Nissan LEAF - General

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Nissan LEAF - General

1 | ... | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | ... | 260

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#1867668 17-Sep-2017 20:12

JeezyKreezy:

afe66: Although the 80% limit can be over ridden if wished. Ie some of chargenet ones.

This practical decision in that the charging rate slower as battery gets full.

Where there are no queues and no time charge it's not an issue.

Speaking of 80% charge. Does anyone use the 80% charge feature with their charge timers? I was just going to stick to 100% :/

Only the Gen 1 LEAFs have that feature as far as I know. It was removed from later LEAFs.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

Linuxluver

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#1867670 17-Sep-2017 20:14

lowlyworm:

Linuxluver:

LEAF owners should check their front wheel struts if they haven't already. This is an old issue, but some here may not be aware of it.

Thanks for the advice on this.

During the week the caps were delivered. Yesterday I installed them. One side was pretty clean, the other was a pool of rusty water. Eek!

Great! Glad you got it sorted....It's the sort of thing you'd never think to look at unless someone tells you. I didn't know.....and someone told me. :-)

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

leaflearner

40 posts

Geek

#1868214 18-Sep-2017 19:55

I don't remember exactly when but I do know the issue of charging points, especially at practicable intervals along all major highways (e.g. State Highway 1 !!), is a perennial here. In particular, the "gap" between Cambridge and Taupo has been mentioned by Linuxlover, others, and myself. This presents a challenge for Leaf owners travelling south on the state highway. I think Linuxlover mentioned that the importance of a charging point for Tokoroa had been acknowledged by Steve West of ChargeNet. I've also seen the phrase "before the end of the year" in that connection -- first applied to 2016 but more lately to this year. Today I received an email kindly sent by Damon Jakeman of the management at the New World supermarket in Tokoroa. Sadly, it looks like the plan has been deferred for yet another year. To quote: "Thanks for your enquiry regarding Electric Vehicle Charge Points at New World Tokoroa. Unfortunately I am unsure as to a date for its availability, however, we are hoping some time in 2018."

It would be helpful to know the circumstances of the delay. Without knowing them it's impossible for any of us here to provide encouragement in the right quarters for its removal!

RUKI

1402 posts

Uber Geek

#1868264 18-Sep-2017 22:05

Anyone has spare free NTSC rear view camera from any car? To add to my Nissan Leaf AV Units testing stand.

Stand has USA & Jap AV units with all antennas and allows to check functionality of Audio, Radio, BT, Aux, Speakers, GPS, Buttons. Currently I am getting NTSC signal from NTSC Video player attached instead of the rear cam which is bulky.

For those interested: I have tested locally manufactured frequency shifter for USA FM (0.1), works great - only needed for Auckland (not for Welly or Kapiti).

Those Leaf AV units are so different from one another - on component & on the mechanic level - e.g. you can not swap one bottom part from different model in case of the door mechanism malfunction.

Toyota / Lexus Hybrid and EV Battery Expert Battery Test & Repair

k14

629 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1868570 19-Sep-2017 13:35

I'm starting to consider buying a Leaf. My work has said they will allow employees to charge for free from the work outlets so this is a fairly enticing option (we have had a Outlander PHEV at work as a pool car for 18 months or so now). My commute is ~13km each way (rural with about 8km on open road) so a first gen leaf is looking like a good option.

I am trying to model the cost vs my current transport (a diesel van that gets approx 10L/100km economy which I paid $2k for 10 years ago and could probably still sell it for that now). It is pretty cheap to run and I do about 70-80% of my driving in it for commuting to work. On average I would say I drive about 6000-8000km per year and 95% of the driving I would be inside the leaf battery range. My wife walks to work and we have another petrol car for the family trips, although that only does about 8000km a year too.

So, I'm just wanting to clarify my inputs to the spreadsheet I am making. Here are a few questions:

1.) Yearly maintenance costs? Anything apart from tyres?
2.) Depreciation rate? Reckon 20% per year is fair enough? This would be on the cheapest one I can find (max $10k).
3.) Economy. I saw a number of 6km for kWh in terms of efficiency. Is this accurate? As in, 1Kwh of electricity taken from the grid gets you 6km of driving.
4.) Has anyone had their EV plug wired off their hot water heating meter? Getting the cheaper night rate electricity.

