Nissan Leaf Owners Please

timmaii

timmaii wrote: »

I'm interested in the Leaf as it could cover pretty much all my driving except maybe a trip to patents who live in the country about 105km away. Going one way should be ok from what I've read but I'd never make it back. I could detour to a charging point but with a small child this is not ideal so what are the options of adding a charger in their house? If I got the 6kW charger I've heard this is not compatible with the granny cable. My dad is an electrician so could probably install an aftermarket on but has anyone tried this? 1000 for an official installation sounds pretty steep.

The 6.6 kw charger would be much more useful.

I'm sure there has to be something available soon to allow plugging into a normal socket. Not something I've looked into but I must as it's an interesting question.

noelf

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Zoe will always charge in under an hour from a non qc via 20 KV ac chargers.

Zoe is quiet slow 14 seconds 0-100 I couldn't go from 10.5 second in the MK II Prius to something slower.

I had a Citroën 2cv back in the 90' s zero to 60 in 33 sec..never really bothered me as pedal was allways to the metal ...the only car I've had that I got more for it than I payed for it 3 years later. Pzg 433 gone but not forgotten

Donnelly117

Deleted User wrote: »

Zoe will always charge in under an hour from a non qc via 20 KV ac chargers.

Zoe is quiet slow 14 seconds 0-100 I couldn't go from 10.5 second in the MK II Prius to something slower.

I dont think it would bother me hugely. My current car will do 0-60 in less then half that (6.4 or 6.7 or something) of the ZOE but thats marketed as a hot hatch and the ZOE is an EV. EV's wont do sub 7s 0-60 at an affordable price for a long time. Fair enough the Model S will but the Model S Performance with decent spec in Ireland will be over 100k id imagine.

Donnelly117

Donnelly117 wrote: »

I dont think it would bother me hugely. My current car will do 0-60 in less then half that (6.4 or 6.7 or something) of the ZOE but thats marketed as a hot hatch and the ZOE is an EV. EV's wont do sub 7s 0-60 at an affordable price for a long time. Fair enough the Model S will but the Model S Performance with decent spec in Ireland will be over 100k id imagine.

It would actually be interesting to get an independent review of the Zoe 0-100 kph.

The Leaf was marketed at about 10.5 but shown later to be about 9 seconds.

While 0-100 kph time isn't so important for a commute it gives a general indication of the performance. If you need to over take etc it's nice to have a bit of extra power.

timmaii

Deleted User wrote: »

I personally would go with the 6.6 kw charging as there is far more non fast chargers than fast. 6.6 kw will reduce charge time in half from home or normal public charger.

I went looking at the Leaf today but the demo model was out so I have to wait for a few days to drive it! I hadn't realised that the standard home charging point was only the 3.7kW one and not the 6.6kW one. I'm not sure if the 6.6kW charger would be worth it as I'll nearly always be charging at home. I wonder would it affect the resale price much in the future? What did most people on here go for?

timmaii

timmaii wrote: »

I went looking at the Leaf today but the demo model was out so I have to wait for a few days to drive it! I hadn't realised that the standard home charging point was only the 3.7kW one and not the 6.6kW one. I'm not sure if the 6.6kW charger would be worth it as I'll nearly always be charging at home. I wonder would it affect the resale price much in the future? What did most people on here go for?

Yes the 6.6 kw EVSE is more expensive but worth it imo, but tbh you can always upgrade if you find that you would like faster home charging.

But having the 6.6 kw charger in the car will prove to be useful if out and about or if you go on a long drive and into any town with a charger it will charge fully in under 4 hrs V 7, that's a big time difference.

I wouldn't buy a 2nd hand Mk 1.5 Leaf with the 3 kw charger. The MK 1 is different, as it never had the option.

If you got to a fast charger and it was out of service then the normal street charger would be your only option and the difference between the 3.3 kw and 6.6 kw chargers could be the difference between making it home or not.

It is a shame the Leaf doesn't have a 20 kw charger on board as it could charge in less than 1 hr from the non fast chargers like the Renault Zoe. Maybe the MK II leaf . The Zoe charger is fantastic because it works from 3 kw up to 44 kw.

September1

timmaii wrote: »

I went looking at the Leaf today but the demo model was out so I have to wait for a few days to drive it! I hadn't realised that the standard home charging point was only the 3.7kW one and not the 6.6kW one. I'm not sure if the 6.6kW charger would be worth it as I'll nearly always be charging at home. I wonder would it affect the resale price much in the future? What did most people on here go for?

I think you are buying this car for yourself, so you would know best the scenario to use it. If you are ok with 3.3 kW then why pay extra grand for faster charging? For overnight charge even 2.2kW (domestic socket) charging is fine to get car full during night tariff.

I personally would spend extra money on this charger, both on new and second hand one. According to this forum Irish people hate paying anything for extras and having well equipped cars so you might not be able to recoup your investment. How long do you plan to keep your LEAF?

I am asking the question on leaftalk about the 6.6 kw charger and the granny cable. You'll have to buy the granny cable from the U.K somewhere.

It would be great if the ESB advise people to install 32 amp chargers in shopping centres which would make the 6.6 kw charger much more valuable but afaik all of them are 16 amp chargers.

Surely it would be better to install 32 amp chargers ? Unless it's the availability of power that's the problem.

You can buy tethered home evse which has the cable attached rather than having to unwind the included cable every time. Though I'd imaging the ESB install the most basic of basic EVSE.

OK the guys got back to me on leaftalk and the 10 amp portable evse aka Granny Cable IS compatible with the Gen 1.5 Leaf with 6.6 kw charger.

You need to make sure though that the socket wiring can take 10 amps for several hours.

