New Old Leaf Owner

[KD1SQ]

(Parsing that topic title is a tad depressing - Yes, I'm almost 70 years old and the Leaf is a 2016 model. Damn!)

Hi all. I live in the far north of Maine - throw a stone out the front door and I hit a Yankee, throw a stone out the back door and I hit a Canadian. Yes, it gets cold up here in Winter and I always swore that I would never buy an electric given the constraints of one. Times and circumstances change though, and I found that I needed a reasonably recent runabout and I rarely drive as much as 70 miles one way any longer. (And I was tired of driving a 21 year old Chrysler with minimal comfort and interior. I wanted something a little more up to date.)

So, I have a 2016 Leaf SL arriving tomorrow. Had to have it trucked in because where I am was out of range for just about any EV - new OR secondhand -I could afford, and this part of Maine is a desert for many things including decent secondhand vehicles (you should have seen the supermarket shelves up here when we had the lockdown.) Hence the long-range delivery method.

I have a public four station Level 2 installation just up the road at the next town's water department that is empty 95% of the time so L2 charging is not going to be a problem should I need it. The car looks to be immaculate, of course it has the L1 charger included. I'm very much looking forward to playing with a vehicle that has 21st century technology and abilities built into it.

So, I plan on checking out the 12v battery and making sure that it does or doesn't need replacement. It'll be getting four decent studded snow tires ASAP. What else should I be looking out for at this point? Maybe someone can recommend some really good and heavy-duty rubber floor and cargo mats for starters? What else? What about communications and monitoring stuff for the beast so I know what's going on under the hood?

I'm hoping this is going to be a good and informative experience for me as a former EV skeptic...

 

[duncan-s]

Best of luck to you! A Leaf is a fun and usually inexpensive way to get around, in addition to the social benefits you may or may not have been motivated by. But as you seem to suspect, you'll probably have an easier time with it in the summer than the winter months. It's not just the cold temperatures; snowy and slushy road conditions add rolling resistance, and so will chip away at your range too.

 

[KazooBruce]

I have a 2017 I bought used with 20K and those weather tech mats and they are nice. I live in Michigan so I get the snow and ice issue. it came with snow tires, but haven't seem to need them here, its pretty flat. Note that electric cars are heavy and good snow performers. I have a Chevy Volt and its a snow beast. The leaf still have 9 bars and routinely charges to 100 miles. If you want to play, get LeafSpy app and a good Bluetooth OBDII interface. It really is a fun app. I even used it to turn off the annoying backup beep. Note the Level 1 charger is a 20 amp plug, not a 15 amp. It is good to run a 20 amp circuit for it if you don't have one. Otherwise you might trip the breaker often. Investing in a low cost level 2 charger, just a 240V 20A one is nice especially if you have peak electrical rates, just to make sure you can fully charge the car during off peak periods. Have fun, its a really nice car.

 

[moapys]

2012 Owner here - Indiana, so less cold, but getting hotter in Summers...: Per @KazooBruce above, definitely consider a low cost L2 (208/220v) charger; there will be times you want to recharge ~3x faster than your "granny/120v" charge will allow: E.g. you forget to plug in, get in a hurry, only need a quick top-up, etc. You'll find that charging is front-loaded/non-linear; that is (fortunately) it recharges faster initially, then slows down - which facilitates "top-ups".

Also (and others in this forum likely tire of reading this from me), consider preserving some of your winter range by any/all "alternative" means possible - via the 12v system: These include the obvious seat heater and steering wheel warmers, but also cig-lighter plug in electric blankets! The integral Leaf heater is a mile-eater, so any time you can avoid the dashboard HVAC, you'll extend your range dramatically.

Enjoy your new-to-you luxury-golf-cart, as do I!

 

[gozer]

Look for the black plastic clip on the neg term on the 12 v battery. Disconnect it. this will fool the car into charging the 12 v at a much higher rate. you will get a lot better life out of that battery. There are many posts on the subject.

 

[cornbinder89]

As long as your needs fit what the car and easily do they are great. Problems come when people expect full range shown on the GOM in the dead of winter. When expectations and reality coincide they are hard to beat. My 2015 is nearing its limit at 45 mile range, but if I charge it just right, an get the display to show 70 mile range, but will not do that.

 

[Jarichus]

As long as your needs fit what the car and easily do they are great. Problems come when people expect full range shown on the GOM in the dead of winter. When expectations and reality coincide they are hard to beat. My 2015 is nearing its limit at 45 mile range, but if I charge it just right, an get the display to show 70 mile range, but will not do that.

My 2016 with 49k / 75% SOH is in the same boat with charging to show 75 miles and I get 50 usable miles before showing 20 miles left and I am heading home at that point! I don't use Econo mode and keep my speed under 45 mph around town. I am sure winter will cut my range in half.

 

[Steve52]

Note the Level 1 charger is a 20 amp plug, not a 15 amp. It is good to run a 20 amp circuit for it if you don't have one. Otherwise you might trip the breaker often. Investing in a low cost level 2 charger, just a 240V 20A one is nice especially if you have peak electrical rates, just to make sure you can fully charge the car during off peak periods. Have fun, its a really nice car.

I just looked at my Nissan OEM EVSE and it states 120 VAC, 12 Amps, not 15 Amps. This EVSE is made to plug into a normal 15 Amp circuit drawing 80 % of rated capacity so is very safe and reliable to use on a normal house plug as long as it's not overloaded by other loads on the circuit.

 

[cornbinder89]

I just looked at my Nissan OEM EVSE and it states 120 VAC, 12 Amps, not 15 Amps. This EVSE is made to plug into a normal 15 Amp circuit drawing 80 % of rated capacity so is very safe and reliable to use on a normal house plug as long as it's not overloaded by other loads on the circuit.

I wasn't sure if he was talking about the Bolt L1 or Leaf L1 but you are correct the Leaf is set for a 15 amp circuit.