Nissans "Big Turn Off"

[R500POP]

Nissan are running a campaign called "The Big Turn On", trying to change peoples perceptions of EV's.

So I try for an extended test drive of 48-72hrs of a Leaf & explained there is no way I'd buy one without having a decent test drive to ensure it would meet my requirements. My local dealer gave a flat "No chance, as have Nissan customer care.

So, as for changing peoples perceptions, they have a hell of a way to go yet.

[V88Dicky]

I wish some private buyer would hurry up and buy a Leaf. The only ones I've seen so far seem to be Nissan staff cars, council sponsored vehicles, or ran by some renewable type scammers company.

[Regiment]

The biggest problem with a pure EV car is that you have 2 choices, get something a bit quirky like the new Renault Twizzy or pay £30,000 for a little city car with poor range. If there was a pure EV car that performed like a Yaris, but with a 100mile range, for £12,000-£15,000, it'd be a huge success.

[R500POP]

Regiment said:

The biggest problem with a pure EV car is that you have 2 choices, get something a bit quirky like the new Renault Twizzy or pay £30,000 for a little city car with poor range. If there was a pure EV car that performed like a Yaris, but with a 100mile range, for £12,000-£15,000, it'd be a huge success.

I think you are right there, the Twizzy, for me, would make great sense. 20 miles a day commute, EV charging point in car park 5 mins from work in Bristol docks. Now I wonder if the Twizy is allowed in bus lane being a quadricycle.

[jbi]

saw my first leaf the other day, bizarrely at the petrol station though I think he was only nipping in to the shop.

[SSBB]

I don't know if the manufacturers actually expect people to switch directly to EVs. Surely Toyota has got their strategy right with the Prius and Auris (and also the Lexuses), get people into hybrids, then develop plug-in hybrids. It gently drip feeds the idea of electric vehicles being normal into public opinion.

[thinfourth2]

Regiment said:

The biggest problem with a pure EV car is that you have 2 choices, get something a bit quirky like the new Renault Twizzy or pay £30,000 for a little city car with poor range. If there was a pure EV car that performed like a Yaris, but with a 100mile range, for £12,000-£15,000, it'd be a huge success.

renault Zoe

13500 pounds (battery not included you have to rent that)

[anonymous-user]

V88Dicky said:

I wish some private buyer would hurry up and buy a Leaf. The only ones I've seen so far seem to be Nissan staff cars, council sponsored vehicles, or ran by some renewable type scammers company.

One of my wifes friends works for the council an dsays they are all scared of using the Leaf as its stranded a couple of people already!

[Captain Muppet]

R500POP said:

Nissan are running a campaign called "The Big Turn On", trying to change peoples perceptions of EV's.

So I try for an extended test drive of 48-72hrs of a Leaf & explained there is no way I'd buy one without having a decent test drive to ensure it would meet my requirements. My local dealer gave a flat "No chance, as have Nissan customer care.

So, as for changing peoples perceptions, they have a hell of a way to go yet.

Which of your driving requirements needs 48 to 72 hours to test? Surely you can learn everything just by driving it on your normal commuting route to assess the range then check your charging facitlities are suitable? What else is there to test?

[ewenm]

MonkeyMatt said:

One of my wifes friends works for the council an dsays they are all scared of using the Leaf as its stranded a couple of people already!

I'm interested in how the car managed to strand the drivers? Did something break? Did it lie about how much range it had left?

[Bill Carr]

V88Dicky said:

I wish some private buyer would hurry up and buy a Leaf. The only ones I've seen so far seem to be Nissan staff cars, council sponsored vehicles, or ran by some renewable type scammers company.

Someone at my work has bought one (about a year ago). He blogged about it, then got all defensive when people started asking about the high purchase price, limited range, environmental impact of production vs emissions, etc etc.

[R500POP]

Captain Muppet said:

Which of your driving requirements needs 48 to 72 hours to test? Surely you can learn everything just by driving it on your normal commuting route to assess the range then check your charging facitlities are suitable? What else is there to test?

Mond eve - nothing on

Tues - take daughter #2 to gym & daughter #1 to cheer
Wed - take daughter#1 to cheer
Thurs - take daughter #2 to gym
Fri - Day off

So since you ask, quite a lot, then ther's the cycle of putting on charge & seeing how that works out.

[PumpkinSteve]

thinfourth2 said:

renault Zoe

13500 pounds (battery not included you have to rent that)

Renault making an entire car that runs on electricity? oh lawd.

[sjg]

V88Dicky said:

I wish some private buyer would hurry up and buy a Leaf. The only ones I've seen so far seem to be Nissan staff cars, council sponsored vehicles, or ran by some renewable type scammers company.

Car magazine have had a long-termer for 6 months so far. It's not quite the same as buying one out of your own pocket, but they've given it a pretty good assessment so far.

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results...

[Devil2575]

R500POP said:

So I try for an extended test drive of 48-72hrs of a Leaf & explained there is no way I'd buy one without having a decent test drive to ensure it would meet my requirements. My local dealer gave a flat "No chance, as have Nissan customer care.

Was the point of this to go in with a completely unrealistic goal so that you could slag them off on PH when they said no?

[R500POP]

Devil2575 said:

Was the point of this to go in with a completely unrealistic goal so that you could slag them off on PH when they said no?

Oh dam, found out. Actually, when I bought my first Insight in 2001 Honda gave me one for a week as I was unsure as to it's suitability, so no, no unrealistic at all.

[longblackcoat]

sjg said:

Car magazine have had a long-termer for 6 months so far. It's not quite the same as buying one out of your own pocket, but they've given it a pretty good assessment so far.

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results...

Not sure that they have. The car itself is fine - it runs well, in a sort of inoffensive way - and they're happy enough with it in that sense, but the range anxiety, and the fact that you can't use an extension cable to charge it up (what do you do if you don't have a garage to charge it up in, for example) seems to demonstrate that it's not there yet.

Plus, look at how many miles they've done in it - very few compared to their normal long-termers

[Chrisw666]

I tried to get a Leaf or Peugeot ION as a trial, however in addition to the £300 a month to try the thing I was also expected to insure it, which I soon discovered was going to cost me well over £1k so I decided I was out.

I'm sure insurance will get cheaper when insurers have more data about them but I couldn't see why the costs were so high.

[jbi]

PumpkinSteve said:

thinfourth2 said:

renault Zoe

13500 pounds (battery not included you have to rent that)

Renault making an entire car that runs on electricity? oh lawd.

[thinfourth2]

longblackcoat said:

(what do you do if you don't have a garage to charge it up in, for example)

Its a very similar problem as the the one that effects the veyron

What do you do if you don't have a million pounds to buy one for exmaple


The remarkably obvious answer is


Don't buy one