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I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#381

Post by quesera »

throwaway-blaze wrote: post #196
msh wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many countries charging a car in a wallplug is a fire hazard (they are not rated for the heat).

This doesn't make sense. Wall plugs (like circuit breakers) are designed for a particular max amperage draw. If I have a 10A 120V circuit and wall plug, I can't charge my car at 8A? I have wall ovens that connect via a 50A circuit. Do I need to worry about fire hazards when I bake something for hours and hours?

FWIW, oven/range circuits are notoriously overspecified.

Code in the US is 220V/50A. Your wall oven will get the same, despite having a much lower max draw than the usual oven/cooktop combination.

50A (upgraded from 30A several years ago) is specified for having the oven plus all cooktop elements ON. Maximum instantaneous draw will be below 50A. There's also the standard 20% headroom allotment, and some additional safety margin to account for the heat generated by all of the above being ON (or high duty cycle) for an extended period.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#382

Post by toast0 »

ivanche wrote: post #361
MandieD wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big difference between public EV chargers and gas stations: you can put an EV charger anywhere you have electricity, and with far lower space requirements. My city is slowly converting a few street parking spots in busy areas to EV charging, and it takes very little room - I have no complaints as someone who mostly uses sidewalks and bike lanes. Where did you think people were parking their cars in cities before?…

You forgot just one teeny tiny thingy - it's illegal to park ICE car on EV charging spot on the streets, in garages etc. So if the number of EVs grow the number of EV spots would grow which would take more space, not less.

If you take existing parking and make some of it EV charging, it doesn't take up much extra space; the charging equipment does take some space, of course, but sometimes there's room to be found for that.

Depending on EV adoption and how much charging people want/need, you can start with a couple spots that are active charging only, and see what that looks like. If the chargers are always full, consider adding more and/or having several spots for each charger and standards and practices to move your car and the charging plug when yours is full, etc. If the chargers are underused, consider making the spot open when the lot is full, etc.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#383

Post by Symbiote »

goldchainposse wrote: post #262
masklinn wrote: post #25

> Lack of standards: For 'L3' DC Fast Charging, the Leaf has a CHAdeMO port. Teslas and many newer EVs have NACS. Then there's CCS1 and CCS2. And charging stations are run by multiple vendors with multiple apps and payment methods. It's not like gas stations, like with Shell, BP, Buckee's, etc. where you just drive up, stick the gas nozzle in your tank, and squeeze. Afaik in Europe, CCS2 is the standard (and mandator…

I understand how the US and EU have different electrical outlets, voltages and frequencies. The systems developed independently, standardized on compatible versions locally, and standardizing globally would be very expensive and almost impossible to do safely. I don't understand how North America and Europe settled on different EV charging plugs.

Three-phase power is ubiquitous in Europe, my oven and stove are connected to it yet this is a small apartment. The slightly larger plug (to fit the extra pins) and extra cables are worthwhile for the higher power and balanced consumption.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#384

Post by jdeibele »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #273
chelmzy wrote: post #251

Crazy he wouldn't go for a Bolt. I just bought a 2019 Chevy Bolt w/ 11k miles for $14.5k (so a bit over 10k after federal rebate). It has a brand new battery because all the Bolts were recalled for battery issues. Has around 250m range. Feel like I won the lottery. Still plenty of them available https://www.donohooauto.com/searchused.aspx?Make=Chevrolet&M...

I have a lease end coming up and the Bolt/EUV are on my radar, but one significant advantage that Leafs have is that the lower trims can have their head unit swapped out for a nice Pioneer or Sony unit from Crutchfield, just like is possible with many ICE vehicles, which can get you a nicer infotainment experience (including wireless CarPlay/AA) that isn’t encrusted with rent-seeking gunk.

I drive a 2023 Bolt EUV and it has wireless CarPlay. My wife's 2024 Equinox EV has Android Automotive and no CarPlay. We don't have Android phones so I don't know how well an Android phone would work with Android Automotive.

I've been tempted to get a larger car but the Bolt is so much more fun to drive compared to the Equinox.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#385

Post by schmookeeg »

barbazoo wrote: post #197
msh wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many countries charging a car in a wallplug is a fire hazard (they are not rated for the heat).

Source?

I have a dryer outlet that caught fire charging our little i3. I'm not sure why GP said "some countries" -- I'm in the US. The heat warped the plastic just enough to bridge one leg of the power socket to ground. It got pretty melty before the house breaker stopped things.

The torched outlet was installed specifically to charge prior homeowner's EV and was only 3 years old.

I moved to an EV-rated 50A outlet which can handle the duty cycle. We have charged two EVs off of it and so far so good. It has a cute little green logo on it and costs 5x as much as a typical NEMA plug. :) Weighs about 5x as much too and grips the grizzl-e plug very tightly and with much larger contact areas.

I'm a believer.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#386

Post by tonymet »

mort96 wrote: post #352
tonymet wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do you live in some communist country where businesses need to get approval ?

I live in some communist country where there are rules companies need to follow, one of those rules is "EVs must use the standard charging mechanism"

sounds communist

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#387

Post by darknavi »

goldchainposse wrote: post #262
masklinn wrote: post #25

> Lack of standards: For 'L3' DC Fast Charging, the Leaf has a CHAdeMO port. Teslas and many newer EVs have NACS. Then there's CCS1 and CCS2. And charging stations are run by multiple vendors with multiple apps and payment methods. It's not like gas stations, like with Shell, BP, Buckee's, etc. where you just drive up, stick the gas nozzle in your tank, and squeeze. Afaik in Europe, CCS2 is the standard (and mandator…

I understand how the US and EU have different electrical outlets, voltages and frequencies. The systems developed independently, standardized on compatible versions locally, and standardizing globally would be very expensive and almost impossible to do safely. I don't understand how North America and Europe settled on different EV charging plugs.

CCS1/2 (DC Fast charging) and J1772 (AC "Slow" charging) share a port on most cars. That is, the CCS plug uses the entire plug and the J1772 part uses just the upper portion of the plug.

The AC "slow" charging in the US only needs to support two-phase power (residential power is two phase) and the EU (and others?) generally need to support three-phase power.

NACS is just better in North America (versus CCS1) because it's smaller and much easier to physically handle, but the AC "slow" charging pinning only supports two phase power.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#389

Post by dzhiurgis »

vannevar wrote: post #173
dzhiurgis wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could've bought Model 3 for this and spend $300 for third party buttons. It has software thats actually somewhat hackable and car is far more capable. But I understand it's hard to recommend Tesla these days lol.

Could also have bought a used Chevy Bolt in this price range, with CCS, ~250mi range, and CarPlay.

Safety rating and HEPA air filters?

Tesla isn’t excellent with kids in back either.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#390

Post by AtlasBarfed »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #388

Not possible everywhere because of bad (car oriented) infrastructure, but an e-bike would be more optimal for this person's commute since they're "only driving a few miles a day". No insurance, fun, repair it yourself, etc

I used to bike about 3 and 1/2 mi to work and back.

This was right in the middle of a major city. It was so nice to just basically not have to deal with traffic. I was faster than cars at that point.

I never got a fat tire enough to do the snow, so I would ride until I absolutely couldn't anymore. If it was 15° or Fahrenheit or less, I'd still ride. I would just bundle up like I was skiing.

It was a pretty small office, so I could just roll my bike up to my cube and leave it in there.

And when it was lunch I could go further faster.

Modern e bikes are even better. Commute farther, carry more stuff, sweat less, hills/headwinds don't matter.

There should be so much more bicycle commuting these days with e-bikes.

Rain does suck though.

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