Nissan Leaf

[leckylee]

Sounds ace.

Now I believe that the way forward is as follows.

The car manufacturers need to get together and decide that everybody uses the same batteries and these are owned by the fuel companies, so you drive into a charging station they remove your battery and install a charged pack or 2 if you have a larger car and then you drive away, it should take no longer the we currently take to fill up with fuel.

What's going to happen when we see a big take up in electric vehicles, people are going to be queuing to get charged.

Also think of the power consumption for charging all these vehicles or batteries, they would all have to have a large scale PV Solar plant and or wind turbine attached to the charge station.

All feasible just time and money in the way.

Lee

[ChrisB]

Yes agreed,one way or another its coming.

VW is on about dropping Diesel engines and concentrating on EV or Hybrid,the new Hybrid Passat and Golf are already out as is the EV golf with more to follow.

The writing is on the wall for Diesels with tougher regs and bans coming in certain areas.

This is the general idea for future charging [url]http://insideevs.com/ev-hub-uk-to-provide-fast-charging-and-dont-wasted-time-of-the-driver/[/url]

[Grumpy]

[QUOTE=leckylee;1210894]
Also think of the power consumption for charging all these vehicles or batteries, they would all have to have a large scale PV Solar plant and or wind turbine attached to the charge station.[/QUOTE]

I just did a few calcs for solar.

If you assume a reasonably busy 24 hour 'refill station' handling 1000 cars a day (less than one per minute). Each car lets say needs 20KWh of charge adding to it's battery.

Based on the solar panel performance figures quoted here: [URL="http://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/how-much-electricity-can-i-generate-solar-panels"]How Much Electricity Can I Generate with Solar Panels?[/URL] it would take 20,000 square metres of panels to power that single station (5 acres). Plus of course these are average figures. In the winter you would need something like double that amount of panels, and even then if you had a very gloomy overcast days you would still run out of charge and have to turn cars away.

So how practical is it really?

[ChrisB]

Very true possibly,i will let the powers that be sort these things out,i will just plug mine in not really caring whats being burnt or irradiated to generate it as i have no control over it so not worth worrying about:)

[muscleflex]

You guys seen this?
[url=http://blog.greenflag.com/2016/electric-car-phev-drivers-face-5-charge-top-motorways/#more-4306]Electric car and PHEV drivers to face £5 charge to top up at motorways - Green Flag[/url]

[leckylee]

[HR][/HR]

I'm not saying that you can rely on renewables completely but it all helps.

[ChrisB]

[QUOTE=muscleflex;1210967]You guys seen this?
[url=http://blog.greenflag.com/2016/electric-car-phev-drivers-face-5-charge-top-motorways/#more-4306]Electric car and PHEV drivers to face £5 charge to top up at motorways - Green Flag[/url][/QUOTE]



Yeh old news,its been free for 5 years so peed a few owners who were 'freeloaders'.

I dont think the rapid network should have been free to use in the first place,i wont as a rule need to use any of them as have two houses i can charge from,one each end of my usual commute:)

Which is now on fuel cost aspect 60% cheaper than running petrol or derv cars proven with better to come still when i get onto an offpeak tarriff compared against todays fuel prices.

And Oh boy,the off the line acceleration:D sat at the lights,quiet as a mouse lights change,floor it and whoosh your off:D

The Torque that comes online as a petrol or diesel engine gets up the rev range is delivered instantly,the Torque on the Leaf equates to an average 2.5 V6 but its how its there in a blink of an eye that gets you grinning.

Had an arse in a beemer 3 series this morning roar up alongside me at a set of lights on motorway exit,he looked at my car seeing what it was and i saw him kinda giggle and he was slipping clutch and revving car lights changed and i just slammed the old right foot down and i totally left him standing:)

As my next exit was quarter of a mile away he never caught me up.

[ChrisB]

Hey Lee

They are starting the build on Battery storage to help balance grid.

[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/26/eight-uk-battery-projects-win-funding-from-national-grid/]How Britain will keep the lights on[/url]

[leckylee]

Hey Chris

Where did you get your charge point and how much was it?

You've got me interested now LOL!!!

[ChrisB]

Ok i bought mine on ebay and electrician friend fitted it.


[url=http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chargemaster-home-EV-car-charger-dsi-ev16p-/252510049327?nav=SEARCH]Chargemaster home EV car charger dsi ev16p | eBay[/url]
The one going into Clares place is being fitted by podpoint
and is free.

[url]https://pod-point.com/home-electric-car-charging-points[/url]

It takes a lot of looking into and research,i highly recommend the youtube channels i posted earlier,and on the Leaf,the connected services back to Nissan and the linked stuff to your mobile phone like turning on aircon/heating remotely to cool/warm car ready is brilliant plus all the performance and usage data.

[ChrisB]

Theres also the ability to program/plan a route on your phone/pc and then upload this to the car so its stored ready for you when needed.

[Mike Sanders]

How is the leaf going ChrisB, now that you have had it a while?

[ChrisB]

Love the thing,its brilliant.

Its amazing to drive,and i have run it for 2 weeks now and not used a fuel powered car,i was spending £30 to £35 a week on fuel.

Over the two weeks i have consumed approx £12 to £15 in extra electricity doing the same mileage.

All i can say is anyone who is thinking about an electric car of any make,go book a testdrive in one and see for yourselves.:)

Oh this morning was the first time ive driven it on proper rain on main roads,,,Christ you dont realise how noisy all that water spraying up is :D

[ChrisB]

Keep seeing this kind of story pop up everywhere now,its down hill now for Diesels.

[url=http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN11C1MD?feedType=RSS&feedName=GCA-GoogleNewsUK&google_editors_picks=true]Exclusive - Renault sees diesel disappearing from most of its European cars | Reuters[/url]

And it could get worse for VW.

[url]http://www.hl.co.uk/news/2016/9/6/brussels-explosive-dieselgate-decision-can-bankrupt-volkswagen-for-starters[/url]

[ChrisB]

Some cheap deals being knocked out now on used.

Almost a free car,easy to save that amount on fuel bill.

[url]https://speakev.com/threads/used-2013-leafs-for-100-deposit-99-a-month.19886/[/url]