How much for a new leaf

Balmed Out

Having never bought a new car I'm wondering hat people after haggling end up paying?

My 10 year old Mazda might be on its last legs so the 4k scrappage offer is appealing but doesn't give me any time.

I do four or six 50k drives on alternative weeks staying at my parents two nights a week as I finish late and start early and they live close to work. So typically 50k Mon morning back Tuesday evening same on Wednesday and Thursday. work from home on Friday and work probably every second Sat or Sunday going up and down on the same day.

On top of this I rent but we've been looking to buy for ages with little on the market. This could mean my commute getting a little longer.

Is the government 5k going to be extended for a few more years? How often do they have this scrappage deal ?

Is it difficult to move the house charge point If moving home?

I know there are better batteries expected but between the scrappage and the grant the car could be getting a lot more expensive.

My wife drives an 04 golf so that will need to be replaced eventually so thinking either a 2010 estate now and 're looking at electric when hers goes or going leaf now. With two small kids and mine being the bigger car how is this able to handle a weekend away with bags and buggy ?

Thanks for reading

GreyDad

Leaf will be fine for your family, it's a full 5 seater hatch with a reasonable sized boot, about the size of a Focus. People think it's smaller than it actually is. We have two late-teens teenagers and they have plenty of space, headroom is excellent.

Can't help you with local pricing (I'm in the UK) but the locals will be along shortly to tell you

I can say that ex-demo or pre-reg Leafs are around and represent excellent value (we just bought an 700mile ex-demo 2015 Leaf Acenta with some options thrown in for just over £14k) and the lease PCP options are generally very good if you prefer to go that way.

pwurple

Leaf is fine for holidays with kids. We have two small kids (4 and 1), took the leaf down to Kerry for 10 days with buggies, car seats, swimming gear, clothes etc. not a bother. Very pleasant actually. Brought the joy back into a journey for us.

Pricing, the 4 k scrappage keeps getting extended, as does the 5k govt grant. Can't see it going away for the next few months anyway, when we first started looking it was supposed to be gone by last Christmas.

Range looks fine for you.

Sv model comes with tinted rear windows which is great for the kids. No sun in eyes.

Balmed Out

Thanks for the help so far. I just checked google maps my commute is 59k each way, too long. What is the worst case winter range? Do the batteries degrade? How expensive is a new battery?
Few more questions.
Charging. I understand the public system and the one put in your house - what does this involve, is it something my electrician friend can easily move?
If im at work or a holiday rental etc and want to charge it there, is it possible to just plug it into an outdoor socket?
I keep reading about granny cables, what are they?
How much do most end up paying given the scrappage, never negotiated on a new car before.
Cheers

GreyDad

59k each way should be fine, depending how you drive, that's about 40 miles and if you drive reasonably you will get 80-90 miles from a Leaf. If you can top up a bit at your destination that would be better, just another 10 or 20km worth will be more than enough to cover you. In winter and strong wet and windy weather range will drop to maybe 70miles so you would need some charging at your destination.

25-30 minutes on a 'rapid' charger will take a Leaf from 10% battery to about 90%, 10-15mins will get you well over half your range back if you need a quick splash and dash, as they say.

A granny charger is a portable charger that plugs into a 13A 3-pin socket. It's intended for occasional use but will fully charge a Leaf plugged in overnight, takes about 7-8 hours. Ideal if you go away to visit friends and family.

It's well worth getting a Leaf with the optional 6.6kW charger. You can plug into a public '7kW' AC charger and recharge in half the time the granny charger takes, 3-4 hours from almost empty to full again.

You have to consider an electric car more like a laptop or smartphone than a conventional car - because you can charge it anywhere you can find a socket ir a public charger you just keep topping it up, rather than filling the tank with petrol for an entire week. An hour here and there while you shop or a slow charge all day at work and you'll never be worried.

2014 model year and later Leafs have a modified battery which does not appear to degrade very much, there is a taxi company in Cornwall that runs Leafs and they have them at over 100,000 miles with only 10% range loss in 2 years. You can get a new battery and it costs £5k but it looks like it will be quite a while before a replacement is needed.

Honestly, the best thing to do is stroll into a Nissan dealer and ask for one of their 4-day test drives. Take it home, use it as you would normally, get to understand it and get comfortable. I guarantee you'll be hooked in less than a day and end up buying one just like the rest of us

Balmed Out

Balmed Out wrote: »

Thanks for the help so far. I just checked google maps my commute is 59k each way, too long. What is the worst case winter range? Do the batteries degrade? How expensive is a new battery?

