Minimising RANGE ANXIETY and maximising LEAF owners' JOY !!!

All constructive criticism very welcome.  Use "Get in touch" or direct email, elsewhere on this long webpage,  Thank you.

SMALL-TANK DRIVING

Most journeys driven are remarkably close to home, whether to school, supermarket, railway station, commute or local shopping centre etc. A 60 mile range (30 out and 30 back) can furnish several of these trips each day, but you do have to consider destination-distance versus Range-remaining carefully - you cannot just hop-in and go, confident of getting a refill/recharge if needed, with negligible delay, as you might with a petrol fueled car. However, a benefit of a small "fuel tank"/battery is that it can be fully recharged in under ten hours from any domestic 240Vac 13A (BS1363) 3-Pin socket using the standard OEM 3-Pin-plugged EVSE (popularly known as a Charger) which plugs into the Orange-lidded (ac) socket on the Leaf and which charges at a low-but-safe 2kW.  This has resulted in it being nicknamed a "Granny Charger".  2kW is only eight-&-a-half Amps at 240V; no more than a kettle, or an old 2-Bar radiant electric fire. This most basic charging mode is known as "Level 1" charging.  The Leaf's Orange-lidded socket is known as a "Type 1" socket and has 5 pins - 3 fatter Power pins (L,N,E), and 2 thinner control-signal pins.

WHY ONLY 2kW FROM A 3-Pin plug ?

The 13A 3kW rating of a standard domestic 3-pin plug does not allow for 3kW to be drawn for seven hours every night - as anyone who has used a 3-Bar (3kW) electric fire will know; after a number of months, the heat from the fuse will cause the plug to scorch, and eventually failure by overheating as the sprung contacts for the plug-top fuse, and in the socket, "relax" and loosen in the increasing heat - we really don't want this failure mode happening, unattended, in the early hours of the morning, which is why only 2kW is utilised.  Some EVSEs include a heat sensor in the mains plug, which is used to shut down the charging in cases of excessive heat - this is one reason why one is discouraged from using an extension lead - because extension leads do not have plug-heat sensors, nor can they communicate with the EVSE or Charger.

CHARGER or EVSE ?

Popular terminology refers to the "box" between the car and the 240Vac mains supply as a Charger - but actually the AC Charger is internal to the Leaf EV. The "box" is correctly known as an EVSE or Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, and it is essentially a super-safe socket for the EV to connect-in to. Using 1-or-2 extra control-wires included in the connecting cable, the car and the EVSE "agree/negotiate" the maximum safe charging current, taking into consideration such matters as 1)  The mains-supply capacity and the current rating of the EVSE's internal components.  2) The power/current capacity of the cable connecting the EVSE to the car, and  3) the power rating (appetite!) of the car's internal charger.

FASTER  CHARGING  at  HOME

The 3-Pin-plugged EVSE achieves a recharge rate of about 8 "mph" using 2kW.  However, by using a hard-wired EVSE (Rolec/Chargemaster/Powerpoint etc brands), making best use of the car's internal 3.3kW Charger, a charge rate of 12 "mph" is achieved.  NB: There are some 3kW 3-Pin-plugged EVSEs available - but I would not recommend leaving them charging unattended overnight.  Some hard-wired EVSEs are known as "tethered" meaning that the output plug+cable that connects to your Leaf is supplied with the EVSE and is integral to the EVSE: the cable vanishes into the EVSE and is connected internally to the EVSE and cannot be disconnected from the EVSE by the user.  If the EVSE does not have such an output cable, but has an output socket instead, then it is described as "un-tethered" - in order to use an "un-tethered" EVSE you will have to buy and use your own portable connector cable. These cables are not cheap (don't forget; they have more than three cores - so that they can allow communication/negotiation between car and the EVSE). Even 2nd-hand ones are approximately £100 each - almost as much as a 2nd-hand 3.5kW EVSE !  The output socket on the un-tethered EVSEs is not the same 5-Pin Type-1 that we have seen previously - it is a 7-Pin "Type-2". In principle, Type-2 can use a 3-Phase (commercial) AC electricity main connection, but this is not relevant to a 1st Generation Leaf!

