Test drove A Nissan Leaf Today !

monkeysnapper

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

They've also told us dealers should not be charging for a fast charge. Are you living near Tralee? I know that dealer was trying to charge for fast charging in the past.

Yes exactly, I live in the Tralee area, they're my closest Nissan dealer,

Sucks ass really

More 2013 Updated model Pics.

awec

They need to make it look nice too. IMO the arse end of the current model is pretty awful looking.

Arciphel

Deleted User wrote: »

Active cooling is not needed in Ireland so don't worry about that.

Active cooling is what I was fishing for all right... We might work in the same industry Mad_Lad

hsilgnede

Deleted User wrote: »

Congrats, hope you post a full report !

Thanks. Will do my best. I'm crap for remembering things like this.

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Well congratulations on the new motor, I hope you enjoy it! It's a standard check before a car goes out, but might be no harm in asking the dealer to make sure all the latest firmware is loaded on the car. Nothing major there, but there were one or two little improvements made with some of the firmware updates.

Thanks for the tip.

I read back through this whole thread. Some of the objections are fair enough and some are just nonsense.

Range - it is going to be an issue for some people. For a lot of people, majority I would say, it is not. Those who buy these vehicles will have put the research in and be satisfied it does what they need. For the emergency "I have to drive to Belfast now and can't wait for a charge" occasions (which has never happened in my life) we have a second ICE car in the family so it's not an issue. My commute is 50k round trip. My longest regular journey is to family in Cork who are 80k and I can charge at their house while we have lunch/whatever. The half dozen trips a year to Dublin or wherever I can either plan to stop and charge/fast charge or just take the other car.

Cost - Electricity is cheaper and regulated in price so it might go up but not as fast as petrol and would have to go up a lot before the price would be even similar. This is the single biggest selling point for all EV's. The car is comparable in price to a lot of family cars when you take in the 5k grant. Maintence will be lower. Dunno by how much but lower, no spark plugs, oil, filters etc. And it'll never fail the NCT on emissions.

Risk - early adaptation is a risk. But it's a risk I'm willing to take for the cost savings. If I have to replace the battery in ten years, well so what. I'd be replacing most any car I got new in ten years time anyway.

Infrastructure - most reasonable size towns now have charge points. The EU in November gave us 28 million for installation of fast charging points along the motorway network to make intercity travel more practical. It's already doable but if there's enough fast chargers it becomes totally practical.

Looks & noise - this is just personal preference stuff. I like how it looks. I like the quite. Other folks like the look of a Volvo or an Audi or a corolla or the sound of a deisel engine. Each to their own.

So yea, there's pros and cons. There upside and downside with all new cars. The upside in fuel savings is much greater here if its a practical option for your driving needs, countered with a small risk of a big downside like not holding value or the battery being dead in five years.

FWIW the payback for me with the amount of driving I do and so on is seven years and or less if petrol goes up.

Arciphel

Arciphel wrote: »

Active cooling is what I was fishing for all right... We might work in the same industry Mad_Lad

HMM now you got me thinking ?

The building you work doesn't perhaps require lots and lots of air cooling that doesn't involve A/C ?

DubTony

Deleted User wrote: »

Well considering the electricity bill is around 2 million a year soon to be around 4 million, I don't think they give a s**t, the other building mainly normal office type consumes nothing compared to the building i'm in and the charging is free.

BIK ? no idea what happens there. I've never heard of an employee being charged BIK for charging.

There's no BIK for car charging ... YET. But as employers throw car charging into the salary package, there's no doubt our taxing masters will catch on.

DubTony

DubTony wrote: »

There's no BIK for car charging ... YET. But as employers throw car charging into the salary package, there's no doubt our taxing masters will catch on.

Just like they increase motor taxes every year on normal cars, No matter what, taxes won't increase until there are several thousand e.v's on the road. Even if they do they will not be as high as petrol or diesel.

galwaytt

Well, I'm an out-and-out petrolhead, but even I'd love to try an EV. For my 5km commute, I can see the attraction.......

I used to discount all manner of stuff, once: petrol over diesel, ABS over none, N/a over turbo's, manual over auto's, coupés over cabrio's.......the list goes on........

