[Rabtmac]

Hello everyone
Been interested in electric vehicles for a long time now but only now getting into my own
Well I will be shortly it will hopefully be delivered to me in about a week I'm being told
I've bought a Nissan leaf 24kw tekna (wanted something bigger battery wise but it's all we can afford at the moment and it's a good place to start)
The question I'm hoping someone can answer is I hope a simple one
The leaf has an app "Nissan connect" and I'm hearing it's basically a waste of space
What does everyone else use?
I see a third party all for the leaf but it asks for the connect sign in details to allow me to use that
I'm not sure where to go from here and hoping everyone else has better idea about what to use
Thank you in advance
Rab

 

[dk6780]

Rab
Welcome. It is a steep learning curve but you are doing the right thing.
Before completing your purchase buy LEAFSpy and check the condition of your cars battery. If you need help doing this post again.
Nissan Connect gets a bad rap. Based on its age and the lack of subscription it is useful.
What are you hoping that the car will do for you? What is your commute? How often do you plan to do longer journeys or do you have access to another car? Do you have home or work charging?
So many questions! But if you want help, we need the background.

 

[Rabtmac]

Well the work commute is around 34/42 miles a day round trip
Hoping I can charge at work but still to broach the subject with the boss
No home charger as yet but looking into it
Got 2 x 7kw chargers within 5 minutes walk from home and a 50kw one around 15min drive away
I'm hoping I'll be able to save a fair old amount of fuel money even if it means I'll be having to charge up more often than I would filling my ICE car
Got one to sell now that I've been putting £120 in the tank every 4/5 weeks so going off what I'm reading I should be quids in on fuel alone not to mention the road fund licence cost
Got access to another car too that my wife drives if I really need it but I want to try sticking with the leaf if I can
Long journeys I'm guessing the 24kw isn't the best for that but when I can finally take a break from work I'll definitely be trying to visit my brothers in Glasgow with it (currently live in lancashire)
Definitly going to download leaf spy but I see there's a basic and a pro version would you recommend the pro version?
Hope this is a good start on the background

 

[dk6780]

Pro, well worth the one off cost.
Your commute should be fine with one charge per day. Is your boss sensible? They can get a grant to fit a charger. Do you have off road parking? If you do then it's simples, you get the grant and access all the time including weekends.
Excuse my poor geography, but how far is your brother away?
My LEAF24 will do 80+ miles driven conservatively, 60 if I drive like a dick Kind of up to you.
The preheating is fantastic, as is the 1p mile fuel cost when I charge overnight at home (9p when rapid charging away from home, but it'll be cheaper North of the border).

 

[Rabtmac]

Boss is fairly smart and we have around 8 car chargers at work but mostly used by reps
Another 10 or more 32amp rd mennekes sockets and a blue 16amp one for plugging in trailers and Van's overnight (freezer units)
At the minute nobody charging at work as their all working from home so hoping I can at least for the time being.
Cant get a grant for a charger and I don't have off road parking but am looking at a rolec 7kw charger I can install
My idea is to charge where I can and at weekends and evenings to my own charger
Due to not having off road parking I cant enjoy the lower cost electric at off peak times and I'm guessing wont be able to use the preheating if I cant plug in to use it 😥
Distance from me to my brothers is 224 miles each way
9p a unit sounds cheap where is that from?
And why would it be cheaper north of the border??

 

[dk6780]

9p/mile, not per unit. My long term average is 4.5 miles/kWh, more in the current warm weather, less in the cold. You have more free chargers North of the border.
Pity about the lack of off road parking, that makes life harder.
225 miles is a challenge, best done without partner and kids. 80 miles from 100% charge is fine, but you need to leave a margin to get to the next if the planned charger isn't available, so 70 max. Then you only charge to 80%, so about 55 max for subsequent legs. This means at least 3 charges probably 4 unless there is charging at your destination.
You can preheat when not charging but only at the expense of range.

