Nissan Leaf Acenta
Discussion
Its not exactly a normal Pistonheads car, so bear with me. This thread is about my 2014 Nissan Leaf Acenta, bought from new as our second car.
Why a Leaf? In a word - MONEY. I had a decade of company cars which went from the usual Mondeo and Vectra reps fare up to an E91 3-series and then an F10 5-series. Then I changed job and joyously handed over the keys to my 520d and freed myself from the 57k miles a year prison and took a job 10 miles away that came with a car allowance. We decided we needed a car with three seats across the back (3 kids, 2 in child seats) and bought a Citroen Grand Picasso. Fabulous practical family fun bus, but hateful in every other way. After 18 months of neither of us wanting to drive it we decided it had to go. A change in role meant that my mileage was going to drop again (from 25k to around 15k a year), so we started looking at options.
And the one that stood out was a Leaf. I wanted to buy something out of Sunderland (support local industry) and had decided the hatebus was my last ever diseasal. So when a friend started talking about the great deal he got on a Leaf we looked at it, did the maths, and discovered it would save us something like £1,500 a year. My wife has a 2009 Hyundai i30 which has done 6k a year in that time so is like new, but her mileage is now less than 4k a year. So the plan was on, buy a Leaf for her to mainly use, I take the i30 and we leave the petrol engined car at home as much as possible.
We've had it nearly a month now so I can talk about what its like to live with:
1. Driving. Its fun! Sensationally quiet even at motorway speeds, rapid with full torque available straight from a stand, and the lack of gearing makes driving completely effortless. In an urban environment that makes it as quick as you ever need - repeatedly I get either boy racer types or middle aged cocks in Audis seeing the Leaf and changing lanes behind me on the lights or roundabout to get past me. And they can't - the Leaf beats everything in the real world (why? Because in the real world 0-60 times are irrelevant unless you sit revving the engine then dumping the clutch).
2. Interior. Its a full size hatch with 5 seats and plenty of room. Dashboard is dominated by a large touch screen in the centre console which displays everything from nav map through climate settings to energy use.
In front of you are two displays - one showing battery temperature, charge, range, power gauge, the other speed and eco-meter.
The circular display top left is the eco-meter - the more bars displayed the more efficient your driving. It then grows a tree in the middle the better you do.
In the back there's plenty of room for 2 (we will use the i30 on the rare occasions that all 3 of my kids travel together with a pronounced transmission tunnel in the middle. Of course its not transmission its batteries, but having had several beemers its a familiar setup.
3. Under the bonnet. In case you are wondering yes it has a bonnet and yes you can open it.
And under the bonnet is the engine! Just that this is a traction motor not internal combustion, but its in the same place as a normal car and has all the same ancillaries as a normal car (screen wash, brake fluid bottle, 12v battery etc etc). Leaf's are made on the same line as the Juke, and the bodyshells go along the line the same as ICE cars with the Leaf batteries and powertrain inserted at the point the Juke engine and gearbox go in.
4. Charging. Two types of charging on the car. First is standard charging. You get a mains lead with the car which plugs in anywhere (here in my garage) and charges the car overnight (about 10 hours from flat)
I also bought a lead to plug in to the public charger points (Nissan should give you both but don't!) for £160. My car has a standard 3.3kW charger on board which means at a 7kW public charger it charges from flat in about 6 hours). I chose not to pay Nissan £850 for the uprated 6.6kW charger circuit (as its virtually all profit margin for them) - had I done so I'd have received the lead for public chargers and not the home wall lead (....!) and public chargers would charge the car from flat in 3 hours. As we don't expect to use public chargers a huge amount it didn't make sense to upgrade. Anyway, here is what a charger point looks like and the car plugged in at my local pool.
Here in the north east its free to park at a public charger point (where its pay to park for other cars) and free to charge up....
The other charging option is rapid charging, where Ecotricity have fitted charging stations at most motorway services (all by the end of 2014) and other locations. At these you plug an angry looking monster connection into the car, the charging station makes a whooshing sound, and the car charges from flat to 80% in around 25 minutes. You can get it to charge to 100% but it takes twice as long as the machine throttles the current at the end to protect the battery. As with the other chargers these are free to use.
In both cases the car sends me an email when its finished charging, and I can set timers or switch charging (or climate control) on and off from my phone.
5. Design. Its a marmite car. Personally I love the swoops in the arches, the side profile, the outrageous curve on the rear screen. I've even got used to the bulbous headlights - they mark the corners of the car and shape the airflow over the mirrors.
