EV newbie - some questions

Seesee

Had the Leaf out for 24 hour test drive over weekend and we really enjoyed it. It will be our second car the other is a total gas guzzler 7 seater but tbh only need 7 seats once or twice a week and OH cycles to work so leaf will probably turn into main car due to economy etc.
We specified colour and are just going for the standard 24kW and 3.3 charging as really cannot afford to through more money into it right now. Plus as a second car for city driving, range shouldn't be a big concern and most charging will be done at home.
I saw some talk here and on the ev owners fb page about new models and am just a little concerned, is there a chance garage is selling us an older model masquerading as a new car? What is the difference with the new model, someone mentioned TCUs but I have no idea what that is.
Really excited at the prospect of being an EV owner and have to say a lot of what I have read on here has been really helpful so far.

Rafal

The main difference between previous year 24 kWh model and the MY2016 (current, new) 24 kWh model is the satnav (MUCH better now), screen (better resolution, brighter and easier to command) and the whole computer user interface (much better). There are a lot of smaller differences, like brakes seem to work more smoothly, but those are not significant. If you are getting the older 24 kWh get a better deal, as they are being sold at a larger discount. Ask the dealer if you are getting the MY2016 (model year 2016) version of the 24 kWh Leaf, and if so, great.

See other post about the TCU, it is a component of all Leafs, new and older, which constantly relays what you do to its masters at Nissan, and additionally allows you to see some of this data and to control the car remotely: much improved on MY2016, except for the the fact that the TCUs were essentially broken, which held up deliveries of MY2016 cars.

If you could stretch your budget to a 6.6 kW charger, I'd suggest you do that. It will halve non-rapid charging times, which is not essential when at home but makes a difference when out and about, say in Dublin. A 2-3 hour stop at a street post charger will get you 80%+ full even from almost empty with a 6.6 kW, while with the 3.3 kW you would barely get to 40-50 in that time. However, it has no impact on the speed of rapid (DC, Chademo) charging. Of course, it all really depends on how you are going to be using your Leaf, everyone is different, so 3.3 might be OK for you.

I also highly advise the 6.6 Kw charger, less time spent waiting at fast chargers is a good thing if you ask me.

It's not something don't I use a lot because I have the 3.3 Kw home charge point (which I'm upgrading to 6.6 Kw this year) but having it when you need it is terrific while out and about.

The 6.6 Kw charger means that when you come back to the car after your business , it's either charged enough to get home or it will greatly reduce the time needed at a fast charger.

Also one very important thing to consider is that there are far more standard street charge points than fast, just look at the ESB E-cars charge point map and the green icons are the standard, blue the fast chargers.

Just think if a fast chargers is down you can charge from a standard point in half the time with the 6.6 Kw meaning the possibility of not making it home with the 3.3 Kw charger or having to spend twice as long charging to get home or next fast charger.

cros13

The 30kWh pack is worth the extra money, OP if you can at all stretch to the 30kWh, do so. It will increase the utility of the vehicle for you (saving you using your other vehicle and paying the associated running costs) and improve the resale value.

6.6kW charging is a nice to have but certainly not worth €900 to the majority of people. I have an EV that charges at 3.3kW and one that charges at 7.4kW so I'm speaking from my experience of living with both. I've also owned both the 24kWh and 30kWh Leafs and I've gone for 3.3kW charging on both.

€300 for the cold pack is also worth the money as the seat heaters use substantially less power. All four seats + steering wheel uses as much as ten times less power than the cabin heater.

Think carefully OP when choosing whether to omit the 6.6 Kw charger or not. I would not have an EV without minimum 6.6 Kw AC charging, once you omit it then you'll most likely have to depend on the Fast charge network all the time when on longer trips where with the 6.6 plugged into standard street charge points you won't have to depend on fast charging all the time and not only that but as I said before, if a fast charger is down I guarantee you will appreciate having the 6.6 Kw charger because if you only have the 3.3 then you risk waiting double the time to get to the next fast charger or home. In m opinion the most important thing about EV ownership is the ability to charge as conveniently as possible when you need to. The 6.6 Kw allows for a decent amount of energy to be put back in the battery when out and about and for topping up.

I too agree if your budget can stretch to get the longer range 30 Kwh battery. It also charges faster from the fast chargers which is a huge advantage.

