Transporting vs driving leaf to ireland

proponent

Hi all,
Popped a deposit on leaf today in UK.. Delighted and can't wait to get it.. Only challenge now is getting it back to Dublin..
Just thinking aboit the 390 miles I need to cover to get to Holyhead. Looking at realistically getting max 80 miles on each rapid charge(would that be right?).
It's not likely I can do this all in and out in a day. In trying to weigh up my options on flight, Hotel and ferry.. Approx €350 all in and a very very long day of driving and charging.
What's the best price anybody knows of to have a leaf transported dealership in UK to door in ireland?

Has anybody else imported one and drove it back? Or had it transported?

All thoughts welcomed

oinkely

350 plus vat was as cheap as I could get. Driving and ferry was a lot less, as I was going the Belfast cairnryan route. Flight was less than 20, but it was a very long day. Left home at 4.30 am and got home at 6.30 am the first time and about 3.30 the second time.

proponent

oinkely wrote: »

350 plus vat was as cheap as I could get.

That's a decent price.. Can you send me details

oinkely

fraid i can't remember exactly who it was. I googled 'car transport from uk' and rang all the numbers that came up. There was a thread about it in the motors section too and i think the price above was from the person mentioned in that thread.

oinkely

And if IIRC, that was to a Dublin address, anything outside was extra.

KCross

proponent wrote: »

Hi all,
Looking at realistically getting max 80 miles on each rapid charge(would that be right?). It's not likely I can do this all in and out in a day.

No, you wont get 80 miles at motorways speeds as you wont be driving from 100% each time. You will only be driving from 80% to probably 20% which means you really only have 60% to drive with. If you do drive it back you need to gauge 50 miles per charge at motorway speeds to ensure you dont get caught.

Obviously you will get further when you leave the dealer as you will have 100% charge but it will be 80% after that.

proponent wrote: »

In trying to weigh up my options on flight, Hotel and ferry.. Approx €350 all in and a very very long day of driving and charging.

I did my run in 24 hours. No hotel required. Can you catch a few hours on the ferry? It depends on the timing of your flights and ferrys I guess.

proponent wrote: »

Has anybody else imported one and drove it back?

Here is my experience with importing and driving it back.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99372631

Scottie99

Where in England are you traveling from? I've traveled up and down Scotland/England in my Leaf going and coming from Ireland.

Also charging cost can be included from certain providers..

proponent

Southampton,

its a good shlep from Holyhead and have a pretty limited window in and out, kids and work etc.

Scottie99

proponent wrote: »

Southampton,

its a good shlep from Holyhead and have a pretty limited window in and out, kids and work etc.

Have you tried Pembroke or Fishguard ports. I know it comes in at Rosslare but charging options in Ireland from there is free and good. Just another option..

https://www.esb.ie/our-businesses/ecars/charge-point-map

KCross

proponent wrote: »

Southampton,

its a good shlep from Holyhead and have a pretty limited window in and out, kids and work etc.

I have no idea of your times but take a look at Pembroke-->Rosslare.
I reckon it might be easier to come into Rosslare and drive to Dublin than to try to make it to Holyhead and then Dublin.


Check both routes and see how many charges are required. From Southampton I'd say the Pembroke route would be easier. Maybe the times dont suit you?

Ecotricity now also charge for charging so you need to factor that in and ensure you are setup on their network and that their network has enough chargers on the route. You might have to use multiple providers. I know the route to Pembroke (M4) is fully covered by Ecotricity as that is the route I took.

ei9go

Have a look at https://www.shiply.com/

You can specify from where to where and companies compete for the business.

Suggest that maybe you should get the leaf transported to the port on the UK side and you go across as a foot passenger and pick it up

there.

Expect around one pound per mile.

proponent

good shout,

thanks all

DrPhilG

I flew from Derry to Liverpool, caught the train to Leeds and collected my car in Pontefract.

Drove back to Liverpool and caught the overnight ferry back to Belfast.

It was an adventure, plus I brought my Dad and he enjoyed the run.

zoom_cool

I think you maybe better to get it transported the likes of Harron Transport are over in the uk everyday of the week

makeorbrake

No need to get it transported. You just need to plan your route and organise ahead of time.


Going over in 10 days - booked one way flight for 10 euro - ferry back is 70 from Liverpool. Ecotricity account setup.

ei9go

makeorbrake wrote: »

No need to get it transported. You just need to plan your route and organise ahead of time.