From the drivers seat visibity out front is good, with small windows in the B pillar helping. Out back its a typical high tail hatch but the reversing camera makes that not be a probem.
Range? 100 miles or so on a full charge. Car has averaged 145 miles a week since arriving, so range anxiety isn't exactly a problem - its a second car! I am going to do a few longer trips in in soon, and will report back.
So, plenty of updates to come about usage, range, charging etc and happy to answer questions, laugh at caveman abuse etc....
Why a Leaf? In a word - MONEY. I had a decade of company cars which went from the usual Mondeo and Vectra reps fare up to an E91 3-series and then an F10 5-series. Then I changed job and joyously handed over the keys to my 520d and freed myself from the 57k miles a year prison and took a job 10 miles away that came with a car allowance. We decided we needed a car with three seats across the back (3 kids, 2 in child seats) and bought a Citroen Grand Picasso. Fabulous practical family fun bus, but hateful in every other way. After 18 months of neither of us wanting to drive it we decided it had to go. A change in role meant that my mileage was going to drop again (from 25k to around 15k a year), so we started looking at options.
And the one that stood out was a Leaf. I wanted to buy something out of Sunderland (support local industry) and had decided the hatebus was my last ever diseasal. So when a friend started talking about the great deal he got on a Leaf we looked at it, did the maths, and discovered it would save us something like £1,500 a year. My wife has a 2009 Hyundai i30 which has done 6k a year in that time so is like new, but her mileage is now less than 4k a year. So the plan was on, buy a Leaf for her to mainly use, I take the i30 and we leave the petrol engined car at home as much as possible.
We've had it nearly a month now so I can talk about what its like to live with:
1. Driving. Its fun! Sensationally quiet even at motorway speeds, rapid with full torque available straight from a stand, and the lack of gearing makes driving completely effortless. In an urban environment that makes it as quick as you ever need - repeatedly I get either boy racer types or middle aged cocks in Audis seeing the Leaf and changing lanes behind me on the lights or roundabout to get past me. And they can't - the Leaf beats everything in the real world (why? Because in the real world 0-60 times are irrelevant unless you sit revving the engine then dumping the clutch).
2. Interior. Its a full size hatch with 5 seats and plenty of room. Dashboard is dominated by a large touch screen in the centre console which displays everything from nav map through climate settings to energy use.
In front of you are two displays - one showing battery temperature, charge, range, power gauge, the other speed and eco-meter.
The circular display top left is the eco-meter - the more bars displayed the more efficient your driving. It then grows a tree in the middle the better you do.In the back there's plenty of room for 2 (we will use the i30 on the rare occasions that all 3 of my kids travel together with a pronounced transmission tunnel in the middle. Of course its not transmission its batteries, but having had several beemers its a familiar setup.
3. Under the bonnet. In case you are wondering yes it has a bonnet and yes you can open it.
And under the bonnet is the engine! Just that this is a traction motor not internal combustion, but its in the same place as a normal car and has all the same ancillaries as a normal car (screen wash, brake fluid bottle, 12v battery etc etc). Leaf's are made on the same line as the Juke, and the bodyshells go along the line the same as ICE cars with the Leaf batteries and powertrain inserted at the point the Juke engine and gearbox go in.
4. Charging. Two types of charging on the car. First is standard charging. You get a mains lead with the car which plugs in anywhere (here in my garage) and charges the car overnight (about 10 hours from flat)
I also bought a lead to plug in to the public charger points (Nissan should give you both but don't!) for £160. My car has a standard 3.3kW charger on board which means at a 7kW public charger it charges from flat in about 6 hours). I chose not to pay Nissan £850 for the uprated 6.6kW charger circuit (as its virtually all profit margin for them) - had I done so I'd have received the lead for public chargers and not the home wall lead (....!) and public chargers would charge the car from flat in 3 hours. As we don't expect to use public chargers a huge amount it didn't make sense to upgrade. Anyway, here is what a charger point looks like and the car plugged in at my local pool.
Here in the north east its free to park at a public charger point (where its pay to park for other cars) and free to charge up....
The other charging option is rapid charging, where Ecotricity have fitted charging stations at most motorway services (all by the end of 2014) and other locations. At these you plug an angry looking monster connection into the car, the charging station makes a whooshing sound, and the car charges from flat to 80% in around 25 minutes. You can get it to charge to 100% but it takes twice as long as the machine throttles the current at the end to protect the battery. As with the other chargers these are free to use.
