Sometime last year I received a notification about my Nissan LEAF and an issue with the level 3 “fast charge” port on my vehicle. A potential fire hazard.
That notice had put a damper on my plans to drive to the Outer Banks here in beautiful North Carolina. The trip had originally been to go over the weekend, leaving on Saturday morning and returning on Sunday evening.
I was last at the Outer Banks in 2010, when I joined my father for a sailboat trip down the East Coast.
We traveled along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) for most of the trip, but did visit the island with the wild horses and some other ports along the way. On the mainland side, I quite enjoyed our brief stop in Oriental, NC.
Charging my Car
Being able to fully charge the car midway along the trip was a key part of my plan. With just regular level 2 charging, I would need 12 hours to get around a 60% battery charge.
It takes a full day to go from 20% to 100% with the trickle charger and a household outlet, on my Nissan LEAF.
An Accident
Another impending roadblock on my travel plans is my mum’s recent shoulder injury. She fell and tumbled on some steps outside an apartment complex. The torn ligaments and other issues will require surgery to repair.
That means around 6-8 weeks for recovery before she can use her arm again. There will be rehabilitation therapy as well.
I certainly can’t drive off on an adventure while my mums hurt.
Nissan’s Offer
One bit of good news is that after 7 months of waiting, there is now a software fix for the level 3 charging problem.
It’s not a complete fix apparently, as some vehicles still display an error message if the battery alerts while charging.
The silver lining here is that Nissan is offering to either replace the battery or buy back the whole car if the error message appears after getting the software fix.
Ideally this fix works.
I’ve only had my car for 2.5 years and logged about 12k miles on it. Thinking back now, I’ve only used level 3 charging on two occasions in the time I’ve owned it.
So I’m hopeful that there won’t be any issues with the fix.