FAST CHARGING LEAFs equipped with the 6kW OPTION (Optional-Extra) NISSAN CHARGER

Some 1st Generation Leafs were equipped by Nissan with a 6kW internal Charger - at the option of their original buyer (and, of course, at added expense). These can benefit from higher powered, 7kW hardwired EVSEs (by the same manufacturers as above), but if un-tethered, they will also need an appropriately rated, heavier, Type-1 to Type-2 connecting cable, i.e. a 32A cable rather than the 16A cable appropriate for the 3.5kW EVSE. Oddly, the 32A cables often cost very little more than the 16A cables, and they do enable even a 3.3kW Leaf to receive another percent or two of power! Although a 7kW EVSE has very few different components to a 3.5kW one, their value has not depreciated as much as the 3.5kW ones.

FASTER CHARGING  when  OUT-and-ABOUT

You can also use one of the many public (or workplace/restricted) Slow(3kW) or Fast(7 to 22kW) EVSE/charging points. Because electric vehicle charging was a "minority sport" until very recently, these public charge points are often hard to locate, being "hidden" in quiet corners of Supermarket car-parks, or behind locked gates. Sadly, they are also very likely to be "Out-of-Use" i.e. broken. There are also issues with many of them being "subscription-only" or "Members only" or needing a special "RFID" payment card. Some operators can "enable/register" your standard contactless payment card to be able to operate their "RFID" charge-points.  These public charge-points are usually un-tethered and use the 7-pin "Type-2" connector mentioned above, so you have to bring your own Type-1 to Type-2 charging cable. The 3-phase capability permits triple the charging power, i.e. up to 22kW - but a 3.3kW 1st Generation Leaf cannot benefit from these high power ratings - it can use the EVSE/charge-point - but it will only draw 3.3kW. Similarly, Leafs with the Optional 6.6kW internal Charger (as previous paragraph) will draw no more than 6.6kW whatever the EVSE's own rating.

SO MANY DIFFERENT CABLE+CONNECTOR and PAYMENT-MODE VARIATIONS - HOW CAN I FIND ONE THAT FITS MY LEAF ? ? ?

Fortunately there are several Online Websites/Apps that can tell you what is where - you can even tell them your car's make/model/age and they can show you only the chargepoints that are relevant/useful to you. My favourite website is Zap-Map.com Note the "key" symbol at top RHS of webpage - that shows what the marker-outline-colours mean, and the power-ratings of the charge-points. Click on a charge-point and you can drill-down to see which connector-types and payment-types are accepted. You can even see which individual charge-point-sockets are in use, and what comments/observations Users have made about each site.

REALLY FAST CHARGING - aka - RAPID CHARGING

For faster charging (with Gen.1 Leafs), you need to go "DC" (Direct current) and use the alternative larger Black lidded CHAdeMO socket (not fitted to the most basic Gen.1 LEAFs) which has 2 large Power-pins which accesses the Traction Battery, and 2 sets of control/signal pins.  There are more, and faster, public (DC) Fast-Chargers being fitted around the country that can fully charge a Leaf in less than an hour through the CHAdeMO (DC) charging socket.  The DC Rapid-Chargers always have integral connector cables (Tethered) and the initial DC fast-charge-rate is likely to be limited only by the external Fast-Charger's capability. This DC fast-charge-rate reduces/decays/tapers during the charge period - so rather than waiting for a "full" charge, it is often quicker to terminate the charge when you've got enough to get where you want to (plus a margin), rather than waiting for the slow "tail" of the charge session, which only gains you another 10 miles or so.  A full charge of a 1st-Generation Leaf at a DC Rapid Charger will cost about £5 at present. Some charge a connection fee of £1. At present each kWh (Unit) of energy is billed at about 40-to-50p. It is unfortunate that these chargers have to charge VAT at 20% rather than the 5% on domestic electrics, and I have not yet seen one that charges a discounted "Off-Peak" rate overnight.