....that's a lot of Humble Pie right there.......

One question though: why are they fugly as well ?

TrailerBob

When they build an electric Landcruiser that can pull 3 ton, and do 600km on a charge... I'm in!! Seriously though, if I had a small commute, I'd consider one second hand in a few years, but distances are too big at the mo

Idbatterim

was reading earlier how the bmw i3 would be 300kg lighter than the leaf, does the leaf use any CFRP to reduce weight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_i3

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/frankfurt-motor-show-2011/frankfurt-show-new-bmw-i3

monkeysnapper

The trouble and strife was on car zone tonight and couldn't believe there was a few 2 nd hand leafs on there ,

granted most were prob ex demo, but one had a good few miles on clock and was going for 20k , I'm not in a position to buy at this stage but what would be the story with esb , because its 2nd hand would you have to pay esb for installing power points ?

Pkiernan

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Don't worry, the noise goes away after 30 minutes at motorway speeds.

That is a good one!

I still want one though!

ottostreet

Only electric vehicle I'd drive over the next ten years is Geoff.

If and when petrol gets too expensive, then I'll be into something like a 530d. When fossil fuels are no longer financially viable, hopefully there's some decent electric cars that are actually desireable available.

September1

monkeysnapper wrote: »

The trouble and strife was on car zone tonight and couldn't believe there was a few 2 nd hand leafs on there ,

granted most were prob ex demo, but one had a good few miles on clock and was going for 20k , I'm not in a position to buy at this stage but what would be the story with esb , because its 2nd hand would you have to pay esb for installing power points ?

Call dealer and ask, in general charging points can be moved between locations and all is needed is 32A connection - who knows, maybe ESB ecars would do it for you? In case that dealer does not want to part with charger, you have two options - expensive is to buy charger and cheap is to buy charging cable and use regular sockets. Such cable is really useful when you visit family, hotels without ecar points, restaurants and so on - there are electrical outlets in most of location in Ireland those days.

Idbatterim

Idbatterim wrote: »

was reading earlier how the bmw i3 would be 300kg lighter than the leaf, does the leaf use any CFRP to reduce weight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_i3

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/frankfurt-motor-show-2011/frankfurt-show-new-bmw-i3

No no carbon fiber in the Leaf.

The leaf would cost a lot more. I bet the I3 will cost 35k or more.

If the Leaf has good acceleration, I can only imagine the I3 with 170 hp and being 300 kg lighter.

Maybe they use a different battery chemistry, perhaps NMC it would be lighter.

monkeysnapper

monkeysnapper wrote: »

The trouble and strife was on car zone tonight and couldn't believe there was a few 2 nd hand leafs on there ,

granted most were prob ex demo, but one had a good few miles on clock and was going for 20k , I'm not in a position to buy at this stage but what would be the story with esb , because its 2nd hand would you have to pay esb for installing power points ?

There is one going on autotrader u.k for the same but with around 6,000 miles I think ? but it was a lot less than 20k odd miles.

monkeysnapper

monkeysnapper wrote: »

The trouble and strife was on car zone tonight and couldn't believe there was a few 2 nd hand leafs on there ,

granted most were prob ex demo, but one had a good few miles on clock and was going for 20k , I'm not in a position to buy at this stage but what would be the story with esb , because its 2nd hand would you have to pay esb for installing power points ?

Nothing to do with ESB, get a local spark to install it, should be much cheaper. Usually the charger comes with a new purchase.

Needs 16 amps for Gen I Leaf, updated Leaf in the spring will need 32 amps or 6.5kw.

If you are handy with electrics you could install it yourself, at least buy the cable and run it and get the spark to connect it up, get him to get you the cable first.

positron

Nissan has announced a price cut for Leaf in the US. I wonder if we would get a similar thing here.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/15/2013-nissan-leaf-price/

As a family of two adults + 1 child + 1 expected, we currently run a 2 ltr petrol Accord (herself, family, shopping etc) and a motorbike (my commuting tool). I would love to change up from Accord to a Leaf/Zoe etc. It would save me a decent bundle on tax and fuel (not so much on maintenance as Honda is bulletproof reliable, just the usual service once a year or so). Leaf/Zoe etc would be perfect for shopping and other usual run arounds and visiting family etc, and we can always borrow a family car (or rent a car) for occasional trips to North or West etc. Easy.

