Newbie looking to get advice on a Leaf

william o t

Thanks very much folks. Excellent advice and suggestions all round. One think I have noticed since beginning my quest for info is how helpful other Leaf owners are so that's another plus to getting one.

Yeah, I reckon the only way to know for sure is to try one for a few days particularly in this weather.

I am certainly beginning at last to get a feel for the ranges and see that it is all about a little change in mindset to run a leaf. ie a quick top up is no real hardship versus to other absolute a tangible benefits and savings.

Its a pity that free on street charger looks like coming to an end. Does anyone have an idea of how much say an 80% QC would actually cost on street.

Thanks again guys...will keep you posted if we make the move!!

william o t

william o t wrote: »

Thanks very much folks. Excellent advice and suggestions all round. One think I have noticed since beginning my quest for info is how helpful other Leaf owners are so that's another plus to getting one.

Yeah, I reckon the only way to know for sure is to try one for a few days particularly in this weather.

I am certainly beginning at last to get a feel for the ranges and see that it is all about a little change in mindset to run a leaf. ie a quick top up is no real hardship versus to other absolute a tangible benefits and savings.

Its a pity that free on street charger looks like coming to an end. Does anyone have an idea of how much say an 80% QC would actually cost on street.

Thanks again guys...will keep you posted if we make the move!!

There are no indications as to what the ESb might charge for usage.

Even under the postponed charges with a 5-10 min daily top up on a fast charger it would work out far cheaper than diesel including the monthly 17 PM charge.

People were loosing the rag and not thinking when they were ranting and raving about the charges.

Even if some trips cost the same as diesel the majority of charging will be done from your home charge point at night rate electricity.

Having the 30 Kwh leaf means more electricity can be stored from your home charge point on night rate saving a lot more if the ESB do introduce charges. The 30 Kwh also charges faster from the fast chargers.

But as I said 5-10 min top ups are really not a big problem especially if the chargers are close to work.

Keep us posted if you get the Demo leaf for a few days. They'll give you the granny cable to use on a extension lead (fully extended) , it will charge in about 12 hrs from empty. V around 7 hrs with the 3.3 Kw home charge point V 3.5 hrs or so for the 6.6 kw. The 16 amp home charge point is installed as part of the grant not the 32 amp , you can install the 32 amp charge point yourself and the 32 amp charger in the Leaf is optional but very useful especially from slow charge points.

DrPhilG

[Deleted User] wrote: »

People were loosing the rag and not thinking when they were ranting and raving about the charges.

While others were blindly positive and buried their heads in the face of an unreasonable, unfair and short sighted charging scheme.

But that's a different topic.

DrPhilG

DrPhilG wrote: »

While others were blindly positive and buried their heads in the face of an unreasonable, unfair and short sighted charging scheme.

But that's a different topic.

Yeah that thread on boards has been bet to death here now, still going I believe !

william o t

I wonder would importing a Leaf from the North / UK also be an option.
For example:
2014 Leaf Acenta with 10000 miles for £10000stg in Charles Hurst N.I. Even at rubbish exchange rates that's around €13000 euro without a bit of haggling.
That appears to be a savings of at least €5000euro (if not more) compared to 2014 used Irish leafs with more miles.

Assuming the VRT is actually zero this looks like a bit of value. This car appears to be a non FLEX battery lease car (have emailed dealer to confirm)

Mileage wise it is over the 6,000miles to escape Vat too. Is this too good to be true or am I missing something.
Should the warranty be OK here too?

william o t

william o t wrote: »

I wonder would importing a Leaf from the North / UK also be an option.
For example:
2014 Leaf Acenta with 10000 miles for £10000stg in Charles Hurst N.I. Even at rubbish exchange rates that's around €13000 euro without a bit of haggling.
That appears to be a savings of at least €5000euro (if not more) compared to 2014 used Irish leafs with more miles.

Assuming the VRT is actually zero this looks like a bit of value. This car appears to be a non FLEX battery lease car (have emailed dealer to confirm)

Mileage wise it is over the 6,000miles to escape Vat too. Is this too good to be true or am I missing something.
Should the warranty be OK here too?

Buying in the U.K is a good alternative but you got to do a lot of planning to get it home and charging in the U.K is a night mare, so many different providers and different access cards. So you need to contact someone who has done it. Create another thread with the appropriate title and someone will help you out on that. There are people here who have done it.

But yeah a 2 year old Acenta would be a good alternative to a New XE.

The batteries are proving to be a very reliable on the current Gen too and a lot better than the original.

The warranty on the 24 Kwh battery is 5 years and 100,000 Kms to below 70% capacity. In other words you have to loose 3 bars capacity before you can claim.

Warranty is 8 years and 160,000 kms on the 30 Kwh.

There won't Be VAT on a 2 year old car above 6,000 miles. There is no vrt also but I think you still have to present the car to the VRT office.

In 2-3 years you can trade it for a 30 kwh, the 320 Kms range Leaf with 60 kwh should be available Q4 2017.

DrPhilG

william o t wrote: »

Mileage wise it is over the 6,000miles to escape Vat too. Is this too good to be true or am I missing something.
Should the warranty be OK here too?

