Nissan Leaf - 7 day test drive - a blog of my experience

[autofocus]

Hi there,

Finally got round to writing a conclusion following on from my extended test drive.

I began this experiment to see if the Leaf was a vehicle that could cope with my annual mileage of approx 35,000 miles. The simple answer to this is YES it can. Would if work for everyone doing this mileage, probably not.

The reasons for this are pretty simple.

1) My daily commute sees me get on the M6 at J15 and get off at either J18 (if going to the office) or J19 (if going to Manchester). Doing this sees me pass either 1 or 2 fast charging points (Keele or Knutsford services). This means should I be desperate I will have access to a charging point.

2) If I was to buy a Leaf then a charging point at the office would be a must. This doesn't have to be a rapid charger, but one that could charge the car in say 4 hours would be ideal. The three pin plug is ok but this might limit me to being in the office all day when sometimes I have to only be there for half a day and a 4/5hr charge on the three pin plug would just not work

3) If I am not in the office or on the M6 then I tend to be in Manchester. Manchester council have a superb EV charging vehicle network with loads of easy to reach charging points right across the city and the suburbs. These range from rapid chargers to points that will charge the car to full in around 4 hours. These are superb and with free access to them coupled with free parking in some locations its a real winner.

Had I not got a job in Manchester and worked in somewhere equivalent distance from home (say Chester) then I could not really consider using a Leaf as my daily car. The access to charging points perhaps clouded my view of the car as working in Manchester really makes it easy.

I enjoyed my time with the car, its quiet, nippy, well equipped and a pleasure to drive. Constantly monitoring of the range against distance to travel does become second nature but not sure if over time this would get annoying.

So the car does what I wanted it to......but the burning question is will I be buying one ?

Well putting it simply no I won't.

Why well a few reasons: -

1) The deals on the Leaf at the moment while very competitive for most people doing minimal mileage just don't work when you try and set up a PCP with 36,000 miles per annum The monthly prices were stupid.

2) It seems really hard to actually buy one. They are selling really quickly and I cannot seem to find one to buy cash even if I wanted one. Most of the cars are being taken on PCP and my employer just simply wants to write a cheque for one rather than worry about PCP's etc. The dealer I spoke to advised me to take it on a PCP and then pay it off after a few months as that way I get the added deposit contribution. Why cannot they do this on a cash deal ?

3) My working life is pretty busy, having to monitor the range all the time and planning days around charging points etc is not realistic. There are days where everthing cancels at the last minute and I have to go somewhere other than where I had planned. This would cause problems if there was no points or more importantly time to charge the car.

4) This is not really anything caused by the car. Since the test drive my personal circumstances have changed and I will soon have a new addition to the family (a puppy). My wife drives a Mini so my car will have to be upgraded to something bigger so as to be able to take the dog out and about as it grows. The Leaf is just to small for this.

5) Uncertainly. At the moment I can park and charge for free in Manchester. How long before this changes. On street parking is expensive and if I had to pay for this and charging then I am cancelling out the whole reason to get an EV.

6) Speed. I tend to drive on motorways around 75-80mph where traffic etc permits. You simply cannot do this in a Leaf for any great distance, it zaps the range far too quickly. I found myself not going over 65mph which saw me in amongst the artics etc which is not something I felt comfortable with.

I am really glad I took the car for a week. Its been a great experience and hopefully anyone reading this blog who doubted how useable an EV was in real life might be thinking again. It will do 36,000 miles a year, you would have to slow your life down a bit and plan a bit more. But it can be done.

Hope you have enjoyed this thread, and if anyone has any questions please post them here and I will answer as best I can.

Regards

Tim

[rovermorris999]

An interesting report Tim. Point 5 is important I think. It works at the moment because there are few EVs around. What happens if there are lots? I think subsidies and 'free' electricity would dry up plus where would the space for all the charging points come from?
Until battery capacity improves radically and charging time reduces to a few minutes then I think they'll be a niche product for city use, excellent though they may be for that purpose. A pity really, an electric motor is ideal otherwise.

[gangzoom]

Thanks for your blog Tim

Your experienced reinforced my beliefs that a Leaf just isn't pratical as a commuter car if your doing more than 50-60 miles a day. But I have ended up ordering one because for me, with my daily commute barely 10-20 miles the Leaf is perfect, especially given the cheap Nissan deals at the moment.