Lutecia

The price drop is impressive. However is probably mostly due to the fact that this new Leaf is made in the US and no longer imported from Japan, suffering from very expensive Yen.
As long as the European ones are imported from Japan I can't see similar price reduction.

As for the Zoe there is currently an issue with the additional cable (that you carry with you to plug on 220V) : they have decided NOT to sell it for now : that means you can only recharge at home on your box, not at your friends/family.
More than the cable in itself (after all, Renault sells one with the Fluence or Kangoo), it looks like it doesn't behave well with the Chameleon onboard charger. Renault doesn't communicate much (yet?) on the matter.

650Ginge

Lutecia wrote: »

The price drop is impressive. However is probably mostly due to the fact that this new Leaf is made in the US and no longer imported from Japan, suffering from very expensive Yen.
As long as the European ones are imported from Japan I can't see similar price reduction.

As for the Zoe there is currently an issue with the additional cable (that you carry with you to plug on 220V) : they have decided NOT to sell it for now : that means you can only recharge at home on your box, not at your friends/family.
More than the cable in itself (after all, Renault sells one with the Fluence or Kangoo), it looks like it doesn't behave well with the Chameleon onboard charger. Renault doesn't communicate much (yet?) on the matter.

Europe leaf factory is in England. Sunderland I think. They just ripping us off, or taxes are much less on the US.

Lutecia

650Ginge wrote: »

Europe leaf factory is in England. Sunderland I think. They just ripping us off, or taxes are much less on the US.

Oh my mistake I thought they were still imported.
Well, we'll see.
The Zoé could be the real deal though as with incentives it becomes cheaper than a similar Clio (ex battery rental, and at least in France, but I'm sure it could be the same in Ireland).

positron

650Ginge wrote: »

Europe leaf factory is in England. Sunderland I think. They just ripping us off, or taxes are much less on the US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15653060

Sunderland's Nissan plant has benefited from £189m (220m euros) of European funding for the production of the Nissan Leaf and electric batteries.

Together the battery and the Leaf represent a £420m investment by Nissan, and are expected to maintain about 2,250 jobs at Nissan and across the UK supply chain...

Approx 500 million euro investment ...! Imagine what impact that would have any smalls towns around Ireland! I know we don't have the internal market or resource pool etc to attract them, but... seriously though, there's nothing wrong with manufacturing jobs..! Did someone forget to tell Nissan about Double Dutch sandwich or whatever finance people are into these days?

Sesshoumaru

http://www.motortorque.com/car-news/nissan-leaf-charging-times-reduced-by-4-hours-20954.aspx

Construction of the Leaf will begin at the Nissan plant in Sunderland from spring.

Still being imported from Japan for now. The Leaf made in Sunderland will be the midlife face lift model with more European styling.

Idbatterim

As a family of two adults + 1 child + 1 expected, we currently run a 2 ltr petrol Accord (herself, family, shopping etc) and a motorbike (my commuting tool). I would love to change up from Accord to a Leaf/Zoe etc. It would save me a decent bundle on tax and fuel (

what year is your accord?

positron

It's an '05, so motor tax is €710 per year.

Idbatterim

It's an '05, so motor tax is €710 per year.

fair enough you would save few hundred in tax. But depreciation and loan interest unless your doing big mileage would wipe out any savings and then your back to square 1 with range...

positron

positron wrote: »

Nissan has announced a price cut for Leaf in the US. I wonder if we would get a similar thing here.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/15/2013-nissan-leaf-price/

As a family of two adults + 1 child + 1 expected, we currently run a 2 ltr petrol Accord (herself, family, shopping etc) and a motorbike (my commuting tool). I would love to change up from Accord to a Leaf/Zoe etc. It would save me a decent bundle on tax and fuel (not so much on maintenance as Honda is bulletproof reliable, just the usual service once a year or so). Leaf/Zoe etc would be perfect for shopping and other usual run arounds and visiting family etc, and we can always borrow a family car (or rent a car) for occasional trips to North or West etc. Easy.