So if you go to parents, in laws etc that plug could be shared with the washing machine and dryer etc but if the trip switch is rated properly all should happen is it trips.

timmaii

Hi lads, thanks for the replies and information. After weighing up all my options, I think I'll go for the 6.6kW charger. It'll probably come in handy every so often when out and about.

timmaii

timmaii wrote: »

Hi lads, thanks for the replies and information. After weighing up all my options, I think I'll go for the 6.6kW charger. It'll probably come in handy every so often when out and about.

Indeed it will come in handy and I bet you'll be glad you got it, as I said there are far more normal than fast chargers and if you get to a fast charger and it's down then most likely a normal charger isn't too far away and it could mean the difference between getting home or not.

Even going on a trip, most half decent towns now have a normal charger and plugging in for 2 hrs over lunch, dinner or while you shop will give you a decent charge.

Even the portable evse will allow you plug into the garage of a B&B over night.

timmaii

Right, new Leaf with 6.6kW charger and granny cable ordered. Now I just have to wait for 8 weeks for it to arrive.... <looks at watch>...

Sesshoumaru

timmaii wrote: »

Right, new Leaf with 6.6kW charger and granny cable ordered. Now I just have to wait for 8 weeks for it to arrive.... <looks at watch>...

Good luck with your new car

timmaii

timmaii wrote: »

Right, new Leaf with 6.6kW charger and granny cable ordered. Now I just have to wait for 8 weeks for it to arrive.... <looks at watch>...

8 weeks, are you freaking serious ? that's ridiculous !

They actually ordered the granny cable ? :eek:

Best of luck by the way, wish it were me !

reboot

paddy147 wrote: »

Dont buy an electric car.

Problem solved

You mean any electric car?,or just the one you know about and have owned?

hsilgnede

timmaii wrote: »

Right, new Leaf with 6.6kW charger and granny cable ordered. Now I just have to wait for 8 weeks for it to arrive.... <looks at watch>...

Congrats. Seems an awfully long time to wait. Best of luck with the car. You'll be surprised how quickly your range anxiety disappears.

FWIW, I find that I almost never use the slow chargers now when I'm out and about to actually get somewhere.

There are considerably more fast chargers now than there was even 6 months ago. Most areas of the country are covered and most importantly, most of the intercity routes are covered.

I use the slow chargers now if I'm worried and need just a bar of charge to be sure of getting to the fast charger, so you're talking 20 mins. The other time I use them is if I know I'm going to be gone for hours and there's a charger I'll use it to fill the car. Example about three weeks ago when I went cycling out in West Clare. I plugged in and left the car in Miltown Malby and came back to a full charge a few hours later. But it was a nice to have rather than a necessity.

hsilgnede

willynt wrote: »

Just had a test drive yesterday at Nissan Deansgrange.
Love the car!
But noticed back home that they charge €1000 for delivery and "hit the road" charges!
That's looks very expensive to me. What can justify such a price?
Has anyone negotiated anything from a Nissan dealer?

I've read of a fair few people doing well on importing 12 month old Leafs from the UK due to no VRT and hitting at the right exchange rate. Could be an option for you.

Sesshoumaru

Not done by me, but here is a guide on importing a secondhand Leaf from the UK.

http://goo.gl/2ot0Fe

Might be good for a sticky?

deandean

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Not done by me, but here is a guide on importing a secondhand Leaf from the UK.
Might be good for a sticky?

Very good document, thanks, I have bookmarked it.

They're a bit out of date though when they say "...It seems to be widely known that no battery worldwide has needed to be repaired or replaces yet. " - Remember the recent thread here about a Boardsie whose newly imported Leaf had the battery problem, though in fairness it was eventually fixed.

[edit] I stand corrected - it was a problem with the car's charger; not the battery pack.

hsilgnede

There has been a few issues with batteries in fairness. Most of the ones I'm aware of are in Pheonix Arizona and are related to the heat and I'm aware of one other case where an owner willfully abused the battery.

I'd say the % that have had to be changed or replaced is inline with or below the % of brand new traditional car models that have problems.

deandean

deandean wrote: »

Very good document, thanks, I have bookmarked it.

They're a bit out of date though when they say "...It seems to be widely known that no battery worldwide has needed to be repaired or replaces yet. " - Remember the recent thread here about a Boardsie whose newly imported Leaf had the battery problem, though in fairness it was eventually fixed.

No I his leaf had absolutely no battery problem, it was a charge controller issue.

Most battery problems have been heat related.

Nikki's Gordon Bloomfield in the uk lost her first bar after 51 k miles through misuse of fastcharging.

A lot of leaf owners on irishevowners on Facebook insisted this wouldn't happen and called me an ev hater and I'm deliberately setting out to ruin the reputation of electrics bla bla for even suggesting it would happen. Honestly it's as bad posting on that Facebook group as here sometimes.

Occasional fast charging should be fine and I would not expect a leaf battery with proper care to loose the first capacity bar until 75 k miles and more.

This doesn't mean the i3 or e golf won't loose 15 % after 140 k miles etc.

As batteries get bigger so too will their natural ability to take a faster charge and suffer less loss due to cycling.

reboot

hsilgnede wrote: »

There has been a few issues with batteries in fairness. Most of the ones I'm aware of are in Pheonix Arizona and are related to the heat and I'm aware of one other case where an owner willfully abused the battery.

I'd say the % that have had to be changed or replaced is inline with or below the % of brand new traditional car models that have problems.

Agreed ,I have noted that problem with the Leaf in the US,due to the fact the battery is air cooled.

reboot

reboot wrote: »

Agreed ,I have noted that problem with the Leaf in the US,due to the fact the battery is air cooled.

They have a so called "hot battery" for the hot U.S climate, I don;t think it;s coming to Europe, might help somewhat with excessive fast charging, though fast charging itself does have an impact.