New Leaf Owner

Evoforce

10 kW
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Messages
801
Location
Fountain Hills Arizona
Just bought my 2011 Nissan Leaf 2/28/15. I thought I would build a car first, but hadn't had the time. I don't think I could have built one for much less money. It is a pleasure to drive.
 
2011 SL at 28,000 miles and 10 capacity bars. It has been a joy to drive this past month. Looking forward to many more. My lady gets to drive it everyday and is very pleased. I get the random use and she vows not to let me snag it from her clutches. :D
 
Congrats! I dig the LEAF, buying one a couple years old likely made the vehicle cost less than just buying the cells alone to do your own conversion.
 
You should "snag it from her clutches" long enough to bring it up this way sometime. I'll be off work the week of 4-19 thru 4-25 for the 2nd anniversary of the fire, hanging around the house mostly, if that would work out. If you don't have a bike to bring (or it won't fit in the car) you can ride one of mine while you're here. :)
 
i pulled up next to new Spark at the light in my ZENN car the other day.

she said she got a good deal, $12k after bargaining with the dealer. i see a lot more of them here now too.

i saw my first iBMW the other day parked in front of my neighbor. very boxy looking but very well designed and the quality showed. roomy 4+ seater.
 
Hi guys, me too I'm a new Leaf owner 8) about batteries, what is the best way? charge every day at 100% or leave off the battery charge before recharging? and if I don't use my car a few days, what is the best?

Thanks :D
 
General_Lee the MY Nissan Leaf forum would be a good reference for you. From what I have read, charging to 100% and driving it fairly soon after doing so, is ok. But charging it 100% and letting it set for days/months is not recommended. However, if you don't need to charge, wait till you do, but without leaving the battery too depleted. Amberwolf I will see if I can make it out one of those days. Liveforphysics and dnmun I was able to pick it up for $10,500 plus tax etc. which is a great deal and thanks also for the kudos! Really couldn't have built such a nice car for the money. Dnmun, I know you are into charging infrastructure, but I didn't know you have a Zenn. Anyway, infrastructure is where there needs to be improvement, as you know. Reliable charging equipment, and spaced at good intervals, along with an abundance of fast chargers.
 
Long time no see evovforce! I hope you are enjoying your new ride. I saw one in El Paso for a bit more than that a few months ago and it was gone.
 
Hi! wineboyrider!! if you can get one, go for it. Me, as usual, am short on time and money. But I'm still alive and kicking!
 
Bought a 2nd Leaf April 28th. This one is an 2011 SL also and the same colors. Black like two speed bumps in my driveway! This one has another 3years on the warranty and a brand new Lizzard Battery. Wooohoo! Zoooom! Zoom! Now I have to wire in a second charge station, pour a 3rd pad on the driveway and drag more wiring through the attic. That part is not fun.
 
if you are running a 30A 240 service to the new charge port, then i think you can scrounge and use 12AWG w/g for the service if it is a single outlet. if you get to more than 40' of run then consider 10 but only if it was the full 7500+W of power to the charger.

i use 10AWG for 40 and 12AWG up to 30A.

can you pull cable under the house through a crawl space or do they not have them there? usually depends on where you can get through the wall and down or up to the service entrance panel. or go straight out through an outside wall and then into an elbow and then down and underground.

i don't even worry about using underground cable. i use the regular romex and keep the ends dry so water has a hard time getting into the sleeve.

my neighbor is talking about buying a Leaf too. they have a friend who drives one so they are more willing to consider it but they are drivaholics too.
 
Hi,

don't even worry about using underground cable. i use the regular romex and keep the ends dry so water has a hard time getting into the sleeve.
I'd put it inside of schedule 40 PVC.
 
you can use plastic conduit too. of course you have to if it is exposed on an outside wall but all of my cable go through a hole i drilled in the concrete footing under my front porch and then they run under the concrete that i poured for my new apron so none of them are exposed to damage.

code can vary a lot too so if you wanna follow code you should look at local regulations on buried cable.
 
