Reflections on a long journey with the 30 kWh

Bigus

BoatMad wrote: »

my fuel light on my diesel comes on at around 60 km, my EV has 3 times that range , ???

can I ask are you driving an EV? , I do and your comment is incorrect

But is yours not the better 30 kWh with faster charging ?

So my comments are more relevant to the majority of (24kwh ) available on the secondhand market.



No I don't have one as yet and got outbid on the first one last week , but my biggest concern was getting it 30 km home from the auction , which I don't think a C-zero would do on 1/4 charge. It was to be a chape EV for my educational purposes.

I have a model 3 deposit down, but I'll have a few EVs in the fleet before that arrives an i3 being lead contender, in from the UK

Idbatterim

Idbatterim wrote: »

I pop in and take a read of these threads the odd time. The amount of time the OP had to stop. I mean often would you not be stopping and spending money on ****e while you wait for it to charge? tea, coffee, paper, snacks?!

I don't, I'd bring my own food if I needed.

BoatMad

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I don't, I'd bring my own food if I needed.

Why am I not suprised lol

oinkely

If you can charge at home and don't regularly do more than 100 to 120 KM a day then I'd say jump in and go electric. The public network would probably be a bit tiring if you had to rely on it everyday. I use it regularly as we have two leafs and only one home charge point. Our driveway is a bit tight for two cars anyway. I usually move one when I get up and plug in the other one to take advantage of the cheap rate leccy. I do still have to charge on the public network sometimes but find it to be pretty good, though sods law dictates that at times when you have to have it working it will break down on you! That said, i would take a Leaf any day over the ICE alternatives.

We have 12k km up on the two leafs since March, so that's €1200 not put into diesel/petrol for very little outlay on electricity. That's close to 5% of the purchase costs of the two cars saved already.

I generally take the charging stops as exercise stops rather than cake eating ones, so have managed to remain approximately the same size as i was before the Leaf arrived!

Mancomb Seepgood

I think the idea of EV drivers being in a state of permanent anxiety regarding charging is a bit overstated.

People are more likely to post about problems that they had as opposed to a humdrum, routine journey with absolutely no problems whatsoever. We’ve had a Leaf (24kw) as our only car since March 2015. Over 36k driven in that time and have not been stranded once. It’s perfect for my 50km round trip commute, occasional visits to the in-laws in Tipp (230km roundtrip) and rare longer journeys. It fits my pattern of usage perfectly but that may not be the case for those who do longer distances regularly.

That is not to downplay the increasing issues with the charging network, however. Since the debacle surrounding the introduction of fees to use the charging network last year, it seems to take longer and longer to address charge point outages. The FCP in Carlow has spent more time down that up lately it seems and that’s in a pretty vital spot. I’d definitely be tempted to downsize the car and upsize the battery by moving to a Zoe once my 3 year PCP is up.

Gazzmonkey

Idbatterim wrote: »

The amount of time the OP had to stop. I mean often would you not be stopping and spending money on ****e while you wait for it to charge? tea, coffee, paper, snacks?!

Yeah noticed that as well

Put me clean off

The 40 Kwh Leaf should be announced soon, And in 2018 the 60 Kwh Leaf should arrive, the 2nd gen. And maybe one or 2 others.

The Hyundai Ioniq should be available this month, and who knows, that might get a battery upgrade sooner than we think.

40 Kwh should give 220 - 280 kms range. That's pretty respectable.

80sDiesel

oinkely wrote: »

We have 12k km up on the two leafs since March, so that's 1200 not put into diesel/petrol for very little outlay on electricity. That's close to 5% of the purchase costs of the two cars saved already.

I generally take the charging stops as exercise stops rather than cake eating ones, so have managed to remain approximately the same size as i was before the Leaf arrived!

But if you could have 'charged' the cars in 5-10 minutes at multiple locations and never have range anxiety , then would you pay that additional 1200 ?

BoatMad

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

Yeah noticed that as well

Put me clean off

my consumption of service station coffee has not increased since I am a "divil" for a cuppa while travelling anyway

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

The 40 Kwh Leaf should be announced soon, And in 2018 the 60 Kwh Leaf should arrive, the 2nd gen. And maybe one or 2 others.

The Hyundai Ioniq should be available this month, and who knows, that might get a battery upgrade sooner than we think.

40 Kwh should give 220 - 280 kms range. That's pretty respectable.

interestingly the dealers and Nissan ireland, have said they dont believe there is a 40 kmh model in the current body shape coming and that initial launch of Gen 2 will be 48 Kwh

BoatMad

Mancomb Seepgood wrote: »

I think the idea of EV drivers being in a state of permanent anxiety regarding charging is a bit overstated.