In both cases the car sends me an email when its finished charging, and I can set timers or switch charging (or climate control) on and off from my phone.
5. Design. Its a marmite car. Personally I love the swoops in the arches, the side profile, the outrageous curve on the rear screen. I've even got used to the bulbous headlights - they mark the corners of the car and shape the airflow over the mirrors.
From the drivers seat visibity out front is good, with small windows in the B pillar helping. Out back its a typical high tail hatch but the reversing camera makes that not be a probem.
Range? 100 miles or so on a full charge. Car has averaged 145 miles a week since arriving, so range anxiety isn't exactly a problem - its a second car! I am going to do a few longer trips in in soon, and will report back.
So, plenty of updates to come about usage, range, charging etc and happy to answer questions, laugh at caveman abuse etc....
2. Had 18 months left on my M&S flexi loan for the Citroen hatebus which was £300 a month. Plus up to another £100 a month accrued towards tyres brakes servicing and MOT etc. Leaf costs £170 a month plus £70 for the battery lease
3. I'm not clear how residuals will hold up, and the batteries are effectively untested compared to years of engine research. So a PCP is literally zero risk - if the batteries die its under warranty in my ownership, if it depreciates lots its Nissan's loss. On a 22,500 mileage cap I'll never have to replace tyres or brakes due to wear, its free servicing, its free VED. It literally costs nothing.
3. I'm not clear how residuals will hold up, and the batteries are effectively untested compared to years of engine research. So a PCP is literally zero risk - if the batteries die its under warranty in my ownership, if it depreciates lots its Nissan's loss. On a 22,500 mileage cap I'll never have to replace tyres or brakes due to wear, its free servicing, its free VED. It literally costs nothing.
A few things:
1. Overtaking shenanigans. What I refer to are single carriageways in 30/40 limits where they widen to two lanes through the lights/roundabout then immediately drop to one lane again. I'm not blocking people, what I'm doing is surprising them. Certain kinds of drivers think Leaf = s l o w. They're not being held up by me but think they have to get past the milk float. So they make a last minute dart into lane 2 to blast me away from the lights or through the roundabout. I don't have a problem with such driving as I do it myself.
What I do in the Leaf is not give them a chance to pass me. For example lights turn green. Audi wassock thinks his car is faster. And it is. On paper. In the real world his transmission has to gather itself and change gear. Mine just goes, so before he has a chance to be blocked by me he's already left well behind. Don't do it all the time, but it does put a smile on my face.
2. Costs. From completely to flat to fully charged would cost £2.70 at home. But its never completely flat so call it a couple of quid. And we use public charge points wherever possible to subsidise this further (I even charge the car at the local school sometimes - its a 3 minute walk and the chargers are public access). So I calculated it as around 1.75p per mile in electricity costs so far. Vs 12.5p a mile in my petrol i30
We recently had a home charging station installed using the government subsidised scheme. This has been suspended due to fraud (
installers fitting chargers to houses knocking door to door for takers and then banking the government grant and will relaunch in September as less subsidy only for EV owners.
Anyway, several national companies do it, and most fit you a charger box with a car specific lead on them. As there are several different standards of connector (think VHS vs Betamax vs Video 2000) I didn't want this, so paid £95 "upgrade" to have a socket fitted. That means that instead of the Type 1 lead coming off the box (only fits a Leaf or Prius plug in, and may not fit future models) I get a type 2 socket as found on every public charge point.
Using my purchased lead this connects into the charger on the car under the flat at the front (note the electric blue on the Nissan logo....) which I've just popped open
Underneath are two sockets. On the left is the monster ChaDeMo (Charge on the Move) socket for the rapid chargers on motorways. On the right is the Type 1 socket for public chargers, my home charger, and the mains adaptor.
And finally the car hooked up.
And no, you can't steal the lead. Its electrically locked whilst charging, and there is a mechanic lock on the car socket (via internal switch) so the lead is 100% secure.
1. Overtaking shenanigans. What I refer to are single carriageways in 30/40 limits where they widen to two lanes through the lights/roundabout then immediately drop to one lane again. I'm not blocking people, what I'm doing is surprising them. Certain kinds of drivers think Leaf = s l o w. They're not being held up by me but think they have to get past the milk float. So they make a last minute dart into lane 2 to blast me away from the lights or through the roundabout. I don't have a problem with such driving as I do it myself.