Anything else I should know?

MikeAqua

7779 posts

Uber Geek

#1868603 19-Sep-2017 14:11

k14:

1.) Yearly maintenance costs? Anything apart from tyres?

Brake system

Rims

Wheel bearings

Steering

You don't have a fuel system, engine, gearbox or exhaust system but you have everything else ...

Mike

MarkH67

518 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1868688 19-Sep-2017 16:01

k14:

1.) Yearly maintenance costs? Anything apart from tyres?

Tyres would probably be the biggest maintenance cost. You would most likely find that brake pads last OK but even if they last twice as long you still need new ones now & then. Mostly you can just drive & drive with very little needing doing.

How often do you need wheel bearings on your current car? For an EV it shouldn't be any more often than that. Same with steering joints or universal joints, etc.

For economy: The economy is really excellent if you can charge at work, kinda like if your work bought your petrol for you.

GoodSync

GoodSync. Easily back up and sync your files with GoodSync. Simple and secure file backup and synchronisation software will ensure that your files are never lost (affiliate link).

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1868714 19-Sep-2017 16:17

MikeAqua:

k14:

1.) Yearly maintenance costs? Anything apart from tyres?

Brake system

Rims

Wheel bearings

Steering

You don't have a fuel system, engine, gearbox or exhaust system but you have everything else ...

Don't forget the battery... not the big sucker, but the conventional one used to power the electrics. Sure, not an annual cost (however nor are the things identified above) but I assume it'll need replacing at a similar frequency to that in a vehicle with an ICE?

KrazyKid

1238 posts

Uber Geek

#1868725 19-Sep-2017 16:32

k14:

1.) Yearly maintenance costs? Anything apart from tyres?
2.) Depreciation rate? Reckon 20% per year is fair enough? This would be on the cheapest one I can find (max $10k).
3.) Economy. I saw a number of 6km for kWh in terms of efficiency. Is this accurate? As in, 1Kwh of electricity taken from the grid gets you 6km of driving.
4.) Has anyone had their EV plug wired off their hot water heating meter? Getting the cheaper night rate electricity.

Anything else I should know?

I would go worst case depreciation @ 30% for an EV and 20% for an ICE.

I am in a similar boat - low mileage (8-10,000 km). As I rough and ready model I used the Energy-wise approx. as 30c a litre fuel costs for an EV vs the 2.00/lt for petrol.

I know you are Diesel, but the that may not be far out however - you will save on RUC for the next few years so that may even out.

Anyway I considered the below costs:

Cost of car to buy after trade in (approx. $12,000 for me)
Insurance (new car worth more)
Cents per litre for Petrol vs Power ($2 vs 30c)
Deprecation rate: 30% EV vs 20% ICE (Average yearly for a 5 year period)
Car Hire 1 week/yr (I only own one car - I want to go away for a weekend etc every so often)
Servicing (no 6 monthly services)
Interest @ 6% (Will have to borrow more Money - could pay off the mortgage faster if borrow less)

I assumed the other costs would be about the same for either an EV or ICE.
Nice thing is with 30% deprecation the car is worth only about $2000 in 5 years. I am sure you could get at least that just for a battery at 50% from someone who wants solar power storage.

All in all it worked out at about $1300 year/cheaper to get an EV.

(numbers rough and ready,)

Also I need to work out what installation costs are for a external power point in my carport. This is a one off cost at least.

Depreciation is the biggest cost by far.

Next is fuel - if I drove twice as much I save a lost more per year. (Its like smoking - think of the extra money I'd have if I only had the chance to quit :) )

tripper1000

1617 posts

Uber Geek

#1868727 19-Sep-2017 16:33

k14:

I'm starting to consider buying a Leaf. My work has said they will allow employees to charge for free from the work outlets so this is a fairly enticing option (we have had a Outlander PHEV at work as a pool car for 18 months or so now). My commute is ~13km each way (rural with about 8km on open road) so a first gen leaf is looking like a good option.

I have a similar length commute and the maths didn't stack up in terms of fuel savings etc. Yes I'd save on fuel, and maintenance costs would be lower but the EV would depreciate faster/more than my ICE.