I ran two romex 6 gage lines through the attic to two 30 amp Aerovironment charge stations. My service panel is on the opposite end of the house. One of the stations is a plug in and the other is hardwired. Hoping to future proof a little with the gage size. If Tesla's come down in price or lottery!

When I want to plug in my welders, I will just unplug the one charge station and plug the welder in. I had been pluging in my welders with a cable that I had made and then rolled up after each use. I had run a line of 6 awg from the service panel with breaker but hadn't finished it off on the garage side of the house till now. Then I made a nifty composite wood and wrought iron screening area to help keep the sun off even though the stations are rated as outdoor. This is also going to lead to a concrete pour of a third parking spot in the driveway.

I got really good deals on the stations from two different sellers. One guy had turned his leased car in...so used at $425 and I uninstalled it, and the other I bought new from a liquidator outlet for $380 after some heavy negotiating. These sell for $1000 bucks plus tax each from Home Depot unless on sale for $900 each.

Hmmm...Home charging stations...Right up your alley dnmun!
 
that is what i used on a 60A breaker from my service panel out to the subpanel on the porch that feeds the two sets of 12AWG loops and the 10AWG single line, both of which are also romex.

the 6-2 w/g is the cheapest of the large size romex so it is the best solution imo. mine is only about 22' long from panel to the porch and i ran it through the wall back when i had opened the wall to rebuild it and install a new window on that side of the front room of my house. i also got to finally run a 240V 20A circuit through that wall also that goes out to my carport shed and i use that for everything and have duplex outlets in the front room also with two 120V circuits off the 240V romex passing by. first time in 90 years that there was wiring in the wall of that room. my house did not have any duplex or service plugs in any wall in the house when i bot it back in 1980. only ceiling lights on pull cords and the wiring was thimbles and sleeves and the connections were soldered in place and wrapped with real rubber tape.

my service entrance cable is only 4AWG even now.
 
Congrats Evoforce on buying 2 Nissan Leafs! They are great cars. :D

In fact I could not resist the good deals out there myself and picked up a 2011 SL with 10 bars and 24K miles back in January. I already have nearly 29k miles on it already! I also picked up one of those Clipper Creek $395 L2 chargers (now $379) and installing it was easy. I was lucky that the previous owner of my house put a sub panel for his welder just inside the garage door on the left. Had it up in 5 minutes. The hardest part was knocking out the 1/2" knockout. :mrgreen:

Leaf2.jpg
 
Sounds like you got yourself all fixed up with plenty of outlets now dnmun! I almost ran a 100amp subpanel run to the garage a while back, but in my case, it would have needed 2awg. But... I just kept adding home run circuits back to the main 200amp service panel. The very last run I did, I had enough left over wire from other projects, to do it without having to purchase more.

That is a nice looking silver speedbump there edcastrovalley. Congrats to you too! Have you figured your cost to charge every month yet? With the prices these are selling for, a person with normal driving range can't pass these up. Of course, you would also have to be able to stretch to the $200 a month payment per month. But... you save that, and more, on not buying fuel. What I don't like is my extra insurance burden. All of my other vehicles, (exception 2 new leafs) are old and minimum coverage, so my insurance burden was lower until now. In fact, I just changed companies because of it all. Oh what fun that is!

I want to get a wrecked leaf (or two) to revive a couple of paper weights I have in my backyard (87 Porsche, 94 Metro). But no time or money right now.
 