 

[Rabtmac]

So looks like 4 charges then as my brother doesn't have charging either
Preheating at the expense of range sounds good if I can sweet talk the boss into letting me charge at work 👍
Thinking about chargers north and south of the border I'm downloading apps to use them when I need
So far I've downloaded the electricity app for motorways polar as it's the chargers near me and pod point as I saw the app and it looked like it was one I should get
Also zap map so I can find some chargers
What else if any should I get downloaded or apply for and in Scotland is there some that are Scotland only I should look at also

 

[80698]

So looks like 4 charges then as my brother doesn't have charging either
Preheating at the expense of range sounds good if I can sweet talk the boss into letting me charge at work 👍
Thinking about chargers north and south of the border I'm downloading apps to use them when I need
So far I've downloaded the electricity app for motorways polar as it's the chargers near me and pod point as I saw the app and it looked like it was one I should get
Also zap map so I can find some chargers
What else if any should I get downloaded or apply for and in Scotland is there some that are Scotland only I should look at also

You'll need the CYC (Charge Your Car) app for the chargers in Scotland. But they also do a RFID card for £20 which is far more reliable than the app and I'd probably recommend it even if you're only using them occasionally. That will allow access to both CYC in England, but also Chargeplace Scotland (CPS) too. They share the same system.

Likewise, Polar have a RFID option too if you sign up to Polar Plus. It's more reliable, and can be cheaper if you're going to be a regular user of the ones near you. There's a monthly fee (around £7.50 from memory) but it brings the usage fees right down compared to the app. If you'd be using polar chargers more than once per week it starts to become something to seriously consider.

Ecotricity is app only now, so that's what you'll have to use. You may have heard horror stories about them, but their chargers are actually super reliable for Chademo (the connector that the LEAF uses for rapid charging) so I wouldn't be too worried about relying on them on longer trips, especially if all the services along your route have more than one charger there.

As for other apps, take a look on Zap Map at the places you sometimes drive to and see what's around. Pod Point will be commonly found at Lidl, Sainsburys and Tesco.

I assume you have a contactless bank card? Instavolt is a well respected, reliable rapid charging network too, which are expanding quite fast all over the country. They can be accessed by RFID or app too, but as long as you have a contactless credit or debit card you don't need it. Just tap and charge.

There's loads of different charging networks around the UK and it really depends on what's around you when it comes to picking the right ones to join.

 

[dk6780]

Cant get a grant for a charger and I don't have off road parking but am looking at a rolec 7kw charger I can install

Pity. If buying a Rolec read this thread first

Rolec Charger - Dangerous???

How far from the charger can you park your car? I'm not aware of leads over 10m in length.

If you do much charging at home look for one of the cheaper off-peak tariffs like Octopus Go.

 

[Rabtmac]

You'll need the CYC (Charge Your Car) app for the chargers in Scotland. But they also do a RFID card for £20 which is far more reliable than the app and I'd probably recommend it even if you're only using them occasionally. That will allow access to both CYC in England, but also Chargeplace Scotland (CPS) too. They share the same system.

Likewise, Polar have a RFID option too if you sign up to Polar Plus. It's more reliable, and can be cheaper if you're going to be a regular user of the ones near you. There's a monthly fee (around £7.50 from memory) but it brings the usage fees right down compared to the app. If you'd be using polar chargers more than once per week it starts to become something to seriously consider.

Ecotricity is app only now, so that's what you'll have to use. You may have heard horror stories about them, but their chargers are actually super reliable for Chademo (the connector that the LEAF uses for rapid charging) so I wouldn't be too worried about relying on them on longer trips, especially if all the services along your route have more than one charger there.

As for other apps, take a look on Zap Map at the places you sometimes drive to and see what's around. Pod Point will be commonly found at Lidl, Sainsburys and Tesco.

I assume you have a contactless bank card? Instavolt is a well respected, reliable rapid charging network too, which are expanding quite fast all over the country. They can be accessed by RFID or app too, but as long as you have a contactless credit or debit card you don't need it. Just tap and charge.

