New Leaf owner--charging questions

[Deleted member 11203]

I just bought the 2013 Leaf S with the charger package. For a home charger, what is the best one? Should I go with the Nissan suggested one for about $1000 at Amazon? Or does anyone recommend another one? I know they sell different brands at Lowes/Home Depot. Are they just as good?

Also, I have the quick charge port but I don't see anywhere in my area (SE PA) that I can find one. Are they just starting up so I will need to wait for the QC?

For public charging stations, my local Nissan dealer & Walgreens has them for free. Do I need a Chargepoint card (I saw that somewhere). Are they for emergency use if you just need a little juice to get home? Since they take hours for a full charge, I'm guessing you only use them for short periods to get a little breathing room.

Please help understand my charging options. Thanks!

 

[GlennD]

The cheapest way is to have ingineer upgrade your stock EVSE. This costs around $350. If you have a dryer outlet available you can plug it in there.

If you are a DIY type, lots of us construct OpenEVSE units.

The downside to both options is neither will be UL approved. This is important to some people.

 

[sc540i]

I just bought the 2013 Leaf S with the charger package. For a home charger, what is the best one? Should I go with the Nissan suggested one for about $1000 at Amazon? Or does anyone recommend another one? I know they sell different brands at Lowes/Home Depot. Are they just as good?

Also, I have the quick charge port but I don't see anywhere in my area (SE PA) that I can find one. Are they just starting up so I will need to wait for the QC?

For public charging stations, my local Nissan dealer & Walgreens has them for free. Do I need a Chargepoint card (I saw that somewhere). Are they for emergency use if you just need a little juice to get home? Since they take hours for a full charge, I'm guessing you only use them for short periods to get a little breathing room.

Please help understand my charging options. Thanks!

There are quite number of chargers available now but pricing at $1000 is a ripped off when build material of chargers are fairly simple and low tech.
I shopped around few months ago and ended up with Blink HQ which I would not recommend due to the financial situation of Blink company now. However, the unit itself is quite well built and priced at comparable range. Blink HQ is same as Bosch one except Blink has timer feature with cool black look. You may want to look at Bosch brand. The other brand I was interested in was Schneider which has smaller form factor with timer feature as well. Back then, the price of Schneider was $100 more than Blink and Bosch but the current pricing might have been come down. So far the above mentioned model or brand is mainly for 30A unit. If your house can easily be prepared with a separate 40A breaker outlet, these are the choices. If your house has limitation to provide min. of 30A, or less current outlet (< 25A) is ready, you can look into other brand like Bosch with 16A or Clipper Creek model with lower current.
As far as public charging station, it is good to have a charge card ready depending the charging company. I have both Blink and Chargepoint card. Even though these charging station installed in a parking facility and might be no fee on using, you still need their charging card to access.

 

[UkrainianKozak]

If you don't have 6kW charger, you can get Bosch 3kW charger for $500:
http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Electric-Vehicle-Station-Outdoor/dp/B00DMG104E/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1380737076&sr=8-26&keywords=evse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I got my EVSE for Free as part of EVProject, but if not I would have used Open EVSE as my personal choice.

 

[RonDawg]

I would go for the Clipper Creek LCS-25. It can supply up to 20 amps of electricity and is US-made, for the same price as the Bosch 16A/12 noted above. It won't take full advantage of your particular Leaf's 6.6 kW (6.0 actual) on-board charger, but neither will the Bosch 16A/12 nor the EVSE Upgrade-modified OEM EVSE.

It also ships VERY quickly: it was shipped the following business day after I submitted my online order, and made it from ClipperCreek's Auburn, CA headquarters to my SoCal doorstep two days later even though I specified their cheapest shipping option (UPS Ground). Some folks have complained of waiting for weeks for Bosch units to ship to them.

http://stores.buyevse.com/-strse-In-the-Garage/Categories.bok" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



I noticed there is now a plug-in version of the LCS-25, called the LCS-25P, for an additional $50.

