Street Smart in San Diego

[Xenalmorph]

Did not know about the "shifter" going back to engage forward. Humm, strange. As a pilot I have always liked how cockpits follow conventional wisdoms. Ex -Throttle is pushed forward to go forward, gear lever goes down to lower gear, flap lever goes down to lower flaps... etc. Shifting backwards makes alot of sense in a high G environment. I guess for the Leaf the "shifter" is really more of a direction switch.

 

[Frank]

The fabric is light and seems very porous...

I am not a big fan of the material I saw on the seats, but I thought it was much better than the stark white upholstery that was in the "display" model Leaf they had on the Tour event last year. I wish we had a choice of interior colors rather than none, but you can't have everything, I guess. We'll probably put covers on them to preserve them anyway.

As far as having them redone, leather would be a lot more expensive than some of the synthetic materials available. The price depends greatly on where you have the work done as well. I have had sport seats recovered in vinyl for $175 here in San Diego, and had shops quote them for $700 in leather. Going to Tijuana to have them done has been the traditional "cheap" way for SD hot-rodders to have interiors done for many decades. There are quite a few very talented, reliable, auto body and interior shops in TJ that do great work for low cost, if you're willing to cross the border.

TT

Tom, was the $700 leather quote for all of the seats or per seat? I would pay $700 for all of the seats covered in leather if they did a nice job. That way I could choose the color leather and I would choose the darker color that is on the Leaf bottom door panels. But I don't think I would want to drive the Leaf into TJ. If you were pleased with the work that you had done at a local shop could you share the name and contact info of the shop?

 

[ttweed]

Tom, was the $700 leather quote for all of the seats or per seat?

That was a price on a single driver's side sport seat for my early 911 Porsche, Frank. The local shop that has done good custom work for a reasonable price for me is Jim's Auto Upholstery on Armour St. in Kearny Mesa. OB Upholstery is also a good place to try. Doing all the seats in a Leaf (front and back) will be considerably more expensive, especially in leather, which is a wonderful material but not cheap. Once you get the car, take it in, get a quote, look at the different materials available, and make a decision based on how important the budget factor is to you.... I don't go to TJ myself anymore, just because of the "troubles" down there lately and the hassles crossing the border.

Good luck,
TT

 

[indyflick]

Going to Tijuana to have them done has been the traditional "cheap" way for SD hot-rodders to have interiors done for many decades. There are quite a few very talented, reliable, auto body and interior shops in TJ that do great work for low cost, if you're willing to cross the border.

TT

What about an Indian blank and a staple gun! :lol:

 

[Frank]

That was a price on a single driver's side sport seat for my early 911 Porsche, Frank. TT

Yikes! $700 per seat is a little too high for my Leaf type budget Thanks for the info Tom. Maybe I should reconsider the seat cover option. I noticed that on the Jim's Upholstery website it says that they make custom seat covers too. Maybe if a lot of San Diego Leaf owners went to Jim for a group order he could give us a volume price on making seat covers out of a material less expensive than leather. What do you think, future San Diego Leaf owners?

 

[evnow]

Nissan's use of recycled plastic is apparently causing more emission than usual fabric. What irony.

 

[garygid]

1. If the LEAF seat backs contain "side" airbags (that must "rip" the upholstery seams to expand), use caution in using ANY seat coverings.

2. If one has seat heaters, the seat "fabric" should take that into consideration.

 

[garygid]

TT,
I thought I has seen some "requirement" that a plug-in EVSE had to be no more than 18" from the "wall" connection.

But, I cannot find it now, so perhaps I am incorrect.
I fixed my post.

The "us" was you and me (individuals), and the "them" was Nissan (or some similar big organization).

 

[LEAFguy]

Here's a tidbit. One of the Nissan reps told me there are presently five vehicles being developed at Nissan which utilize the LEAF platform. He said there was a van, a crossover SUV, a sedan, and wouldn't elaborate on the other two. I said is one a sports car? He smiled, but said nothing. But he also said the van would be unveiled in a couple of weeks as a concept car. I think a sports car at say $25K would be really cool.

Nissan has already announced the van, which will be for light commercial use. It will debut next week in Germany.

 

[Frank]

1. If the LEAF seat backs contain "side" airbags (that must "rip" the upholstery seams to expand), use caution in using ANY seat coverings.

2. If one has seat heaters, the seat "fabric" should take that into consideration.

Good points Gary. The airbags description is:

1. Driver and front-passenger seat-mounted side-impact supplemental air bags
2. Roof-mounted curtain side-impact supplemental air bags for front- and rear-seat outboard occupant head protection

So which airbags deploy from any of the seats?

 

[ttweed]

TT,
I thought I has seen some "requirement" that a plug-in EVSE had to be no more than 18" from the "wall" connection.

But, I cannot find it now, so perhaps I am incorrect.

OK, I hadn't seen any "extension cord requirement" myself, but it's not like we can download the owner's manual from Nissan yet.

It's just a 110V appliance. How many amps does it draw? 8? 10? As long as the outlet was on a circuit that wasn't overloaded, and you used a #12-conductor, 3-wire cord with connectors rated properly and limited it to 25-50' or so, I don't think there would be enough voltage drop over the cable to effect the charger negatively. We used to run some pretty beefy electrical equipment on jobsites while framing houses w/ 50'-100' 12/3 extension cords (compressors, saws, drills, etc.) Your home wiring is usually 12/3 Romex, and there can be 75-100'+ runs from the service panel to the furthest outlets in a large home.

TT

 

[DaveEV]

t's just a 110V appliance. How many amps does it draw? 8? 10?

I'd imagine that it will draw as close to 12A as possible - which is why Nissan/AV is recommending that you have a dedicated 120V-20A circuit installed along with the EVSE circuit.

Your home wiring is usually 12/3 Romex, and there can be 75-100'+ runs from the service panel to the furthest outlets in a large home.

Not even 12 GA - most of the time is 14/3 Romex for the typical 15A circuit unless you have a 20A circuit.

Having worked with a bit of both myself, 14 GA is a lot easier to work with than 12 GA.

 

[garygid]

1. the #1 "seat-mounted" airbags probably "rip" open the seats.

Boy, anything that pops the airbags probably "explodes" the interior enough to (almost) "total" the car.

2. Level 1 (120v) EVSE should be 12 amps (80% of a 15-amp breaker).