Second hand Zoe vs Leaf ~£4-7k mark advice

[theog87]

mattcov said:

You can get an App called LeafSpy Pro and a Bluetooth or Wireless ODB2 adapter to check the state of health of the batteries. Personally on the leaf I would check:


1. Battery bars all present (all 12).

2. Check heating works fully.

3. Check aircon/cooling works fully.

4. Make sure sat nav works and the SDcard is there.

5. See if the remote connectivity works if possible.

6. Make sure the 2 charging leads are present - both granny lead (13a plug) and type1 to type 2 leads are there.

7. Make sure you can charge it at a rapid charger.

Apart from that just check the MOT history online. Isn't much else to check - coolant is a service item along with pollen filter. Obviously have a look at tyre condition, brake pads and disc condition.

Cant answer the solar + battery storage yet - my math for them doesn't stack up just yet... I've just swapped Electric to Outfox the Market ~ 9p per kwh unit.

Once again many thanks for this + other contributors. I'm still fairly new to forum so sorry for not quoting other peoples messages.

Bassed on info so far, I think it's very interesting about outfoxthemarket.co.uk. Currently I think I'm paying ~17.56p with ecotricity, so maybe going back to E7 (whilst it's around) if I were to charge over night.

FYI I sat in a soul. My wife who is from the east says that's the stereo typical car that grannies drive, but over here I think it looks great. Maybe that could be a possible second EV for future usage. Quite expensive up front. I think maybe a ~£8k leaf might be nice if I can get one.

As others have said, I think I may have worked out things in the past and PV + battery might be just another chunk of money I could invest else where for time being. I can all add up.

One more question - if I do shift back to E7, and get a charging point installed (still don't know much about this) is there away way to connect the car when I get back from work (~5:30pm) and then it delays charging until the E7 low rates click in?

[andy43]

Yes, on the 2015 Leaf we can set a timer on the touchscreen to start charging later.
Another point is the menus in the system also give you the option to only charge to 80% - I believe this is supposed to increase battery life.

[gangzoom]

As above, virtually all EVs have a option to set up when to start charging and how much to charge. You can leave the car plugged in for as long as you like and it woudlnt take more electricity.

This is my car charging record from last week, as you can see time plugged in has no relation to energy used - I simply plug in when I get home around 6 and unplug when I leave for work next day.

[ihailey]

On my second Zoe, previous one was a leased which I swapped for a 40kWh battery owned one. Zero issues and I do 20k miles / year in the 40kWh one. Personally wouldn't recommend buying any EV with a leased battery after seeing the contracts. Leasing the EV and the battery is ok I just don't get the concept of buying part of a car.

[SCEtoAUX]

ihailey said:

On my second Zoe, previous one was a leased which I swapped for a 40kWh battery owned one. Zero issues and I do 20k miles / year in the 40kWh one. Personally wouldn't recommend buying any EV with a leased battery after seeing the contracts. Leasing the EV and the battery is ok I just don't get the concept of buying part of a car.

Quite. Buy the car, lease the battery, and you're basically being held to ransom.

It was for this reason I bought the battery on my Leaf before I bought the car. (Only a few days apart but no way was I going to own a chassis without being 100% sure the battery was mine).