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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

#601

Post by rootusrootus »

hellisothers wrote: post #209
PaulKeeble wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think until you have one you don't realise quite what having a range of 200+ miles means in practice. You don't actually drive for 500 miles without a break, that is 8-10 hours of constant motorway speed driving and its not safe to drive that long. So when you take 30 - 60 minutes for lunch on a long drive like that and charge the vehicle you are going another 200 miles before again really taking a break. As it sta…

I would add one thing my family has complained about wrt road trip charging is it’s not just the time you wait to charge, it’s the time and games/anger dealing with all the people in line waiting to charge.

This is very regional, and I suspect is more of a problem for SoCal that most anywhere else. I've been driving EVs since 2019 and I have experienced a line exactly one time.

I would agree, though, that if you do run into a situation where you have to wait, the current system does not deal with it well. They need a better way to fairly manage a queue if it forms.

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

#602

Post by rootusrootus »

ec109685 wrote: post #569

Car dealerships are so useless. Imagine making a profit but offering this level of service: > Range Anxiety: Yes, it's overblown, but no, it's not non-existent. The day I bought my used EV, the dealership (which doesn't sell many EVs, even new) didn't have a 'Level 3' DC fast charger—and they had only charged it to about 16%. Letting it top off at L2 while I was dealing with finance, we got to 23%. I wasn't quite sur…

This shouldn't really big a big deal in most metro areas, at least. The car dealer doesn't have a big tank of gasoline on site, either, they just drive the car to the station and fill it up while you're signing the papers. They could just drive to the local fast charger with the EV and do exactly the same thing.

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

#603

Post by seltzered_ »

vel0city wrote: post #568
schmookeeg wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What was the specific connector for that "dryer outlet"? Was it an L6-30 30A receptacle that was constantly getting nearly 30A of load, or a cheaply made 14-50 outlet?

The youtube channel 'State of Charge' has a number of videos talking about cheap connectors and/or lower spec connectors catching fire. Happens even on setups where people had a dedicated level 2 ev charger outlet (NEMA 14-50 , aka dryer outlet) but the installer used a connector not rated for enough current. See https://youtu.be/fzgxKChqjtc to start.

One needs to do one or possibly a combination of:

- Set the pin setting on a home charger for a lower current output. Theres also portable chargers with programmable current limiting, which I find more flexible.

- Replace with a better outlet/wiring setup. Many advocate for a hardwired setup over using an outlet.

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

#604

Post by rootusrootus »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #183
kccqzy wrote: post #14

> they shouldn't do 16 on a 15A circuit but it seems like some do There are 20A 120V circuits too! Called NEMA 5-20, one of its prongs is rotated. You plug that into a receptacle where one of the slots is T-shaped instead of straight. And it's standard practice for EVs to draw 80% of the maximum current, so 16A it is. I see this plug in larger machines in the office, like a large photocopier or a large vacuum.

I wish I could buy an electric kettle in the US that took advantage of the 20A outlets I have all over my house. Sigh.

I just have a special tap at my kitchen sink that dispenses water at 195F. I cannot imagine waiting for a kettle. One of the most satisfying kitchen purchases I've ever made for a whopping $200.

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

#605

Post by rootusrootus »

jiveturkey wrote: post #594

> One pedal driving Seriously, why doesn't every EV have this mode? It makes driving one feel SO much better than any gas car, in terms of connection between driver and car movement. _ANY_ gas car? 100% of manual transmission cars (and now PDK/DSG/DCT) have this.

Sort of. Regenerative braking can be far stronger than engine braking (with the possible exception of a diesel exhaust brake).

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

#606

Post by ec109685 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #602
ec109685 wrote: post #569

Car dealerships are so useless. Imagine making a profit but offering this level of service: > Range Anxiety: Yes, it's overblown, but no, it's not non-existent. The day I bought my used EV, the dealership (which doesn't sell many EVs, even new) didn't have a 'Level 3' DC fast charger—and they had only charged it to about 16%. Letting it top off at L2 while I was dealing with finance, we got to 23%. I wasn't quite sur…

This shouldn't really big a big deal in most metro areas, at least. The car dealer doesn't have a big tank of gasoline on site, either, they just drive the car to the station and fill it up while you're signing the papers. They could just drive to the local fast charger with the EV and do exactly the same thing.

EVs lose energy just sitting there, so if you are going to sell EVs, it’s a cost of doing business

Never heard of a Tesla going home with 12% battery.

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

#607

Post by ec109685 »

angarg12 wrote: post #582
ec109685 wrote: post #569

Car dealerships are so useless. Imagine making a profit but offering this level of service: > Range Anxiety: Yes, it's overblown, but no, it's not non-existent. The day I bought my used EV, the dealership (which doesn't sell many EVs, even new) didn't have a 'Level 3' DC fast charger—and they had only charged it to about 16%. Letting it top off at L2 while I was dealing with finance, we got to 23%. I wasn't quite sur…

I also thought this was a pretty silly way of bringing up range anxiety. It's like a dealership selling you a gas car with an empty tank. Obviously the very first thing you would do is to refill it before driving home.

They should fill the tank up with gasoline before putting it on the lot.

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

#608

Post by rootusrootus »

foobarian wrote: post #350
jhallenworld wrote: post #259

So here's the thing that's coming for EVs, and I finally started to see it for the Leaf: driveway DIY battery replacement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIQ-RROpls0 Yes, this involves lying on your back with a 700 lb battery held up by jacks just inches above your head. But heck, services are expensive these days so it's going to happen.

This makes me wonder, if you can replace one, can't you add one on top of the old one? Or two or three? There goes the range anxiety

Not yet, but I kinda wonder if it will happen. At least in certain situations. For example, the F150 Lightning -- body-on-frame truck where the battery sits between the rails rather than being tightly integrated with a custom unibody design. As batteries improve, I could see people retrofitting newer batteries with more capacity.

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

#609

Post by rootusrootus »

ec109685 wrote: post #606
rootusrootus wrote: post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This shouldn't really big a big deal in most metro areas, at least. The car dealer doesn't have a big tank of gasoline on site, either, they just drive the car to the station and fill it up while you're signing the papers. They could just drive to the local fast charger with the EV and do exactly the same thing.

EVs lose energy just sitting there, so if you are going to sell EVs, it’s a cost of doing business Never heard of a Tesla going home with 12% battery.

> EVs lose energy just sitting there

Depends on the EV. My Tesla can chew on a lot of battery with Sentry mode. My Lightning, on the other hand, goes into deep sleep and loses essentially zero energy while parked. It can sit for months without a meaningful loss of charge.

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

#610

Post by epolanski »

j1elo wrote: post #567
epolanski wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more of an incentive to walk, take public transport, and free cities as much as possible of cars.

Isn't it also a way to keep outsiders out? If 30 mins by car becomes 1h30 by train+bus combinations, lots of people are effectively pushed out of even wanting to go to the city centre for meeting friends or having a family walk around.

Why would 30 minutes by car become 1.30 hours by public transport.

My (European) experience is the opposite: it takes longer to go to work by car, you're sitting in traffic whereas subways and trains take a fraction of the time as they are not impacted at all.

I live in Rome, which isn't known for great public transport. Yet I've seen multiple times people going from Rome suburbs to Naples downtown (a completely different region, 150 miles away) than it took me by car to do 7 miles.

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