Think carefully OP when choosing whether to omit the 6.6 Kw charger or not. I would not have an EV without minimum 6.6 Kw AC charging, once you omit it then you'll most likely have to depend on the Fast charge network all the time when on longer trips where with the 6.6 plugged into standard street charge points you won't have to depend on fast charging all the time and not only that but as I said before, if a fast charger is down I guarantee you will appreciate having the 6.6 Kw charger because if you only have the 3.3 then you risk waiting double the time to get to the next fast charger or home. In m opinion the most important thing about EV ownership is the ability to charge as conveniently as possible when you need to. The 6.6 Kw allows for a decent amount of energy to be put back in the battery when out and about and for topping up.

I too agree if your budget can stretch to get the longer range 30 Kwh battery. It also charges faster from the fast chargers which is a huge advantage.

steelboots

Seesee, your going to get a lot of varying opinions as to weather you should up grade to 30Kw battery, or 6.6kw charger etc... At the end of the day you buy the configuration that suits 1) your budget 2) your driving behavior. Like you my new Leaf is a second car and was bought to get me to work and back and do weekend & evening trucking about to matches, shopping etc... I don't see the point of getting a 30kw battery if your not going to use the extended range it gives, it cost €2,000 extra + financing. If your rarely going to use public charging points is there any point buying the faster charger ? again it costs €900 + financing.

I have had a 152 Leaf with NO cold pack and 3.3kw charger for 3 weeks and it did me just fine. Did one fast charge (ok it may have been slower, but I was having my Big Mac while waiting so didn't care).

I decided in the end to go for a 24Kw, 6.6 charger SVE. I put more value on the Leather Seats (I have 4 kids), I like my music so the Bose sound system will be nice, and the cold pack will be nice. These extras I will use every day, the extend range to 30Kw I would rearly use, The faster charger may or may not have been worth it, I will have to wait and see.

Best of luck with !

steelboots

Seesee, your going to get a lot of varying opinions as to weather you should up grade to 30Kw battery, or 6.6kw charger etc... At the end of the day you buy the configuration that suits 1) your budget 2) your driving behavior. Like you my new Leaf is a second car and was bought to get me to work and back and do weekend & evening trucking about to matches, shopping etc... I don't see the point of getting a 30kw battery if your not going to use the extended range it gives, it cost €2,000 extra + financing. If your rarely going to use public charging points is there any point buying the faster charger ? again it costs €900 + financing.

I have had a 152 Leaf with NO cold pack and 3.3kw charger for 3 weeks and it did me just fine. Did one fast charge (ok it may have been slower, but I was having my Big Mac while waiting so didn't care).

I decided in the end to go for a 24Kw, 6.6 charger SVE. I put more value on the Leather Seats (I have 4 kids), I like my music so the Bose sound system will be nice, and the cold pack will be nice. These extras I will use every day, the extend range to 30Kw I would rearly use, The faster charger may or may not have been worth it, I will have to wait and see.

Best of luck with !

Benny_Cake

I have the 6.6kw charger myself and have benefited from using it on two occasions in the last 11 months. Neither occasion was vital but it did avoid the need to stop at a fast charger. For 900 euro it's arguable that it wasn't worth it in my case. If you don't think you're going to need it, I wouldn't sweat it.

Rafal

I am enjoying reading your different perspectives on the 6.6 kW charger and the 30 kWh battery, because it is becoming clearer to me that there is no one generic pattern of use that works for everyone. I went for these options, because Leaf is our only car, having just replaced our venerable and super-reliable 11 year old Prius.

On the other hand, I wish those were not options but something offered as standard to everyone without hiking the price. But I do not really know anything about running a car manufacturing company...

Seesee

Thanks for all your varying opinions. Based on our expected use of the Leaf I think we can stick with the 24kW battery and 3.3 kW charger as we live pretty close to town and daily average distances should be around 20km, only time will tell. I would love the cold pack and the leather seats too (have 3 kids) but I am getting the treatment on the paintwork and interior which I hope will help. I suppose if we love the Leaf we might trade up to all these things in a few years time. Also, we can put all the savings we make towards extra next time. Going to save about 600 pa on road tax alone!
Spoke with the salesman when dropping back the demo this morning and he explained about the TCUs and told me the new TCU will be fitted to our car but it certainly seems our new car is not a MY2016 so we'll have to see if we can negotiate on the price. The car is waiting for us on the forecourt, we just need to get the home charger fitted and finalise the money.