Going over in 10 days - booked one way flight for 10 euro - ferry back is 70 from Liverpool. Ecotricity account setup.

Saw a post in the Facebook group a couple of days ago saying that the Ecotricity chargers would not accept an Irish Credit Card.

makeorbrake

ei9go wrote: »

Saw a post in the Facebook group a couple of days ago saying that the Ecotricity chargers would not accept an Irish Credit Card.

Can anyone confirm that as an issue (or was it a one-off problem with a particular card)?

I setup my Irish Visa (AIB) with them no problem.

ei9go

makeorbrake wrote: »

Can anyone confirm that as an issue (or was it a one-off problem with a particular card)?

Here's the post:

Through a lucky set of circumstances I stopped at Cheiveley services on the (English) M4 in a borrowed i3 this evening and met a gentleman and group member called Colm taking a Leaf to Ireland.
He couldn't start the charger as the new Ecotricity app wasn't accepting his Irish credit card.
Luckily we were able to start a charge with my account. Right now he is on the way to the ferry and I'm remotely starting charges for him.
The Ecotricity situation is a mess. Please be warned to check this out if you are planning to use their network in future.

Further down the thread it does say, it was a credit card problem. Only saw the post when it was initially posted.

I haven't actually tried to initiate charges with my app so maybe there would be a problem. The IKEA Belfast charger has "finally" been converted so somebody with an Irish card could try it I guess.

proponent

samih wrote: »

I haven't actually tried to initiate charges with my app so maybe there would be a problem. The IKEA Belfast charger has "finally" been converted so somebody with an Irish card could try it I guess.

I will pop an email to ecotricity.. Don't want to get caught badly here

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

I will pop an email to ecotricity.. Don't want to get caught badly here

When are you going over proponent?

proponent

makeorbrake wrote: »

When are you going over proponent?

Heading over on 23rd

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

Heading over on 23rd

I'll be over there before you. I have 2x cards linked to my ecotricity account - so I'll let you know how I get on.

proponent

makeorbrake wrote: »

I'll be over there before you. I have 2x cards linked to my ecotricity account - so I'll let you know how I get on.

Please do,, I'm worried about the journey back.. Trying to plan on zap map.. Seems fine

proponent

makeorbrake wrote: »

I'll be over there before you. I have 2x cards linked to my ecotricity account - so I'll let you know how I get on.

Well?? How did it go?

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

Well?? How did it go?

Hi. Went fine. Had 2 cards associated with the Ecotricity app/account - just in case one wouldn't work. The other concern I had was that I had registered initially with them (prior to them moving from the free charging model and from card to app) using a Parcel Motel address. Was concerned that this might cause a conflict in putting through the payments against my visa/mastercard debit cards (given that real address registered against them) but that wasn't an issue.

Flew into Manchester - took direct train from there to Blackpool. Dealer collected me from the station. Paid them via bank transfer within minutes (was using an old UK account - so was that bit faster). Charged it up to the max at the local Nissan dealership - which was a minute away.

Drove from there to Manchester (topping up charge at an Ecotricity CP along the way) - to pick up a 30amp home charger from a guy for £150. He happened to have charging facilities at his work - so gave it ten minutes worth of a top up there.

Decided on taking ferry from Liverpool rather than Holyhead - just to cut down on the amount of driving (and potential to have some sort of charging issue whilst over there) - although the sailing takes a hell of a lot longer. That said, it was much cheaper than Holyhead and they include 2x meals in the price). Topped up in Warrington Ikea on the way. Again, the app worked fine - and they didn't apply the £6 fee for that one (the guy in Manchester said that would be the case...either they have not converted fully or maybe they have some agreement setup with Ikea...). Lastly, I charged just a few miles from the ferry at a Nissan Dealership - just before they closed.


Had to wait for others to charge in front of me at both Nissan chargers. The amount of charging I did was probably overkill - but I didn't want to take any chances. The Guess-o-meter doesn't reflect reality - it's going to take me some time to figure out what it can do safely.

Don't know what deal you have re. data with your irish phone but in my case, I picked up a UK pay as you go SIM for the day on arrival at Manchester Airport (WH Smiths stock a range of SIMS) so that I could use the Ecotricity app (and call them if necessary, call the dealer, the guy with the home charger, etc.) May or may not be relevant to you - if it is, just make sure that your phone is unlocked.

