We've gone to The Dark Side!

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Not THAT Dark Side, but the non-ICE Dark Side!

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned...  It's quite nice though!

 

For the Luddites, it is an 80Kw plug in Nissan Leaf Tekna for my Good Lady.

 

[Blatman]

You're dead to me...

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

😢 In mitigation it is for the Good Lady who had more or less given up driving. I thought an EV was about as simple a car to drive as possible to gently ease her back into the driving seat. I thought that I would not be really interested but it has so many toys and so many unknowns that I find I'm Googling for information about charging, battery health, how to treat the battery as gently as possible, etc. It's a whole new world...  😲

[DonPeffers]

It is the future and it will be interesting to learn about battery range and if affected in very cold weather.

 

You could give us a running report maybe in a few months.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Roger Wilco! 

[corsechris]

I think the only criticism (of a technical nature!) that gets levelled at the Leaf is “Rapidgate”.  Looks are an entirely subjective matter so I won’t comment on those.

 

Teslabjorn on YouTube is about to do one of his reviews on the new Leaf, worth a watch I’d imagine. I like his no nonsense style and honesty, although I did get a bit impatient with him when he started moaning about having to pay tax on his second free Tesla. Hard to be sympathetic about that TBH, especially when you consider he also has two more on the way when they start making Roadsters. 

 

Hope you enjoy the EV experience. I bought a Mercedes PHEV 3 years ago and really enjoy the silent EV bit. Would have preferred a Tesla S but it was too big and too expensive. If I was buying now, it would 100% be a Tesla Model 3.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

I am using the EVSE cable with the 13a plug on it currently ( ! ), so Rapidgate is unlikely to be a problem. The battery isn't a 40kWh one either. Range anxiety could be a worry for me because I fret when my 'phone is less than 70% 😧 The advice is to habitually limit the charge to 80% and not below 20%. Obviously these limits can be exceeded if necessary but regular 100% - 1% and frequent rapid charges will degrade the battery faster. My wife was only really happy driving three cars: her Singer Chamois from the seventies, my Midget of the same era, and her diesel Escort Ghia of more recent times. This Leaf is about Escort size and bristles with cameras for parking. Couldn't be easier...

 

It is f*****n' ugly though! 😖

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

9 minutes ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

It is f*****n' ugly though! 😖

 

Agreed, if that was a baby, the midwife wouldn't know which end to slap first!

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

33 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

 

Agreed, if that was a baby, the midwife wouldn't know which end to slap first!

The parents need the slap!

[geoffd]

Mrs D has a Leaf, and loves it!  It certainly saves us about £150 per month in fuel - and I don't notice much change in the electricity bill.  We have solar panels which may help at bit.

 

It's good fun to drive round town, much quicker off the line than many people expect.  So long as you don't think of it as a racing car, it does its job very well.  Range does come down when it's cold or when you use the air con.  At the moment the indicated range is about 90 miles, but in winter abut 65.  That's more than my Westfield does on a tank of petrol!

 

Geoff

[Alfascozzesi]

Just drove a Tesla 3. Pretty ugly on the outside to my eye initially but that is because the ques you normally look for, grills, scoops aren’t there. Still not sure about it to be fair.

 

Inside is a really nice place to be,it drives nicely, seats are sublime (almost sunk into them and remind me of my old Saab sofa), drivetrain is really immediate, 300 mile range, 4 wheel drive and due to the tax laws and dependent on the tax rate you pay really affordable. Would make financial sense with cheaper “fuel” but can’t quite get my head right with it!!!!

 

Obviously as a family car as is big and spacious enough and not a weekend car.

[cast iron]

great cars, enjoy the nearly zero service costs, brake pad wear minimal due To regen brakes, no oil change and filter to replace. No cooling system to leak. no exhaust system to replace, no air filter to change ...oh and 100% torque from the off

[RICHARD+PHILIP]

will be interesting to see how you get on with it. All the online reviews seem to focus on the tree hugging side of things and miss out on the stuff relevent to car enthusiasts

Do you rent the battery from Nissan like with Renaults? 

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

No R&P, it comes as part of the car so battery health is important. Ours has twelve bars out of twelve at about 45,000 miles so I'm reasonably happy that it will do for us. In the crowded south-east with interminable traffic jams, an auto makes sense, and one that use no energy when stationary makes even more sense. One feature that is useful is a speed limiter because the silence seduces you into exceeding the limit too readily. The only servicing items are coolant change at five years and then subsequent four year intervals, pollen filter and brake fluid changes. Pads and discs have an easy life, as should tyres. The tyres have to be correct for EVs because they have low rolling resistance. Once the outlay is funded there's very little more bar electricity for charging. My supplier (Scottish Power) offers an EV tariff if you have dual fuel, monthly DD payments, and a smart meter. It is 4.736p compared with 13.033p per unit between 12 midnight and 5am. You'd also need a dedicated charge outlet on a separate supply as it draws c.7kW potentially. The standard 2nd generation Leaf has a 3.kW charger on board (ours) but some have been uprated to 6kW and that allows for future vehicles. Finally, I shall buy a loose type 2 to type 1 cable because Japanese cars have different connectors from EU ones and this cable allows use of more public outlets than relying on the tethered cable at the charger in Tesco or wherever.

[cast iron]

I brought one home from work and changed it on the 3 pin socket in the garage, it din't pop the breaker nor was there any sign of the cable to the socket overheating