Quote:
Originally Posted by WyrTwister
When we bought our 2012 Leaf it was on battery bar 10 ( I think ) . About a month there after , it dropped a battery bar .
The tires were pretty well worn , I ordered the Ecopia tires that came on it .
So the range was declining . ( I had read that new tires would drop the range until they " broke in " and almost worn out tires had less rubber flex so they gave better range .
We tried to keep it well charged while we were learning .
Well it got rear ended before the tires were " broke in " regained their range .
We charged the Leaf Level 1 only 1 time . Our house was guilt in the 1950's and all the original wiring is 2 wire Romex , no earth ground . The Leaf Level 1 EVSE would not work .
I had to run an extension cord from a new 3 wire receptacle in the kitchen ( which I had added ) , through the house & out the front door . That made the EVSE happy & we got the Leaf charged .
I kind of figured the EVSE would not work w/o an earth ground .
I ordered a GE WattStation , 40 amo 240 VAC input Level 2 EVSE . Ran a 6/2W Ground Romex & installed a 2 pole 40 amp circuit breaker .
From there on out , Level 2 all the rest of the time . Like taking the training wheels off . :-)
It had a DCFC port but no where to plug it in to . Closest DCFC was 120 miles & it was a Tesla Super Charger . Closest CHAdeMO was 320 miles . There may be an adapter to all the Leaf CHAdeMO to be charged from a Super Charger ?
We were showing 4.1 miles per KWH . Guessed it was saving about half the cost of the gasoline the Sonic burned ( less than $ 20 per week if we did not leave town ) . Which was not enough to justify the car .
But I knew it would be a toss up if it would drop the last battery bar to qualify for a warranty battery , before the warranty expired .
As to cold , I do not think cold permanently reduced the battery capacity . I think it has a battery heater . But cold does reduce the range at that time .
Nissan was offering very attractive leases on S model 2016 Leafs , shortly after ours was rear ended . But those appear to be gone .
I think the Leaf is a pretty good EV . The used ones can be had at a good price , if you do some work shopping . Get one with the most battery bars you can ( or if it is still in warranty , one about to drop below 9 battery bars ) .
Get a Level 2 EVSE . I shopped around on the internet and found the GE WattStation for $ 400 + about $ 36 shipping . You will probably have to pay for install , I did the work myself .
Ask if your electric utility offers reduced rare for off peak usage ( ours does not ) & if they do , set your timer to charge off peak as much as you can .
Check your tire pressure , many of us run at least 40 psi , to help increase range a little . Check the fluids periodically . It does have a 12 VDC lead acid battery ( under the hood ) . It will have to be replaced sooner or latter . Our 2012 appeared to be OEM .
I checked the brake rotors when the new tires were being installed . I could detect ZERO wear . The regenerative braking reduces wear on the friction brakes .
Caution , these cars have NO spare tire or jack . A 12 VDC air pump and a container of Goo . I was in the process of shopping for a Nissan donut spare when the Leaf was hit . Best I remember the Altama donut spare is suppose to fit . I took the jack from our dead Lumina and the 4 way lug wrench .
There are no fan belts . The rubber fluid hoses will need to be replaced , eventually . No oil & filter changes . As I have said , tires . Windshield wiper blades .
As I said , I liked the Leaf .
God bless
Wyr
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Mine still has 12 bars, and nearly 50,000 miles. New battery perhaps??
I installed a Level 2 EVSE on the outside of the house myself. It's an Aerovironment 7.2kW. I'm wanting to get one of those upgraded plugin EVSE's so that I'll be able to plug into RV outlets.
I'm also hundreds of miles away from a CHAdeMO charger. But being able to charge up in usually 2 hours on the 6.6kW charger works fine for me.