You have to either be doing more KM's to make it worth while, or be in the market for a new car anyway or else switch to EV out of principle/love/geeky-ness.

Cybnate

71 posts

Master Geek

#1868861 19-Sep-2017 21:00

k14:

4.) Has anyone had their EV plug wired off their hot water heating meter? Getting the cheaper night rate electricity.

Anything else I should know?

I thought about that too, but looking into it I found out that my energy retailer also have a night tariff. That is (usually) even cheaper than the 'hot water heating' rate which is between the day and night rate.

Only 'issue' is that you would need to charge your car somewhere between 12.00am and 5am (not sure what the exact time are, may depend on your retailer). I've opted to take advantage of a 32amp charging cable which should top up my Leaf at least enough for my daily commute. Note: I do have a 6.6kw charger in my Leaf, most only have 3.3kW chargers (16amp) which would take double the time. It might still work depending on your usage/distance of your commute.

Worth taking a spreadsheet and work out what approach pays off for you.

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1868866 19-Sep-2017 21:35

My use case is an 84km return trip, and with a Jap 3.3KW onboard charger and a 16A ‘commando’ plug ($275 installed in my garage) it charges from 1 bar (14kms remaining) to our usual 80% in 4 hours, faster than my iPhone 😉

On a Quick Charger (CHaDeMO DC plug) it’s about 20mins...

On counties power (via Powershop) I get a peak/off peak rate where peak is 7-11am and 5-9pm @$0.32/KW and offpeak is $0.19/KW (and off peak is all weekend too)

numberonekiwi

144 posts

Master Geek

#1869219 20-Sep-2017 11:56

Not sure if anyone else here has been to the nissan jp website they are offering a 6KW charger option but those that are interested just visit the japan nissan site http://www.nissan.co.jp/SP/LEAF/SIMULATION/ I cant read japanesse but my phone sort of helps I am viewing it with chrome so have some translations but not on the pictures.

k14

629 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1870213 21-Sep-2017 12:50

Anyone here own the "S" Gen 2 model? Looking around all the discussion of people trying to get the radio converted to Japanese it seems this may be the best option. Not only can I choose whatever radio I want, I don't have to run a band expander either. Just seems a better option all around. However, I am still a bit unsure on the features missing from the S that would be useful. For instance, the charge timer. What exactly is this? It seems in the higher models this is set using the controls on the stereo, but the guide I found lists it as a feature on the S. If so, how do you set it? What other features does the S have that I may find greatly needed? What about compared to the Gen 1 X or G model? I was hoping to keep the total cost to under $12k but there are a few S models on Trademe between $14k to $15k which may be a better option in the long run to avoid language translation issues.

lowlyworm

26 posts

Geek

#1870399 21-Sep-2017 17:10

k14:

Anyone here own the "S" Gen 2 model? Looking around all the discussion of people trying to get the radio converted to Japanese it seems this may be the best option. Not only can I choose whatever radio I want, I don't have to run a band expander either. Just seems a better option all around. However, I am still a bit unsure on the features missing from the S that would be useful. For instance, the charge timer. What exactly is this? It seems in the higher models this is set using the controls on the stereo, but the guide I found lists it as a feature on the S. If so, how do you set it? What other features does the S have that I may find greatly needed? What about compared to the Gen 1 X or G model? I was hoping to keep the total cost to under $12k but there are a few S models on Trademe between $14k to $15k which may be a better option in the long run to avoid language translation issues.

Yes. We have had our Japanese import 2014 Leaf 24kWh Gen 2 for exactly 2 weeks now.

The charge timer allows you to schedule when the car will charge (for off-peak rate charging). In the S the charge timer and climate timer (nice warm car on a cold morning) are controlled via the instrument cluster, not the head unit (stereo). So swapping out the head unit loses you nothing in the S.

You don't get cruise control in the S, no leather, no B mode (for more aggressive regenerative braking). I miss the B mode. Standard heater, not heat-pump. Halogen headlights, not LED. Perhaps some of those things depend on year.

There are certainly other things, but I'll have to add them later tonight, when I've checked my notes. :)

1 | ... | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | ... | 260