Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph/Cambridge Leafs

[Funeralsinger]

Hello Canadian Leafers,

I'm now about 1500km into my first Leaf, and I think it's fantastic so far. Greg Vann Nissan in Cambridge was great to deal with; 3 of their employees own Leafs, so they're really helpful and knowledgeable, which has got me off to a great start. My previous car was a 2004 Prius which was really leading edge back then - it was truthfully the best car I've ever owned in terms of reliability and obviously fuel economy, and I nearly got another one...but the pull of the EV was too strong...

So far, I've used the supplied EVSE exclusively and have had no problems just charging overnight between 7pm and 7am to get the cheap rates. I live in Kitchener and I seem to drive around 400-500km per week around town, occasionally getting onto a regional road and going to Guelph or Elora, and even once going to Hamilton (brought the EVSE along and topped up at my friend's house). The only thing that would make me happier about the Leaf would be to have a little more storage in the car (the Prius had all kinds of places to store things) and of course maybe a little more range.

I've been finding it quite easy to manage between 8 and 9 km/kWh, and I did my first 171km range on a single charge, encountering the very low battery warning and the --- on the km remaining display. It probably had another 10km in it I think, but I didn't want to push it! I really with we had a few L3 charging stations in Ontario so I could go a little farther...the L2 stations are fine in a pinch, but they really are just too slow for a long road trip. I think there's only one L3 station in all of Ontario, at Nissan Canada headquarters in Mississauga...

I've seen a small handful of EVs in the KW area, and have often wondered how to contact the owners to compare notes. If there's anyone out there, drop me a line!

I think even my wife likes the car now (initial range anxiety) even though I can't seem to convince her to lighten up with her right foot...oh well...

Best regards,

John

 

[kaikara]

I am down in Hamilton. If you are facebook you can add yourself to the Canada Leaf Group - quite a few locals on there. https://www.facebook.com/groups/282243388457758/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[mkhan242002]

I am the owner of nissan leaf 2013. It realy fun to drive. I am getting average 6km/kwh. I drive on highway too.
What do you mean l3? Is it fast dc charger which charge in 30 min to 80% .?.
If you visit hamilton you can charge your car at my home l2 charger no problem. #905-320-5194. Let me know your contact pl.
khan
Leaf ocean blue 16months 49000km no problem.

 

[rspreitzer]

Surprised I haven't posted in this thread. I'm in Kitchener near Coconut College. My charger is on plugshare. Glad to be here I LOVE my 2015 Leaf S so much that I have about 6000km on it in less than 2 months of ownership

 

[minispeed]

Hello Canadian Leafers,

I think there's only one L3 station in all of Ontario, at Nissan Canada headquarters in Mississauga...

There's actually 2, the second is at Mitsubishi Canada. They are within a min of each other so that doesn't help that much, but it does mean if you are counting on it to make a road trip there is a back up that you can get to with very low battery. Mitsubishi says it's only on during their hours but I have used it at 5am and on a holiday. Not sure if they actually forgot to turn it off or if they just post that for liability. Nissan is 24/7 although the company blocks the level 2s beside the L3 a lot (all weekend sometimes). I actually saw a Nissan employee pull up in an L2 spot, get out and walk into the building not even usuing it to charge.

Budds BMW in Oakville says they are putting in an L3 but it'll be for the SAE plug, since they also own a kia dealer on the same street there's a small chance it may be a dual unit with Chamedo too.

I work at Pearson and drive 140km round trip (from Ancaster). Having them there is what allowed me to get the leaf.

 

[TimLee]

...
So far, I've used the supplied EVSE exclusively and have had no problems just charging overnight between 7pm and 7am to get the cheap rates.
...

Just be 100% certain the wiring and outlet are adequate.
Note that Nissan recommends the 120V EVSE for limited emergency use only.
Some people have used it for a long time without problems yet, but in general that is a bad idea unless you have a newly properly installed dedicated circuit with high grade receptacle using properly tightened screw connections.

Previous info from another thread:

...
Trickle charging should be safe, though, right? I wouldn't necessarily need to have the circuit certified for it or anything, should I? If I were to go to a friend's house, would I be safe plugging into their outlet?

How safe 120V charging is depends on how lucky you are.
Very few garages have the correct properly installed high quality single outlet supplied by a single breaker.
Code only allows using 80% of the circuit rating for a long term continuous load.
So on a 15 amp circuit nothing else should be on the same circuit while the car is charging.
And a lot of 120V gets put in poorly using push in connections.
One person had a bad fire most likely from staples that had damaged the cable in the wall.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[minispeed]

...
So far, I've used the supplied EVSE exclusively and have had no problems just charging overnight between 7pm and 7am to get the cheap rates.
...

Just be 100% certain the wiring and outlet are adequate.
Note that Nissan recommends the 120V EVSE for limited emergency use only.
Some people have used it for a long time without problems yet, but in general that is a bad idea unless you have a newly properly installed dedicated circuit with high grade receptacle using properly tightened screw connections.

Previous info from another thread:

...
Trickle charging should be safe, though, right? I wouldn't necessarily need to have the circuit certified for it or anything, should I? If I were to go to a friend's house, would I be safe plugging into their outlet?