You certainly are braver than me taking a Leaf out on regular long trips, I don't think my one will leave the City limits in my ownership period

I think an EV with an 200 mile range would work for 99.5% of the public, it's just a shame the only EV with that range is a £50k Tesla S....Which ever manfacuter that can get a mass market EV to hit 200 miles for £30-40K will do very well for them selves.

I think the likes of BMW/Audi must be seriously worried about Tesla getting there first....Look at how big Nokia was before Apple got into the mobile market....Seeing how EVs develop in the next 5 years will very interesting

[The Mad Monk]

autofocus said:

Hi there,

anyone reading this blog who doubted how useable an EV was in real life might be thinking again.

Thank you for very full and carefully written reports.

I have selectively quoted a section of your last report, because that is the bit that I would totally disagree with.

The constant stopping for the odd 30 minutes while you do a quick charge. I simply couldn't be doing with that. An electric car might suit for someone with a very disciplined regine, charging points at home and at work, no more than say, a 30 mile commute and absolutely no need to do unexpected trips.

I think that in the hurly burly of most peoples everyday lives an electric car is just not a practical proposition.

[teabelly]

Thanks for the 7 day test reports. I makes interesting reading.

What range did you find at 70mph speeds?

[LordFlathead]

Great write up, and a lot of detail. Good luck in your quest for your perfect vehicle

[autofocus]

teabelly said:

Thanks for the 7 day test reports. I makes interesting reading.

What range did you find at 70mph speeds?

Hi there,

Not sure what total range would be as I only ever did for say 10 miles at a time but the range did drop noticeably. I reckon probably 50 miles (may be slightly more) at a solid 70mph.

Regards

Tim

[teabelly]

autofocus said:

Hi there,

Not sure what total range would be as I only ever did for say 10 miles at a time but the range did drop noticeably. I reckon probably 50 miles (may be slightly more) at a solid 70mph.

Regards

Tim

Thanks. That range is bit of a close call in Winter even on what appears to be a good leaf journey ie 22 miles to destination. If you can't charge at other end then at normal dual carriageway speeds you'd be cutting it fine or running out of juice every time you did the journey. I have regular journeys like that so it just isn't quite good enough.

I need something that will reliably and consistently do 60 miles on one charge at 70mph with the heater on in the dead of winter. I think a hybrid is a better solution for me.

[Charlie1986]

gangzoom said:

Thanks for your blog Tim

Your experienced reinforced my beliefs that a Leaf just isn't pratical as a commuter car if your doing more than 50-60 miles a day. But I have ended up ordering one because for me, with my daily commute barely 10-20 miles the Leaf is perfect, especially given the cheap Nissan deals at the moment.

You certainly are braver than me taking a Leaf out on regular long trips, I don't think my one will leave the City limits in my ownership period

I think an EV with an 200 mile range would work for 99.5% of the public, it's just a shame the only EV with that range is a £50k Tesla S....Which ever manfacuter that can get a mass market EV to hit 200 miles for £30-40K will do very well for them selves.

I think the likes of BMW/Audi must be seriously worried about Tesla getting there first....Look at how big Nokia was before Apple got into the mobile market....Seeing how EVs develop in the next 5 years will very interesting

ive been reading this with interest as I was thinking about this, but visiting both Nissan and Lexus over the weekend I am having a test drive next weekend in a IS300H thanks to Gangzoom for his write up,

Tesla is a Interesting group there making huge headways and have some very good ideas for the future which BMW and Audi will struggle to match if they get them right. I look on it similar to when social media started Tesla are very similar to Twitter they will hit it big its just the start off EV and Hybrid tech

[jimsco]

teabelly said:

Thanks. That range is bit of a close call in Winter even on what appears to be a good leaf journey ie 22 miles to destination. If you can't charge at other end then at normal dual carriageway speeds you'd be cutting it fine or running out of juice every time you did the journey. I have regular journeys like that so it just isn't quite good enough.

I need something that will reliably and consistently do 60 miles on one charge at 70mph with the heater on in the dead of winter. I think a hybrid is a better solution for me.

I've owned a LEAF now for 3 months and have to say my experience disagrees with this. I commute 55 miles each way everyday(charge at work). 51 of those miles are on motorway at true outside lane speed with the heater on and the range has never been a problem.

