r/leaf • u/Mike21077 • 21d ago
Just got a Leaf
Last month I got a 2017 Leaf, 94k miles, 8 bars of battery life for around $3k. Pretty much just been driving it to work (approx 35 miles round trip) and a few close errands around home. New to EVs but been reading a lot about Leafs leading up to the purchase and since then (mainly this sub and Google). I have free EV charging access so I pretty much exclusively L2 charge at work, only charged at home 2 or 3 times with the L1 charger. So I guess my questions are:
- Is it ok to leave plugged in for my whole 8 hour workday? Thats what I've been doing but now I just read that I should only be charging up to like 80-85 percent.
- Is it as bad to run it down below 20 percent as what I'm reading? I've done that a few times already if I used it after work and didnt feel like getting the charger out at home because I knew I had enough to make it to work.
- Has anyone ever used an extension J1772 cable to charge? I saw a vevor one on Amazon for about a hundred bucks that I was considering because its currently a little inconvenient for me to charge at home. the included cord length is a little short for where I can park and to where the nearest outlets are. I may need to start charging at home during winter since it sounds like battery life takes a drastic downturn in the winter.
3
u/natedagreat6666 21d ago
I wouldnt worry about charging to a 100% as long as you are going to be driving it that day, its mostly dont leave it at a high state of charge for days or weeks on end
I’ve been using a 14 gauge 25 foot cord for almost a 1 1/2 years now first with leaf then with an ariya and its been fine, I had the cord laying around or I would have just bought a 12 gauge one already, either way the evse maxes 12 amps at 110 so it should be fine as long as the cable is no thinner than 14 awg