Nissan Leaf

[ChrisB]

Nah Turnigys wont cut it with my driving :)

I like the way they take off from a standstill as well,no gearchanges and 100% torque available straight away:)

A battery (30kw) is about £6500 i think,but that wouldnt be of concern as they have an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty anyway and i would be getting car new and on Lease deal.

Its absolutely not a car i would want to own once its a few years old,and the depreciation on them is insane;)

[james_2k]

Sounds like a wise plan!

[ChrisB]

Just an update,i have had one on extended testdrive and ordered one as am so impressed with it.Its being built in Sunderland in 3 weeks and i will have it the end of the month.

Ive gone for the top of the range Tekna one with the 30kw battery,and now likely to buy it at end of 3yr term so with this in mind specced it up to my liking which i wouldnt have done if i was planning to hand it back and as such would have just sought the cheapest option to get one on the road.

Been following EV car forums and relevent news stories and the developments in this area of EV vehicles is astonishing.

Also had a Toyota Auris Hybrid on demo out of interest but that was complete and utter shite compared to driving the Nissan,although of course the Toyota had no range concerns.

The range of the Leaf is ample for what i require but i will still be keeping my petrol and diesel cars too although these will be much less used now of course.

[leckylee]

Chris

Nissan is a good choice for reliability I should know as I was at Nissan's research center for 2 years so can vouch for that.

Lee

[Grumpy]

[QUOTE=ChrisB;1209867] but i will still be keeping my petrol and diesel cars too although these will be much less used now of course.[/QUOTE]
So have you got it yet?
I was wondering if it can ever make sense financially to get an electric car if you also keep your existing petrol/diesel cars? Depreciation, servicing and insurance etc on a car of that value must set you back easily £3000 or £4000 a year which unless your miles were sky high would far outweigh the saving on petrol or diesel. If your miles were that high an electric is not much use anyway due to range.

Seems to me like it could really only make financial sense if you could replace your petrol or diesel car rather than supplementing them... no?

[leckylee]

Grumpy

I agree with you about the cost but someone has to start the revolution

[ChrisB]

[QUOTE=Grumpy;1210865]So have you got it yet?
I was wondering if it can ever make sense financially to get an electric car if you also keep your existing petrol/diesel cars? Depreciation, servicing and insurance etc on a car of that value must set you back easily £3000 or £4000 a year which unless your miles were sky high would far outweigh the saving on petrol or diesel. If your miles were that high an electric is not much use anyway due to range.

Seems to me like it could really only make financial sense if you could replace your petrol or diesel car rather than supplementing them... no?[/QUOTE]

Picking it up tomorrow (Tues 23rd),im keeping old cars as they owe me nowt and quite happy to keep them taxed,MOTd insured etc and getting little use and they also hold a bit of sentimental value to us.

I was going to buy a Volvo V40 Rdesign D4,so woulda also run this as a third car but always been interested in going electric when i think the time is right.The running cost of the Leaf alongside any Diesel car is much lower so i am gonna be saving on 'fuel costs'.

To sum it up,the car is incredible to drive,its just insane how refined it is and the smoothness and power/torque delivery is brilliant.(think nitro vs electric heli).

Also i have spent more on the hobby in the last 3 years than this car would cost to buy outright with baloon payment.This is my new hobby now,not spent a bean on helis since April and dont intend to either,in fact packing the hobby in totally is looking more likely for me now,flown once in 8 weeks coming from flying every week,i dont miss it one bit but im fired up totally now in a way 'helis' have never made me about getting my hands on this car:)

[Grumpy]

While most of the electricity that you recharge them with comes from burning fossil fuels then i'm not sure how much sense it makes from the environmental argument either?

But in the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I have a dog in this fight. I work for an oil company, IMHO we should all be compelled by law to drive V8 gas guzzlers:wink:

[ChrisB]

[QUOTE=leckylee;1210864]Chris

Nissan is a good choice for reliability I should know as I was at Nissan's research center for 2 years so can vouch for that.

