Newbie EV question

[Anonymous]

I have been looking at both the Spark EV and Leaf.
I currently drive about 40 miles a day and I was wondering if 120v Charging overnight would be sufficient?
Also if if I went with the Leaf, is it worth upgrading to the 6.6kwh charger or is the standard 3.3 generally good enough for what I will need?
Looking for any feedback especially from people who have driven both cars.
Thanks

 

[NomadMac]

Depends. Do you have an alternative car to drive?
If not, I think most would agree that you want maximum flexibility to go where and when you choose. Or to run the heater or A/C.

Frankly, even 220 charging is frequently not fast enough.
I had a discussion at my local Target with a woman who was sitting in her Tesla last Friday. She'd already killed 1.5 hours by reading and walking the local bay trail. She and her husband had driven down to the Bay Area from PDX to escape the rain in their week-old Tesla. She was complaining about how slow the 220 EVSE was compared to the Tesla Superchargers. I informed her there was a Tesla service center two miles away. She immediately rang up her husband, collected him at Home Depot and was off.
We can only dream of taking trips like this...unless you buy a Leaf with DCFC and/with the 6.6 charger.

The Leaf is a more refined car and much larger but I wanted a smaller package that was more fun to drive. I would have opted for the fast charger if there actually been some charging stations or guarantee that some would be available where I want to go in the future.

FYI, a 220 charger will add about one mile of range for every five minutes of charging. I've never taken the trickle charger out of the trunk.

 

[xylhim]

The 120v charger at 12 amps will charge about 6 miles per hour, so an overnight charge should be enough for the 40 mile commute. However, as Nomad mentioned, you want maximum flexibility with your EV, so having a 220 charger is in your best interest. If you have a drier outlet near where you charge at night, then you can buy an inexpensive portable level 2 charger . You'll enjoy your Spark or Leaf much more with faster charging. If you do end up getting the Leaf, go for the 6.6 kW charger, I think that will bring charge times down to 3-4 hours for 220v charging.

 

[StevesWeb]

Back in January I was shopping for a small EV and drove both the Leaf and the Spark EV on the same day.

The Leaf handles like a smallish mid-size sedan, it feels a little heavy, it accelerates quite well but nothing to write home about. It's quiet, and a pleasant car to drive.

The Spark EV is much smaller, handling is stiffer with a firm ride a bit like a sports car. It accelerates so fast it might scare you the first time you mash the volt pedal, it is so much fun to drive I almost feel guilty.

Another reason I chose the Spark EV is because it has a superior method of cooling the battery pack, and I expect the battery - by far the most expensive part I'd guess - to last much longer. In general the technology behind the Spark EV seems to be just a bit ahead of the Leaf IMHO.

At 220V I'd expect the Spark EV to require less than 4 hours charging to restore the energy used to travel 40 miles, at 120V more like ten hours.

 

[nozferatu]

I have been looking at both the Spark EV and Leaf.
I currently drive about 40 miles a day and I was wondering if 120v Charging overnight would be sufficient?
Also if if I went with the Leaf, is it worth upgrading to the 6.6kwh charger or is the standard 3.3 generally good enough for what I will need?
Looking for any feedback especially from people who have driven both cars.
Thanks

It's plenty....I had my Spark for about a month prior to buying an L2 unit. It depends on how much energy you use on your trip but with a 120V unit you're looking at charging at about 1.44kWh.

I'm getting around 5.5 miles per kWh since I got the car. So 40 miles uses about 7.2 kW. That will take about 5 hours to charge back up with a 120V versus 2.2 with my L2 unit.

 

[Sesamecrunch]

I'm getting around 5.5 miles per kWh since I got the car.

Dang, that's good. I wish I could get that kind of efficiency, but too many hills where I live. I celebrate when I can get to 5.2. Most times, it under 5.0. Still good, tho, considering it's powered by solar panels.

 

[Sesamecrunch]

I'm getting around 5.5 miles per kWh since I got the car.

Dang, that's good. I wish I could get that kind of efficiency, but too many hills where I live. I celebrate when I can get to 5.2. Most times, it under 5.0. Still good, tho, considering it's powered by solar panels.

 

[nozferatu]

I'm getting around 5.5 miles per kWh since I got the car.

Dang, that's good. I wish I could get that kind of efficiency, but too many hills where I live. I celebrate when I can get to 5.2. Most times, it under 5.0. Still good, tho, considering it's powered by solar panels.

Oh yea...anything about 3 IMO is a win win. I calculated that even with my previous car, my equivalent mi/kWh was 1.1...and that's a 38 MPG vehicle!

People need to keep in mind that with our Sparks, we're essentially carrying around only around 1/2 gallon of fuel...equivalent.