That would make it 24,345 our money because you have to add what Americans do not have to pay and that's call VAT or sales tax. Some states pay none or very little on most things.

Bear in mind that's the stripped down version with a lot of goodies taken out.

If I was to buy new and keep it for 5 years, I'd want all the goodies. Besides if I buy 2nd hand I'll always go for the most kitted out car, not that it really adds value, it helps them sell quicker.

A leaf can be leased for as little as 240 Euro's per month in the U.S, We are really screwed on this Island.

The current Leaf costs about 20,000 Euro's in the U.S V 27,500 in Ireland.

Lutecia

Lutecia wrote: »

Oh my mistake I thought they were still imported.
Well, we'll see.
The Zoé could be the real deal though as with incentives it becomes cheaper than a similar Clio (ex battery rental, and at least in France, but I'm sure it could be the same in Ireland).

The Zoe works out cheaper than the diesel clio by about 4,000 Euro's but it remains to see if Paddy Ireland gets it at the 16,500 euro's or not after the dealers take their cut.

Also Zoe has a far better spec and there is no gearbox.

But the Zoe works out cheaper to own and run than the diesel, and if the battery drops below 70% they will replace it, you will not get a new battery but a reconditioned one if available. Renault and Nissan seem to think that a battery with 70% capacity is o.k, I say not. They should install a new battery, but I doubt they will. Anyway they would be years away for most people.

positron

positron wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15653060



Approx 500 million euro investment ...! Imagine what impact that would have any smalls towns around Ireland! I know we don't have the internal market or resource pool etc to attract them, but... seriously though, there's nothing wrong with manufacturing jobs..! Did someone forget to tell Nissan about Double Dutch sandwich or whatever finance people are into these days?

Imaging that money could be used to create jobs in Ireland. Car making or not.

Was I dreaming or was a post just deleted ?

Don't forget folks an updated Leaf is on the way in the spring with tweaks to improve range, much better heater and range meter that won't panic so much, it will be much more intelligent.

September1

Cut in US was about 20%, hence if they cut from 30k(initial price) it would be 26k and if they cut from 26k(current discounted price) it would be 19k. It would make my depreciation even more painful.

September1

September1 wrote: »

Cut in US was about 20%, hence if they cut from 30k(initial price) it would be 26k and if they cut from 26k(current discounted price) it would be 19k. It would make my depreciation even more painful.

Well the technology is changing fast and batteries are getting cheaper. And they know they need to get the cost down fast.

hsilgnede

So I'm a week into the EV experience having collected my leaf last Saturday. So far I love it.

Things that I like:

1) Goodies. Bluetooth, auto wipers, auto lights, reversing camera, sat nav on the dash, cd, a USB port that will play music off a memory stick, internet feeds via RSS to the screen (still dunno how to make that work), reverse warning beeper thingy, keyless entry and probably a few more that I've forgotten.

2) Ride position in the car is relatively high, probably because I'm sitting on the battery. Nice change from the Volvo where my rear end was nearly on the ground.

3) Goes like a rocket if you put your foot down. You will be pressed well back into your seat.

4) The carwings thing. Charging timer, heating timer, loads of info on how you're driving, your energy use etc. There's really more in here than I can explain and it really is good stuff.

5) The iPhone app that lets you turn on / off the heating or charging remotely and get updates as to where the charge level is. I was in the pub last night at a work do (drinking water) and the car was plugged in across the road. I turned on the heating when I was at the bar ordering the last drink and it was toasty warm when I got in. Also when you do this and its plugged in, it doesn't drain the battery. Nice.

6) The desktop carwings site. Really good for tracking the amount of power you are using and more importantly the cost. It knows how much the car is using and you can put in the rate you pay per Kw/h and it tells you the cost. 403.3 kilometers has cost me 13.73 in electricity but do bear in mind that I got maybe 20% of that for free from public charge points in Limerick and Shannon.

7) There is no shortage of public charge points. Loads of them if you have a scout about, especially in towns and cities.

8) There is a community around this car. The small group of early adaptors around have a facebook group and are full of good advice and support and share the issues we face and the great experiences we have. There are other support groups like mynissanleaf that are available and very willing to help with more complex questions and bring up to date news on the world of EV's.

9) I am driving every week in the car pool now. This is good because I like driving and my colleague is giving me 5 euro a week towards the running cost, so almost half of my total weekly usage.

10) Range anxiety has lessened a lot over the first week and I imagine will continue to go down as the weeks go on. I got home tonight after 66k driving with 9% on the battery, having left this morning with 84%. I drove with lights, wipers, a passenger and heating on for most of it and in the pissing rain and without paying particular attention to my driving and it was comfortable enough.

Things I don't like

1) The range thingy on the dash is ****ing useless. Count the bars you have left on the battery and watch the bar in the middle for your energy consumption. A % charge left would be much better.

2) We are short, very short, on fast charge points. There is one in Limerick at the Nissan dealership and its not 24 hour access. The fact there are none near where I live, bar the dealership, actually doesn't matter. Its the ones that are sort of in a 50 mile radius that would give you a hundred mile range comfortably that I need. Don't believe there are any in Clare. The nearest one to me is Cashel. This means that I can drive to Dublin, very very slowely, topping up for maybe an hour in Nenagh and again for a short time at the fast charge at Junction 14 OR I go via Cashel, Kilkenny and Junction 14. The EU have given money for a pile of new ones specifically to be placed along the motorway network so this problem should be about to go away. Three 20 min stops between here and Dublin are not an issue for me, I would be in the habit of stopping for lunch for the guts of an hour on a drive like that anyway. But right now its my single biggest beef, which given I do this trip maybe 6 times a year and I have the other car to take, is actually not that big a deal.

3) Normal cars parking in spaces where EV cars are supposed to charge up. It has the potential to be a killer for us, although I think people will respect it more as more cars come online. Its not as bad as parking in the disabled spot but it is pretty bad. Having said that I think the govt or the councils will cop on to this as a source of revenue, parking fines & clamps, pretty soon, and the problem will reduce.

So that's the first week. I love it. I'm really looking forward to my first long trip. I think I might take the kids to Fota or something like that just to push the range and see how it does. It would be hard to see a situation where I would go back to an ICE car provided we continue to be supported by the charge point infrastructure.

Hey Hsilgnede, Glad you are liking the Leaf.

#1 on your don't like has been addressed and will feature in the updated Leaf in a few months.

#3 is in progress.


People should note that the update leaf will also have charge times reduced to half from 220 volt public non fast DC chargers. And from home charging stations.

Anyone interested should note that the zoe will charge in 1 hour and less from most if not all public chargers, but some of the already installed and future fast chargers for the leaf will also include fast charging for Zoe and can charge zoe in 30 mins.

September1

There is alternative app called Leaflink in Apple store for managing carwings - it does not require you to relogin.

MMAGirl

Whats the solar panel option for €300 do?
List price of the leaf is €25,595
Can any money be got off this from the dealers for cash? Usually it can any time i've ever bought a car.
And when is the new version coming out?

MMAGirl

MMAGirl wrote: »

Whats the solar panel option for €300 do?
List price of the leaf is €25,595
Can any money be got off this from the dealers for cash? Usually it can any time i've ever bought a car.
And when is the new version coming out?

Solar panel is for assisting the temperature regulation of the interior on hot days, basically it provides power to the blower nothing more.

As for getting more money off ? the actual drive out the door price is €27,500 and not a hope of getting a few quid off, Nissan make a fair loss on each leaf so the dealers can't budge on that. It's impossible to deal with Irish dealers, usually you pay the price or as I've been told not so politely to get lost.

If you are thinking of getting one "WAIT"until the updated model arrives in the late spring or early summer. It will have a much more efficient heater and regenitive braking system, better range meter, charge meter. And probably most important charge time reduces from 8-4 hrs from empty. Charger increases from 3-3.5kw to 6-6.5 kw

The updated leaf will also cost around 3,000 Euro's cheaper.

If the Leaf is already good enough for you than buy a 2nd hand one, you will have to pay an electrician to install the home charger, so price around and make. sure the wiring and charger is capable of at least 6.5 kw or 35 amps.

Did you test drive one ?

MMAGirl

Deleted User wrote: »

Solar panel is for assisting the temperature regulation of the interior on hot days, basically it provides power to the blower nothing more.

As for getting more money off ? the actual drive out the door price is €27,500 and not a hope of getting a few quid off, Nissan make a fair loss on each leaf so the dealers can't budge on that. It's impossible to deal with Irish dealers, usually you pay the price or as I've been told not so politely to get lost.

If you are thinking of getting one "WAIT"until the updated model arrives in the late spring or early summer. It will have a much more efficient heater and regenitive braking system, better range meter, charge meter. And probably most important charge time reduces from 8-4 hrs from empty. Charger increases from 3-3.5kw to 6-6.5 kw

The updated leaf will also cost around 3,000 Euro's cheaper.

If the Leaf is already good enough for you than buy a 2nd hand one, you will have to pay an electrician to install the home charger, so price around and make. sure the wiring and charger is capable of at least 6.5 kw or 35 amps.

Did you test drive one ?

Thinking of test driving one next week, but €25k is the max we are willing to pay for a leaf, so that would be a deal breaker.
Any links to second hand ones, though i'm a bit iffy on second hand electric cars tbh

VRT calculator says VRT of €0 if we got one in the UK though.

MMAGirl

MMAGirl wrote: »

Thinking of test driving one next week, but €25k is the max we are willing to pay for a leaf, so that would be a deal breaker.
Any links to second hand ones, though i'm a bit iffy on second hand electric cars tbh

I would seriously wait until the Updated model comes in summer, and make sure you are getting the updated model.

Seriously, Windsor Nissan on Belgard road didn't even know there was an updated model coming, the sales man didn't even know there was a charge to 80% function (which helps greatly to lengthen the life of the battery)

They also didn't know that you should never, ever keep a leaf or any e.v sitting on the show room floor at 100% charge for more than a few hours or less (you shouldn't do that with anything containing a lithium battery i.e mobile, Ipad, Laptop etc.)

The Updated leaf ( wish I knew what else to call it ? ) will have different trim options too for the first time with a darker interior, heated seats and steering wheel. And I'm not sure if the €3000 cheaper price will apply to the base model, but either way I'd wait until the new one arrives.

Trust me when you take a drive in it you will love it, just remember the new one will have a better range indicator the current one is a bit useless.

How many miles do you need to drive a day ? Remember the Leaf can do 150 miles a day easily if you have a charger for work or fast charger on route.

MMAGirl

Deleted User wrote: »

I would seriously wait until the Updated model comes in summer, and make sure you are getting the updated model.

Seriously, Windsor Nissan on Belgard road didn't even know there was an updated model coming, the sales man didn't even know there was a charge to 80% function (which helps greatly to lengthen the life of the battery)

They also didn't know that you should never, ever keep a leaf or any e.v sitting on the show room floor at 100% charge for more than a few hours or less (you shouldn't do that with anything containing a lithium battery i.e mobile, Ipad, Laptop etc.)

The Updated leaf ( wish I knew what else to call it ? ) will have different trim options too for the first time with a darker interior, heated seats and steering wheel. And I'm not sure if the €3000 cheaper price will apply to the base model, but either way I'd wait until the new one arrives.

Trust me when you take a drive in it you will love it, just remember the new one will have a better range indicator the current one is a bit useless.

How many miles do you need to drive a day ? Remember the Leaf can do 150 miles a day easily if you have a charger for work or fast charger on route.

Thanks for the info.
The current car needs to be updated so was looking around.
Definitely €25k is the absolute limit, so it doesnt matter how much we like it, we wont be going over that.
Probably drive 15 - 20000km a year at the moment.
Really like the idea of an electric car, but dont want to pay over the odds just to be green

MMAGirl

MMAGirl wrote: »

Thanks for the info.
The current car needs to be updated so was looking around.
Definitely €25k is the absolute limit, so it doesnt matter how much we like it, we wont be going over that.
Probably drive 15 - 20000km a year at the moment.
Really like the idea of an electric car, but dont want to pay over the odds just to be green

The leaf has great spec. A full charge costs around 1.80 and is good for an average range of 75 miles or 84 for the new model. (some get up to 110 miles)

Without doubt if it's a new car you are getting then the leaf makes the most sense if you can live for now with planning your longer journey. I think they are planning around 30 more fast chargers over the next year or so.

