Recent 2019 Leaf SV Purchase - The Good / Bad / Be Aware

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dansaia

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2024
Messages
3
Location
Hanover, PA
I've had my 2019 Leaf SV for about 6 months now and there's definitely things I love and things I don't love.

The good:

This is a fun car. It's peppy, has great acceleration, good handling. The interior is fairly comfortable, at least for the driver. It's a great car to drive in the city and a great commuter car for less than 120-mile total commute a day.

The not so good:

ChaDeMo - You won't believe this but I work in the EV industry and when I bought my Leaf I was fairly new to my job so I didn't really know the difference in the fast charging connectors other than CCS and NACS. I had no idea about the ChaDeMo connector. So I saw it had fast charging and thought the 150-mile range wasn't an issue because I can fast charge anywhere. NOPE, ChaDeMo is hard to find and is actually being phased out, so going on a bit longer-range trip is definitely a challenge. There are adapters starting to come out but they cost almost $1000 and are not fully tested.

Map/Nav Updates - In my model, I am not able to find any options to do OTA, connect to WiFi, or otherwise. So I am not able to do any updates for my radio or Nav.

Be Aware:

Look this is nitpicking but the passenger side seat sits up rather high. When my wife gets in the car she often hits her head. So just be aware.

If charging at home only for someone that commutes I would highly recommend a Level 2 charger using a 50 AMP charger. This way you will be able to charge fully overnight (8 hours). If you only use the supplied charger and use a 120V home plug it will take at least 24 hours or more to fully charge your car.

The 12V battery in the Leaf needs to be checked periodically for voltage. Be sure it stays charged because remember, there is no alternator in an EV that recharges the battery. So check it.

I do like the car, but in hindsight, I would have spent the extra money and purchased the Plus model. Without any hesitation!
 
If you unplug the black connector that goes to the neg terminal on the 12v battery, the car will take very good care keeping the battery up to snuff.
I've seen other people making that suggestion. Can you elaborate? What's that wire for exactly? What could go wrong if I remove it? I mean, it's there for a good reason?

If charging at home only for someone that commutes I would highly recommend a Level 2 charger using a 50 AMP charger.
The LEAF itself won't see much benefit from a full 50 amps EVSE (usually 48 max). The LEAF charger maxes out at about 28 amps on L2. Just saying to set expectations. It's a good idea to be future proof though :)
 
I've seen other people making that suggestion. Can you elaborate? What's that wire for exactly? What could go wrong if I remove it? I mean, it's there for a good reason?


The LEAF itself won't see much benefit from a full 50 amps EVSE (usually 48 max). The LEAF charger maxes out at about 28 amps on L2. Just saying to set expectations. It's a good idea to be future proof though :)
If the car's charging system isn't working well to keep the 12 volt battery fully charged, then disconnecting that sensor wire will result in the car's DC-DC converter charging the 12 volt battery pretty much all the time. The main drawback to that is the possibility of 'cooking' the 12 volt battery in hot weather if it needs less than full charging. I wouldn't worry much about that happening in Winter.
 
I've seen other people making that suggestion. Can you elaborate? What's that wire for exactly? What could go wrong if I remove it? I mean, it's there for a good reason?
He is talking about the battery current and temp sensor on the negative side of the 12 volt battery. When you dis-connect it, that "blinds" the dc-dc charger to the SOC/temp of the 12 volt, and if falls back to the fail-safe of continuous 14.4 volt charge.
As I have written in the 12 volt battery thread, it is less than ideal, you are treating a symptom not the cause.
As I have also posted, in the cold, mine is charging to a higher voltage, that drops when temps rise. Also I have no problems with my 12 volt going discharged.
Right now, I leaning towards a fault in the temp sensor of the cars that seam to experience repeated problems, but not having one in front of me, it will remain only a hypothesis.
Nissan seams to use a modified version of IUoU charging protocol, something I have a lot of experience with all with much better results in recharge time as well as battery life then with a fixed voltage charging.
 
Be sure it stays charged because remember, there is no alternator in an EV that recharges the battery. So check it.
Thanks for answering a question I was too embarrassed to ask! I was wondering why so many ppl were posting 12v batter degradation was a problem. Does the Traction Battery trickle charge the 12v in most cases (there, i embarrassed myself anyway!)
 
There has been speculation here, supported by how well AGM batteries do in the Leaf, that the car was designed to have a different battery type, whether lithium or AGM, and that the flooded LA battery used doesn't accept charge fast enough to be fully compatible with the charging system.
Thanks for answering a question I was too embarrassed to ask! I was wondering why so many ppl were posting 12v batter degradation was a problem. Does the Traction Battery trickle charge the 12v in most cases (there, i embarrassed myself anyway!)

There is, however, the DC-DC converter, which takes power from the main battery and uses it to both power 12 volt accessories when the car is On, and recharge the 12 volt battery. The main difference is that the DC-DC converter usually charges the battery more slowly, at lower amperage.
 
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