The official "I got my Leaf" thread

[SueC56]

@UMNKevin - Congrats on the LEAF Anniversary. I'll have to make a note to remember mine next year. Fun idea.

@grbrance - Lucky you. Enjoy your 2019 Plus. I'm hoping to get one in three years when they come off lease. I'll be paying attention to posts in the meantime.

Sue C

[Megunticook]

Brought home a new 2019 Leaf yesterday. My wife and I have been considering this move for a while, test drove one in June, but decided to hold off on buying until the state (Maine) finalized their new incentives/rebates (our former governor, who left office after 8 long years in January, vetoed pretty much every alternative energy bill the legislature put forward).

Turns out yesterday one of the State agencies announced a $2K rebate from the state plus a $5K rebate from the electric power utility, added on top of the Federal EV Tax credit lowered the price from $33K to 18K. This sounded too good to be true, so we jumped on it and paid cash.

I installed solar panels on our house two years ago, so having an EV was really a logical next step.

Excited to be part of the EV community and looking forward to benefiting from the experience and wisdom on this forum and--someday--contributing.

My next project: wiring up a 240V charging station! Using the trickle charger for now...

[LeftieBiker]

I would like to slightly change the name of this topic, because it literally can't be found using a site search - all of the words in the title are too "common." Objections? Suggestions for a new, search-friendly version?

[goldbrick]

My next project: wiring up a 240V charging station! Using the trickle charger for now...

Congrats! I bet you love it. I'm doing things in reverse order from you: I have my 2017 Leaf and now I'm putting the solar panels on. I'm in the middle of swapping out the breaker box since the old one was too small and old for me to add solar to it.

For the EVSE, checkout OpenEVSE. It is a 'kit' but it's super easy to build and has a lot of nice features for a good price. I bought one but haven't installed it yet (waiting on new service panel which I should finish next week) but it does look like a well made unit.

[LeftieBiker]

I would like to slightly change the name of this topic, because it literally can't be found using a site search - all of the words in the title are too "common." Objections? Suggestions for a new, search-friendly version?

How about this?

"The official, Unique, "I Just Got My Leaf" Topic"

[Megunticook]

Congrats! I bet you love it.

So far I'm impressed. Still getting to know all the controls and settings. The last new car we bought was 20 years ago almost to the day (Subaru Legacy Brighton--got 14 years out of her!), things sure have gotten a lot more complex.

I'm doing things in reverse order from you: I have my 2017 Leaf and now I'm putting the <a href="http://www.myelectriccarforums.com/sola ... forumlinkr" class="interlinkr" target="_blank">Solar Panel</a>s on. I'm in the middle of swapping out the breaker box since the old one was too small and old for me to add solar to it.

Good for you--I self-installed too. It was a lot to take on, but I learned a ton and everything's been working great. Didn't enjoy being on the roof, though (12 pitch standing seam metal). Turned out I had to do all that solo--couldn't get anyone to help me. Not recommended, I'm lucky I didn't break something (especially me!).

For the <a href="http://www.myelectriccarforums.com/elec ... e-charger/" class="interlinkr" target="_blank">EVSECompare EVSE equipment</a>, checkout OpenEVSE. It is a 'kit' but it's super easy to build and has a lot of nice features for a good price. I bought one but haven't installed it yet (waiting on new service panel which I should finish next week) but it does look like a well made unit.

I'll check that out, thanks. Was thinking for starters I might just install a dedicated 240V circuit in my shed and use the Level 2 charger that came with the car. It says it draws 30 amps--don't think my 6.4 kW solar array can keep up with that much demand but I'm grid tied so it should work fine.

[gbrance]

Brought home a new 2019 Leaf yesterday. My wife and I have been considering this move for a while, test drove one in June, but decided to hold off on buying until the state (Maine) finalized their new incentives/rebates (our former governor, who left office after 8 long years in January, vetoed pretty much every alternative energy bill the legislature put forward).

Turns out yesterday one of the State agencies announced a $2K rebate from the state plus a $5K rebate from the electric power utility, added on top of the Federal EV Tax credit lowered the price from $33K to 18K. This sounded too good to be true, so we jumped on it and paid cash.

I installed solar panels on our house two years ago, so having an EV was really a logical next step.

Excited to be part of the EV community and looking forward to benefiting from the experience and wisdom on this forum and--someday--contributing.

My next project: wiring up a 240V charging station! Using the trickle charger for now...

Congrats on the purchase.

What model of Leaf did you get? I am judging by the price $33k maybe 2019 Leaf SV?

For the EV charging station I recommend you install a L14-50 outlet which should give you compatibility with other chargers and will future proof yourself since it can support up to a 10kw draw.

I highly recommend the Juice-box Pro40. https://evcharging.enelx.com/store/resi ... foot-cable
I have been using one for over 3+ years now. The company really stands behind their product and it is easy to manage using a smart phone app or through a web page.