What I do in the Leaf is not give them a chance to pass me. For example lights turn green. Audi wassock thinks his car is faster. And it is. On paper. In the real world his transmission has to gather itself and change gear. Mine just goes, so before he has a chance to be blocked by me he's already left well behind. Don't do it all the time, but it does put a smile on my face.
2. Costs. From completely to flat to fully charged would cost £2.70 at home. But its never completely flat so call it a couple of quid. And we use public charge points wherever possible to subsidise this further (I even charge the car at the local school sometimes - its a 3 minute walk and the chargers are public access). So I calculated it as around 1.75p per mile in electricity costs so far. Vs 12.5p a mile in my petrol i30
We recently had a home charging station installed using the government subsidised scheme. This has been suspended due to fraud (
installers fitting chargers to houses knocking door to door for takers and then banking the government grant and will relaunch in September as less subsidy only for EV owners. Anyway, several national companies do it, and most fit you a charger box with a car specific lead on them. As there are several different standards of connector (think VHS vs Betamax vs Video 2000) I didn't want this, so paid £95 "upgrade" to have a socket fitted. That means that instead of the Type 1 lead coming off the box (only fits a Leaf or Prius plug in, and may not fit future models) I get a type 2 socket as found on every public charge point.
Using my purchased lead this connects into the charger on the car under the flat at the front (note the electric blue on the Nissan logo....) which I've just popped open
Underneath are two sockets. On the left is the monster ChaDeMo (Charge on the Move) socket for the rapid chargers on motorways. On the right is the Type 1 socket for public chargers, my home charger, and the mains adaptor.
And finally the car hooked up.
And no, you can't steal the lead. Its electrically locked whilst charging, and there is a mechanic lock on the car socket (via internal switch) so the lead is 100% secure.
I was going to post a couple of pictures showing internal layout.
Front
The small windows in the door pillars are surprisingly useful - you can see the kerb and lines very well through them. Seats in this mid-level trip are soft velour and very comfortable. Plastics are generally very good, centre console has two proper cupholders, a big cubby under the armrest, and a mouse instead of a gear stick. P button on top for park, then slide right and forward for reverse, right and back for drive. Do it again and its in B mode which makes the throttle all you need. Works as throttle as expected, or lift off and you get heavier than normal battery regen which brakes the car down quickly. And there's neutral too.
Usual controls on the wheel including voice activation (which works well), a range button which shows how far you can go on the nav screen, and a big "Eco" button. This puts the car in relaxed mode dampening the throttle, increasing regenerative braking a touch, and and makes the climate control (if switched on) work on a gentler eco mode.
And in the back? Well, no complaints from my kids. But the middle seat is for small people even without the child seats in. But so many cars are the same (my F10 Beemer had a narrower rear bench.....)
Front
The small windows in the door pillars are surprisingly useful - you can see the kerb and lines very well through them. Seats in this mid-level trip are soft velour and very comfortable. Plastics are generally very good, centre console has two proper cupholders, a big cubby under the armrest, and a mouse instead of a gear stick. P button on top for park, then slide right and forward for reverse, right and back for drive. Do it again and its in B mode which makes the throttle all you need. Works as throttle as expected, or lift off and you get heavier than normal battery regen which brakes the car down quickly. And there's neutral too.
Usual controls on the wheel including voice activation (which works well), a range button which shows how far you can go on the nav screen, and a big "Eco" button. This puts the car in relaxed mode dampening the throttle, increasing regenerative braking a touch, and and makes the climate control (if switched on) work on a gentler eco mode.
And in the back? Well, no complaints from my kids. But the middle seat is for small people even without the child seats in. But so many cars are the same (my F10 Beemer had a narrower rear bench.....)
Another point - no stupid bloody electronic handbrake. In a car that's all new tech you'd think they'd have been tempted to fit one. I literally had nightmares about the F10 with that switch, and did once come back to it in a multi storey where clearly I hadn't put it on and it had rolled into the car in front and shunted it (no damage happily).
No, instead the Leaf has a foot operated parking brake with a proper ratchet. What that means is this. Pull up to lights. Left foot on parking brake. Right foot off brake and car pul
S forward at a stand (like a torque converter auto it moves forward with the brake off). Car sits at a stand in complete silence whilst chav Corsa sits to your right ticking over.