So....it's all do-able. You just need to plan ahead - and work out what charging stations you can hit. Get an early morning flight - so that you can get stuff taken care of eg. travelling to dealership, final payment (if bank transfer or using transfermate, etc). I was conscious of the fact that IF I ran into trouble with Ecotricity, there's the option of calling them (in which case, I'd imagine they could either accept payment over the phone or provide a free charge under the circumstances) - but only until something like 5.30pm.

Have a look at fall-back chargers you can use just in case a certain charger is down. Others had suggested I get a CYC card (for other chargers) - I didn't, but their advice is still good.

Not a very enjoyable couple of days (I'm a few hours from Dublin - so had that to contend with also - as well as getting up to Dublin overnight in order to get an early morning flight) - but it served its purpose.

Of course, you can avail of one of these services that bring the car back for you. Whether it's worthwhile to do so depends upon how valuable your time is. All in, it cost me €155 to collect and get it home (that's everything - bus to airport/flight/uk train ticket/ecotricity/ferry home/sim card). If you can afford to do the run mid-week, then ferry/flight prices will be cheeaper (given that right now is peak travel time).

Hope that feedback helps and best of luck with your purchase. Let us know how it goes.

One last tip...

Explain to the dealership before going over that you will be taking the COMPLETE V5 away with you. If they're not used to dealing with irish customers, they may be hesitant about this. However, it's important that you get this through to them. My purchase got held up for weeks as I insisted on the dealership getting the v5 in its name before I bought it (don't know if that really was necessary but felt more confident in buying from the actual official owner!). That process took the DVLA in Swansea WEEKS to sort out! - hard to understand why - but that's the way the DVLA roll. I've known this to happen to others also. You need to be able to produce the v5 when getting it re-registered in IRL - and revenue/nct centre don't care if you have to wait on the DVLA.

k123456

Great post makeorbrake. v useful for someone like me, who intends to buy from UK

What year spec leaf did you buy, and approx, what did you save in Euro vs an Irl reg leaf

makeorbrake

k123456 wrote: »

Great post makeorbrake. v useful for someone like me, who intends to buy from UK

What year spec leaf did you buy, and approx, what did you save in Euro vs an Irl reg leaf

It's a 141 Leaf Acenta model (it's just a day away from being a 142). It has 6.6kW on-board charging. 45K miles - for an EV higher than average mileage - but all 12 bars still intact on the dash display so battery not degraded yet. Got Nissan to certify the battery also.

Price was approx. €9100 + €155 travelling costs (+2 days off work if you want to factor that in. I'm not - but others may find their time is more valuable).

Nearest I could find here was an SV model (which I believe is the irish equivalent of an Acenta) with 49K on the clock but without 6.6kW charging. Thats on the market here for €12K. I wouldnt have been swayed in any event (6kW charging was a deal breaker for me) but told them what deal I had lined up and they just said they couldn't come anywhere near that price. So saving of €2745 + 6.6kW charging (which if you buy from new as an option is pretty expensive - something like €1200 extra I think). Irish dealers tend to be prepared to take more off the price - presumably they would have taken something off - so factor that in. Additionally, I'd imagine local dealerships will include some level of warranty whereas I'm just depending upon the manufacturers warranty with my UK purchase.

Notwithstanding that, there's still a significant saving - bearing in mind there's no VRT in play either.

DrPhilG

Congrats on the purchase.

I actually enjoyed my collection. I took my dad with me and came back on the overnight ferry. He loved the trip.

proponent

superb post makeorbrake.. fair play.. and well ware!!
I will be doing precisely what you did next week. I think I have covered all bases.

The only thing I am a bit worried about is putting 12k sterling on my card using chip and pin..its a UK account so thats not the issue I am just worried that it has some limit on debit card chip and pin.

now its off for the import NCT with you.. has anyone else any stories on the import NCT process?

Greenhills and northpoint seem to be always booked out so I might try arklow.
I am a little confused about something that somebody could clear up.. is the whole process of import and registration now handled by NCT.. so no trip to the VRO in tallaght any more?

makeorbrake

DrPhilG wrote: »

I actually enjoyed my collection. I took my dad with me and came back on the overnight ferry. He loved the trip.

Ordinarily, I would have done. It's just the way it worked out for me with going directly from work to a bus for the airport - meaning little in the way of sleep on the lead-in, longer than usual ferry journey on the way back (albeit probably the first time I really slept on a ferry - as I was simply knackered) and a little ill at ease that I'd run into some EV related snag (a mixture of range / infrastructure anxiety!).