Evoforce said:
Have you figured your cost to charge every month yet? With the prices these are selling for, a person with normal driving range can't pass these up. Of course, you would also have to be able to stretch to the $200 a month payment per month. But... you save that, and more, on not buying fuel. What I don't like is my extra insurance burden. All of my other vehicles, (exception 2 new leafs) are old and minimum coverage, so my insurance burden was lower until now. In fact, I just changed companies because of it all. Oh what fun that is!
Not sure exactly on my charging costs. I've been charging for free at work and I have some solar on the roof that offsets some of the charging costs at home. The electric part of my bill is maybe $20 higher per month. I was paying $34 a week on my Prius for California gas and that's with driving 20K miles a year. My wifes now drives the Prius on her shorter commute and her SUV sits at home now. :mrgreen: She saves at least $100 per month on gas there. I have a car payment that's not bad and more insurance but no smog testing, less oil changes, etc. Right now it's probably a wash but the smooth, quiet stealthy ride to work is priceless. :mrgreen:
 
I just purchased a 2015 kia soul Ev. I had looked at the leafs, despite the option to find a used one cheaper with the newer better battery..but i really liked the space in the soul and sitting up higher.. also the heat pump right off the gecho on there first generation ev & also new redesigned soul..Also a bit of more kwh at 27kwh..

question is when will i get it.. been waiting couple months.. i'm guessing it will show around 3 months from when i ordered figers crossed.

I havn't decided on a charger yet.. but probably whatever gives a credit back from the goverment in ontario, canada :)

can't wait to get it.. I'm car pooling a 22mpg gasser atm and thats killing me..

-steveo
 
I've had the opportunity to look at and sit in a Kia Soul EV after an electric car race in our area. The owner purchased it out of California and had it shipped to Arizona. It seems like a nice vehicle. I can see why you are anxious to get it! Also the previous owner of one of my leaf's got a Mercedes completely electric that he also had shipped in from California. That seems like a nice one also. The previous lease holder of my other Leaf bought a 2015 Leaf. I also got to see the a Ford Fusion and talk with the owner after the race event also... again a nice automobile. Of course there were Tesla's there also... I wish I could afford one. With the exception of Tesla, These car companies need to get their longer range cars to market and the Fast Charge infrastructure needs to greatly expand. The cost to use these stations (if working) is also a little high.
 
not only do they charge a high rate for you to charge at these public hot spots but they also monitor your mileage so they can charge you for road taxes. that was part of the requirements i was reading in the oregon public charging spot guidelines.

that is why i think the solution is only guerilla neighborhood charging spots that the guvment cannot monitor.
i think the city should allow a homeowner to declare a space in front of their home as a charging spot and allow them to put a charging port next to the sidewalk for use by the car parked there.

i have space for up to 8 small EVs in my driveway and apron and one slot on each side of the driveway apron on the street.

but that involves parking cars so close it would be difficult to open the doors, and would not allow handicapped access etc so it would be illegal. and also the outer three slots in my driveway would involve the rear end of the car sticking out 6' from the curb, with the other 6' between curb and sidewalk. it would fit the current width of cars parking there but they will consider it illegal and say it blocks traffic even though it does not. currently cars are 6' wide parking out in front of my house.

but that is 8 spots for people to leave a small EV to charge. overnight, during the day, whenever. i can put 100A @ 240V AC out to a total of 8 duplex outlets that each will be wired to 240V.
 
I would like to see a ton more Level 3 chargers. Those are operated by 3 phase and not available currently to residential hookup. I am probably like most people and want to charge in as short of time as possible in my trek. But there is a need, for people who have their cars sit all day while they are at work, to use level 2. There could be all free charging too, if they subjected us to ads or coupons at the station, and subsidized it from business.
 
I agree level 3 chargers is where its at .. in ontario canada i think theres less then a hand full..

i am fortunate to have one about 5km from me lol.. close to a family members house.. so i'll try it out now and then..

I want a level 3 charge station at my home :twisted:

I currently own a Smart charge 12000

http://emotorwerks.com/products/online-store/product/show/10-smartcharge-12000-a-12kw-universal-voltage-ev-charger-fully-assembled-tested

I can buy a chademo cable (not csa approved) ("for hobbiest") & also the chademo controller & hook it up to my charger to charge my ev.. however the charger seems to accomidate lifepo4 and not the lipo type chemestry used in the kia soul.. so i don't know what i'm gona do with this charger atm.. definatly great to charge my ebike pack :)

-steveo
 

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