Rafal

Seesee wrote: »

Thanks for all your varying opinions. Based on our expected use of the Leaf I think we can stick with the 24kW battery and 3.3 kW charger as we live pretty close to town and daily average distances should be around 20km, only time will tell. I would love the cold pack and the leather seats too (have 3 kids) but I am getting the treatment on the paintwork and interior which I hope will help. I suppose if we love the Leaf we might trade up to all these things in a few years time. Also, we can put all the savings we make towards extra next time. Going to save about 600 pa on road tax alone!
Spoke with the salesman when dropping back the demo this morning and he explained about the TCUs and told me the new TCU will be fitted to our car but it certainly seems our new car is not a MY2016 so we'll have to see if we can negotiate on the price. The car is waiting for us on the forecourt, we just need to get the home charger fitted and finalise the money.

When you turn the car on, see if it says Nissan Connect and see if there is any menu called "Carwings". If there is, then you have the older model... Do get a much better price, as those are definitely being discounted.

Your strategy of saving now and upgrading in a few years is a very good one, in my opinion, because 2017-2019 will see a raft a major EV improvements, including much larger batteries (60 kWh is widely rumoured for the Leaf), but also much better driving and charging economy (less power needed) and more automation because of autonomous drive coming in everywhere, even from Nissan. On the other hand, time will only show if government will support EVs as much, less, or hopefully even more, than today.

Seesee

Hi Rafal, while government are supporting quite well with the 5K grant and low motor tax, the infrastructure needs to move much faster and imo there should be more disincentives for driving non-EVs especially in the city, something like a congestion charge and/or cheaper rate for parking in the city. I don't think you can penalise non-EV car drivers in rural areas where an EV car isn't as simple an option because of distances to be covered and lack of infrastructure.
This is a super forum btw, have gotten a lot of good information from it. Thanks!

Rafal

Seesee, I entirely agree with you.

mr.dunkey

If buying new I would go for the 2016 30kw battery, if buying 24kw buy 2014/2015 year you will save thousands of euro. You don't need extra debt if only need 24kw and 3 kw charger. The heated seats are nice but not necessary IMO.
Good to see more moving to electric

Seesee wrote: »

Had the Leaf out for 24 hour test drive over weekend and we really enjoyed it. It will be our second car the other is a total gas guzzler 7 seater but tbh only need 7 seats once or twice a week and OH cycles to work so leaf will probably turn into main car due to economy etc.
We specified colour and are just going for the standard 24kW and 3.3 charging as really cannot afford to through more money into it right now. Plus as a second car for city driving, range shouldn't be a big concern and most charging will be done at home.
I saw some talk here and on the ev owners fb page about new models and am just a little concerned, is there a chance garage is selling us an older model masquerading as a new car? What is the difference with the new model, someone mentioned TCUs but I have no idea what that is.
Really excited at the prospect of being an EV owner and have to say a lot of what I have read on here has been really helpful so far.

Seesee

How do I know for sure new TCU has been fitted to my Leaf when I collect it. AFAIK it will probably not be a MY2016 that we are getting but I was told the new TCU would be fitted before we picked it up. Due to pick up on Monday/Tuesday. BTW we feel we getting good deal on the car with trade-in etc. so happy about that but just want to be sure have right TCU that works in the hope that the Connect works (!).

Rafal

Seesee wrote: »

How do I know for sure new TCU has been fitted to my Leaf when I collect it. AFAIK it will probably not be a MY2016 that we are getting but I was told the new TCU would be fitted before we picked it up. Due to pick up on Monday/Tuesday. BTW we feel we getting good deal on the car with trade-in etc. so happy about that but just want to be sure have right TCU that works in the hope that the Connect works (!).

Very easy. If you have the older TCU, it will fail to communicate within 1-2 days of activating. On the MY2016 you will also see a "grey car with a red slash" icon on top-right of the satnav screen. I am not sure if there is such a display on the older models, but Carwings will not work if the TCU is not connecting. Please let us know how connectivity works, especially I any web or app-based features are not working for you.