Is anyone else buying a 2012 SV (no Quick Charge)?

[Herm]

The key for me is a wire connection that will support high current, regardless of the port. If you are in the EV project you get $700 back.

Even if you live out in the boondocks and never see an L3 installation perhaps you will be able to buy one for your house one day, and after you upgrade to the 300 mile pack in 2020 it may come in handy for recharging the car at home. If you are keeping the car for a while get it futureproofed, if you are leasing for 3 years then no big deal.

 

[charlie1300]

I'm planning on ordering the SL, but not for the QC. I realize that the other SL features don't really add up to $2K, but I just want them.
I don't expect to see QC charging stations here for years, if ever, and if I could delete the QC port and save $700, I'd do it in an instant.

 

[walter]

I decided to get as many options on the leaf as possible for the simple reason of re-sale value. I've always found that having a fully loaded model warrants more money in trade. I'm not saying I'm going to sell or trade but it's nice to know that I should get top dollar if I so decide.

 

[highcountryrider]

A point - you will not get 100 mile range. 70 is much more realistic.

I do regret not having ordered the QC option; I was mostly put off by "this
may delay your delivery" rather than the price. And the standards issue.
But now I see the QC infrastructure being built out here in the PNW. I'm hoping for
a retrofit even though Nissan says "no".

 

[thankyouOB]

I got the up package (SL) free cause of EVProject, and I thought the camera was gay.
But the camera rocks and I dont know how I lived without one on my previous cars. It is like having a CIA drone gauging everything behind you.

 

[surfingslovak]

A point - you will not get 100 mile range. 70 is much more realistic.

I do regret not having ordered the QC option; I was mostly put off by "this
may delay your delivery" rather than the price. And the standards issue.
But now I see the QC infrastructure being built out here in the PNW. I'm hoping for
a retrofit even though Nissan says "no".

+1

Yes, this echos my sentiment pretty much exactly. It's all what you said and the fact that you could not add the QC port onto an SV model. From all the extra features the SL offered, I only really cared about the camera. If I understand the shop manual correctly, it should be possible to add the port later. I didn't see anything other than a few wires, couple of relays and the QC receptacle itself. There some wires that supposedly run back to the charger behind the rear seats. If that were the case, and the existing harness was missing these wires, then a pack drop may be necessary. I see the retrofit as an inconvenience and a fairly labor-intensive job, and not as an impossible task. Have you tried to price out the OEM parts for this yet?

 

[Volusiano]

Even if you don't need QC now, QC is going to increase the flexibility of your range. That makes it better for the resale value for your car. It also solves the range problem, not just from the standpoint of actual range needed, but it solves the problem of gradual reduced range as the car's battery ages. For example, let's say 5 years from now, your battery capacity is reduced to 70% of its original capacity. Without the QC option, you're limited to driving your car on much shorter trips than before, therefore, the resale value of your car plummets to nothing. But if QC stations becomes ubiquitous, and your car has QC option, people won't care too much if your battery has 70% reduced capacity, because the car still remains useful as long as QC stations are everywhere for them to plug in.

I hate to be a spoiler, but I doubt that QC stations will become ubiquitous. For them to become widespread, the economics must make sense so they can spread beyond government and other institutional players. But who should install them and for what reasons? Businesses who want to attract EV customers or polish their green credentials with install L2 stations. They are cheap (under $1000 a piece) and they accomplish everything the business wants to accomplish. No need to invest extra dollars in something that doesn't provide a decent return on investment. I think the Achilles heel of L3 is that it is not good for the batteries we currently have. Owners will only charge L3 when they absolutely have to, so even if a business wanted to invest money in providing L3 stations, the customer base just wouldn't be there. The result would be high pricing and even fewer customers. First we need either batteries that can take the high current coming from L3 or cheap batteries that nobody cares about when they deteriorate. Neither is around the corner.

You make good arguments. But the vision for ubiquitous QC is not an around the corner vision. It's a vision for 5-10 years down the road. If you don't plan to keep your Leaf that long, then I'd say go ahead and skip buying the QC option. But if you plan to keep it around for a long time, and even envision upgrading to newer battery technology in 10 years time that can sustain QC, then it's worth considering the QC option now.