You see the lights for the joining road start to change. Both feet to the pedals. Left sits on top of the parking brake, right on the throttle. Left foot pushes brake against the detent and holds. As lights change simply lift your left foot as you plant your right and get every torque instantly. Leave everything behind you, lift off to ensure you remain in 30/40 limit. Repeat.
On the Leaftalk forum people are trying "launch control" where its either plant foot in neutral then nudge mouse back into D, or left foot on brake and lift as right foot is buried. In the real world I'm yet to find another car faster 0-30 or even 0-40. And if there is something its something sat revving at a stand before slipping the clutch as I sit silently.
No, instead the Leaf has a foot operated parking brake with a proper ratchet. What that means is this. Pull up to lights. Left foot on parking brake. Right foot off brake and car pul
S forward at a stand (like a torque converter auto it moves forward with the brake off). Car sits at a stand in complete silence whilst chav Corsa sits to your right ticking over.
You see the lights for the joining road start to change. Both feet to the pedals. Left sits on top of the parking brake, right on the throttle. Left foot pushes brake against the detent and holds. As lights change simply lift your left foot as you plant your right and get every torque instantly. Leave everything behind you, lift off to ensure you remain in 30/40 limit. Repeat.
On the Leaftalk forum people are trying "launch control" where its either plant foot in neutral then nudge mouse back into D, or left foot on brake and lift as right foot is buried. In the real world I'm yet to find another car faster 0-30 or even 0-40. And if there is something its something sat revving at a stand before slipping the clutch as I sit silently.
Greg - I don't do it all the time. But as for them being blissfully unaware, there's something about a last minute dart to sit in the lane alongside and then glaring (and in one case laughing) at me that makes me think they are very much aware.
They certainly are when I'm gone and they are still sat there. Point is that you don't need that kind of power takeoff very much but it's nice to have it - isn't that why people buy a Golf GTI when in the real world the 1.4 is perfectly quick enough?
They certainly are when I'm gone and they are still sat there. Point is that you don't need that kind of power takeoff very much but it's nice to have it - isn't that why people buy a Golf GTI when in the real world the 1.4 is perfectly quick enough?
I'm doing Teesside - Rotherham - Teesside in it on Saturday so we shall see how it gets on. Planned for a two stop race with three stop an option.....
As for security you physically cannot remove the lead whilst charging as its electrically locked into both the charger and the car. There is also a mechanical lock switch on the car so that it can't be removed until the car is unlocked. So Johnny Scrote (as encouraged by Jeremy Clarkson) is out of luck
As for security you physically cannot remove the lead whilst charging as its electrically locked into both the charger and the car. There is also a mechanical lock switch on the car so that it can't be removed until the car is unlocked. So Johnny Scrote (as encouraged by Jeremy Clarkson) is out of luck
Remember that the car wasn't bought for long distances, so I'm doing the run to see how it goes (and cos my wife is away for the weekend in the i30). But assuming 2 stops that's around 45 minutes added to the trip. And with a single charge at home before I set off its a cost of £2 in electricity vs £25 in petrol (12.5p per mile x 200). So, 45 minutes extra time, £23 saved, so an effective salary of £30.66 an hour.
Anyway, Nissan will loan you a car with a combustion engine for 14 days each year as part of Leaf ownership. You're guaranteed at least a Note or bigger, and it's free.
Anyway, Nissan will loan you a car with a combustion engine for 14 days each year as part of Leaf ownership. You're guaranteed at least a Note or bigger, and it's free.
@simoted Chargers are free in Stockton (confirmed in writing) and I believe are free in other council areas as that was the agreement when they got the funding for a charging network. It won't stay free forever which doesn't bother us as we don't need to use them particularly.
@Disco You. You have a funny way of calculating running costs. It's pence per mile - yes I'd recharge it afterwards but that's electricity used on the next trip. Do you calculate petrol bills as petrol used in the trip PLUS petrol to refil the tank? No? Then why try and do that for the Leaf.
Which cost £14,140 as you asked before any deposits or payment or trade in were made by me. I'm sure that you are right and £14k is really expensive for a family hatch......
@Disco You. You have a funny way of calculating running costs. It's pence per mile - yes I'd recharge it afterwards but that's electricity used on the next trip. Do you calculate petrol bills as petrol used in the trip PLUS petrol to refil the tank? No? Then why try and do that for the Leaf.
