If I were in Chris' buying place, I would know what my driving needs are, and my charging abilities (will I charge mainly at home, and where are the public EVSE compatible with the used EV I select.
If Chris is set on getting at Leaf it was posted a 2013 or higher of the correct trim would have an onboard 6kW charger for se with its j1772 port, and I would ensure it has a CHAdeMo L3 port (for those rare long trip times). If I remember correctly, Nissan Leaf's pack flaw was not only in poor cell quality and nissan making good on their promises, but the Leaf EVs driving in the hotter climates suffered the most degradation. I remember that the Leaf does not have the liquid cooling that many of today's production EV model now use (someone please check if what I remember is correct, and if newer Leaf EVs still don't have adequate cooling, etc.). If what I remember is true, then I would look at a potential Leaf EV's history to know if it had been used/driven in hot climates (east of LA in the desert, central valley-CA, the southern states: NV, AZ, TX,etc.). Thus, I would focus on buying a used leaf that had mostly been in the northern states where temps don't get that high. Since cold temps could drop an 80mi range (summer) down to 30mi (winter), it would be best to plan on this happening, and know where public EVSE is at (use plugshare.com ). Usually an emergency l1 EVSE comes with the EV. I would suggest Chris at least replace it with an EVSE that can charge at l1 or at l2-3kW As for myself, I would keep the l1 EVSE stowed, and carry a l2-6kW EVSE so I could charge at the fastest l2 rate the Leaf would accept where there is a power source (RV park, work, friends' houses, etc.). But that is just me, because I've had over a a decade of l1 charging experience. Overnight is OK, but where you are way in the middle of nowhere, you want your charging done with promptly when its freezing, cold, muddy and wet (smell the wet dog-hair?). Another aspect of used EV purchase is support. Chris ought to do the research/homework to know what Nissan dealers are trained in VT to work on the Leaf, and Chris should ask the leaf forum what dealers in his VT are worthy of his paycheck. For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