Lee[/QUOTE]

Cheers Lee

Yes reliability on the car is generally excellent,of course it has a 3 year unlimited milage warranty,free servicing and free roadside assistance if needed.Also the battery has 8 year 100,000 mile warranty.

[ChrisB]

[QUOTE=Grumpy;1210874]While most of the electricity that you recharge them with comes from burning fossil fuels then i'm not sure how much sense it makes from the environmental argument either?

But in the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I have a dog in this fight. I work for an oil company, IMHO we should all be compelled by law to drive V8 gas guzzlers:wink:[/QUOTE]

Agreed,not interested in the enviroment but the car is of course technically only as green as power put into it,but read several books on it and if electricity was produced by burning coal the pollution caused to generate it works out 65grams CO2 per mile so less than a hybrid.

The cost to charge it up '100 to 120 miles' ish is £3 on my current tarrif but im getting a cheaper one.

To add those pollution amounts are 'pit to wheel' so including pollution caused by mining the coal,transporting the coal and losses on the power grid,charger.

Live status of how our Grid is being supplied by the various methods.

[url]http://nationalgrid.stephenmorley.org[/url]

[leckylee]

[QUOTE=ChrisB;1210878]Agreed,not interested in the enviroment but the car is of course technically only as green as power put into it,but read several books on it and if electricity was produced by burning coal the pollution caused to generate it works out 65grams CO2 per mile so less than a hybrid.

The cost to charge it up '100 to 120 miles' ish is £3 on my current tarrif but im getting a cheaper one.

To add those pollution amounts are 'pit to wheel' so including pollution caused by mining the coal,transporting the coal and losses on the power grid,charger.

Live status of how our Grid is being supplied by the various methods.

[url=http://nationalgrid.stephenmorley.org]National Grid: Live Status[/url][/QUOTE]


Chris have you got solar?

[ChrisB]

No Lee,i have looked into this but wont be charging during daylight hours really,the trickle charger unit pulls 3.3kw so a 4kw array could in theory give me free miles.

The general concencus seems to be getting a good energy tarrif with lower overnight rates to charge with.

I am getting a smart meter fitted soon and some energy companies already offer a tarrif for electric car owners with a good offpeak rate like E7 is.

[leckylee]

Well you could get 2 Leaves and charge 1 on one day and then the other another day :sneakiness:

But seriously you are right, it's a shame battery storage is not quite there or you could charge it at night?

Trickle charge 3kW, how long would that take to charge I'm intrigued?

There is a idea for the future in that when electric vehicles are plugged in the utility company would divert power from plugged in vehicles (may be a feed in tariff there) and then you could charge them cheaply at night.

Although you then would be cycling your batteries and at present that's not good, come on Tesla get moving with battery technology.

Lee

[ChrisB]

Its a 30kwh battery i think usable is about 27kwh or so,from flat its a 10hr charge ish.

With the 3pin power unit its limited to 10Amps but i have had one of the dedicated charge units fitted in my garage at home thats 16A,also getting one installed by Pod Point at Clares place next month(FOC,thanks nice uk govt grant) these are much easier to use and a tad quicker.

Will certainly look at solar in the future,i intend to stay EV car now and already eyeing up the Tesla Model 3 or new Chevy Bolt.:)

The fast chargers available at Motorway svs etc or around town typically charge at 50KW,the regenerative braking on the Leaf maxes out at 30KW also.

I have looked into this so much my head hurts;)

But good Youtube channels i recommend are Fully charged which is Robert Llewelyn from Red Dwarf thats a brilliant channel for info,regarding the Leaf in particular,electric leaf man,and a chap called Ian Sampson, all excellent reference material.

[ChrisB]

This is a Fully charged episode,an interview with chap who runs OLEV and shows where UK wanna go with this.


[url]https://youtu.be/2wLXV6IBlQ4[/url]