Nissan Leaf 24 Hour Test Drive
Discussion
I noticed that Nissan were offering a 'no strings' 24 hours test drive on their 100% electric Leaf - an actual car (not some stupid quadricycle) with five doors, five seats, air con, sat nav, etc etc, and decided to give it a go, more out of curiosity of this new 'engine' technology than anything else.
I collected the car yesterday and off we went for a busy saturdays driving; shopping trip, take mother to see grandmother, take kids to park etc etc and I have to say I was very impressed!
Firstly - the car. It's not some stupid plastic go kart, it's a car, a proper car, just with an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine. The controls are very similar to a normal automatic, you just select drive, neutral, reverse or 'eco' drive (where the power is restricted to save the battery). We managed to fit three adults and two kids (complete with car seats) and a fortnights shopping in comfortably. I also managed 80 miles city driving with an indicated 40 miles to spare. The car can (so I'm told) be charged in 12 hours for around £2-3. That's a potential 120 miles (although whether this would be actually achieveable I'm unsure - I didn't run it 'dry') for a maximum of £3. Not bad!
Secondly - the motor. It's fabulous. The equivalent of 100bhp is available at any speed. The way it sets off is incredible although the sensation of acceleration is very dulled by the linear power delivery, and the speed is difficult to determine (without looking at the speedo!) due to the absolute silence coming from under the bonnet.
In a nutshell I thought it was a cracking little car. It was specced like a top of the range focus/astra/megane etc and was similarly priced (with the governments £5000 helping hand). Unfortunately though it would be of no use to me whatsoever as I occasionally like to venture more than 50 miles from my home rendering the thing utterly useless, which is a shame. The running costs would be very good (no fuel no tax) although depreciation uncertainty and battery longevity would really put me off, but I think this is a first reasonable crack at a car we are all likely to be driving in another decade or so when oil prices/tax inevitably price most of us off the road.
I'm not convinced by the environmental argument either. Yes it burns no fuel during its life, but the power station the provides the energy does! Although I'm sure one large modern power station is more efficient than 10,000 combustion engines. Also all those nasty battery chemicals can't be that environmentally friendly, but maybe I'm wrong!
Still, a bloody good go Nissan.
I collected the car yesterday and off we went for a busy saturdays driving; shopping trip, take mother to see grandmother, take kids to park etc etc and I have to say I was very impressed!
Firstly - the car. It's not some stupid plastic go kart, it's a car, a proper car, just with an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine. The controls are very similar to a normal automatic, you just select drive, neutral, reverse or 'eco' drive (where the power is restricted to save the battery). We managed to fit three adults and two kids (complete with car seats) and a fortnights shopping in comfortably. I also managed 80 miles city driving with an indicated 40 miles to spare. The car can (so I'm told) be charged in 12 hours for around £2-3. That's a potential 120 miles (although whether this would be actually achieveable I'm unsure - I didn't run it 'dry') for a maximum of £3. Not bad!
Secondly - the motor. It's fabulous. The equivalent of 100bhp is available at any speed. The way it sets off is incredible although the sensation of acceleration is very dulled by the linear power delivery, and the speed is difficult to determine (without looking at the speedo!) due to the absolute silence coming from under the bonnet.
In a nutshell I thought it was a cracking little car. It was specced like a top of the range focus/astra/megane etc and was similarly priced (with the governments £5000 helping hand). Unfortunately though it would be of no use to me whatsoever as I occasionally like to venture more than 50 miles from my home rendering the thing utterly useless, which is a shame. The running costs would be very good (no fuel no tax) although depreciation uncertainty and battery longevity would really put me off, but I think this is a first reasonable crack at a car we are all likely to be driving in another decade or so when oil prices/tax inevitably price most of us off the road.
I'm not convinced by the environmental argument either. Yes it burns no fuel during its life, but the power station the provides the energy does! Although I'm sure one large modern power station is more efficient than 10,000 combustion engines. Also all those nasty battery chemicals can't be that environmentally friendly, but maybe I'm wrong!
Still, a bloody good go Nissan.
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