[rovermorris999]

Charlie1986 said:

ive been reading this with interest as I was thinking about this, but visiting both Nissan and Lexus over the weekend I am having a test drive next weekend in a IS300H thanks to Gangzoom for his write up,

Tesla is a Interesting group there making huge headways and have some very good ideas for the future which BMW and Audi will struggle to match if they get them right. I look on it similar to when social media started Tesla are very similar to Twitter they will hit it big its just the start off EV and Hybrid tech

Twitter didn't need a big advance in physics and chemistry to get it to work, just a bit of software. Not really comparable. All Tesla currently do is bung loads of batteries in a big, expensive car. Their famed battery factory is relying on economies of scale and few minor advances in battery capacity to reduce costs. Unfortunately if EVs really take off, expect to see the cost of the raw materials used in the batteries zoom up. The mining of them isn't exactly 'green' either. You'll be kissing goodbye to the subsidies and expect them to be liable for congestion charging too if they get popular. An EV causes as much congestion as anything else so perhaps the CC will be renamed 'pollution tax'. Also expect road pricing as the tax take from dino fuels declines.
I've no problem with EVs and if I lived in a city I'd possibly have one if the public transport wasn't good enough. But they're only viable currently thanks to subsidy and tax regimes and they're not going to 'save the planet'.

[teabelly]

jimsco said:

I've owned a LEAF now for 3 months and have to say my experience disagrees with this. I commute 55 miles each way everyday(charge at work). 51 of those miles are on motorway at true outside lane speed with the heater on and the range has never been a problem.

That's useful to know. How many miles did you have left when you arrived usually?

[gangzoom]

rovermorris999 said:

I've no problem with EVs and if I lived in a city I'd possibly have one if the public transport wasn't good enough. But they're only viable currently thanks to subsidy and tax regimes and they're not going to 'save the planet'.

Who said anything about 'save the planet', my current 380bhp BMW 335i if driven hard will swallow fuel at 10 mpg, you can literally see the fuel gauge drop before your very eyes!! Unless you have really really deep pockets, you simply cannot afford to drive a high performance ICE car any where near it's maximum capability....A Tesla S costs no more than a BMW M5, it returns the same performance, but instead of costing £100 to refuel every 200 miles, the Tesla will cost 10% of that. I couldn't careless what battery technology Tesla go for, as long as electricity remains cheaper than petrol I'm happy

[pboyall]

teabelly said:

That's useful to know. How many miles did you have left when you arrived usually?

I do 60 miles a day but it's not all motorway, I have about 16-20 miles of A/B-roads in there. I have about 20 miles left when I get home.

Mind you I also like to make progress on the backroads ...

[Martin_M]

Great thread Tim - thanks for taking the time!

What sort of deals are people getting on here?

[DSLiverpool]

Martin_M said:

Great thread Tim - thanks for taking the time!

What sort of deals are people getting on here?

Topic under this one - entitled Leaf Deals http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Martin_M]

DSLiverpool said:

Martin_M said:

Great thread Tim - thanks for taking the time!

What sort of deals are people getting on here?

Topic under this one - entitled Leaf Deals http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Thanks very much - didn't notice it!

[ncbbmw]

pboyall said:

teabelly said:

That's useful to know. How many miles did you have left when you arrived usually?

I do 60 miles a day but it's not all motorway, I have about 16-20 miles of A/B-roads in there. I have about 20 miles left when I get home.

Mind you I also like to make progress on the backroads ...

My leaf is 4 months old today, 6566 miles so far, approx 80 miles per day
40 miles each morning, 28 miles M/way, speed varies from Stopped to 80, usually arrive with about 40% left, as low as 30% if the M/way is empty.

I recharge at work.

Left work tonight on 93% charge and did 65 miles mixed driving, arrived home on 15% and an estimated 14 miles..

[rudebhoy]

Charged mine overnight , range indicator read 82 , 2 previous mornings it had said 90 after overnight charge, Bit colder this morning so thought that could be it, 7 miles down the road indicator said 75 all fine there , got to work having covered 10 miles and indicator said 79 . very odd, seems that even though it said 82 first thing it was really at 90 where it was the previous days. Outside Temp was a bit higher when i arrived at work,