How Many Leaf Owners Charge Solely on 120V?

How many of y'all use just your garage wall outlets? Does this work for you 100% of the time? How many miles is your daily commute? How many more miles would you drive on side trips throughout the day, generally? What's the lowest you've ever seen on your range counter?

Just wondering. Sometimes I wonder what my life could be like without the 240V.

Soviet said:

Just wondering. Sometimes I wonder what my life could be like without the 240V.

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Easy answer. Just charge at L1 with the supplied EVSE for a month or so. That should answer your winder.

I do and I have never had to take another car because my LEAF wasn't charged enough in the morning. I drive around 55-60 miles per day and only charge to 80% most of the time. I get home at around 9PM and charge through to the morning and leave at around 10AM. That's enough time to get me to 80% well before I leave for work. I can usually make it to 100% too, but there have been some occasions when I let the SOC drop too low and I couldn't get the full 100% by the time I left.

I occasionally opportunity charge at work simply because it's free, but it's not absolutely necessary in the summer. It will also probably be a necessity this winter since 60 miles is tough to do in a LEAF with a battery pack that is almost frozen.

The biggest negative in trickle charging is having to plug in and unplug and move the EVSE around. My car is only a few months old, but my EVSE looks like it's been through hell. But it's still MORE convenient than having to stop for gas every 4 or 5 days with my old gas car.

kubel said:

The biggest negative in trickle charging is having to plug in and unplug and move the EVSE around. My car is only a few months old, but my EVSE looks like it's been through hell.

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That's only because you want to take it with you to work for opportunity charging, right? Or just take it with you everywhere in case of emergency. Otherwise, you can just leave it plugged in at your garage all the times.

100% L1 charging. I leave mine plugged into the garage all the time (except lightning storms). Less than 20 mi per day driving. Charge for a couple of hours each night. Keeping battery around 5-6 bars most days. Only charged to 100% a couple of times to do some long drive "tests". 7000 mi and 1 yr. No L2 needed in this one-horse town.

Reddy

I did the first 5 months on L1 only. Drove about 50 miles per day. Commute is 21 round trip. I was often bouncing off the bottom with less than 15 miles. In the morning it was often still charging as I disconnected and left for work. Only a handfull of times did I ever "wait" for a charge to go some place or take the Subaru. Still L2 is way better. 2013 with 6.6 will also be a big jump in usability.

Always charged only with L1. Most days I charge to 80% or less overnight and 100% on weekends. My commute and other errands is around 40 miles a day. There were occasions I had to take my ICE on the weekend because I was low. But then not sure that can justify the expense of a 220V wiring and the EVSE.

My family has had our Leaf for about five months, and we've put about four thousand miles on it. We only use the EVSE, and it just stays in the garage. Since we started only charging to 80%, the Leaf has gotten home with only 9 miles of range remaining several times. The car continues to exceed the expectations we had for it when we bought it. I expected it to be purely a commuter car, but we find ourselves using it to run errands on the weekend. Of course, we also have a pickup and a minivan when necessary, but they end up sitting parked far more often than I expected they would. I just recently set up the timers and started using CarWings, and it's very easy to top off to 100% when I need extra range the next day. And as someone else mentioned, I find the home charging far more convenient than stopping for gas, especially with two kids in the backseat who are usually almost as cranky and hungry as I am on the way home in the evening.

Same as a lot of previous posters. L1 charging only now for the last 4 months, 50 mile commute. Occ L2 charging at work. Usually home around 7-8 PM, leave the house at 6:30 AM, only charge to 80%. No significant problems noted with overnight charging though there have been occasions during the weekend when we'll drive the Leaf, come back, and have to leave again in 2-3 hours which doesn't supply enough recharge time to take the Leaf again so have used the other half's ICE. Still, that's only been twice in the last 4 months so not common at all.

I had a 55 mile roundtrip commute, but Level 1 would not work for me (I had a week of level 1 before I got my level 2). I did a significant amount of highway driving, so I would use 9 bars per day easily from 100%. 13 hours at home to charge the car would not quite hit 100%, over the week it was slowly getting lower to Friday I no longer had the range to get to work and back. I think I was about on the make/break point for Level 1 and the higher speed driving was the culprit.

That said, even if level 1 worked, I would never be able to enjoy the car as I do. It would tie my car up completely at night so no other trips could be done (food, groceries, friends, etc.) with the LEAF. This also limited any trips on Sunday afternoon. We use the LEAF pretty much for everything we can and the Level 2 allows us to do that.

Soviet said:

How many of y'all use just your garage wall outlets? Does this work for you 100% of the time? How many miles is your daily commute? How many more miles would you drive on side trips throughout the day, generally? What's the lowest you've ever seen on your range counter?

Just wondering. Sometimes I wonder what my life could be like without the 240V.

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Well.. every since we got two EVs in the house, I've been charging mine from 120V every day since my wife does more driving than I do. However, I suppose this is not a fair comparison because I do have the option to charge on 240V if I should need it.

I drive between 12 and 20 miles per day most days.