Which cost £14,140 as you asked before any deposits or payment or trade in were made by me. I'm sure that you are right and £14k is really expensive for a family hatch......
Update 1:
Had an argument with a high kerb. The kerb decided it was higher than it looked, the Leaf decided it was lower than it looks? The result? A centimetre long chip in the very bottom of the bumper that you can only see if you get on your hands and knees, and the leading edge of the thin plastic undertray has went slightly away from the back of the bumper but is still securely bolted on
Reasonably condfident I can either glue the chip back down or sand and smooth it away. If I can be bothered at some point as you have to go looking for it
Had an argument with a high kerb. The kerb decided it was higher than it looked, the Leaf decided it was lower than it looks? The result? A centimetre long chip in the very bottom of the bumper that you can only see if you get on your hands and knees, and the leading edge of the thin plastic undertray has went slightly away from the back of the bumper but is still securely bolted on
Reasonably condfident I can either glue the chip back down or sand and smooth it away. If I can be bothered at some point as you have to go looking for it
Update two:
Had to drive to Rotherham and back (90 miles away) and my wife is away for the weekend in the petrol car, so off I go in the leaf. Plan was to charge fully at home, do 76 miles to Woolley Edge on the M1 (76 miles), then 66 miles to Rotherham then A630, A1(M) to Wetherby (66 miles) then home (46 miles) - 2 charges to 80%.
Which was fine on paper. My route south from Stockton is down the A19 with a hill climb then decent towards Thirsk, and at that point my range was still +21 miles over my distance to Woolley Edge despite it having started raining. Similar position as I passed Wetherby Services with its charger. Then the heavens really opened and traffic started bunching. With "heavy delays" on the M1 before Woolley Edge according to the matrix signs and my range looking tight, I decided to divert to IKEA at M62 J27. 6 miles shorter and on the flat, and arrived with 12% battery left having done 70 miles from home.
IKEA have two chargers in the lower level car park!
Charge to 80% took about 22 minutes, time for a wee, a drink and a hotdog. Back onto the M62 to rejoin my planned M1 south and more long queues - this time the amazing never before sight of a police car having pulled someone over. I'd decided that I should ditch the slow and infrequent charges plan and just go for it as the rain wasn't helping anyway. So instead of cruising at 60mph as I'd started the day I was cruising at 75mph instead. As I do in any car I'm feathering the throttle uphill, then a brief burst to speed up at the top then coast. For example on the long downhill on the M1 passing through J37 I've got my foot just hovering on the throttle to maintain momentum but its actually regenerating the battery.
Made my pick up in Rotherham and headed back, again going 70-75 indicated (which I know at real GPS speeds is about an 8% overread). Pulled into Woolley Edge northbound for a lunch stop, had Burger King and came out after 20 minutes of charge to find another Leaf sat waiting! We had a chat for a couple of minutes until mine hit 80% and stopped, and before I had a chance to pass the charger lead a third Leaf pulled up for an impromptu flashmob
Another short leg this time only as far as Wetherby. More tipping rain and hoofing dropped my battery to 44% by the time I stopped, but top up to 80% took just 12 minutes before the final leg home.
I know, a lot of stops. But it cost me the £2 to charge the car at home before I set off - all the other charges were free. Anyway, have learned the answer to slow vs fast in a Leaf - fast. And if that means more stops then so what - better to get a decent move on and have a 12 minute top off than go slow and end up stopping anyway. Would I rather have done this in a petrol car? Well it would have been quicker. But substantially more expensive with less sense of adventure....
Had to drive to Rotherham and back (90 miles away) and my wife is away for the weekend in the petrol car, so off I go in the leaf. Plan was to charge fully at home, do 76 miles to Woolley Edge on the M1 (76 miles), then 66 miles to Rotherham then A630, A1(M) to Wetherby (66 miles) then home (46 miles) - 2 charges to 80%.
Which was fine on paper. My route south from Stockton is down the A19 with a hill climb then decent towards Thirsk, and at that point my range was still +21 miles over my distance to Woolley Edge despite it having started raining. Similar position as I passed Wetherby Services with its charger. Then the heavens really opened and traffic started bunching. With "heavy delays" on the M1 before Woolley Edge according to the matrix signs and my range looking tight, I decided to divert to IKEA at M62 J27. 6 miles shorter and on the flat, and arrived with 12% battery left having done 70 miles from home.
IKEA have two chargers in the lower level car park!