FILL HER UP for £1.50

A full charge, when my car was new (2011) would take 10 hours or so at 2kW through the EVSE, but due to battery ageing/degradation mine now rarely needs more than seven hours, which almost perfectly fits the Night period on an Economy-7 meter. 7hrs x 2kW = 14kWh, and my Night Units (kWh) cost 14.88p, so a full overnight Charge only costs me £2.20 (Inc 5%VAT) - so an old battery is an "efficient" battery !  How many readers still buying petrol get 30 miles to the £1 ???  (Yes POUND not gallon!!!)  Price correct as from 1st April 2022 (eDF Economy-7)

An interesting side-effect of the Mad Russian's disturbance of the Energy Markets is that whereas the differential between Day Rate and Night Rate tariff had been decaying/eroding from 4:1 through 3:1 and heading for 2:1 over the last few years, it has now bounced-back to nearly 6:1 (eDF Economy-7) which also makes "Load-Shifting" of other domestic loads such as Washing-machines, Dish-washers, and Immersion Water-heaters much more attractive - I expect sales of plug-in Time-Switches to escalate this Autumn+Winter - perhaps even electric Storage Heaters to be re-invigorated !  A note of caution: Using domestic time-switches for heavy & high duty-cycle 3kW loads is asking for scorching and burn-outs. It would be worth taking advice from a friendly Electrician who can fit an additional Contactor/Relay/Amplifier that can cope better with the sustained high power.

Bear in mind that even if you have the "South Eastern Electricity" Day Rate between 00:30 to 02:30 (GMT)(Why?!?), you are unlikely to be needing a full recharge, and your programmed Automatic Re-charge will therefore probably fit within the 02:30 to 07:30 (GMT) main morning 5-hour period. - particularly with an aged traction battery (Reduced SOH - State of Health - usually expressed as a percentage of "Brand new" Nominal capacity). However, if you do at least 40 miles per day and are therefore bumping-up against their odd 5 hour constraint, then have a look on eBay (and/or speak to your friendly Electrician), because the 3kW rated EVSEs (by Rolec, Pod-Point and BP-Pulse/Chargemaster etc) designed for hard-wiring-in are now available 2nd hand for as little as £100. These make best use of the 1st-Gen Leaf's internal 3kW Charger (which is under-run with a 2kW "Granny-Cjharger" EVSE). But I must emphasise that the 3kW EVSEs must NOT be used on ordinary BS1363 3-Pin plug+sockets.  I have converted to using old 2nd-Hand 3kW EVSEs for Leaf-Charging - this enables me to use the initial 2hr slot for the Immersion-Heater and other Domestic loads.

The EVSE supplied with my 2011 Leaf has a UK standard 240V 13A plug on a short input lead, and a long output lead terminated in a "Type-1" SAE J1772-2009 (Yazaki) plug which connects to the slow AC charger socket on the front of the car, behind an orange cover. The SAE J1772 connector has three medium size pins for single-phase mains live+neutral power and protective earth, and two smaller signalling pins. This connector is standard in Japan and USA but the European equivalent is the  IEC62196-2 Type 2 (Mennekes). They are not physically compatible, but the signalling protocol is compatible - so you can get adapter leads.

Note that newer Leafs have 30kWh traction batteries (that's +one quarter), or 40kWh traction batteries (+two thirds), or even 62kWh on the latest.   NB: I refer to traction batteries, because Leafs do also have a "traditional" 12V DC lead-acid battery under the bonnet for accessories and lights etc , but the Li-ion (Lithium ion) traction battery is 350 to 400 V DC - so take care !

NB: If you have an Off-Peak supply, or a South Eastern Electricity Radio-Teleswitch, check the actual switching times every so often - I find that mine alternate between "summer" and "winter" seasons of the year - which can catch-me-out when I'm aiming to recharge at the Off-Peak rate. Sometimes I'm switched to Off-Peak "early" at 10:30pm, but it then reverts to Day rate for the period from 00:30-02:30 - Weird! I believe this may be a South-Eastern Region peculiarity. (All switching times are GMT)   Has anybody else in South Eastern Region got any similar/different observations to report ?