I used L1 only for my first 3 or so months. My commute is 29 miles roundtrip, and about 2 or 3 times a week I wind up driving 40-60 miles that day. It was definitely doable on L1, but for me it became a bit of a challenge because I work retail. There are times when I am scheduled to work until 11pm (closing shift) and I don't actually leave until after midnight and get home around 1am. If I have to be back to work at 7am the next morning, that's not enough time to charge (or for me to sleep, but that's another matter). I also don't have a garage, just a circular driveway, so I had an extension cord running out a basement window that I would plug the EVSE into. I kept it all behind some bushes, but it wasn't very waterproof. I would take the EVSE with me every day so I could plug in at work if I felt I was running low (which I only did once), but it was an annoyance to constantly be taking it out and putting it back in. I also really wanted to be able to take advantage of the precooling and preheating features of Carwings, which don't work quite as well when you're only on L1.

Last year when I bought the Leaf, I lived in an apartment with a Carport. I charged L1 exclusively for exactly 12 months and averaged about 45 miles per day. I only charged to 80%, and if I needed more I go to the L2 charging in downtown Palo Alto to get that extra juice.

Worked very well for me, ended up with 14k miles during those 12 months.

i used 120 charging for first few months when i got my LEAF. i did not move mine around. i just left it in the garage and not sure why that would not be the overriding option for most here.

the problem with 120 besides speed and adjusting to unplanned events is the efficiency. you double your charging efficiency with 240 (75 to 88%). if cost is an issue, get Phil's EVSE upgrade. very reasonably priced.

another thing to think about if you are not in a hurry is that cheaper options will flood the market as EVs take a larger and larger segment of the market. due to supply constraints, i am just now seeing evidence of State purchases here.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.341976832557315.84419.115422645212736&type=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the first couple of months, I used 120v (L1 EVSE) exclusively,
primarily due to the very high cost of upgrading my electrical service
if I added a 40-amp breaker.

When the Upgraded EVSE became available, and I found that two
120v duplex sockets right next to each other were of different phases,
I ordered a complete upgraded (240v and 120v operation, still 12 amps
at that time), EVSE and started using the 240v (from the two 120v plugs)
and found the shorter charging times quite convenient.

At that point, I sent my origial EVSE in for an upgrade, which I now
use as a spare. One unit stays at home, the other rides in the car.

Then, when one finally gets to use the Quick Charge (QC), one gets
quite hooked on the possibility of much extended range when the
30-minute charging is available. So far, it is TOO SLOW coming.

Cheers, Gary

I charge w/Level 1 at home with timer set for four hours' duration and 80% limit. I don't always charge the car, but make sure I have "enough" for my 30 mile one-way commute.

The trip to work is almost always filled with colorful racetrack moments and I usually clear-cut and burn the stumps of the little trees the car is attempting to grow; 80+ mph on I-5 freeway is the norm.

Once at work, I turn the timer off and plug in the car's EVSE to the 120V box my employer thoughtfully provided. The car usually makes it to 80% or 90% by the time I'm ready to go. The return trip is less harrowing; I take country lanes and deserted frontage roads. I drive 35-45 mph for most of the return commute.
I arrive back home with around half-a-charge.

We both drive the car with little regard for what's left of the charge during the week. The trips are short and fast (small town), there is no danger of running out, but it gets run ragged all weekend and it is always ready Monday morning.

It is the best car ever.

Due to a bollix up at Ecotality it took me several months to get the Level 2 EVSE through the EV Project. I had no trouble using the L1 at home during that time. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't spend the $2K+ it took to upgrade my panel and do the L2 and another big chunk for the upgrade to SL. But then, I'm retired an have no commute. My wife doesn't work, either, so together we drive about 8000 miles a year. About 80% of that is in the Leaf, but a day of >35 mi. for either of us is a rarity. Recently I took it on a vacation trip to a beach house ~ 45 mi. away. I used the L1 there for a round trip to Monterey that was about 68 mi., no problem. I did have to remember to plug in immediately and hit the kill timer button, which I don't normally do. It could have been a problem if I absent-mindedly waited to bedtime like I'm used to.

I've been charging on L1 only for about 7 months. My commute is under 20 miles per day so no problems with range. I set the timer to begin charging at midnight so the car can charge when electric rates are very cheap.

I know that L2 is more efficient charging, but I've been wondering if there is any evidence that trickle charging will prolong the useful life of the battery. That's often the case with high-end camera batteries that I use, but don't know if that translates to the Leaf. Anyone know?

Battery experts usually say that anything below "1C" is slow charging. 1C is a charging rate that, if continued, would charge the battery from empty to full in one hour. DC Quick Charge runs at up to 2C (48kW for a 24kWh battery). 240v charging for the LEAF is currently restricted to 3.3kW, which is about 0.14C. Nothing to worry about.

Ray

planet4ever said:

Battery experts usually say that anything below "1C" is slow charging. 1C is a charging rate that, if continued, would charge the battery from empty to full in one hour. DC Quick Charge runs at up to 2C (48kW for a 24kWh battery). 240v charging for the LEAF is currently restricted to 3.3kW, which is about 0.14C. Nothing to worry about.

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Exactly.

It is unfortunate that Nissan uses the word "trickle" to denote a 120 volt charge. Most battery experts consider trickle charging as that rate that just replaces what is lost due to self discharge. In the case of lithium based cells, that is really low.

The LEAFs L1 and L2 are both slow charging - quite gentle.