Warranty is fine. I bought a UK Tekna and brought it over. Needs to be more than 6 months old and I think 6000km. Mine was a year old with 5,500 miles. Saved about €7k compared to equivalent cars in the South.

Any questions just give me a shout.

NIMAN

Anyone got their Leaf serviced yet?
What sort of price do they charge, considering there's little to be done?

NIMAN

william o t wrote: »

I wonder would importing a Leaf from the North / UK also be an option.
For example:
2014 Leaf Acenta with 10000 miles for £10000stg in Charles Hurst N.I. Even at rubbish exchange rates that's around €13000 euro without a bit of haggling.
That appears to be a savings of at least €5000euro (if not more) compared to 2014 used Irish leafs with more miles.

Assuming the VRT is actually zero this looks like a bit of value. This car appears to be a non FLEX battery lease car (have emailed dealer to confirm)

Mileage wise it is over the 6,000miles to escape Vat too. Is this too good to be true or am I missing something.
Should the warranty be OK here too?

You pay VAT in one of the jurisdictions. If you don't pay it in Ireland you'll pay it in the UK, or vice versa.

cros13

NIMAN wrote: »

You pay VAT in one of the jurisdictions. If you don't pay it in Ireland you'll pay it in the UK, or vice versa.

If you are buying in the UK the UK VAT has already been paid. If it's under 6000km you have to pay the difference between the two VAT rates or purchase ex VAT in the UK and pay the Irish VAT.

NIMAN wrote: »

Anyone got their Leaf serviced yet?
What sort of price do they charge, considering there's little to be done?

Most places are doing €99/€100 for the Leaf service. Nissan recommends a service every 30,000km but the warranty only requires service every 50,000km.
With the exception of gearbox oil and brake fluid being changed or topped up every 150,000km or so, it's pretty much just an inspection and pollen filter change.

The manual says 30,000 Kms or once a year whichever comes first.

Some dealers are sticking 15,000 kms on the windscreen and I think this is just plain wrong, they shouldn't do this !

I don't know where the warranty suggests 50,000 kms ?

Villain

william o t wrote: »

Thanks very much folks. Excellent advice and suggestions all round. One think I have noticed since beginning my quest for info is how helpful other Leaf owners are so that's another plus to getting one.

Yeah, I reckon the only way to know for sure is to try one for a few days particularly in this weather.

I am certainly beginning at last to get a feel for the ranges and see that it is all about a little change in mindset to run a leaf. ie a quick top up is no real hardship versus to other absolute a tangible benefits and savings.

Its a pity that free on street charger looks like coming to an end. Does anyone have an idea of how much say an 80% QC would actually cost on street.

Thanks again guys...will keep you posted if we make the move!!

As a Leaf owner of over 1 year now (SVE model) I have to say I'm finding it harder and harder to recommend Electric cars.

There certainly are positives, I did 15,000km in my first year and my average cost of fuel was €20 a month so some nice savings there.

However with the crazy ESB pricing model my costs would have nearly doubled by having to pay €17 a month just to have access to public chargers for the 5 or 6 times in a year I use them! The proposed fast charging prices were crazy and more expensive than diesel or petrol for 100km. So if you would be relying on them you need to be careful of what costing you work off.

On top of the proposed pricing the issues with chargers are still a big issue with one user having to sleep in their car for hours in Carlow recently when the fast charger was down.

For me it is a catch 22 situation really, you need to be doing decent milage to get the benefit of the savings but you also can't be doing too much or you end up relying on public chargers.

The other issue is technology is moving quickly and investing in a new Electric car based on normal finance or savings etc is bit of an unknown gamble as the future resale value is not clear e.g. if you buy the 24kw Leaf new this January and in 2018 they bring out a 50kw or 60kw version then what will the resale value of a 2016 24kw or even 30kw be?

I love my leaf and it certainly has saved me money but it has also caused me to change my travel plans a few times so there are pro and cons that you need you to consider.

Look at a similar diesel car, what the running costs will be and what the likely resale value will be and do the same with a leaf and then factor in the cons with the leaf e.g. range limits.

Also be careful what people you listen to, some people have bought into the electric car concept and no matter what you say they will only ever see the positives, seek out as many people as possible and consider their experiences.

William o t , for your 50-60 mile commute at the conditions you said and speeds you'll be fine on your commute and if you got to rely on a 5-10 min top up daily it's not the end of the world unless the charge points are blocked. If you can get work charging you're sorted.

Even if the ESB do start billing for the use of the chargers at the proposed costs then with this and the per month charge + your home charging over a 10 min daily fast charge you'll still pay a lot less than diesel. But as I said I think you will get there in one charge but I would try not get home daily with a low or very low battery warning. 5 min top up would be better. Most of the time charging will be done at home and if it costs similar to diesel for a few trips a year then big deal and if someone has no home charge point and relies on fast charging then they shouldn't have an EV at this time until the issue with home charging is sorted for people renting and apartment owners etc.

You'll know after having the demo leaf for 2-3 days if it's suitable for you or not.

I've driven 28,000 kms and won't go back to petrol or diesel again. having said that, where I live I would not have the leaf as our only car. I'm not saying this just because I've work charging.

I'm considering getting the 30 kwh, I should know by tomorrow evening if I do this.