"ECO"  FUNCTION

The "gear selector" lever on Gen.1s, if Drive is selected twice (yes that is a little awkward), puts you into ECO mode, which means less powerful acceleration (for most of the accelerator pedal's travel) and more regenerative "engine braking" when you take your foot off the accelerator pedal - this puts more energy back into the battery, increasing Range by about 10%. But CAUTION - For about the first mile or two after a 100% Re-charge, regenerative braking is NOT available, 'cos the battery is full - This can come as a surprise when you expect engine braking as you approach a junction or a queue !

Just like a petrol car, you can increase Range (mpg) by...

1:  Going slowly, i.e. 40 mph or less.

2: Using engine braking (regenerative braking) as much as possible, in preference to middle-pedal, active braking.

3:  Not accelerating hard - although the Leaf can be sprightly away from traffic-lights - that is wasteful of energy!

4:  Turning off energy-hungry auxiliary functions e.g. cabin & seat/steering-wheel heating, air-con, full beam headlights.

WINTER DRIVING

The early Gen.1 Leafs use a simple resistive heater element (a tad like a hair-dryer) to provide cabin heating because there is very little surplus heat available (that an internal combustion engine would waste in the radiator, or use in the cabin Heater Matrix). This means that the car's useful Range in winter might be as low as HALF what it achieves in the summer.  I find that the Windscreen Defrost function draws over 4kW from the traction battery; hence the halved Range.  It is of course tempting to keep your overcoat on, and to drive without heat - but that results in the windscreen and windows fogging-up, and the general dampness level in the cabin becoming problematic. Later Leafs use a Heat Pump (like Air-Con in reverse) which is a much more efficient heater - but still uses some traction-battery charge.

RANGE REMAINING indication, and Low Battery Warnings

Immediately after a re-charge, the range indicated on the LCD displays can be very impressively optimistic - my Leaf has been known to indicate up to double what is likely to be achieved (The 94 mile Range image above was taken after an 80% Charge, but my 10 year-old Leaf has never done more than 50 miles off an 80% Charge). If you are buying a Leaf, be sure to ask the vendor to give it a full charge before you collect it, then, if it is indicating at least double the distance to your home/destination - you should have a stress-free journey, but check the Caution in the ECO paragraph immediately above. I always reset the Trip Odometer to zero (A "long" press on the "TRIP" button) after a Recharge - because I know my usual max range well, and checking the Trip-reading helps me to avoid running the traction battery flat.

There is a Low Battery Warning which is triggered when the Range display falls to about 8 or 9 miles and starts flashing, and the battery charge indicator drops to a single bar. This should produce an audio/voice warning as well - but this can be turned off. This is not a serious warning unless you are over 10 miles from your home or destination charger ! In which case this is a good time to adopt the Range enhancing techniques described in the ECO Function paragraph above.

If you are further from your known charger than 10 miles, then you probably need to accept the Navigator's offer to find a local public charging station. Bear in mind that you may need to visit more than one, because they may be unavailable or broken etc etc. If the indicated Range remaining drops to 5 miles or less, make a mental note of the value of the Range remaining reading, added to the Trip-Odometer reading immediately - and you need to refresh this mental total figure calculation constantly, for two reasons:

1:  Round-about 5 miles Range-remaining, I find that the Range-miles last for more like 2 odo miles each: which is helpful !

2:  When the Range remaining gets down to about 4 or 3 miles, a further "Very Low Battery" warning is issued, and also both the final "bar" of charge indicator blanks and the Range remaining figure itself blanks to "----" which is NOT helpful !!!

CAUTION: If you keep driving below 3 miles range, take great care, and remember the TripOdo+3 figure carefully - you probably will not be able to get further than TripOdo+4 miles before the car's controller puts you into "TORTOISE" mode, at which point you will only be able to drive for a few 100s of metres further at reduced speed (on the flat/horizontal) before coming to a complete halt! You DO NOT want to be doing this. I have done so twice, but fortunately only a "pushable" 100 metres from a Charger.

N.B. Going uphill reduces Range-remaining FAST (increases power used), but going downhill increases Range-remaining.