I had allowed extra time in making the ferry booking - which prolonged things. On the plus side, I used the extra time to take a bit of a wander down the mersey waterfront

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

The only thing I am a bit worried about is putting 12k sterling on my card using chip and pin..its a UK account so thats not the issue I am just worried that it has some limit on debit card chip and pin.

Check with the card issuer. I was thinking in terms of using a Revolut Mastercard to make payment but they have a limit on the funds that can be spent thru it within a 72 hour duration...can't remember exactly ...think it might have been £5k?
I assume you've confirmed with the seller that they will accept this payment method? Did you pay a deposit already using this card (just to ensure that there's no issue with them being able to process - sometimes, with cards, there can be a variance - if the retailer hasn't updated their payment terminal and for other reasons).

If it's a UK bank account you are using, why not add them as a payee on your online banking and just do a bank transfer instead? I had an old Ulster Bank (NI) account - and was transferring to their NatWest account (Natwest & U.B. both belonging to the R.B.S. Group) - they had the money within 60 seconds.

Perhaps you don't have online banking setup with that account OR you want the security that comes with a visa/mastercard payment (in case of any trouble with the purchase)?

proponent wrote: »

now its off for the import NCT with you.. has anyone else any stories on the import NCT process?

I've already been in touch with them. They can't facilitate an appointment - so I've done my bit. They have to get back to me with an appointment (therefore, revenue can't grumble). Was looking for a slot in Galway. Apparently, only certain NCT Test Centres do the re-registration work.

KCross

proponent wrote: »

now its off for the import NCT with you.. has anyone else any stories on the import NCT process?

Greenhills and northpoint seem to be always booked out so I might try arklow.
I am a little confused about something that somebody could clear up.. is the whole process of import and registration now handled by NCT.. so no trip to the VRO in tallaght any more?

All done by NCT but not every NCT centre does it. You make a VRT appointment, not an NCT appointment.

As said above, just make sure you get the full V5 form. The process is written on the form so if the seller is unsure get them to read the export section of the form and it explains it to them.

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

I will be doing precisely what you did next week. I think I have covered all bases.

How did it work out for you?

proponent

Just back,

worked out great!!

Managed to do it in 6 charges in total.. the ecotricity points are a bit fiddly as some are converted to pay ones and some are not but they all work... I didnt actually come across any CYC ones?its all straightforward though. I was a little worried about battery temperature getting high with too many rapid charges but the car seems to manage itself so no real concern. If anything I was being a little too concervative in respect of my distances and I really never pushed beneath 20% until the last charge where I managed to get from the services in ryhl in wales all the way home in Dublin with 12km to play with.. result!

I am very pleased with the car...

Now I need to have a good play with it and get the carwings transferred over and get the import NCT done.

I really wouldn't be in any way concerned about long distances in that car anymore! in fact if anything its a great way to travel, especially with kids as you stop at the intervals that suit their bladders!

One thing I am starting to notice is that it draws a lot of attention, in every services I stopped I had a good audience of folks with questions about what I was up to and whats it like etc.. quite nice really.

Time now also to think about a home charge point.

Can I just say thank you to you all for the advice and comments to date on this, its been a real help.

Please if anybody else is thinking of doing this just give me a shout as I can let you know anything you need to know about this journey.

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

Just back,

worked out great!!

Managed to do it in 6 charges in total.. the ecotricity points are a bit fiddly as some are converted to pay ones and some are not but they all work... I didnt actually come across any CYC ones?its all straightforward though. I was a little worried about battery temperature getting high with too many rapid charges but the car seems to manage itself so no real concern. If anything I was being a little too concervative in respect of my distances and I really never pushed beneath 20% until the last charge where I managed to get from the services in ryhl in wales all the way home in Dublin with 12km to play with.. result!

Happy days - I think it's best to be conservative when driving an EV first time round. I was concerned that it wouldn't even do the basic mileage I needed from it on a day to day basis following the journey home due to it all being motorway driving (and me driving that little bit faster). Takes a week or two to get comfy with it.

proponent wrote: »

Managed to do it in 6 charges in total.. the ecotricity points are a bit fiddly as some are converted to pay ones and some are not but they all work... I didnt actually come across any CYC ones?

