Nissan Leaf

[Daox]

That seems counter-intuitive. The larger the pack you have, the less you should need heating or cooling.

In any case, some form of active management is a good thing.

[MetroMPG]

Unless your larger pack is giving you the confidence to regularly do longer highway trips, in which case you're (probably) going to be doing a lot more fast charging (= more heat).

[redpoint5]

My understanding is that all prior Leaves had no active thermal cooling; not even a fan blowing ambient air. This one adds AC.

Is there a battery heater? Something has got to keep the temperature up in extremely cold locations.

[Xist]

The lack of a fan seems like a galactic oversight. Could that be modified without voiding the warranty?

[oil pan 4]

There is a cold weather package for the battery.
It's a 300w heater and I believe that it kicks on at -5F and off at +14F
Any early leaf that has the 5kw heater has the cold weather option, any leaf with a replaced battery has had the batt cold weather package added at least on the battery then after about 2013 or 2014 all new leafs sold came with the cold weather package.

This summer I'm going to cut a hole in my cars belly pan and run an A/C duct from a portable roll away A/C unit to the battery case.

[roosterk0031]

When the battery range decreases, is the battery efficiency still OK. I'd still want it to do close 4 miles per KWH.


My wife could do fine with 30 mile range 95+% of the time. 9 of 10 of my weekend errands would be OK too. Garaged year round so wouldn't worry about temps except when she parks at work, but she doesn't work summers, 8 mile round trip.

I'd like to replace a spare Cobalt with a Leaf, and leave the Rogue parked most of the time.

[oil pan 4]

I have seen people complain that if they are down about 4 battery life bars they have a difficult time doing better than 4 miles per kwh.
Don't get one with a messed up battery, pay more and get one with a good batt.

For me to find one had a pretty long list of specifications:
Try to avoid one of the dark colors.
Had to have chademo.
Cold weather package.
New battery.
One that had been in a cool to mild climate.
LED head lights.
2011.
Basically a unicorn.

I probably spent less than about $2,000 more to get one with a good battery, paid to have it shipped to NM as opposed to getting one that had a degraded original battery from near by Lubbock or Amarillo.

[ldjessee00]

I looked long and hard for a new 2017 with Chademo and the better heater. I had this great rebate from my local power company that snipped $10k off the top, then we had our VW TDI money...
Dealer found one that had not shown up because it was mislabeled or something in the system that Nissan dealer's use to look for vehicles at other dealers.
It had a window tint kit applied (not that well), black leather interior and less than 14 miles on it. We didn't think we really wanted the tinting and when we noticed that it was not done well, we complained, so they just dropped the upcharge for it instead of fixing it. Didn't think we wanted the leather seats, but we have actually come around to really liking the tinting and the interior in general... and though there are some places where the tinting does not go to the edge, turns out it is in places you cannot see from the drivers seat while driving (those tiny A pillar windows are the worst).
We did find some small scratches on the paint (probably from loading or unloading getting it the 600+ miles from that dealer to mine), but the dealer fixed it and you cannot even tell (even in bright sunlight).
We have had the Leaf over a year now and will be paid off in a few months.
If there were not trees on other property to my east, west, and south, I would have pushed for panels as soon as it is paid off.. but to get year round sunlight exposure to my southern roof, I would need to convince three other people to cut down multiple very large mature trees...
I have considered putting them in the front yard, but it only helps some with the east and west and would make worse the shading during winter from the trees to the south.

[ME_Andy]

Has anybody else noticed their Leafs going through tires at a fast rate?

[oil pan 4]

My leafs original series of tires lasted about 60,000 miles.
The front end on a leaf is kind of fragile and gets knocked out of alignment easy, typically of any Nissan car.