CARWINGS - NISSAN TELEMATICS SERVICE

Nissan originally used to charge a Subscription for their Carwings service, but probably because of "bugs" and incompatibilities/deficiencies in the service they have waived the charges. Also, the value of the data it gave them on vehicle usage is probably greater than the value of the service received by the owner/driver.  There is an impressive set of menus etc on the youplus.nissan.co.uk website - https://youplus.nissan.co.uk/GB/en/YouPlus/welcome_pack_leaf.html - but most of what actually works is to do with user Registration and downloading of the Carwings App for iPhones. There is supposed to be a (desktop) PC version, but I have not found it. The App enables you remotely to 1) Check the traction battery State-of-Charge (0 to 8 coarse blocks),  2) Set or Cancel charging the traction battery (the car needs to be already physically connected to the charging power supply, of course!), and finally 3) Set or Cancel the cabin heater - however there is only one predetermined/automatic target temperature. Both your iPhone and the car itself need a good Cellphone signal for this service to work.  Before you attempt to set up Carwings, you will need to register your first-level membership through YOU+NISSAN on the main nissan.co.uk portal.  Then email gb@nissan-services.eu for guidance through the Registration and download+operation of the App. If you are not the first owner of the car, then it's existing membership status will have to be amended by Nissan.

GPS - NAVIGATION  and  CHARGING STATION SEARCH

I hope all electric LEAFS have this system - because it is an essential tool for anyone who wants to drive their Leaf further from home than their traction-battery allows on a single charge - at least until there are more Charging points in the nation than petrol-pumps! However, it's use is not as intuitive as the Tom-Tom and Garmin etc user interfaces, and I don't know what the database update procedures are.  It is a great help if you can plan your re-charges for an extended trip, on your desktop PC in advance - I usually use zap-map.com which includes most Charger operators, and carries user-feedback on the latest status of individual charge-stations - this is VITAL information for which you have to "drill-down" through several layers of in-map tabs/menus to find what connector-styles are available, how many chargers are available, and what speed of charging is offered, and when they (should) be accessible and what payment methods are accepted. At present, due to the (minority-interest and novelty of Charging EVs and) low reliability of Charging-Stations, you need to identify 2nd and 3rd Re-Charge options if venturing outside your basic Range! Bear in mind also that if you have to Re-Charge on a trip - it will approximately halve your speed overall.

RE-CHARGING  WHEN  OUT+ABOUT

You probably need a fast-charger with integral lead and a CHAdeMO plug with a 2x2 grid of connector pins. The two DC power pins are on one diagonal, and two groups of four sub-pins are on the other diagonal. This format has its origins in Japan and is less common in the UK than the European CCS-Combo format.

Unfortunately, re-charging stations do not have the level of standardisation that petrol stations have - it is not a simple question of a row of Unleaded-or-Diesel pumps at every clearly Branded location !

1:  There are several different formats of Plug+Socket connectors.

2:  Some chargers have an integral lead to connect to your car, some expect you to bring your own lead.

3:  Some are operated on a Membership basis, so you have to "join" (e.g. by SmartPhone) before you can re-charge.

4:  Some chargers only offer slow-charging, just like your basic EVSE at home.

5:  Your intended charger may already be occupied by a charging EV, or parked-in by a Fossil-Fuel car, or simply broken.

6:  The Charger-bank may be keeping a low profile in a quiet corner of a retail-park rear-carpark.

7:  Bear in mind that many Nissan main-dealers make their on-site Fast-Chargers available to customers FOC !

8:  CAUTION: Many car-parks nowadays have ANPR identification of visiting cars, but the ANPR (Automatic Number-Plate Recognition) systems do NOT communicate with the Charger Operators - so YOU have to either notify the Pub/Restaurant's Receptionist that you are only Charging and give them your car's Reg.No and watch them cancel its entry on their ANPR log, or, if the premises are closed/unmaned Text your Reg.No. to the ANPR system's operating company (There will be verbose signs advising of the exact procedure). If you Charge-and-run on an ANPR'd car-park then a week or so later your car's DVLA-registered "Registered Keeper" will receive an FPN (Fixed-Penalty-Notice) for something like £60 - which makes for a VERY expensive charging session !