I'm driving 84 miles a day or about 134 Kms with a 10 fast charge at Naas, Get home with about 18-25 % batter and that's not driving too easy. About 100-100 Kph some 120 Kph. I don't drive at 80 Kph unless conditions dictate or I/m really chillin out and not in a hurry to go anywhere.

In warmer weather 15 degrees + you could get 140 Kms maybe slightly more at 60-100 Kph But the idea here is that you try not run the battery down much below 20% it will be best for it long term and you don't need the panic running the battery low all the time.

Because Nissan chose not to heat the battery the cold will effect range because the battery can't take as much charge when cold. And the air is denser needing more energy to cut through it and the heater but the Heat pump is very efficient, this is available on the SV and SVE trims. They cost about 25,500 Euro's to 28,500 Euro's.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Balmed Out wrote: »

Charging. I understand the public system and the one put in your house - what does this involve, is it something my electrician friend can easily move?

Yes an electrician can easily morve the home charge point or properly known as EVSE. If you ever need to move it do it yourself, find out what cable to run and run it yourself to where you want the charge point. I did this for my installation which was way more than 15 meters and the electrician just connected it either end, with a bit of his own cabling.

Balmed Out wrote: »

If im at work or a holiday rental etc and want to charge it there, is it possible to just plug it into an outdoor socket?

I keep reading about granny cables, what are they?
How much do most end up paying given the scrappage, never negotiated on a new car before.
Cheers

There is no negotiation on price with the Leaf because the margins are so tight but you should be able to get genuine leaf mats thrown in.

The Granny cable (portable EVSE) costs 800 Euros but if you were thinking about this I would strongly urge you consider the 900 Euro's extra on the 6.6 Kw AC charger which will allow you charge twice as fast from a public AC charge point.

Go to the ESB Ecars charge point map and at the top of the page you can select filters, select all ac points shown as standard type 2 and these are the ones the 6.6 Kw charges from, the blue ones are the fast chargers and the yellow are the hotel/other mostly 3.3 Kw chargers.

So look at the amount of green charge points V Blue and think if you drive to any of these locations if charging twice as fast would be worth paying 900 Euro's extra for or not.

On several occasions the 6.6 Kw charger has meant I've come back to the car and driven home rather than get into the car and have to drive to a fast charger and then wait to charge or quiet possible wait until someone before me has finished charging before I even get to start charging. So to me the 6.6 is well worth the money because to me one of the most important things is to be able to charge as fast as possible.

Others have their own opinions on spending the 900 euro's extra which they hopefully will share here too and then you can make up your own mind but I have to say that I would not have an ev with less than 6.6 Kw AC charging.

Fast charging can take 30 mins to get from 10-80% and in the cold weather 5 degrees below can take an extra 10 mins but charging at 6.6 kw won't make a difference.

The home EVSE or charge point will be 3.3 Kw because the ESB and Nissan Ireland refuse to install them. No reasoning with them no matter if you pay the difference they won't even entertain the idea and it doesn't cost much extra for the 32 amp or 6.6 Kw charge point. But for some people charging at home twice as fast could be very convenient but for me I charge over night and I don't really need it at home, not yet. I would love to be able to switch between 6.6 and 3.3 Kw on the home charge point.

Speaking of AC charging, the Renault Zoe has the best on board AC charger of any production EV in the world at this time meaning you can charge to 80% in 30 mins on a fast charger or 1 hr from the green type 2 AC points . The Zoe can make the best use of Ireland's fantastic infrastructure.

The Leaf battery should last 100,000 miles and loose 10% give or take there is no way to know for sure because of the many things that effect battery life which I may go into at another time. But the battery in the late 2013 leaf to now seems to be lasting a good bit longer compared to the 2011-late 2013.

I got a test drive and got hooked, there was no going back. After just 9,000 miles or about 15,300 Kms since Mid January. I got to say I will not ever go back to petrol/diesel as my main car ever again !

So hope my post wasn't too long ? I'm heading to Germany tomorrow so tried to get as much in as I could think about because I may not get on line for a bit.

cros13

Balmed Out wrote: »

Having never bought a new car I'm wondering hat people after haggling end up paying?