Charge to 80% took about 22 minutes, time for a wee, a drink and a hotdog. Back onto the M62 to rejoin my planned M1 south and more long queues - this time the amazing never before sight of a police car having pulled someone over. I'd decided that I should ditch the slow and infrequent charges plan and just go for it as the rain wasn't helping anyway. So instead of cruising at 60mph as I'd started the day I was cruising at 75mph instead. As I do in any car I'm feathering the throttle uphill, then a brief burst to speed up at the top then coast. For example on the long downhill on the M1 passing through J37 I've got my foot just hovering on the throttle to maintain momentum but its actually regenerating the battery.
Made my pick up in Rotherham and headed back, again going 70-75 indicated (which I know at real GPS speeds is about an 8% overread). Pulled into Woolley Edge northbound for a lunch stop, had Burger King and came out after 20 minutes of charge to find another Leaf sat waiting! We had a chat for a couple of minutes until mine hit 80% and stopped, and before I had a chance to pass the charger lead a third Leaf pulled up for an impromptu flashmob
Another short leg this time only as far as Wetherby. More tipping rain and hoofing dropped my battery to 44% by the time I stopped, but top up to 80% took just 12 minutes before the final leg home.
I know, a lot of stops. But it cost me the £2 to charge the car at home before I set off - all the other charges were free. Anyway, have learned the answer to slow vs fast in a Leaf - fast. And if that means more stops then so what - better to get a decent move on and have a 12 minute top off than go slow and end up stopping anyway. Would I rather have done this in a petrol car? Well it would have been quicker. But substantially more expensive with less sense of adventure....
A few basic things I learned with today's trip:
1. Don't use cruise control. Like on an ICE car it tends to put more throttle on than needed on hills and that means worse economy. Some marques have better cruise circuitry than others, this one is not the best
2. Eco mode is fine on motorways (I have it off usually) as you don't need mega throttle inputs to cruise.
3. If you do need a prod, use kickdown. Have discovered a detent in the throttle pedal travel just like on an automatic - go through it whilst in Eco mode and it overrides and fgives you full power.
4. The speedometer lies. Comfortably under reads by 10mph, so 66mph indicated is 60mph actual.
1. Don't use cruise control. Like on an ICE car it tends to put more throttle on than needed on hills and that means worse economy. Some marques have better cruise circuitry than others, this one is not the best
2. Eco mode is fine on motorways (I have it off usually) as you don't need mega throttle inputs to cruise.
3. If you do need a prod, use kickdown. Have discovered a detent in the throttle pedal travel just like on an automatic - go through it whilst in Eco mode and it overrides and fgives you full power.
4. The speedometer lies. Comfortably under reads by 10mph, so 66mph indicated is 60mph actual.
Its a valid point - will EV owners spend more on overpriced coffee? In my case we'd planned Burger King for lunch anyway so that was going to happen (albeit the original plan would have been at Wetherby on a 2 stop race....).
Personally I'm not going to be spending vast amounts of cash at the services - bring it with you is better. Or, if you are a smoker, just see a 10 minute zap and dash as a fag break!
Personally I'm not going to be spending vast amounts of cash at the services - bring it with you is better. Or, if you are a smoker, just see a 10 minute zap and dash as a fag break!
Another rapid charge at IKEA today. As noted earlier the electricity is free but my purchase of a drink and a hotdog appears to be compulsory....
Anyway, took a back roads route home today for my first hoonage in the Leaf. And it's good news - put the motor on B mode for boosted regenerative braking and it's like driving a peppy hatchback in 3rd or 4th gear - point and squirt acceleration off the bends, instant engine braking when you lift off.
And the car despite having an archaic torsion beam rear axle seems happy getting chucked into bends. The low centre of gravity keeps body roll down without puke-tastic suspension that seems to plague "sporty " German cars, and the understeer is predictable and easy to manage. The best bit is that with so much regenerative braking it's not too harsh on range either
Anyway, took a back roads route home today for my first hoonage in the Leaf. And it's good news - put the motor on B mode for boosted regenerative braking and it's like driving a peppy hatchback in 3rd or 4th gear - point and squirt acceleration off the bends, instant engine braking when you lift off.
And the car despite having an archaic torsion beam rear axle seems happy getting chucked into bends. The low centre of gravity keeps body roll down without puke-tastic suspension that seems to plague "sporty " German cars, and the understeer is predictable and easy to manage. The best bit is that with so much regenerative braking it's not too harsh on range either
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