How safe 120V charging is depends on how lucky you are.
Very few garages have the correct properly installed high quality single outlet supplied by a single breaker.
Code only allows using 80% of the circuit rating for a long term continuous load.
So on a 15 amp circuit nothing else should be on the same circuit while the car is charging.
And a lot of 120V gets put in poorly using push in connections.
One person had a bad fire most likely from staples that had damaged the cable in the wall.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can maximize the safety by ensuring the plug you are using does not have the push in connectors. It's really cheap and easy to get a new plug from homedepot/lowes and install it yourself.

Once you turn the circuit breaker off for that plug walk around and find out what else isn't working. A garage circuit might have other things inside the house on the same circuit so check rooms that are conected to the garage and check the outside plugs. If it's something you don't need a lot unplug it. If it's a light switch then put the lowest possible bulb in it (2w LED for example). If it's a light that you need or something plugged in that you need a lot then maybe you need to wire a new circuit. For the cost you might as well go 240. If there's something you don't need a lot just put baby proof clips in all the plugs on the same circuit. That will remind you that if you are about to use something go unplug the car first.

Then while the circuit is still off wire up the new plug for where you plug in the car. Cut off the old wire that was exposed and make sure that you strip the wire enough according to the instructions with the new plug and tighten them down with as much surface contact as possible. Also FYI in case you didn't know don't use an extension cord as the stock EVSE will measure the tempurature of the plug, if you use a cord it will then measure the cord not the plug.

There's also another thread about the wrapping of the stock EVSE and how it can damage the cord. There is a natural curve to the cord, slowly wrap it allowing the curve to guide you instead of letting it twist.

 

[minispeed]

Hello Canadian Leafers,

I think there's only one L3 station in all of Ontario, at Nissan Canada headquarters in Mississauga...

There's actually 2, the second is at Mitsubishi Canada. They are within a min of each other so that doesn't help that much, but it does mean if you are counting on it to make a road trip there is a back up that you can get to with very low battery. Mitsubishi says it's only on during their hours but I have used it at 5am and on a holiday. Not sure if they actually forgot to turn it off or if they just post that for liability. Nissan is 24/7 although the company blocks the level 2s beside the L3 a lot (all weekend sometimes). I actually saw a Nissan employee pull up in an L2 spot, get out and walk into the building not even usuing it to charge.

Budds BMW in Oakville says they are putting in an L3 but it'll be for the SAE plug, since they also own a kia dealer on the same street there's a small chance it may be a dual unit with Chamedo too.

I work at Pearson and drive 140km round trip (from Ancaster). Having them there is what allowed me to get the leaf.

Stopped at the Mitsubishi charger today it was offline. At the Nissan one I heard that there is now a combo ccs/chamedo charger at 400 and 407 at the Pfaff porsche dealer.

 

[Zurc]

Hello KW Leafers.

It's been 1 whole year and 10,000 km worth of gas station free driving and I loved every Km of it.
The only problem I ever had with the car was when the temperatures dropped into the minus twentys and the tire pressure light came on. I checked the pressure and all four tires had dropped to 20lbs. I ran around for a while looking for easily accessible N2 with no luck so I just put regular air in and I've been on the road since.
Would I change anything on the car? You betcha. and I've already voiced most of my issues on these forums some place or other.
Would i consider getting rid of the car. Nope.
Would i consider buying another Leaf? Maybe, Maybe not. That would depend a great deal on the next version coming out.
There are plenty of company's working on electric vehicles now that are due to be released within the next couple of years so there is a bigger selection to be had. And that's a good thing, because we will need another car soon.

Zurc

 

[Zurc]

Hello Canadian Leafers,

I'm now about 1500km into my first Leaf, and I think it's fantastic so far. Greg Vann Nissan in Cambridge was great to deal with; 3 of their employees own Leafs, so they're really helpful and knowledgeable, which has got me off to a great start. My previous car was a 2004 Prius which was really leading edge back then - it was truthfully the best car I've ever owned in terms of reliability and obviously fuel economy, and I nearly got another one...but the pull of the EV was too strong...

So far, I've used the supplied EVSE exclusively and have had no problems just charging overnight between 7pm and 7am to get the cheap rates. I live in Kitchener and I seem to drive around 400-500km per week around town, occasionally getting onto a regional road and going to Guelph or Elora, and even once going to Hamilton (brought the EVSE along and topped up at my friend's house). The only thing that would make me happier about the Leaf would be to have a little more storage in the car (the Prius had all kinds of places to store things) and of course maybe a little more range.

I've been finding it quite easy to manage between 8 and 9 km/kWh, and I did my first 171km range on a single charge, encountering the very low battery warning and the --- on the km remaining display. It probably had another 10km in it I think, but I didn't want to push it! I really with we had a few L3 charging stations in Ontario so I could go a little farther...the L2 stations are fine in a pinch, but they really are just too slow for a long road trip. I think there's only one L3 station in all of Ontario, at Nissan Canada headquarters in Mississauga...

I've seen a small handful of EVs in the KW area, and have often wondered how to contact the owners to compare notes. If there's anyone out there, drop me a line!

I think even my wife likes the car now (initial range anxiety) even though I can't seem to convince her to lighten up with her right foot...oh well...

Best regards,

John

Our daughter inlaw recently had cause to borrow our leaf for an appointment.
She was totally taken with the car. She has never driven an EV before.
So it goes to show that even a 100k Leaf can still impress.