There is no room for haggling, the margin on the Leaf is razor thin. The XE is 21.5k (17.5k after scrappage) but definitely spend the extra 2.5k to get the SV (it contains some features like the heat pump that can be considered essentials not options). So that makes €20K even. Spend the €300 on the cold pack (heated seats front and rear, use 10 times less power than the cabin heater) too, you may be able to haggle to get that included.

Balmed Out wrote: »

I do four or six 50k drives on alternative weeks staying at my parents two nights a week as I finish late and start early and they live close to work. So typically 50k Mon morning back Tuesday evening same on Wednesday and Thursday. work from home on Friday and work probably every second Sat or Sunday going up and down on the same day.

I drive 50,000km a year in an EV. I drove to London for the Formula E weekend last month. No additional time on to the journey vs my old 2012 Avensis and I did the journey for €1.20 total because all the charging was free.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Is the government 5k going to be extended for a few more years? How often do they have this scrappage deal ?

Grant probably will be extended. Scrappage ends this month on the Leaf. Given the larger battery is coming in August/September I don't see any scrappage back until at least the end of next year.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Is it difficult to move the house charge point If moving home?

Nope, Easy as pie. it's basically an outdoor socket with a heavier cable.

Balmed Out wrote: »

I know there are better batteries expected but between the scrappage and the grant the car could be getting a lot more expensive.

Since your commute is likely to lengthen beyond 100km roundtrip I'd either buy the Leaf now for the wife and drive the golf for a few months until you can replace that with an EV as well or wait until the larger battery can be ordered next month.

Balmed Out wrote: »

My wife drives an 04 golf so that will need to be replaced eventually so thinking either a 2010 estate now and 're looking at electric when hers goes or going leaf now. With two small kids and mine being the bigger car how is this able to handle a weekend away with bags and buggy ?

The Leaf is larger in every dimension than the identically priced Nissan Pulsar.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Thanks for the help so far. I just checked google maps my commute is 59k each way, too long. What is the worst case winter range?

Worst I've ever got on the mk1.5 Leaf was over 100km at 120km/h in -5 weather. My dad got my old Leaf as a retirement gift, he had an indicated range of 202km yesterday, but he is challenging himself to maximise the range. My BMW has a heated battery so in winter I lose maybe 3-4km of range at worst.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Do the batteries degrade?

The mk1.5 battery has lost just under 1% for me in 50,000km. NCR has two MK1 Leaf Taxis going round Dublin for 4 years now, both have over 200,000km on the clock and the worst has lost 11%.

Balmed Out wrote: »

How expensive is a new battery?

Your battery is warrantied for five years/100,000km. Nissan has done three replacements in forty thousand Leafs sold in europe over the last five years, all mk1's and due to abuse. After the warranty you can part exchange your old battery for about €3000-4000. Battery life (time to 30% loss of capacity) on a mk1 in Ireland is expected to be in excess of 10 years, and possibly double that for the current mk1.5

Balmed Out wrote: »

If im at work or a holiday rental etc and want to charge it there, is it possible to just plug it into an outdoor socket?
I keep reading about granny cables, what are they?

A granny cable is the cable to a three pin socket. They are €800 and not included with the Leaf. Most people don't bother getting one as there are almost well over a thousand standard public chargers in Ireland and there's a rapid within 40km of every single address on the Irish mainland. If you want a charger for another address they can be bought for less than €500.

cros13

Deleted User wrote: »

If you ever need to move it do it yourself, find out what cable to run and run it yourself to where you want the charge point

Use 3x6 cable and you can upgrade your charger to 32A later without have to re-run cable.

Deleted User wrote: »

The Granny cable (portable EVSE) costs 800 Euros but if you were thinking about this I would strongly urge you consider the 900 Euro's extra on the 6.6 Kw AC charger which will allow you charge twice as fast from a public AC charge point.

...instead. The 6.6kW is certainly a get out of jail card but I'm still not sure it's worth €900 for most people.

Deleted User wrote: »

the blue ones are the fast chargers and the yellow are the hotel/other mostly 3.6 Kw chargers.

FYP..

Deleted User wrote: »

The home EVSE or charge point will be 3.6 Kw because the ESB and Nissan Ireland refuse to install them. No reasoning with them no matter if you pay the difference they won't even entertain the idea and it doesn't cost anything extra for the 32 amp or 7.4 Kw charge point.