RELATING  Miles-of-Range to kWh (Electric metered "Units")

By experience, I have found that I usually get between 4.1 and 2.9 miles per kWh of Charge with my Gen.1 (107hp) Leaf. The first figure is a reasonably achievable Summer figure. The second is a reasonable Winter figure, using headlights and some Windscreen de-frosting but minimal cabin heating.  It is very useful to be able to pre-heat the cabin (and de-frost the windscreen) remotely by SmartPhone (or using cabin controls) before departing, using domestic electric power through my home mains-charger. Obviously it needs some planning+preparation to connect the charger cable and set up the programming sufficiently in advance.

NIGGLE #1   aka  A Junkbox-Modelling Opportunity

This minor design fault has exercised contributors to various Forums, and had LEAF owners raiding their recycling bins, or taking a tape-measure to the supermarket in search of the optimum (but inelegant) solution. The problem is at the optimum height and orientation for user intervention - but what is it ?  The very top end of each of the two front shock-absorbers is secured by a nut which is housed in a rubber-coated metal cup. Most LEAFs have an internal lid fitted to these cups, to keep them dry, but the lids are not very effective having a ventilation hole at the very top which can let water in - and once in, the water is effectively trapped and well hidden, causing the nut+thread to rust badly. Some people recommend covering the whole assembly with an up-turned round topless 200g Tuna tin, and/or filling the cup with grease (after drying and cleaning up the nut & thread). Personally, I have used the top and bottom 4" of a 1.75 Litre plastic Coke bottle - the ideal diameter is very close to 4". I used the top part (c/w cap) on the driver's side where access is more restricted - to access the problem you have to un-clip hatches in the outer few inches of the plastic grille (scuttle?) between the engine-compartment and the windscreen. The problem is particularly bad on the driver's side because the moulding around the windscreen-wiper shaft has a drain hole which is almost directly above the ventilation hole in the shock-absorber cap! Alternatively, there are a number of Makers offering home-3D-printed caps/covers through the usual online marketplaces, but these often have their own problems and cost much more than a bottle of Coke. NB: Although I describe it as a minor design fault, gross corrosion could cause failure of the fixing which would be very serious while driving - though I have not seen any proof/evidence of such a catastrophic failure actually occurring.

LIGHT-BULB MOMENT . . .

You know how Fossil Fuel Burning (FFB, aka ICE - Internal Combustion Engined) cars have exhaust-pipes that get noisy and rust-through/drop-off every few years, and need replacing ? Well - the Leaf DOES NOT !  Further - No Exhaust means NO CATALYSER for the bad-lads to nick !

BATTERY-STATUS  SURVEY  SERVICE

I offer a service to other LEAF owners, vendors, and prospective owners, as a mobile LEAF Traction-Battery Surveyor. I have the kit to monitor communication on the car's "CAN-Bus" which provides figures such as each cell's voltage, and the Battery's state of charge (SOC) and State-of-Health (SOH). I can also obtain this data from a complete Battery that has been removed from it's car. This information is essential if you are wanting to assess the car's likely Range and Value the car, and can highlight any particularly deficient cells that should be replaced because they are significantly reducing the Range available. N.B. Like any "chain" there must be a "link" that fails first - but is it sufficiently far from the battery's average "strength" to warrant replacement? If you are interested in having a battery surveyed - please get in touch with me for further, no-obligation, information.  Nissan Dealerships typically charge £90 for a survey similar to mine. SPECIAL OFFER: I am offering this service FOC (free of Charge) to any LEAF within 25 miles of Marden/Staplehurst, Kent ! ! !  (Subject to availability) BOOK  YOUR  APPOINTMENT  NOW !

