January 1 was an exciting day for a friend, Omkar, from mynissanleaf.com. Omkar is the first person in Orange County to pick up his new Nissan LEAF. Since I have a new charging dock (called an EVSE) and Omkar lives just a few miles away, he was kind enough to come by and show us his new LEAF and try out our Level 2 charging dock.
I don't want to steal Omkar's thunder, but he said that he is fine with my posting pictures and videos of his visit this afternoon.
Omkar, the Proud Owner
Omkar grabs the EVSE "nozzle" to charge his LEAF
The "E-Fuel" Level 2 Connector in Place and Charging
EVSE in Charging Mode
Dashboard Lights Showing One Third of Battery Full, One Third Flashing as it Fills, One Third Waiting to Charge
Using TED iPod App to Check Charging Power Use via Wi-Fi
Cool Looking Blue Accents all around the LEAF
Omkar was kind enough to let me drive the LEAF for a few minutes. My wife and I liked the VSP sounds. They are high tech sounding and they add to the car's next generation flavor.
I enjoyed the drive very much. Though I've driven the LEAF three times before, at drive events, this is the first drive on a highway for me, and I found the car to have a strong, planted feel. The large, open cabin and quiet operation, combined with the solid feel, that probably comes from the weight of the battery pack, give the car a luxurious, confident feel. The acceleration feels strong and I was able to pass other cars easily and to out-accelerate cars at a traffic light in order to change lanes ahead of them. I can't wait to get my own LEAF on a winding road to see how it handles in that setting. I know that I'll enjoy owning a LEAF, and today's drive reinforced that feeling.
As for power usage while charging, my TED monitor showed a usage of about 3.74 kW while it was charging. This was surprising to Omkar and me, since we knew that the LEAF onboard charger is a 3.3 kW unit. Then we realized that the TED was monitoring the usage at the power panel, and that maybe we were seeing additional kW being used by the 70 feet of 8 gauge connecting wire and the 25 foot "e-hose". My TED system shows that we charged the car for 34 minutes and used 2.1 kWh of charging power.
Again, many thanks to Omkar for stopping by, allowing me to try out my EVSE and for letting me drive his new baby. We I had a lot of fun.