FYP

Deleted User wrote: »

Speaking of AC charging, the Renault Zoe has the best on board AC charger of any production EV in the world at this time meaning you can charge to 80% in 30 mins on a fast charger or 1 hr from the green type 2 AC points . The Zoe can make the best use of Ireland's fantastic infrastructure.

But... the indefinite battery rental contract on the Zoe is a bitch. You can never own the battery.....ever.

Deleted User wrote: »

I got to say I will not ever go back to petrol/diesel as my main car ever again !

+1

SuperS54

Probably a stupid question, but...One of the anxieties I would have with an electric is being stuck somewhere and out of power, I guess this is a a common worry. To counter this, would carrying a small petrol generator make any sense, a 1KW is relatively compact and low cost?

pwurple

SuperS54 wrote: »

Probably a stupid question, but...One of the anxieties I would have with an electric is being stuck somewhere and out of power, I guess this is a a common worry. To counter this, would carrying a small petrol generator make any sense, a 1KW is relatively compact and low cost?

Range anxiety is a common worry alright. That's what the "granny cable" is for. It plugs into any 3 pin plug, so someone's house or business can give a bit of a charge.

Most insurance companies cover a breakdown tow without any cost too.

For what it's worth, we've never come close to needing a tow or a granny cable. The car has an nice feature inbuilt which will navigate you to the nearest charger when you press a button on the steering wheel.

GreyDad

The Leaf comes with a free recovery service for the period of the warranty, so if you get stuck for any reason (including running out of charge) within the 3 year warranty (or longer of you extend it) Nissan will pay for the tow - in the case of a flat battery it would be to the nearest charger.

This covers all of Europe, incidentally.

Padraig Mor

I don't have the details to hand, but I believe Nissan will tow you if you run out of charge for the first year. In the second year they only allow a limited number of empty battery tows, and less again (if any) in the third year.

cros13

SuperS54 wrote: »

Probably a stupid question, but...One of the anxieties I would have with an electric is being stuck somewhere and out of power, I guess this is a a common worry. To counter this, would carrying a small petrol generator make any sense, a 1KW is relatively compact and low cost?

Nope, that makes no sense whatsoever. I have a 650cc 35kW generator built-in to my car that I've never had to use. It increased the price of the vehicle by €10k, increased my tax by €50 and turned my under 6 second 0-100 to an over 6 second 0-100. There are thousands of chargers across Ireland and across Europe, it would take serious effort to run low out of range of a charger. A 1KW generator would take over 30 hours to charge my vehicle excluding the loss introduced by the inverter. A standard charger (which basically every town in Ireland has, over 2000 sockets deployed) will charge me 0-100% in three hours and rapid charger (which even up a mountain in Mayo you are never more than 40km from) will charge 0-80% for me in just under 20 minutes.
I've done 60,000km of EV driving so far, including trips abroad totalling 5,000km. All you ever need is enough charge to reach the next rapid charger. Worst case scenario you find a standard charger and charger for 30 minutes until you have enough range to reach the rapid. I've never had a problem, why would you?.

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I don't have the details to hand, but I believe Nissan will tow you if you run out of charge for the first year. In the second year they only allow a limited number of empty battery tows, and less again (if any) in the third year.

I don't know anyone who's ever had to call them. If you're the kind of person who regularly runs out of petrol and gets stuck on the side of the road then maybe you need to worry, but I'd reckon the loud audio warnings at low and very low battery would wake up even that person.

AFAIK the free EU recovery applies for the full 5 year warranty on a new Leaf purchased in Ireland.

Balmed Out

Some excellent advice so thanks, one other question, I have seen the public map with charge points but while there are points a little off course from my route at the beginning and end there's none for over 50km in between. That makes me nervous.
Having googled Bandon I think there was one there a few years ago but was removed after the car park flooded, anyone know of any information on future points? The network seems very good in the east and around urban centres but a little dodgy in others. Theres one in Clonakilty but id be suspicous it could be very busy.
One other thing, I read that roof racks were a big no no. I surf, the beach is just five minutes from home. Id be a little slow about putting a board inside a new car but I presume its possible to lie down back seats and do it?.

cros13

Balmed Out wrote: »

Some excellent advice so thanks, one other question, I have seen the public map with charge points but while there are points a little off course from my route at the beginning and end there's none for over 50km in between. That makes me nervous.
Having googled Bandon I think there was one there a few years ago but was removed after the car park flooded, anyone know of any information on future points?