And like I said, even if QC can stretch the use of your car 5-10 years down the road for another year or two, before you have to retire your car or upgrade to a new battery pack, the extra year or two of use of your car is worth the QC cost. It's only about 2 months of new car payments for the ability to use your car an extra year or two before you have to get a new car or new battery.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

While we had EVs on the road from the late 1990's there were in small volumes. I still have my 2002 RAV4 EV. It's a rare day when I see another one on the road. Toyota only sold about 300 to consumers, so that generation never had the volume to support a QC network. In San Jose, I'm having days where I see 4 or more LEAFs on the road - Just yesterday, two were parked in the same strip mall my bank is in. There's 6,500+ LEAFs in the US now.

50 strategically placed QC in CA will go a long ways. Say 20 for every 30 miles along highway 101, another 30 for various routes like 680, 80 etc. It makes the city that's 50 miles away from home an easy run of there's a QC in the city with somethinng you like to do near it for 30 minutes. The 3.3 kW charger is too whimpy when you need to wait for a charge. 3.3 vs. 6 kW is the difference of having to spend 3 vs. 6 hours at your destination. The QC is 30 minutes.

It's also about pushing the technology and accelerating the deployment. If you want to see more electrified transportation and use your LEAF for more of your trips, getting the QC port will ecourage the development of a QC network. Particularly if you get involved and help to identify QC sites, work with site owner and develop a funding model for the significant operating costs of a QC as part of a subscription plan, a marketing budget, maybe the city tourism bureau, green intiatives etc. Remeber that vehicles are already heavily subsidized by the real estate costs of the parking space.

There's no publicly accessible operational QC within over 200 miles of me in San Jose right now. (Vacaville has a QC, but it's not available to the public.) By the end of the year we should see 3 or 4 QC showing up at Nissan Dealers. The Dealers are funding them to support the LEAF. Other QC will be coming, though there are significant challenges in identifying sites and the business model to fund the operational costs, particularly for utilities that have peak electricity kW demand charges. There will be a useful ChaDEMO infrastructure long before and SAE standard network. No announced vehicles even have the SAE port, much less any of them on vehilces on the road today. There are thousands of LEAFs with ChaDEMO ports on the roads today.

Hopefully, I'll be ably to use QC to take day trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium which is 70 miles away, one way. 6.6 kW charging there would work, but the LEAFs whimpy 3.3 kW won't cut it, because I'd have to spend 6 or 7 hours there.

The QC port is about pushing the adoption of EVs and in the next 2-4 years, getting more utility out of your LEAF. I also like the HomeLink, cargo cover, and rearview camera. Yes, the solar panel is a little gimmicky, but one of the issues the 2002 Prius has is the 12V aux battery getting discharged. It also help people make the connection of renewable energy and electric cars, though of course the solar panel doesn't do anything for propelling the LEAF, think of it more in terms of a little 12V suppport and a graphic sign that reads, "Plug your EV into the Sun*" (*using solar panels on your home or renewable energy certificates).

 

[highcountryrider]

No, I have not priced the parts. I'm wondering if Nissan will be difficult about selling them, and if
there is any firmware to alter or replace. Assuming the pack doesn't have to be dropped, the plug
and wiring should be pretty easy. I do have experience with very high current battery systems and
would feel quit comfortable doing the job. If the pack had to be dropped, I'm thinking only the dealer
would have the equipment.

A point - you will not get 100 mile range. 70 is much more realistic.

I do regret not having ordered the QC option; I was mostly put off by "this
may delay your delivery" rather than the price. And the standards issue.
But now I see the QC infrastructure being built out here in the PNW. I'm hoping for
a retrofit even though Nissan says "no".

+1

Yes, this echos my sentiment pretty much exactly. It's all what you said and the fact that you could not add the QC port onto an SV model. From all the extra features the SL offered, I only really cared about the camera. If I understand the shop manual correctly, it should be possible to add the port later. I didn't see anything other than a few wires, couple of relays and the QC receptacle itself. There some wires that supposedly run back to the charger behind the rear seats. If that were the case, and the existing harness was missing these wires, then a pack drop may be necessary. I see the retrofit as an inconvenience and a fairly labor-intensive job, and not as an impossible task. Have you tried to price out the OEM parts for this yet?

 

[highcountryrider]

Here's the buildout plan for Puget Sound from Facebook: