Test drove A Nissan Leaf Today !

Jumboman

Forget electric cars we need to get one of these instead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon

Ha Ha nuclear powered cars ? At least it would always be warm enough to produce steam whenever needed

The U.S military tested a Thorium powered plane but I'm not sure why they scrapped it, I know they abandoned Thorium because they couldn't make Bombs from the waste.

They even successfully tested L.F.T.R. If only they had continued research.

But that's a story for another thread.

Leafs going for 16K Euro's now in the U.K.

kippy

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ha Ha nuclear powered cars ? At least it would always be warm enough to produce steam whenever needed

The U.S military tested a Thorium powered plane but I'm not sure why they scrapped it, I know they abandoned Thorium because they couldn't make Bombs from the waste.

They even successfully tested L.F.T.R. If only they had continued research.

But that's a story for another thread.

Leafs going for 16K Euro's now in the U.K.

Its not outside the realms of possibility......

It's possible but as long as there is oil in the ground the Nuclear industry will not invest in Thorium and L.F.T.R and Governments are turning to so called Green alternatives and it's a huge mistake as the billions of our money would be much better spend on a secure and stable supply of fuel and renewables cant provide that and may never be able to.

I'm all for green but how much concrete will be needed to install the millions of wind turbines necessary to replace fossil fuels? and the materials ? not to mention the proposed 200 meter high turbines planned for to supply the U.K of all places with turbines that destroy our land not theirs. No thanks. But the Government must see to be green and Nuclear is not in the eyes of the public a green option.

You see the fact is that our total electricity requirements is a tiny fraction of our energy needs if you're to take into account the total energy from fossil fuels and that can not be replaced by renewable energy.

Even if it could it would take decades to install such millions of wind turbines and solar panels. How many wind turbines can we tolerate ?

I do believe micro solar and wind installations have the ability to reduce energy bills for those that can and have the space to install them.

France average kwh cost is around 7 cent because they have a lot of nuclear and ours 19 cent with Thorium it could be lower now imagine charging your e.v on night rate of around 3.5 cent per kwh ? it's possible but not in Ireland as we will continue to import billions of Euro's worth of energy and increasing C02 tax to install so called green energy while we'll eventually import nuclear form the U.K.

We have some of the best universities in the world who could further research into Thorium and L.F.T.R as that's the best way of securing our energy for the future and reducing our bills.

I am against current nuclear technology, but there is a much safer and viable and much cheaper Nuclear and that is L.F.T.R.

I will make one final point and that is the U.K government have plans to build 20 more nuclear plants and why do people think that is ? yes because renewables will never meet their future demands and they know it and how do you know they know it ? because Nuclear plants have a life of 30-40 years and that is how far into the future the U.K Government know that renewables will not work, if they did they wouldn't consider Nuclear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium#Existing_thorium_energy_projects


From WiKi

Best results occur with molten salt reactors (MSRs), such as ORNL's liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR), which have built-in negative-feedback reaction rates due to salt expansion and thus reactor throttling via load. This is a great safety advantage, since no emergency cooling system is needed, which is both expensive and adds thermal inefficiency. In fact, an MSR was chosen as the base design for the 1960s DoD nuclear aircraft largely because of its great safety advantages, even under aircraft maneuvering. In the basic design, an MSR generates heat at higher temperatures, continuously, and without refuelling shutdowns, so it can provide hot air to a more efficient (Brayton Cycle) turbine. An MSR run this way is about 30% better in thermal efficiency than common thermal plants, whether combustive or traditional solid-fuelled nuclear.[31]


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

For Forks Sake

Jumboman wrote: »

Forget electric cars we need to get one of these instead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoASZyihalc

B9K9

SVE grey on the way!

road_high

Has the Leaf price been reduced drastically? Saw a headline price of 20,995 some where.

NIMAN

road_high wrote: »

Has the Leaf price been reduced drastically? Saw a headline price of 20,995 some where.

Here
http://www.nissan.ie/vehicles/leaf/

YEah, but thats the basic model with little or no bells and whistles.

The basic model has no heat pump which is a lot more efficient than using the normal resistive heater.

It also doesn't have the more efficient regen.

However if it's a new car you want with ultra cheap running costs then electric is the cheapest possible.

I seriously suggest people test drive the leaf, it really is a fantastic car to drive.

if the range meets your needs and the cheapest model works for you then why not go for it ?

The cheapest model doesn't have the Nissan car wings or the ability to remotely active heating or a/c but I think it should still have the timer for to have the car hot in the morning when you get into it which reduces the use of the heater and the load on the battery. And if it'f a frosty morning it will be defrosted.

B9K9

options priced here: http://www.nissan.ie/vehicles/leaf/#equipment
dealer threw in granny cable plus assortment of mats, trunk liner, solar panel plus a small discount.

B9K9

B9K9 wrote: »

options priced here: http://www.nissan.ie/vehicles/leaf/#equipment
dealer threw in granny cable plus assortment of mats, trunk liner, solar panel plus a small discount.