[Megunticook]

What model of Leaf did you get? I am judging by the price $33k maybe 2019 Leaf SV?

S Model. $33K included all the taxes and fees. Out of pocket for us after all rebates/credits should be about $18K.

For the EV charging station I recommend you install a L14-50 outlet which should give you compatibility with other <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords ... ecarfor-20" class="interlinkr" target="_blank">charger</a>s and will future proof yourself since it can support up to a 10kw draw.

Thanks for the tip. This weekend I'm planning to install a dedicated 40A circuit in my shed with one of these:



Will use the stock Nissan charger that came with the car for starters and see how that does. What's the advantage of using something like the Juice Box instead?

[gbrance]

What model of Leaf did you get? I am judging by the price $33k maybe 2019 Leaf SV?

S Model. $33K included all the taxes and fees. Out of pocket for us after all rebates/credits should be about $18K.

For the EV charging station I recommend you install a L14-50 outlet which should give you compatibility with other <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords ... ecarfor-20" class="interlinkr" target="_blank">charger</a>s and will future proof yourself since it can support up to a 10kw draw.

Thanks for the tip. This weekend I'm planning to install a dedicated 40A circuit in my shed with one of these:



Will use the stock Nissan charger that came with the car for starters and see how that does. What's the advantage of using something like the Juice Box instead?

Personally I would go with a 50amp circuit to support a L14-50. The stock Nissan Charger that came with my 2019 Leaf Plus uses a L14-50. The L14-50 also allows you to somewhat future proof yourself because it can support a 10kw charger.

The Juice Box has more functionality than the stock EVSE charger from Nissan.

It can show total kWh used for a session and you can go back with the data up to 12-months. Want to know how much kWh you charger used in August? The Juice Box can tell you that - I used 247.34 kWh. You can get all sorts of reports plus export the data to CSV if you want.

With the juice box you can set the total Allowed Current if you want. Have a circuit that only support 30 AMPs you can set the Juice Box to use only 24 AMPs.

Want E-mails our SMS txts when a unit has stopped, or started charging. The Juice Box can do that.

The big one for me is TOU (Time-Of-Use). It costs me less to charge between 10pm-8am. I can set up the Juice Box to only charge between 10pm-8am if I want. So I can plug it in when I am done for the day, example 7pm. It will not start charging until after 10pm even with the car plugged in. I also use the Juice Box so I can only charge the car to around 80%. Since you cannot set the car to only charge to 80%. For my Leaf Plus about 1-hour of charging equals 10%. So if my car is at 35%, I will set the schedule on the Juice Box to say start at 3am and stop at 7:30am which gets me to around 80% charge. You can do some of this using the onboard car charging timer. I just find it easier to control all of this from a App on my phone, since the Juice Box has it's own App which works way better than NissanConnect.

Just my Two Cents. Enjoy the new car.

[eddiebo924]

So I’ve owned LEAF’s since 9/1/14 when I purchased a 2015 SL for myself for my birthday. So yes, the 2018 was not my first rodeo.

A little history and background. My first LEAF was totaled in July of 2018 when someone tried to zip in front of me and I couldn’t stop in time. Replaced it with a 2016 SV that had a little bigger battery but not much else. I commute about 60 miles a day (mostly highway) and I’m North of Denver so it’s a little hilly. With the 24kw & 30kw batteries there were some cutting it close days in the winter. Anyway. . . About a month ago I stepped up to a used 40kw 2018 SL that had about 9,000.

Some random thoughts on why I think car is awesome. . .

The extra range is great! We made a round trip from Firestone, CO to Parker, CO on a single charge with about 25 miles of range left when we got home. On a map it’s only about 115 miles so why is this so good? Because as I mentioned, it’s very hilly here, we took E470 which is a 75MPH tollway and it was a 90 degree day so we used the AC the whole time. And yes, two of us in the car. I was very happy with the consumption.

E-Pedal – Yep, a little goofy the first few times of using it. But once you get it. You get it! Great addition NISSAN.

ProPILOT Assist – Another great addition. Before I actually used it I wondered if I’d be a lazier driver. No, I think it’s had the opposite effect on me. I let it help me with staying in the lane and keeping the proper distance while I focus more on anticipating what other drivers may be doing around me.

I have to share an incident that occurred a couple weeks I got the car. Had to go into work super early one day and was on I-25 with the cruise set at 75MPH. All of a sudden the car started to slow and it seemed odd. That is until I saw the car in front of me with VERY dim tail lights. Just awesome.

It just seems bigger than my 2015 & 2016.

Android auto is an awesome addition.

I hope someone finds this information useful. If anyone’s considering purchasing a 2018 and has any specific questions I may be able to answer, please ask away. . .