Thread: Nissan Leaf
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Old 14 Jul 2017, 18:59 (Ref:3751254)   #12
Mike Bell
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Few penneth the from me-

Yes, Volvo announcement was that all their cars would have an electric motor by 2019 or whatever year. This could be anything from a 48V mild hybrid with petrol ICE (no diesel) to full BEV.

Used Nissan Leafs are available for reasonable money or lease costs, as are early Renault Zoe models. Both have less range than the latest versions, but are perfectly acceptable where most charging will be done at home.

London appears to be slowly getting to grips with on street charging. Other cities seem painfully slow. The infrastructure needs higher government priority if they want the swing away from ICE to increase. Just simply announcing (Queens Speech recently) that they 'wanted more charging points at service areas and fuel stations' is pretty disappointing- who's going to pay for it unless they (we) do? I suspect we will never see chargers at established fuel stations due to lack of space and safety requirements. It would have to be a new build.

A lot of effort is being put into research on 'inductive' charging, where a car just drives over the charging coils set into the road. Renault are running trials on the idea, with a US company also working hard on the tech- to sell on if it works!

Battery tech improvements will hopefully double the range of small cars in the next few years. It's relatively easy now to get a useable range in a 5m 2.5 tonne saloon or SUV, not so easy in a 1250kg 4m hatch........

I'm sure UK RFL bands will be adjusted over time so BEVs aren't exempt, and one has to wonder if the current grants will disappear as well. At the moment some manufacturers are giving good incentives to buy their electric cars, as their requirement to meet future average emission targets will depend on it.

I've now got first hand experience of BEVs, as a racing friend is now on his 3rd Tesla Model S, after having one of the first imported to the UK. The latest is a P100D, which has the highest output battery pack that can be fitted, until technology changes. He recently borrowed a new Model X SUV with towbar and we used it when racing at Brands. It made easy work of his laden Dastle Racebox! My own 'daily driver' (after legs, bicycle or scooter) is now an i3 (pure electric) and it is a very impressive motor car......
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