SMARTKEY  BATTERIES

The SmartKey fobs use a CR2025 button-cell (3V).  I had a query recently where the owner reported that his car was still reporting "Key not detected" on the dashboard, even though he had replaced the battery in the SmartKey. Fearful of an expensive car-module replacement; he brought the problem to me. On opening his Smartkey I found that he had replaced the CR2025 with a CR2032. Apparently the Battery Reference can be translated quite easily: R means "Round", the 20 means "20 mm diameter" and the 32 means "3.2 mm thick" - what was wanted was the 25; i.e. 2.5mm thick. In most devices the circuit-board  makes contact with both the underside (-) of the battery and the edge (+) of the battery. However these Nissan Smartkeys unfortunately bring the (-) connection across from the Smartkey "lid" back onto the circuit-board through a spring contact - so a 0.7mm over-thick battery results in low-or-no contact pressure - and at best, intermittent operation. The message: Only use CR2025 batteries. I usually get them in multicell packs from PoundLand.

DC to AC INVERTER :  HAS  a  WINTER  STORM  CAUSED  YOU  A  LOSS-OF-SUPPLY (Power-Cut) ?

Linking-up a 12Vdc-to-240Vac "inverter" to a car-battery is something campers/caravaners/motorhomers/boaters are used to, to power their TVs and Laptops etc, but there is usually an assumption that there is an internal combustion engine around to provide fast reliable re-charge, since even a deep-discharge Leisure battery only holds about 1kWh of energy.

Looking at a slightly different problem - winter storms increasingly have a habit of causing more devastation than the Utility companies can cope with - leaving remote customers in a very precarious situation. Not only are most central heating systems disabled, but food in fridges and freezers can be wasted, and smartphones etc soon run out of charge.  Is it possible, easily to access the energy stored in a LEAF's Traction Battery ? ? ?  This might enable a home's "life-support-system" to be kept going for a week or so - it only needs a few hundred Watts of electric power to keep the essential household appliances running (NOT including electric Heating or electric Cooking).  I have put together an Emergency scheme aiming to provide about 400W (average) for a week from a LEAF. It looks as though it only needs a 6mm nut and an 8mm nut to make a good temporary connection to the LEAF's 12Vdc battery - which gets re-charged from the 400Vdc Traction Battery. NB: I am not recommending this scheme - merely reporting my experience. An appropriately qualified Electrician should be consulted, particularly concerning Earthing and transfer of hardwired C/H Controls from Mains connection to Inverter output.

I bought a Maypole 1kW 12Vdc to 240Vac Inverter from ScrewFix (although mine sounds its Alarm and shuts down if loaded with more than 350W of incandescent light-bulbs). I find that the (included) negative/black cable can be attached to the generously long negative battery-clamp bolt on the under-bonnet 12Vdc Lead-Acid battery with an additional M6 nut, and the (included) positive/red cable can be attached with an additional M8 nut to the M8 bolt-end on the positive of the 12Vdc battery.  Note that the Leaf needs to be switched double-ON  in order to enable self-re-charging of the 12Vdc battery (Two presses of the main On/Off button, but WITHOUT pressing on the Brake pedal - so no actual drive applied to the car). Initially, the Inverter runs down the 12Vdc battery, to the point at which the Inverter's Low-Voltage Alarm sounds at 10V, and very shortly afterwards the Leaf notices the low DC voltage when it gets down to 9.5V. The Leaf then does its best to instantly restore the 12V battery voltage to 14.4V (The fully-charged "gassing" voltage) this requires a large current of about 70A to be provided by the Leaf's internal DC power converter which is powered by the 400Vdc Traction Battery. As the 12Vdc battery re-charges, the charge current is slowly reduced, and after about an hour (depending on 240Vac load) the charging current has fallen to the cut-off level, and charging is terminated. The cycle now restarts with the 12Vdc battery again being discharged by the Inverter towards its 10Vdc Alarm point. If your Central-Heating system controls and fridge-freezer draw average total load of, say 150 Watts, then you should get about 80 hours i.e. over 3 days continuous 240Vac Mains-backup from a fully-charged (Aged-24kWh) traction battery, or about 2 weeks from a new 60kWh Leaf.

What's the EV (Leaf) Equivalent of a 1-Gallon Jerry-Can for Emergency or Range-Extending use ?