There's loads of different charging networks around the UK and it really depends on what's around you when it comes to picking the right ones to join.

Thanks for that I'll download the CYC app and instavolt is a good shout too thanks
I've got zap map on my phone
To be honest I've had zap map on my phone now since fully charged live 2018 lol
Reading the reviews about the CYC app, it doesnt sound like the app is great reading some of them but I've got plenty of room on my phone so if I've got it I can try it for myself and make my own mind up on it 👍

 

[Rabtmac]

Pity. If buying a Rolec read this thread first

Rolec Charger - Dangerous???

How far from the charger can you park your car? I'm not aware of leads over 10m in length.

If you do much charging at home look for one of the cheaper off-peak tariffs like Octopus Go.

Yes spotted a rolec charger that seems fairly good price wise
Distance from the car to the charge point I thing I can get it to around 2 metres away maybe closer but not to leave it overnight unfortunately
As for the chargers being dangerous I used to be a warehouse manager for an electrical wholesaler for many years (too many yrs)
Used to sell the original boxes from rolec and looking at the damaged RCDs folk have posted pics of it looks like a combination of poorly installed loos cables in a couple and cheap faulty Chinese breakers
So easy and cheap to replace with a decent grade of RCBO of say MK, Dorman Smith, Schnider Wylex etc
Faulty breakers do happen in those too but not had many replaced over the years of selling them and the company's generally pick up the bill when they do
So buying a rolec charger doesnt fill me with dread at all in fact if they get a reputation of being a bit iffy then the price might come down if only for a short period 😁

 

[80698]

Thanks for that I'll download the CYC app and instavolt is a good shout too thanks
I've got zap map on my phone
To be honest I've had zap map on my phone now since fully charged live 2018 lol
Reading the reviews about the CYC app, it doesnt sound like the app is great reading some of them but I've got plenty of room on my phone so if I've got it I can try it for myself and make my own mind up on it 👍

To be fair most charging apps are pretty bad. That's why I will always recommend getting the RFID Cards or fobs wherever possible. It's rare you'll find one with consistently positive reviews.

 

[dk6780]

As for the chargers being dangerous I used to be a warehouse manager for an electrical wholesaler for many years (too many yrs)
Used to sell the original boxes from rolec and looking at the damaged RCDs folk have posted pics of it looks like a combination of poorly installed loos cables in a couple and cheap faulty Chinese breakers
So easy and cheap to replace with a decent grade of RCBO of say MK, Dorman Smith, Schnider Wylex etc
Faulty breakers do happen in those too but not had many replaced over the years of selling them and the company's generally pick up the bill when they do
So buying a rolec charger doesnt fill me with dread at all in fact if they get a reputation of being a bit iffy then the price might come down if only for a short period 😁

As you are clearly going into this with your eyes open I'll leave it at that point.
Hope that it all works out for you, but if you want help interpreting the LEAFSpy data post it up here suitably anonymised.

 

[jmacneil]

Thanks for that I'll download the CYC app and instavolt is a good shout too thanks
I've got zap map on my phone
To be honest I've had zap map on my phone now since fully charged live 2018 lol
Reading the reviews about the CYC app, it doesnt sound like the app is great reading some of them but I've got plenty of room on my phone so if I've got it I can try it for myself and make my own mind up on it 👍

If you'll be travelling to Scotland a couple of times per year just get the RFID card for Chargeplace Scotland (CYC).
The NissanConnect App is actually OK since the upgrade to v. 3 a few months ago, at least on Android (don't know about iOS).

 

[RichA]

IMO the app is OK, i read the cars have a 2g sim card to communicate the data to nissan then to your phone, that is where a lot of the time delay is, connecting app to the car, but it can be usefull, i like remote heating control.