 

[Boourns]

I have this one: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Schneider-Electric-EVlink-30-Amp-Generation-2-5-Enhanced-Model-Indoor-Electric-Vehicle-Charging-Station-EV230WS/203670265" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's one of the cheapest 30A chargers out there. Have had it a month or so and am pretty happy.

 

[RonDawg]

For public charging stations, my local Nissan dealer & Walgreens has them for free. Do I need a Chargepoint card (I saw that somewhere). Are they for emergency use if you just need a little juice to get home? Since they take hours for a full charge, I'm guessing you only use them for short periods to get a little breathing room.

Although there are Leafers who do so, I would not recommend relying on public charging as your primary charging source. For one thing, you never know when you are going to pull up to that charging station and find it broken. I am saddened when I pull up to a public charging station and find J1772 handles lying on the ground and/or the cord not put away properly and just left on the ground to be run over. I will especially be sad when I find one that has been vandalized; I have yet to see it happen, but I know it will happen eventually.

Another possibility is that the charging station will be in use, especially if more than one person is waiting (as can be the case with Nissan dealer EVSEs, or Quick Charge stations). As EVs become more popular, there will be greater competition for the limited number of charging stations available. When the charging stations are free, unfortunately the inconsiderate among our ranks will hog the charging stations long after their cars have finished charging, and there are threads specifically devoted to that sort of behavior.

So yes, use it to give you a bit more breathing room, but also have a Plan B (and a Plan C) in case Plan A is not workable.

 

[planet4ever]

For maximum charging rate with your S model that has the Charging Package you need a 30A EVSE. But do you really need the maximum charging rate at home? It's a godsend if you are short and need a boost to make it home - 30 minutes to make it the last 10 miles vs. nearly an hour without the charging package. However, when the car is sitting in your garage for the night do you really care whether it takes three hours or five hours to charge? Maybe I'm just cheap, but I'd go for the lowest cost unit of high quality I could get, and that probably means 16 or 20 amps rather than 30 amps.

The first question is whether you need to get a 240v EVSE at all. If you drive less than 40 miles/day the 120v EVSE that comes with the car may be all you need. Try if for a few weeks and see. Some people here have used it for years and seem to be satisfied with that. If you drive more than 40 miles/day, or find after a test that you want something faster than 120v charging, I'd recommend the EVSE Upgrade or the Clipper Creek or possibly the Bosch. Do remember that going with any 240v unit means you need a source of 240v electricity, and that can cost hundreds of dollars, or in extreme cases more than a thousand dollars. If you have an unused electric dryer outlet or electric hot water heater circuit in your garage you are set, but I would expect neither of those to be common in PA.

Finally, you asked about Quick Charge. I find Plugshare to be the most up to date source of charging information, and it shows nothing in PA at all except one station north of Pittsburgh, way out of your range. Depending on where you are you might be able to use the two just over the border, one in Delaware and the other in New Jersey. Frankly, the fact that there is only one QC in the entire state doesn't bode well for future ones there. Just be happy that your Charging Package gave you faster 240v charging, and a backup camera which is at least minimally usable.

Oh, I almost forgot: If you leased the car, there is a 30% tax credit on charging equipment/installation you can take, but it expires at the end of this year. i.e. you need to have the equipment installed before January. If you purchased the car the chances are slim to none that you can take the EVSE credit at all.

Ray

 

[cwerdna]

To some of the folks on this thread, please get the terminology straight and stop using the words "charger" when you actually mean EVSE. See diagram at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=262630#p262630" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

For L1 and L2 AC charging over J1772, the charger is on-board the car.

Perpetuating the wrong terminology can lead to confusion down the road, wasting money or buying the wrong vehicle, equipment or options/equipment level.

 

[ksnogas2112]

And just a side note...the Walgreen's may not be free any longer. They are assessing a fee for charging it most places now.