How about a 48V pack of salvaged Ex-Leaf cells, powering a 5kW 240Vac Inverter, with either a 2kW "Granny-Charger" or a 3kW Wall-box EVSE to Part-Re-Charge the Leaf? Hmm - sounds very expensive - about £1k?!? - and very slow - about an hour?!?  as compared to about three minutes to access and empty a Gerry-Can  -  And how many extra miles would it give me ? About 10 to 15 ? And how would I re-charge that 48V pack - more £s ?!? At least it might be re-charged from Off-Peak/Overnight (cheap) mains supplies.

There are commercial products: see . . . www.parkers.co.uk/electric-cars/portable-electric-vehicle-chargers/

bluettipower.co.uk  (ac)   zipcharge.editorx.io/website  (ac)    www.sparkcharge.io/pages/roadie-portable (DC:20kW Modular)

BIGGER TYRES

Do you think the 205/55 R16 91V Original Equipment (OE) tyres look a very "loose-fit" in the wheel arches ?

Are you puzzled by the way the Speedo reads about 10% higher speed than your SatNav ?

Well: 205 is the tyre's width in mm, 16 is the wheel diameter in inches, and 55 is the "additional" tyre radius expressed as a percentage of the width! Don't you just love the mixed units???  So the overall diameter of a 205/55 R16 is 24.9 inches (Remember how diameter is double the radius?).  So a 205/70 R16 tyre has a diameter of 27.3 inches; that's 9.7% bigger - if this fits in the wheel arch, even when crossing Speed-Bumps and/or cornering hard, then it should just nicely eliminate that speed discrepancy ?

Of course 10% bigger tyres means less acceleration and poorer hill-climbing ability (and less wheel-spin when departing traffic-lights at "full-throttle" !), but it also means 10% less recorded miles. At this stage, I am primarily interested in sticking with the original wheels (16 inch diameter and 205mm width) - but the above arithmetic works with other wheel sizes.

Have YOU tried or used tyres with overall diameter greater than 24.9 inches on your LEAF ? ? ? If so please let me know how the experiment went ! Did it make any difference to the car's Range ? (as measured by SatNav or known journeys; NOT the Odo)

PROLIFERATION of CONTROLLED-EMISSION ZONES (ULEZ, CAZ, LEZ, ZEZ ETC)

As air-quality-v-asthma concerns, and climate-change tipping-point-panic sets in, more and more Cities in the UK are establishing urban Controlled-Emission Zones. As at New Year 2022 there are two cities enforcing tariffs on private cars by using ANPR detection; they are, of course, London and Birmingham. Bath and Portsmouth are already imposing tariffs on some other vehicles, but not (yet) private cars. Oxford and Bristol have schemes coming into force later in 2022. There are another nine cities in the UK who are working towards an undefined date of introduction. At this early stage there are large variations between different cities' tariff structures and charges, and enforcement Terms. I do not know whether any of them automatically recognise LEAFs as exempt/zero-rated (Presumably "Green" Number-Plates will help), or whether Registering with one authority will Register your car with all?  I expect that the regularisation of this "free-market" will become a popular topic for letters-to-MPs and the Press.

A good general survey/overview of the current state-of-play can be found on the following "ThisIsMoney.co.uk" webpage...

ULEZ, CAZ, LEZ or ZEZ near you? Cities introducing emission tax zones on drivers | This is Money

This is a rapidly changing situation - do not rely on me, or ThisIsMoney - check for yourself before entering any city!

2023:  www.carwow.co.uk/blog/uk-low-emissions-zones

SERVICE INTERVAL MONITOR/WARNINGS

I had a slightly mind-boggling moment recently - I couldn't clear-down a "Pit - Reminder 1" Service Interval warning: The reason? The Nissan programmers must have had a slight "Left-Hand doesn't know what the Right-Hand is doing" moment. There are TWO independent service interval monitors - one operating from the central Infotainment/Aircon/Navigation display, and the other operating from the lower Binnacle display. It turned-out I was trying to use the Binnacle control buttons to clear-down an Infotainment warning - which can't be done.  Instructions for the Binnacle display Service Interval warnings are on page 2.31 "5 Settings/Maintenance", and for the central Infotainment/Navigation display; page 2.34 "Indicators for Maintenance" of the Owner's Manual.

FUTURE TOPICS

1)  Hardware and software products for more detailed information.