Nissan Leaf

[boggissimo]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I had a good look at a new Nissan Leaf yesterday with some other mechanics at a garage near me in the UK.
The owner was singing it's praises and I can see his point but only if you are only doing local "ish" runs. Although Nissan claim 150 miles on one charge that is in an ideal situation and not in cold weather when using the heater/wipers/air con/ lights etc when that can easily be reduced to 70 miles or less.
Yes that's fine if you are popping into town and back as you don't have to plug it in at the "non existent" charging posts in my area.
Seeing that you are looking at about 30 grand to buy one new they don't seem to be very good value for money to me.
I notice that Volvo say that they are going to go all electric in two years time so maybe they know more than others in the battery department ?
Your thoughts

I have a Nissan Leaf. (I also have a Subaru Impreza and a nearly-restored BMW Isetta, in case you are wondering). As a family car, for 95% or more of our journeys it is absolutely perfect - quiet, comfortable, reliable, cheap to run, easy to drive, spacious, well equipped, fast enough, etc etc. I have it on a PCP deal for around £200 a month (which covers depreciation from new), and will hand it back in a couple of years. I charge it at home overnight (economy 7) and it costs me around £10 a month to do the ~600 miles I do commuting and for local trips per month. In warm weather you can remotely start the air conditioning, and in cold weather you can remotely warm it up, so the car is comfortable when you get in.

My current Leaf has the 30 kWh battery, and I would be confident of getting 100 miles in any weather/temperature conditions. (For the older 24 kWh battery, I would consider 80 miles the realistic 'limit' in poor conditions). With my commute of around 35 miles round trip, I recharge every three days in the summer (every other day in winter). It's perfectly manageable and much the same as keeping an eye on your fuel gauge, except you don't have to leave home to fill it up. (I do understand that not everybody has a suitable place for home charging, so for some people the logistics can be too challenging). If you have the sort of job/commitments which means you might have to drive 200 miles at the drop of a hat, then a Leaf as your only vehicle is not a good idea. But most people aren't in that situation (either they have access to another vehicle or they don't do journeys like that). Only 6% of car trips in 2014 were over 25 miles, according to this: https://www.licencebureau.co.uk/wp-c...statistics.pdf

Volvo have committed to having 'electric motors' in all their new(ly released) cars in 2019, but in most it will just be as a hybrid, probably with a small battery which will only go about 20 miles before the petrol/diesel kicks in. A bold step but not as bold as their press fanfare might have suggested.

Nobody pays £30K for a Leaf unless they are very silly; after dealer incentives, government grant etc etc the list price is more like £20-22K.

While this thread has gone off into the wider issues very quickly, if you want to ask anything about actually living with a Leaf, I'm happy to offer my experience.