Nissan Leaf !! (Electric Car)

[ilovemarkb]

The more the I read about these the more convinced I am to get one!! Am I missing something obvious that puts people off buying them......don't see many driving about!! ??? !!!

[Baldric]

Check out the Range, I think I read somewhere it does less than 100 miles on a charge

[bhg481]

95 miles range on motorway at 55mph - useless for me.

Nobody ever mentions the cost of a new battery. Admittedly it's guaranteed for 8 years, then what?

[RATTER15]

And what happens when they become extremely popular and suddenly hundreds of thousands of people are putting their cars on charge, will it effect electricity demands, will they cope.

[ubasses]

I think it is good if you just do local journeys. The maximum range on one charge of battery is 124 miles and then takes 8 hours to recharge at home.
Would mean if you do long trips you would have to manage your drive to ensure there are rapid chargers en route and stop for breaks at them.
My worry is if I got stuck in traffic would it last a shorter time and would I have to queue at the fuel station, making the recharging stops too long.
Probably be an excellent second car.

[Baldric]

/// The option to lease the battery lowers the initial outlay by a further £5000 and will cost buyers from around £70 per month.///
Whatcar Magazine

[ilovemarkb]

I only do about 50 miles per week

[RATTER15]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/nissan/89694/nissan-leaf-battery-replacement-to-cost-4920

[bhg481]

£70 a month is more than most people pay for petrol/diesel if they only do the short trips that electric cars are capable of. £70 will buy me over 600 miles on my 2.4 litre diesel.

[woofgang]

What is the charging station network like? There are none round me.

[Baldric]

Bit here about home chargers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/nissan/10389485/Nissan-Leaf-electric-car-long-term-review.html

[bhg481]

Nissan claim that most motorway services have chargers that will charge your car to 80% in 30 minutes. So, if you want to make a 70 mile trip on a motorway and then return you'll need two charging stops and the 2-hour round trip will take 3 hours. Great.

[SlackAlice]

bhg481
Why 2 charging stops? With an expected range of 80 miles per charge then only a charge on the way back is required. You would obviously set out with it fully charged.

[gingejbee]

Perhaps the OP can now see what puts people off!

[bhg481]

Slackalice - sorry, I didn't remember my own figures and thought 55 miles on a charge (not 95). I'd certainly be getting nervous with a 70 mile trip and would be wanting to find a re-charge station before the end of it and again on the way back. You can't do the full 95 miles, remember; you need to find a charger before then.

[bhg481]

Let me give you an example. Yesterday we had a day-trip from Reading to Lacock Abbey, about 65 miles each way. There are 2 services on the M4, Chieveley and Hungerford, between us and Lacock; Leigh Delamere services are past the exit for Malmesbury and Lacock. To make the trip we would have to stop at Hungerford services on the outward trip and either Hungerford or Chieveley on the return ie, 2 stops. An alternative would be to go through to Leigh Delamere services once but still adding around 30 mins to the trip.

[ilovemarkb]

ok thanks guys for help and advice!!! xx

[gumboil]

Well, if you fall within the mileage category per week, there's no reason at all why it should not suit you.

Ratter15's point is not an issue as a Leaf with the 30kwh battery takes only around 15 hours to charge from zero. The 24kwh hour battery takes 12 hours to charge from zero. Extrapolating has shown that even if there was a 100% takeup of this vehicle in the UK, The National Grid could cope. Furthermore, when you take into account that no vehicle is ever likely to have zero charge (unless the owner is really foolish during use), it's even less of a load on the National Grid.

Beware of one thing though. The battery in virtually all electric vehicles is leased to the vehicle owner. It's never owned by the vehicle owner. Check carefully what this means financially when the battery needs replacing either routinely or through a fault.

For me a bigger issue is the electricity suppliers proposal to increase the kwh cost during periods of high demands - put the kettle on at your peril during TV adverts!

[tonyav]

I've only seen a few around in my area and one of those belong to the local police ( want to be seen as being Green I suspect ).

[gumboil]

The other thing is that they're all really quiet during movement. I was sitting in the car when a Leaf driver moved his vehicle alongside my car in a supermarket car park. It was eerily silent and I genuinely hadn't heard it even with the window open.

This might be an issue for some people and I'd have thought it needs to be appreciated by the driver especially when young children or the elderly are walking nearby.

[ToraToraTora]

may be feasable if you do little mileage but they cost a bomb have little range and the batteries need to be replaced regularly. I don't think this form of electric car is the way to go.