Nice one, granny cable will come in handy. Solar panel is a gimmick though. I'd rather the winter pack. !

Was it Windsor Belgard ?

I found them pretty clueless to be honest, about the technology that is.

Bpmull

B9K9 wrote: »

SVE grey on the way!

The sve looks like a well specced car. Is there along waiting list for them, when are you hoping to get it?

B9K9, make sure you create a new thread when you get your Leaf, and take lots of pics.

It is a well spec car, imagine the Golf with DSG and webasto heater ? would cost a lot more !

Bpmull

Deleted User wrote: »

B9K9, make sure you create a new thread when you get your Leaf, and take lots of pics.

It is a well spec car, imagine the Golf with DSG and webasto heater ? would cost a lot more !

That's a great idea It would be great to read about what there like to own.

B9K9

hopefully in 10 days time. has heated seats and wheel, although there seems to be many complaints that wheel heat is erratic.

B9K9

Long story short: after 4000km I and everyone who has drove it think its just brill. Ultra smooth and quiet, nippy in town driving. Nobbles just about anything else at traffic lights, if you care about that sort of thing. The silence is uncanny, the Bose stereo can be enjoyed at quite low volumes. It encourages a very relaxed experience all in all. I have something else for (uneconomic) thrills.

Downsides:
1) Wexford trip took 20 mins longer due to range considerations. But the €40 total juice cost (due a little bit of free on street and enroute charging, plus night rate) makes that an easily accepted compromise. 99% town driving anyway. Lots of commuters love the almost free fuel cost, about an eighth that of petrol.

2) realistic 140km cruise range 80-85 kph means frequent charging on long trips. Daily driving range never a concern, most days I charge to the recommended 80% level; it extends battery life quite a lot. Nobody reporting loss of capacity in Irish climate. Once you think 'mobile phone with wheels on it', charging at night takes seamless care (in seconds) of refuelling, apart from those Wexford trips.

3) blocked street charger points are a PITA. Regulations to cure have yet to appear. FB reports of faulty chargers tend to give a wrong impression of charge point reliability.

Sorry cant figure how to post pictures; plenty on FB if you look.

Glad you like the leaf,

So you say you can't do 140 Kms at 80-85 kph ?

hsilgnede

I'm at 30'000k. No problems. No loss of battery. Haven't yet run out of juice. Best I've ever gotten is 132k off a single charge. The thing said there was another 8k there but I wasn't going to push my luck. The last 20k of that was me driving round the block to see how far it would go.

Public charging is generally pretty reliable. I've only had one bad experience when they rolled out a new lot of fast chargers, all of which had a shared issue. I got caught with two on the same night and had to spend longer than I'd like at a slow charger and missed an appointment. But that's the only "bad" experience I've had.

Loving the basically free fuel and no costs for oil, filters, plugs, nothing like that. The only thing I've had to do under the hood is refill the water for the windscreen washer.

Punters parking in front of chargers so you can't get at them is a pain in the rear end, but I think the lads in Dublin have bigger problems with this than I have. There are four or five chargers in Limerick City and there's only one of them that's blocked constantly.

B9K9

@Mad_lad: No, I am saying that I CAN get 140km from one charge at 80-85kph, and that urban range is simply irrelevant given overnight topping up at the house.

Don't go mad with the free quick chargers, not good "long term" .

Use the fast chargers when you need them, not for free electricity.

Heat is the greatest enemy of batteries. If your battery is hot then don't use the fast charger.

Nikki Gordon Bloomfield in the U.K has lost her first capacity bar form complete misuse of fast charging, at only 51,000 miles, yes in the U.K. And fast charging until the battery was roasting.

There are a lot of people with much more mileage than this with all 12 capacity bars still showing.

Leaf owners on the facebook Irishevowners group got upset for me suggesting the Leaf was anything other than perfect, suggesting I was a bit of a troll or anti EV/leaf ( me anti Leaf or ev ? ) Saying it wouldn't happen in the Irish climate.

Yes the Leaf is a well engineered car, but like any other car it can be abused.

VW have now decided not to use active thermal management in the E-Golf, They said extensive testing in very hot climates showed that cooling of the battery isn't necessary.

Range reduction will still apply to the Golf in the cold unless they decide to include a heater for the battery.

Considering the Leaf is out since 2010 makes a laugh of the Germans to think the E-Golf/I3 is the best they could do 4 years later.

The amount of Leafs becoming available now int he U.K 2011/12 for a great price makes them exceptional bargains !

Lutecia

I'm very happy with my Leaf too. Commuting around the city so range isn't really an issue. Cost went from 12€ per 100km with my 07 Mégane 1.4 to 0€ so in 3 months and 3500km I saved 400+€ which is great feeling. With the saving on tax, that adds up to a total of 2K€ per year.
And it goes fast like a 2-liter, great comfort (pothole proof suspension, and goodbye manual transmision) with minimal maintenance.
A real no brainer. Shame that people are afraid of going for it. Considering the number of households with 2 cars and a driveway in this country, this car should be the rational choice for most Irish drivers (as the second/commuter car).

hsilgnede

Deleted User wrote: »

Leaf owners on the facebook Irishevowners group got upset for me suggesting the Leaf was anything other than perfect, suggesting I was a bit of a troll or anti EV/leaf ( me anti Leaf or ev ? ) Saying it wouldn't happen in the Irish climate.

