Location of Charge Port - Leaf vs the rest

[Orchard]

It seems to me that Nissan did their homework with regard to locating the charge port at the front of the car. The location of the charge port is a important for me in my next EV lease (after my current lease is up end-2016). My order of preference is as follows:

1. Front - Leaf, best location for minimizing cord tripping hazards, least length of cable required for most public charging spots (excluding Tesla SC's)
2. Front Side - Volt, second best but still potential tripping hazard when accessing cars parked to the side
3. Rear Side - Tesla, BMW i3, iMiev, e-Golf, highest potential tripping hazard when accessing the trunk and cars parked to the side

The location of the charge port in the front looks to me to be the most practical for most home EVSE installations, with minimal cord length required. Also two EV's can be charged from one EVSE such as Volt-Leaf combo or two Leafs.

Thoughts?

 

[cwerdna]

Yep. Front makes the most sense to me.

On some other EV/PHEV forums, where the port isn't in the front, their owners/fans tend to often defend/justify that the placement of their port is a good one (e.g. driver's side front). It's not the best for the Volt given the sub-optimal placement my stations @ my work (see my post and pics at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5490#p5490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false.

One minus I've heard (from the above folks) is that in a front-end collision, there could be more expensive repairs needed, since the port and associated hardware might need replacement. But to me, that's an edge case.

The front driver's side defenders will say that it's a good place because that's the side you primary exit/enter from. Ok, but it also blocks you when you don't want to unplug/plug back besides the points that you mention.

For some others, they're often just in the same place where the gas hole was on the original ICEV.

For the BMW i3, I hear that it was because BMW envisioned it being charged via street side charging, while the car is parallel parked.

 

[2k1Toaster]

I would prefer dual ports. I back into the garage and all parking at home. The only time I pull into a space front first is to charge and just to charge. I would much rather pull in backwards and plug in to the back. With the included L1 EVSE's cord length it does work in either direction, just barely.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Nissan might make some money by offering dual ports as an option, all right. Our Prius PHEV has the port in the worst possible location: passenger side rear.

 

[donald]

FWIW, Renault Fluence ZE has two J1772 side ports, front wings either side.

Side works for me because I can nose right up to my garage door which fixes my biggest 'fear' of the plug being knocked by someone walking/tripping into the lead. So with the car nose-close, no-one is ever tempted to try stepping over the lead.

However, in public spaces I am fearful as the plug is too easily exposed to the side and now the gaps are too small so folks do then risk stepping/bumping over it. I rarely use public charging, though.

I think side charging is best for home usage, and front charging best for public charging. Just MHO, but it does depend on your own domestic layout, of course.

 

[adric22]

I have a Leaf and a Volt. I can definitely say that the Leaf has the best placement of the charging port. I put a single 240V station in the center of my garage. The Leaf can use the station when parked on either side of the garage. The Volt cannot. It must be parked on the right side, because if it is parked on the left side, the charge cable will not reach.

I also can't imagine what was going through Tesla's mind to put the port on the rear. Have you seen how people have to back their car into charging stations to charge up? I mean, even Tesla-built chargers. You can bet most people would prefer not to do this.

For charging at home, it probably isn't a huge deal. You can put the station on the side of the garage right next to the port so that it is quick and easy to use.

I would agree that OP.. My assessment of best charging port locations are:

1) Nissan Leaf, Nissan e NV200, Renault Zoe
2) Chevy Volt, Ford C-Max & Fusion Energi, Chevy Spark EV
3) Tesla, Prius Plug-in, BMW i3