People are more likely to post about problems that they had as opposed to a humdrum, routine journey with absolutely no problems whatsoever. We’ve had a Leaf (24kw) as our only car since March 2015. Over 36k driven in that time and have not been stranded once. It’s perfect for my 50km round trip commute, occasional visits to the in-laws in Tipp (230km roundtrip) and rare longer journeys. It fits my pattern of usage perfectly but that may not be the case for those who do longer distances regularly.

That is not to downplay the increasing issues with the charging network, however. Since the debacle surrounding the introduction of fees to use the charging network last year, it seems to take longer and longer to address charge point outages. The FCP in Carlow has spent more time down that up lately it seems and that’s in a pretty vital spot. I’d definitely be tempted to downsize the car and upsize the battery by moving to a Zoe once my 3 year PCP is up.

I agree, the FCP network performers relatively well, and we have 27K Km since March , never came close to being stranded and was inconvenienced once at carlow requiring a diversion to Mayfield

The long round trip to titanic, did take far longer then in an ICE, EVs are not perfect ( yet )

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

interestingly the dealers and Nissan ireland, have said they dont believe there is a 40 kmh model in the current body shape coming and that initial launch of Gen 2 will be 48 Kwh

I seriously doubt anyone that works for Nissan Ireland would have a clue, if it hasn't been leaked all over the internet then I would say they're wrong. Dealers usually end up relaying stuff they read off the internet just like the rest of us, Nissan Motor Co aren't going to give them any information of future products until they're available or just about to be. `

Though I could end up eating those words...... we'll see. Seems foolish if Nissan only bring out a 48 Kwh Leaf II. And the longer they leave it the more sales they loose.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

I seriously doubt anyone that works for Nissan Ireland would have a clue, if it hasn't been leaked all over the internet then I would say they're wrong. Dealers usually end up relaying stuff they read off the internet just like the rest of us, Nissan Motor Co aren't going to give them any information of future products until they're available or just about to be. `

Though I could end up eating those words...... we'll see. Seems foolish if Nissan only bring out a 48 Kwh Leaf II. And the longer they leave it the more sales they loose.

I would be very surprised that the current body could actually house 40 kwh, given the heat buildup in the 30 kwh, even if Nissan approached the density of Tesla ( and they arnt far behind) it would be a struggle to contain the battery in the current shell and doubly so without active thermal management

this is my reason why I dont beleive there is a 2017 40Kwh, also the dealers would have been at the launch events by now anyway MY 2017 runs from June 2016 to june 2017 in reality

the source of the 40 kwh Leaf in current body style can be traced back to one single internet story

i could be wrong of course, thats a faint possibility

I believe that the current 48 Kwh offering developed with Renault will appear in Leaf 2 and will at the very least contain Renaults version of air cooling of the cells

On the contrary, I believe a 40 Kwh battery will not heat up enough to be of concern, the larger ah will normally have a higher C capability. I doubt a 45 kw charger would be any concern for a 45 Kwh battery of course it could be but I don't think so.

Even though tesla use a lot more Ah they run much more power. 80 Kw is not going to heat a 40 Kwh battery up much. A 24 Kwh battery won't heat either if it's actually designed for a 2 C charge or whatever they want to run through it, nissan's battery obviously isn't.

I also seriously doubt Nissan will have a more powerful motor, it's like they think ICE power and fuel prices, there's no need to offer such low HP in electrics. Unless heating is a factor maybe lol.

The new battery will most likely be made by LG Chem. I expect fitting it in the current chassis wouldn't be a major issue.

They should keep the Leaf and sell it as a different cheaper model.

BoatMad

Tesla have aggressive and very active thermal management , thats the difference , the current Leaf does not and relies on passive cooling that not even air assisted. I cannot see what is a considerable increase in packaging density not resulting in an exacerbation of the cooling issues.

I stand by my comments, I have seen nothing in anyway credible that suggest a 40 kwh Leaf is coming in the next 2-3 months

The point being that the larger AH pack can most likely take the same current without getting warm enough to justify cooling. I can't see 45 kw heating up a 40 Kwh pack much , at least in cooler climates.

The current 30 Kwh leaf allows a higher rate of charge for much longer hence the heating.

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

The point being that the larger AH pack can most likely take the same current without getting warm enough to justify cooling. I can't see 45 kw heating up a 40 Kwh pack much , at least in cooler climates.

The current 30 Kwh leaf allows a higher rate of charge for much longer hence the heating.

yes put the density of packaging that gives you this higher Kwh in the same space, means that calling and heat dissipation becomes an increasingly greater problem,

The 30 Kwh will gain heat just in driving, never mind charging

Guess we have to wait and see what they come up with.