Yes the Leaf is a well engineered car, but like any other car it can be abused.

Course you can abuse the living crap out of it and damage your battery. If you were to constantly fast charge multiple times a day, especially in the summer you're asking for trouble. But the climate in Ireland is never going to cause battery capacity loss on its own. You need Arizona heat to cause problems.

noelf

Nissan are aiming for a 300 km range with the new leaf due in 2017 . The car will be more conventional Looking according to Automotive news europe. The e golf is about a year away from reaching ireland . Frank keane will be the main dealer for it and he is moving premises to liffey valley old Bill Cullen building after renovations ..

hsilgnede

I heard that about the 2017 Leaf. I'm skeptical if I'm honest. You're talking about almost triple the range in three years from now. Even if you assume that they've been at it since 2010 its still a big leap. Now having said that, Nissan reckon the leaf has a 174km range so that makes the leap a lot less but it might mean that the real world range jumps from 130km to 200kms which would be a massive increase, but still probably only on the border of being game changing.

I always think the target is Dublin to Cork at motorway speed without a stop. This would get us close to that, but not all the way there.

KrustyBurger

Sat in a Leaf today after reading this and other threads. It's bigger than I expected, certainly large enough for a family of 5. Pleasantly surprised at the boot space and back seat space as well. Seats are nice and firm.

It's probably the only way I'd ever be able to afford a new car given that the savings in fuel for me would make a large dent in the repayments.

But...we regularly travel 250km to visit family. I've no issue breaking the journey for a fast charge once or twice. Just don't know how doable it is. Anyone here regularly (every 6 weeks or so) use their Leaf for a journey like that?

hsilgnede

hsilgnede wrote: »

But the climate in Ireland is never going to cause battery capacity loss on its own. You need Arizona heat to cause problems.

Nikki Gordon Bloomfield has admitted on leaftalk to abusing her battery and getting it too hot through abusing fast charging, this is in the U.K, not exactly Arizona.

Dont forget that fast charging alone is worse than using the home evse or non fast chargers even without getting the battery hot.

Nikki lost her first battery bar at only 51K miles, so based on this information alone I would not be fast charging multiple times daily.

If I were to fast charge daily then I'd limit it to 5-10 mins just enough to get home and not from a low state of charge.

If people want to take the risks then well and good but I would not.

hsilgnede

hsilgnede wrote: »

I heard that about the 2017 Leaf. I'm skeptical if I'm honest. You're talking about almost triple the range in three years from now. Even if you assume that they've been at it since 2010 its still a big leap. Now having said that, Nissan reckon the leaf has a 174km range so that makes the leap a lot less but it might mean that the real world range jumps from 130km to 200kms which would be a massive increase, but still probably only on the border of being game changing.

I always think the target is Dublin to Cork at motorway speed without a stop. This would get us close to that, but not all the way there.

It's not hard to imagine more range in 2017, but I think they will still offer the same range with a 24 kwh battery cheaper and have the option for a larger pack.

My guess is a 40 kwh battery at a 30K starting price. I would not expect to see a larger pack but I could live with 120-140 miles range and faster charging.

I would not expect cheaper than 30-35 K for a 40 kwh battery.

Now if they would make a 40-60 kwh quaskai , its actually not a bad car and I was very impressed with the interior quality.

Oh and a faster 0-100 kph time would be nice too, at least a few different power options.

Lutecia

KrustyBurger wrote: »

Sat in a Leaf today after reading this and other threads. It's bigger than I expected, certainly large enough for a family of 5. Pleasantly surprised at the boot space and back seat space as well. Seats are nice and firm.

It's probably the only way I'd ever be able to afford a new car given that the savings in fuel for me would make a large dent in the repayments.

But...we regularly travel 250km to visit family. I've no issue breaking the journey for a fast charge once or twice. Just don't know how doable it is. Anyone here regularly (every 6 weeks or so) use their Leaf for a journey like that?

If it's a motorway trip, you will have to charge more often that just once. Then all depends on you route. If there are FCPs every 60km or so, it's really good and troublefree.
I've done one Cork-Dublin-Cork, it feels quite long to be honest, have to add a couple of hours to the trip, but you use the charging time to have lunch/coffee, relax or do emails, etc. With kids, that may be a bit more challenging
Though, there is a recent roll out of FCPs around the countries, options are getting better every week:
http://www.esb.ie/electric-cars/electric-car-charging/electric-car-charge-point-map.jsp
I'm waiting with more FCPs in the southwest to tour around westcork/kerry, the Leaf being perfect for a relaxing scenic drive.