Yeah, I can't understand why these don't simply take credit card from the get go (all of them - why add the complexity?). Their move to app doesn't seem like progress - could they not have linked the card to a pay system? Never used CYC but the ecotricity ones are all on the motorway system - perhaps there would have been one in North Wales if you got stuck out there...

proponent wrote: »

Now I need to have a good play with it and get the carwings transferred over and get the import NCT done.

make sure you ring the nct callcentre asap - they don't give you much time to make contact initially (even if they can't facilitate an appointment for you straight away. As regards carwings - email nissan uk here - and ask them if there is anyone registered as using carwings on your car (in my case there wasnt, - which makes it much easier for me to simply register myself). Email address => evuk@nissan-services.eu

They respond quickly.

proponent wrote: »

One thing I am starting to notice is that it draws a lot of attention, in every services I stopped I had a good audience of folks with questions about what I was up to and whats it like etc.. quite nice really.

Yeah, experiencing the same. I'm using the local ecars charger regularly - and had 2 people tell me they never saw anyone EVER charge there before (nor had or have I).

proponent wrote: »

Time now also to think about a home charge point.

Stick a post up on the speakev forum - classifieds section - and see if anyone has one going cheap. Managed to pick a 30amp charger up for £150 (and collected whilst collecting my car) - had a friend of the family install it for buttons.

proponent wrote: »

Can I just say thank you to you all for the advice and comments to date on this, its been a real help.

Please if anybody else is thinking of doing this just give me a shout as I can let you know anything you need to know about this journey.

That's the beauty of forums/discussion boards - great way of getting all the info together. :-)

Excellent, well done. Happy Electric driving !!!

proponent

All done and reg on the car,

Have to say there are some muppets in the NCT centre import section! the staff there were great and its really important to do your homework before going on there for your appointment and have everything in place.

There were two different people up there who just rocked up asking the staff for their irish reg without any documentation or anything, they were getting really agitated when the staff there told them they had to make an appointment and documentation etc... seriously how can people just arrive out there like that!

Anyway all done now and very very happy. I am at that stage now wondering how could I ever drive an ICE again. its nuts!

Again thanks all for the help throughout the process

proponent

completely metric on both the sat nav.. carwings etc and within Dash,, there is s seperate process to convert both but both the trip and the odometer are in kilometres,

KCross

Deedsie wrote: »

Congrats on the new car, some savings.

Can I ask is the dash in mph or Km/h? Is the dash of a U.K. import the same as an Irish bought car? Or can the display be changed to be completely metric?

It's a digital readout and it can be changed from miles to km so there is zero difference between an Irish leaf and a UK one.

The Black Oil

proponent wrote: »

Have to say there are some muppets in the NCT centre import section! the staff there were great and its really important to do your homework before going on there for your appointment and have everything in place.

There were two different people up there who just rocked up asking the staff for their irish reg without any documentation or anything, they were getting really agitated when the staff there told them they had to make an appointment and documentation etc... seriously how can people just arrive out there like that!

Yeah, there's a sign up in the Ballymun VRT office about abusive behaviour towards staff. A shame it's needed.

Enjoy the car.

Water John

Just read the full thread. Great posts and reading. Thanks for sharing yer experiences.

BoatMad

KCross wrote: »

It's a digital readout and it can be changed from miles to km so there is zero difference between an Irish leaf and a UK one.

So I gather. There is no such facility in Irish leafs to change to miles.

proponent

There has to be,

its just the reverse process on the dash buttons

cros13

proponent wrote: »

There has to be,

its just the reverse process on the dash buttons

Irish Leafs are locked to proper metric units.
There is no facility to change the dashboard units unlike the UK Leaf.

proponent

WUT?
thats mad ted

DrPhilG

Even via Leafspy app?

That would be a pain in the arse for me. I grew up with miles and I'm too old and stubborn to change.

I'd probably import one even if there were no savings to be made in that case.

BoatMad

cros13 wrote: »

Irish Leafs are locked to proper metric units.
There is no facility to change the dashboard units unlike the UK Leaf.

I think this is because the metric system in the UK is recognised as the official system of measurement, with miles per hour as an anomaly. Hence there, cars can legally show either miles of km

In Ireland it would be illegal to have a miles only display on an Irish registered car ( after 2007 I believe)

makeorbrake

proponent wrote: »

WUT?
thats mad ted

Yet another advantage to importing. :-)

cros13

makeorbrake wrote: »

Yet another advantage to importing. :-)

Don't know about that. Those of us under 35-40 would tend to be more comfortable with the metric units.

I just wish the Brits would just stop being so bone-headed and switch their signs/limits over to sensible units.