There is a rapid going into Bandon this month. Should be up in the next two weeks in fact.

Infrastructure Update: Since our last newsletter, we have commissioned new multi-standard (Chademo/CCS/43kW AC) fast charge points at Stillorgan Luas Park & Ride (part of the Rapid Charge Point (RCN) Network) and at the new Topaz service station at Ballacolla on the M8 south of Portlaoise. We have also commissioned a number of new AC charge points in Ballyhaunis, Drogheda, Waterford and Ballinasloe. Charge point replacements have been carried out to replace faulty units in Galway, Carlow and Limerick.

In the next few months we will be installing additional multi-standard fast charge points in South Dublin, Lucan, Clonshaugh, Santry and Bandon, Co. Cork. Two multi-standard fast charge points will also be added in Belfast (Shore Road and Sprucefield Shopping Centre) as part of the RCN project. The charge point map has been updated to include locations of all new charge points.

Balmed Out

cros13 wrote: »

There is a rapid going into Bandon this month. Should be up in the next two weeks in fact.

Perfect that makes me feel at lot easier.

Balmed Out

Ok its getting ridiculous how many one last question's im asking but 2 things:

How much would it cost an employer to get a charge point and presuming they dont want any Tom, Dick or Harry to be using it is there a way of making it accessible to just me and any colleague's that may get one in the future?

http://drive4zero.ie What is this about and as I am based in Cork is it of any help or advantage to me?

cros13

Balmed Out wrote: »

How much would it cost an employer to get a charge point and presuming they dont want any Tom, Dick or Harry to be using it is there a way of making it accessible to just me and any colleague's that may get one in the future?

Yup. Lockable chargepoints: http://www.nucharge.co.uk/shop/ev-charge-points.html/work-place-charge-points.html/rolec-ev-securicharge-32amp-type-2-universal-socket.html

but better to get the two port unit:

http://www.nucharge.co.uk/shop/ev-charge-points.html/work-place-charge-points.html/rolec-ev-securicharge-2-x-32amp-type-2.html

Best that someone with a company credit card orders it and then get your regular electrician to fit it. All the "specialist" companies fit garbage 16A chargers and charge a fortune. No real difference between fitting a charger and an outdoor socket except using the right grade of cable.

Balmed Out wrote: »

http://drive4zero.ie What is this about and as I am based in Cork is it of any help or advantage to me?

You can apply for 20 free passage tokens for the Fermoy toll, free parking while charging in Cork city and you can reserve a free space at the park and rides. I think there are some special PCP deals too for purchasing the car.

cros13

If your work contacts ESB via the drive4zero people you may be able to get free chargers.

Padraig Mor

Balmed Out wrote: »

Ok its getting ridiculous how many one last question's im asking but 2 things:

How much would it cost an employer to get a charge point and presuming they dont want any Tom, Dick or Harry to be using it is there a way of making it accessible to just me and any colleague's that may get one in the future?

http://drive4zero.ie What is this about and as I am based in Cork is it of any help or advantage to me?

ESB may install the chargers for free at your workplace (as well as other benefits listed by cros13). Note that several (free tolls, parking at Q Parks) expire the end of this year.

cros13 wrote: »

I think there are some special PCP deals too for purchasing the car.

Don't think so - not for the Leaf anyway.

cros13

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Don't think so - not for the Leaf anyway.

Yeah... just checked the site and they are the same rates as everywhere else.

Padraig Mor

cros13 wrote: »

Yeah... just checked the site and they are the same rates as everywhere else.

There *may* be a possibility of a €500 cashback scheme being implemented via Kearys as well. There was a €1000 one until March, but it's finished. I was told by Nissan a couple of months ago that a €500 scheme was likely to replace it "soon", but have heard nothing since.

pwurple

Balmed Out wrote: »

How much would it cost an employer to get a charge point and presuming they dont want any Tom, Dick or Harry to be using it is there a way of making it accessible to just me and any colleague's that may get one in the future?

http://drive4zero.ie What is this about and as I am based in Cork is it of any help or advantage to me?

Drive 4 zero provide the chargers for free in Cork, but the company must provide the car space for it, pay for any electricity used, and do any other works they want to put in around it.

There is a method of restricting it to just employees. I think EMC have it set up. It's a whitelist. Basically the charger looks like the street ones, but it's configured to only allow charging from certain charge cards. Anyone else's swipe card fails.

