2018 Leaf Thread

You'll definitely get 120 miles, probably at least 150 miles or more depending on AC use. The only problem I see is with back to back DC charging. The 2nd DC charge may be much slower than the 1st charge. Contact your local dealer and see if they will let you test drive one to drive it to the DC charger and back. Make sure you sign up for an account with that DC charger first.

 

Thanks for the replies. I was pretty sure I could make the run, but it's good to hear from people who own the Leaf.

Kenneth Bokor, I make this trip to Miami only once a month, sometimes every other month. On a daily basis, I plan to use the level 2 chargers in Key West (or even level 1).

 

Thanks. To give some more information about me:

I currently drive a 2015 Mazda3 hatchback. I'm looking at the Bolt and the Leaf.

Leaf: Meets all my needs. Same size as my Mazda3. Amazing price ($449/mo, $0 down, 3yr/36k lease, 2 years free charging with EVGo).
Bolt: Meets all my needs, but more expensive with an ugly interior. No special financing or lease deals from Chevy.
Kona: Very intriguing. But who knows when it will appear in Florida. And it will probably be out of my price range ($30k-$40k).
Model 3: It's a great $50k car. I think they will have to cut too many corners to get the price down to $35k.

I'll test drive two Bolts and a Leaf this Sunday. I'm leaning heavily toward the Leaf.

 

I got my 2019 Leaf yesterday! I drove the above route. It took 77% of my charge.

 

I'm looking to get a Leaf next summer/fall. The dealership will owe this site in general, and Ken in particular, a royalty check

 

I bought a 2019 Leaf (traded in my 2012) and reading through the owner's manual it keeps saying "Li-ion battery warmer (if so equipped)". Cold Weather is coming. How can I tell if my Leaf is equipped with a battery warmer? I thought they were standard on all Leafs these days?

 

My old Leaf never got down to the blue bars even unplugged on the coldest winter days. The coldest my new Leaf has experienced was -19C but the battery still stayed above the blue. The trick is to keep the car plugged in if it's going to be idle for days at a time. When not plugged in it uses it's own power to keep warm and over several days this would stop and the battery will "brick" until it's warmed up. If it's going to be idle for several days avoid over charging by using your charging timer to just charge enough each day to compensate for the battery heater consumption. I believe that battery heater uses around 300 watts so that would work out to 7.2kwh hrs to replace every day.

I strongly recommend that you learn to use your car's charging timer. That way you can plug your car in when you get home and forget about it. We have time of use pricing in Ontario and 7pm to 7am rates are the cheapest. I set my finish time for 6am in the summer and 7am in the winter so that there is some residual heat from charging leftover when I start my work day. I set my start time according to how much I expect to need the next day. I try to avoid charging to 100% unless heading out of town. The consensus seems to be that the pack will last longer if not charged to 100% all the time. You will learn from experience how much time to give it to target a given percentage.

When driving the car the current draw will actually warm the battery even more so you don't need to worry about that. While there has been some criticism of the Leaf's suitability for hot climates I can tell you it's a real trouper in the cold. Just get in and go. And if you get lots of snow where you are get some winter tires. And be mindful that LI batteries lose some range in the cold along with heating, winter tires and colder air being more dense to plow through you can expect a range loss of about 40% from your best summer time range. Enjoy!

 

I saw my 2012 with no blue bars a few times. Last winter after Christmas we had a week with lows below 0F. Attached picture was January 2nd 2018 at -11F according to the Weather man, - 4F according to the dash (dropped to - 6F when I got on the road) . I do not have a garage.

Given Kenneth's response I will assume the new car has a battery heater. I bought it in Massachusetts, they know how cold it gets here.

 

Quite clearly this car either doesn't have a battery heater or it wasn't working. Would the car even move in this state?

 

Oh yeah, she ran fine. The dash was a little slow to light up (half a second, not super slow) but no other symptoms. No turtle light on the dash to indicate reduced power. The car just WORKED. A testament to the hardiness of EVs. And I think it did have a battery heater, the temperature gauge on the 2012 was probably just calibrated differently than later years. *shrug* It's all software after all. I took a whole series of pictures and screen captures that day but sadly no LeafSpy. When I got to work (17 miles and 30 minutes later) the car said the exterior temp was 0F, the battery temp was up to 1 blue bar, and the battery gauge showed 3 bars remaining/14 miles. I charged at work.

I bought the new Leaf so I don't have to charge at work on cold days. The 2012's battery had dropped to 8 capacity bars after 72,000 miles. Maybe the cold hastened that. The ball joints were loose so the lower control arms needed to be replaced (dealer estimate $1040) and she needed new summer tires in the spring. Rather than sink money into that it was time for new and improved. Such an improvement!

 

Hi All,

I bought my 2018 Leaf SV in April. And use it to commute from my home in Pickering to my job in Peterborough, about 100km(60 miles) each way. All of it divided high speed highway. The thing I noticed right away is that speed matters. The speed limit is 100km/h(60 miles/h). If I set ProPilot to 100 km/h, I can get to work and still have 55% left to get home. If I set the PP to 110km/h(65 miles/h), I only have 45% and can't make it home without charging. 120km/h(70 miles/h) drops me to 40%. Winter drops everything. At 120 and -5c(25f) I pull into work at 30% with my new winter tires.

My work has put in a range/stove (nema 14/50) plug for me. At first I thought it didn't work. Everytime I plugged my Nissan cord in, it would fault out. I found out that industrial buildings have 3 phase power that make 208 volts, not the 240 volts like at home. The Nissan plug won't work with anything but 240 volt. Luckly the Juicebox Pro 40 will accept the lower voltage and that's what I use at work now.

I bought it in May and submitted my paperwork to get my 50%($500) back. I just got my cheque from the Ontario government on December 15. I had given up ever seeing the money. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to use the money to get another Juicebox for home since it's timers are way easier to use, or a Tesla Tap so I can use all the Tesla destination chargers that seem to be plentiful in cottage country and in the wine region. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Ken, we have seen each other at the Scarborough EV Society.

I now have 32 000km(20 000ish miles) and Nissan says I have all my bars......Leaf Spy Pro says I have 95%. I have to charge to 100% twice a day to make it to and from work(especially in the cold). I also rapid charge once or twice a month.

I used to drive a Passat. It was costing me $400-500 a month in gas. I now pay $60-100 in electricity. The difference pays my car payment, so I figure even if I wear it out, I'm getting it for close to free. And the ProPilot is worth it's weight in gold on my commute.

I will happily answer any questions since I will be hitting mile stones long before most of you. Interestingly I haven't had any problems with rapid gate since I rarely rapid charge and almost never twice in the same day. I would like to try Florida over 3 days. Just to see if you can control it.