a snap lid. Cut a small notch in the upper rim of the bucket to allow the cords to pass and still be able to snap the lid closed. Then, put the brick and any extension cord connections inside the bucket and snap on the lid while charging. The bucket then acts as storage container for the charging accessories when not in use. This is also helpful keeping your car clean because the portable cord gets messy over time with dirt & grease. I have an evseupgrade. My "bucket kit" is based on a cat litter bucket (free) that is square (doesn't roll around in trunk) and has several plug adapters, extension cord, gloves, cleaning rags. etc...

2). The brick can be placed inside the car and pass the cords through a crack in the window. Or, shelter the brick under the hood or under the car is better than nothing.

 

[tkdbrusco]

Thats a good idea with the bucket. I'll keep that in mind if we wind up buying a second EV in the coming year or so. I'll likely not bother with installing another L2 charger at my house and just use the "brick" as needed.

 

[mwalsh]

First time I had my brick upgraded, the seal was fine, but it became compromised when I sent it back a second time for the latest set of mods. So this is what I ended up doing for an inexpensive dry box:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=19009&p=409996