 

[Rabtmac]

Thank you all for your help I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions once I finally get hold of it (week I hope??)
RFID card applied for thank you for the info
Only thing I'm struggling with is the Nissan connect app
Let's me register with Nissan but when I try the app it tells me my username or password is wrong??
I'll figure it out or contact nissan
Need it working if I can have preheating in the winter 👍

 

[Aberdeenleaf]

I needed a trip back to the dealer to reset 'something' in the car to allow me to join the connect.
I wish i could remember the term for the reset, but the car was basically still registered to the old owner.
Once that one done, the app worked perfectly for me - some days faster than others but never any failures to connect and pre-heat in winter etc.
I'm in Scotland and used the £20 CYC card a lot, never tried the app when the card worked perfectly.

 

[Montehampster]

I bought my Leaf at the beginning of February and contacted Nissan UK via email who sorted out the Connect app for me (along with the transfer of ownership) albeit at the second attempt! Having said that it was early March before I got the full information but as others have said this was a problem with Nissan and effected everyone. Since then it has worked fine if a little slow. Just a shame I don't have the opportunity to put miles on the clock.

 

[Aberdeenleaf]

It's really bugging me now as to what the reset was that I needed....
Can someone remind me?
TPS reset or something like that??

 

[Montehampster]

I had to provide Nissan UK with prove of purchase to get them to transfer ownership on their records. Having done that this is the details they sent by email and which has worked for me (2017 30k Tekna: -

1. Log into You+Nissan account
2. Complete ownership check
3. Activate subscription
4. Download and log into NissanConnect EV app

Instructions and guidance on how to complete these steps are below:

(1) Log into You+Nissan account:

⦁ Go to YouPlus Nissan website: YouPlus - Nissan Ownership - Owners Area | Nissan
⦁ Enter email address and password
⦁ Click "Sign In" button

(2) Complete ownership check:

⦁ If logged into account, click on button to view your vehicle's profile
⦁ Scroll down and click "Connect" button
⦁ Go to new tab that opens and start ownership check process:
⦁ Review instructions on page
⦁ Click "Get Started"
⦁ Go to vehicle and turn on ignition
⦁ If vehicle has touchscreen system, wait for disclaimer and accept
⦁ Ensure vehicle has network coverage by checking car icon in top right corner of navigation system
⦁ Car icon should be white with signals coming out
⦁ Check ownership check tab and wait for process to complete successfully or fail (it can take some time)
⦁ When pop up is completed successfully or not successfully, click "OK"
⦁ If successfully activated, page refreshes itself

If you have difficulties completing the ownership check, please look at the car icon in the top right corner of the navigation system:

⦁ Car icon should be white with signals coming out
⦁ This indicates vehicle has network coverage
⦁ If car icon is grey, vehicle in an area with no signal
⦁ Drive around until car icon is white with signals coming out
⦁ If car icon grey with line, strike, or axe through the it
⦁ TCU (Telematics Control Unit) not activated
⦁ Note if TCU not activated, vehicle cannot communicate to data centre
⦁ Contact your local Nissan dealership for a “TCU Reset” to activate TCU

(3) Activate subscription:

⦁ If not on subscription page already, click button for vehicle's profile page
⦁ Scroll down and click "Connect"
⦁ New tab will open in browser
⦁ Go to this tab to go to subscription page
⦁ If on subscription page, check if there is green text that says "Active", subscription already actived (so do not do the below); otherwise, do the below:
⦁ Click "Select" on a subscription
⦁ Click "Subscribe"
⦁ Confirm you wish to subscribe in the pop up that appears

(4) Download NissanConnect EV app:

⦁ If not already done, download NissanConnect EV app on an iPhone or Android smartphone
⦁ Log into app using You+Nissan account’s email address and password

If you can't complete the steps above for some reason, provide us with:

⦁ Email address in You+Nissan account
⦁ Confirmation that correct VIN is in account
⦁ Do so by looking for VIN along bottom of windshield or on driver's door pillar
⦁ Rules out incorrect VIN being on a document
⦁ Screenshot of any error message or step where difficulty occurs
⦁ Image of navigation system showing car icon
⦁ Date/time of last occurence of issue

Hope this helps!