If you do get the updated model start a thread on it I'd be interested to know how it fairs out for you. Any questions P.M me.

Packet

Have you heard of any Irish EV buyers that don't have a home charge point and are relying on the public ones?

hsilgnede

Wait for the new version. Good improvement in the spec.

The solar panel charges the 12 volt battery but so does driving. It's next to useless.

If you want a second hand one the dealers in Limerick are selling the one they were using last year for test drives. I've driven it. Lovely car.

Relying on public charging would be next to impossible, unless you can charge at work and manage the round trip and other spins comfortably within the range.

I'm 2500k into my new leaf and I love it. Would definitely encourage anyone buying to strongly consider going electric. I will never go back.

Packet

Packet wrote: »

Have you heard of any Irish EV buyers that don't have a home charge point and are relying on the public ones?

Do you live in an apartment ?

I can see that being an issue. Who are responsible for installing chargers in apartments ?

I Presume you can't just install one in your parking space ?

hsilgnede

hsilgnede wrote: »

Wait for the new version. Good improvement in the spec.

The solar panel charges the 12 volt battery but so does driving. It's next to useless.

If you want a second hand one the dealers in Limerick are selling the one they were using last year for test drives. I've driven it. Lovely car.

Relying on public charging would be next to impossible, unless you can charge at work and manage the round trip and other spins comfortably within the range.

I'm 2500k into my new leaf and I love it. Would definitely encourage anyone buying to strongly consider going electric. I will never go back.

You're loving it eah ? can't keep away from it ? I'm jealous

What's your longest journey so far ?

Packet

Deleted User wrote: »

Do you live in an apartment ?

Yes. The parking space is designated and underground.

Deleted User wrote: »

I can see that being an issue. Who are responsible for installing chargers in apartments ?

I Presume you can't just install one in your parking space ?

I emailed the ecars people to ask what the situation is with getting a charger installed and would they install it as part of the first 2,000 charge points for free offer.

They replied that the charge point must be attached to an external exterior wall.

I didn't get the impression they'd thought about flats. My space is beside where all the ESB meters are so I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to do.

Packet

Packet wrote: »

Yes. The parking space is designated and underground.



I emailed the ecars people to ask what the situation is with getting a charger installed and would they install it as part of the first 2,000 charge points for free offer.

They replied that the charge point must be attached to an external exterior wall.

I didn't get the impression they'd thought about flats. My space is beside where all the ESB meters are so I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to do.

NO the chargers do NOT need to be installed on an external wall out doors, that's complete rubbish.

The shorter the route for the cabling the better, so if your meter is close, then all the better.

You don't need the ESB to install it at all, a certified electrician is a must for insurance purposed though.

Check out carra.ie they install chargers, I think there is another company that do it too. But really any electrician can do it, you need the wall box though.

The charger, cable etc must be capable of at least 6.5 kw or 35 amps if you get the updated Leaf due in summer.

You also got to ask permission from the management company afaik ? just because your space is designated doesn't mean you own it afaik.

But keep on to the ESB you are entitled to a free charger installation. Worst case you have to pay for it yourself, but the savings over petrol more than make up for it.

Your only other option is 30 mins on a fast charger for a 0-80% charge ?

Remember Zoe can charge in 1 hour from most public chargers from empty so if there is one where you shop or on street, 1 hour is all it will take, you got to rent the Zoe battery. It's supposed to be available in the summer too.

Packet

Thanks useful info, I'm afraid I won't be able to use it for a few years now as I got a diesel car instead but an electric is what I want.

I'm one of two owner/directors of the management company so I'll give myself permission to install it if it can be certified properly.

Packet

Packet wrote: »

Thanks useful info, I'm afraid I won't be able to use it for a few years now as I got a diesel car instead but an electric is what I want.

I'm one of two owner/directors of the management company so I'll give myself permission to install it if it can be certified properly.

Sure you can run the cable from the fuse box, mount the charger box to the wall but I'm sure a certified electrician would have to connect it up for insurance reasons ?

If anyone else comes looking for one just make sure it's rated for 6.5 kw or more.

If you really want one sell the diesel. Do you really need a diesel ?