I'm in Cork as well. That scheme is good, free tolls, free parking in the multistories and on street. Very handy.

cros13

It's worth pointing to your employer that the electricity cost will be minimal. Probably around €10 - 15 per vehicle per month.

They can get a file from ESB with a list of whose card used what amount of power and when. IBM in Dublin charges employees per kWh at the industrial rate (€0.12) but most places just have it as a perk.

You might also get a little cash back from your insurance due to the EV discounts.

GreyDad

Seems fair enough!

Anyone know if the free 14 days of ICE car use per year only applies to new car purchases? Or does it transfer with the warranty?

cros13

GreyDad wrote: »

Seems fair enough!

Anyone know if the free 14 days of ICE car use per year only applies to new car purchases? Or does it transfer with the warranty?

Not available on the Leaf in Ireland AFAIK. And I think in the UK it's a separate contract with the first owner.

The i3 came with 21 days of ICE rental spread across three years (in true BMW fashion I was charged for this separately on the invoice). However nobody has actually used this yet as BMW Ireland has not determined how BMW Access will work here yet. So i3 owners are being charged for a service that doesn't exist yet.

Padraig Mor

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I don't have the details to hand, but I believe Nissan will tow you if you run out of charge for the first year. In the second year they only allow a limited number of empty battery tows, and less again (if any) in the third year.

OK, just checked the warranty booklet and, as I thought, for empty battery it's free tows for the first year, one free tow the second year "at Nissan's discretion" and pay the rest yourself; no free tows in year three.

Obviously for faults, it's free tow / repair for the three years, extended to a fourth year if you service it with Nissan.

cros13

Padraig Mor wrote: »

OK, just checked the warranty booklet and, as I thought, for empty battery it's free tows for the first year, one free tow the second year "at Nissan's discretion" and pay the rest yourself; no free tows in year three.

Obviously for faults, it's free tow / repair for the three years, extended to a fourth year if you service it with Nissan.

OK... Windsor told me it's for the full term of the warranty, and this page implied the same: http://www.windsor.ie/new_cars_warranty.aspx. I'll have to track down the booklet I got when I bought the Leaf.

Balmed Out

Thanks for the advice so far, been brilliant. Ive done up my figures showing the comparison between the nissan and a 2010 diesel we were looking at. Excluding the cost of maintenance which I presume is a lot less on a leaf the difference in price vs running will take seven years so including maintenance I presume itd be a good bit less.

Having a 24 hour test today. By the time I get home & allow my wife a spin ill need to charge it. Theres a standard type 2 public point near me. Its a 6.6 kw car. How long to charge say for 80km?

For getting the best use of the car I imagine I would be charging overnight but possibly little and often in between for example plugging it in if im home for an hour. Whats the best way to maximise battery life?

Given the price of batteries are dropping Im thinking that a new set of tyres, break pads and batteries would have a leaf driving just like a new car in ten years?

cros13

Balmed Out wrote: »

Thanks for the advice so far, been brilliant. Ive done up my figures showing the comparison between the nissan and a 2010 diesel we were looking at. Excluding the cost of maintenance which I presume is a lot less on a leaf the difference in price vs running will take seven years so including maintenance I presume itd be a good bit less.

Maintenance is non-existent on EVs, ~€100 annual/50,000km visual inspection to keep the warranty up to date. All you have to do is replace tires, washer fluid and brake disks.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Having a 24 hour test today. By the time I get home & allow my wife a spin ill need to charge it. Theres a standard type 2 public point near me. Its a 6.6 kw car. How long to charge say for 80km?

2 Hours

Balmed Out wrote: »

For getting the best use of the car I imagine I would be charging overnight but possibly little and often in between for example plugging it in if im home for an hour. Whats the best way to maximise battery life?

No need to worry about level 2 charging impacting battery life. The BMS (battery management system) handles it. Plug in whenever you want.

Balmed Out wrote: »

Given the price of batteries are dropping Im thinking that a new set of tyres, break pads and batteries would have a leaf driving just like a new car in ten years?

Yeah... pretty much.

pwurple

Balmed Out wrote: »

Given the price of batteries are dropping Im thinking that a new set of tyres, break pads and batteries would have a leaf driving just like a new car in ten years?

Yup. Also, because there's no Engine, there's no engine wear. -> Mileage doesn't mean much on an electric vehicle.