Questions about the Nissan Leaf
 

I'm seeing conflicting information online about the Leaf.
Some Leafs ( Leaves ? ) have a quick charger built in, correct ?
There is a "Charge Point" station around two miles away from me.
Can Leafs use a public quick charge like this ?

I am reading that even with a quick charger, your charge times could take up to 10 hours. That's crazy !
Other EVs can charge in less than 30 minutes, and be on their way.

I would imagine Leaf drivers are absolutely hated at charge stations, because they take so long to charge.


And charge time take even longer as the car ages.


I owned my ICE car for 21 years and spent maybe $700 or 800 total on all tires, batteries, and such.
( I drive very little )

With an EV, you have to replace the battery every few years, regardless.
So as I had asked in another post, this would be like buying a car that has an ICE and transmission that has to be replaced every few years, correct ?

So the cost of ownership in 20 years for the battery alone would be several thousand dollars ?
( Like $20,000 + ? )

My car sat a lot. I don't drive much. My car sits in one spot for two weeks or more at a time.
Do EVs lose charge just sittong there ?

Used Leafs have around 50 miles of range.
So this means even if I just drive short trips to the grocery store and back, I would have to charge the car every other trip I take.
And each time I charge, it would cost more than the mere pennies I use in gas to drive to the nearby store and back.


I would have to rent a car for longer trips.
I take about two per year.

With all of these drawbacks, I still find myself interested in the idea of owning an EV.

It's an impractical desire of mine since I was a teen, and at my age, I see this as perhaps my last car purchase.

My budget is $6,000 or less, and the only EV i see at that cost is a Leaf.

My main reason for wanting a Leaf is the geek factor.
But bottom line - it's a want, and not a need.
( And an expensive one )

The term "quick" is relative. Yes, it can use either 120v or 240v(L2) chargers but it will still take hours to charge. Tesla's can charge faster but they also use much higher voltages and far more current because their batteries are actively cooled.

With hybrids and EV's, the worst thing you can do is leave them sitting off charger for weeks or months on end.

The problem with the nissan leaf is there really is no battery cooling. Another user, oil pan, has one and will likely have more/better information on the leaf.

I'd be a fool not to mention it, I'm selling my volt. http://atcm.co/S2PVDP/227cd8e2
As always, price is negotiable, I now have a 5 seat family so the 4 seater car has to go.

My impression on Leaf ownership -- they're extremely reliable but honestly not so fun to drive. They're heavy and handle like a boat.

Yeah, you can charge it at ChargePoint. We do, sometimes. It can be pretty pricey unless you have a hook up for free charging.

Do you have a backup, in case that charger goes down? (I guess you could find one in Austin without much trouble.)

The accessory battery has the same limitations as an ICE car's battery if it sits for long periods. Best to trickle charge it.

Overall, from what I remember of your driving situation, I wouldn't do it. Rent a Tesla on Turo for a couple days, you'll save a lot of money that way.

I suppose you could test drive ours, if you want (msg me).

DM sent

Hey so, to the best of my understanding there are 3 trim levels.

Base: S
Mid-level: SV
Highest-trim: SL

Basically the SL has all options standard. The SV has options as specified by the original buyer, or by Nissan too. The S often has nothing.

When I was looking into buying my Leaf, the vast majority of the SVs had the quick-charging port.

I have used that (level 3 charging) 2 times since purchasing my Leaf.

Most of the time when charging I am using the trickle charger that came with the car, because I don't have a nearby 240V receptacle; and since I live in a rental I don't have the option to wire one in myself.

Anyhow, Level-2 charging uses the same port as Level-1. Level-2 is what any of your shopping-center chargers are (generally), and that gives you a full charge in ~3ish hours. So if you go shopping for a half hour and come back, your car will have another 20ish miles of range, give or take.

The problem you run into with SV's, at least in my location, is finding one that has the hybrid heat pump instead of just the dumb standard resistive heater. I lucked out and got one with all the options I wanted.

Range is OK, I get around 90 miles of usable range by driving like a hypermiler. The biggest concern I'd have in your particular case is the battery management and cooling system, which in the Leaf is built on "thoughts and prayers." As such, there isn't one. Texas might be too hot and you would lose capacity pretty fast, especially if you're using it on the freeway a lot.

I acknowledge that the Leaf isn't for everyone, but I absolutely love mine. For 95% of the driving I do, it's perfect. When we have to take a longer route, we use my wife's Fit.

Just my $0.02

Thanks guys !
So from what I am reading, even a 'perfect' battery will last 8 to 10 years - or 100,000 miles.
( Whichever comes first )

Here in Texas heat, that's 8 years or less.

So to own the car for 20 years with nothing more than driving a few miles a week to the grocery store and back, it would still cost me around 12 thousand dollars, to as much as $18,000 if I buy one used with a tired battery that already is dying.
Correct ?

Well, my Texas battery is 6 years old and we still get ~75 miles of range. Compared to ~85 when new. I don't think it's quite that bad.

But, I have a 2015 with the upgraded "lizard" battery.

The old batteries are pretty bad. My parents have a used 2012 in Oregon and the battery is something like 2/3 capacity.

I wouldn't buy a Leaf. There's a stop sale on the Chevy Bolt from '17--'19 for battery fire risk (which is low at 5 total so far out of like 100k). We're coming on 6 months of pent up sales demand with no inventory, so around April when the stop sale is lifted all the lease returns and trade-ins will hit the market at once, flooding it. I'd say May is the sweet spot for Bolt purchases, and much less concern about battery degradation (active thermal management) and much higher range (250 miles), and way better performance.

A Bolt might cost $9995 used but it’s a much more EV than a Leaf and it has a useable range, the battery doesn’t seem to degrade to the levels of a leaf either.
Some old 2011 leafs only have a useable range of 35 miles, not worth it especially after having the $hit taxed out of you on the registration.

Given I only pay $200 a year on gas things like this are total BS

https://www.govtech.com/transportati...hicle-Fee.html

At this point unless you own an expensive Tesla with all its non-battery issues a PHEV like A Prime or Volt is a better option but long range commutes in winter are still somewhat problematic depending on which one you buy.

If you must have an EV, why not a Volt? Then you have a gasser as a back up and still 30-50 miles of EV range. Plus they're probably the cheapest EV/PHEV out there without significant range issues like the Leaf has.

Of course there's always the first Prius Plugin, but that has pathetic range and is basically just a regular Prius.

Or heck, buy a Metro or Insight shell and build your own mini EV project, have the batteries be quick swappable so you can take them out and use them for other things when you aren't driving.