Nissan LEAF - General

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76 posts

Master Geek
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#1931755 7-Jan-2018 15:42

MarkH67:

Sure, today the EV experience mixes in some inconvenience and anxiety along with the great benefits, but we all have to know that things are going to get better in the very near future. Until my future better car, I'm still saving thousands per year.

I wouldn't go back to another car than my 30Kw Leaf right now. It is one of the best price/range/benefits offers in NZ there is right now. And I'm happily using it for my daily commute. Just sharing what are the boundaries today, the future looks even better for sure. More chargers and larger batteries for same or less.

But I believe 24Kw and 30Kw will dominate 2nd hand market for next 2 years, so large group of people is interested in what you can do with current generation.

MarkH67

522 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1931761 7-Jan-2018 16:10

Cybnate:

But I believe 24Kw and 30Kw will dominate 2nd hand market for next 2 years, so large group of people is interested in what you can do with current generation.

Two years? Yeah, sure. Even beyond that, the older 24 & 30 kWh Leafs will be popular for cheap commuters or 2nd cars. For a longer range family trip, the newer 60kWh (and above) cars will become more & more popular. I can imagine 5+ years time there will be little Johny learning to drive in some old 24kWh car, the range will be a bit rubbish but he can drive to school and learn on that cheap car.

Right now a two-car family should really consider replacing one of those cars with an EV that can handle the daily commute. In a few years time the other car can be replaced with a newer EV that can handle anything - at that point, that family can end their reliance on fossil fuels. Right now there is a lot to be saved by commuting in a 24kWh or 30kWh Leaf, the fuel and maintenance savings are quite significant.

For me, the Leaf is fantastic for 70km/day of commuting. I like the reliability and not paying $45/wk for petrol that gets combusted and pumped out the exhaust into the atmosphere. My other vehicle is a motorcycle which I will be taking to Invercargill & back in a few weeks - it's going to be a bit painful having to buy so much petrol though. Maybe in a few years, I'll be able to replace the petrol-fueled motorcycle with an electric one that will run over 300km at 100kph.

I'm comforted by the fact that companies are pouring literally billions of dollars into battery research, it's about time that research was done! Bring on the solid state batteries that can last the lifetime of the car, much less waste if you don't have to re-manufacture batteries every 10 years!

Linuxluver

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#1932321 8-Jan-2018 17:57

Cybnate:

Just posting my experience for those considering a ride with a 30Kw Leaf to the real Far North. Tried my luck traveling from the Kawakawa fast charger to Pukenui (Somewhere between Kaitaia and Cape Reinga) on a fast charge (max,96%). Really pushing the Leaf's range. Long story short I made it, but just.

Have been driving through the Mangamuka Gorge (SH1) to Kaitaia as I had been advised the SH10 route would be using more battery. I arrived at a 0%(!) charge left in Pukenui having driven 80km/h most of the way where 100km/h was allowed and a lot slower going uphill. Had to be considerate and stopped a few times to let others passing by. It is the first time I had some range anxiety, even though it didn't make it to 'turtle mode', but I suspect I was closer than anyone would like to be.

In preparing the ride it appeared that charging underway at one of the camping sites appeared to be impossible at this time of the year. Had called a number of camping sites, but they all said to come back in a few weeks as business was crazy at the moment and there won't be a plug available for charging.

For the ride back, being close to Pukenui visiting family I was able to charge at their place to 100% overnight on 10Amp leaving a more convenient ride back with no real range anxiety the next day. That was because of the difference between charging to 96% on the fast charger and 100% overnight on the slow charger.

Hope charge.net can get the charger in Kaitaia up and running soon or maybe someone in the area can have a 16Amp plug installed for public EV use during the busy summer holidays. Would make traveling up north with 30KW Leaf a lot more convenient.

Great! :-)

I've wondered if the SH10 route might be better as it's a lot flatter...and you should be able to trail lot of slow camper vans. :-)

As for Kaitaia, it looks like the ChargeNet fast charger may be going in at the i-Site at Te Ahu (intersection of SH1 - South Rd and Matthews Ave). I'm basing this on a lot of chargers now being at i-Sites and ChargeNet now say the new charger will be at Te Ahu.

The next "Leading the Charge" EV drive from Bluff to Cape Reinga starts in mid-March.....so fingers crossed this charger will be installed by the beginning of April.

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Cybnate

76 posts

Master Geek
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#1933163 9-Jan-2018 20:39

Linuxluver:

I've wondered if the SH10 route might be better as it's a lot flatter...and you should be able to trail lot of slow camper vans. :-)

According to this site the SH10 actually takes more power. But maybe you can indeed offset that with trailing campervans. Hope I don't have to try the next time

Linuxluver:
As for Kaitaia, it looks like the ChargeNet fast charger may be going in at the i-Site at Te Ahu (intersection of SH1 - South Rd and Matthews Ave). I'm basing this on a lot of chargers now being at i-Sites and ChargeNet now say the new charger will be at Te Ahu.

The next "Leading the Charge" EV drive from Bluff to Cape Reinga starts in mid-March.....so fingers crossed this charger will be installed by the beginning of April.

Again, it would be great to have that one in. Will make for a 'safe' drive up to the Far North else you better contact some campersites along the way or bring your 40Kw Leaf ;-)

RUKI

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#1937429 11-Jan-2018 22:40

I spoke to the Leaf Taxi driver the other day at Greenlane Fast Charger. He said he is charging every 70kms to be confident he can make the next trip. He did not sound too happy about that and said he is looking to buy a hybrid. I was told by another guy who was Ubering in Leaf - and they were absolutely happy. I guess because with Uber you can see the destination and can accept what will work for you.

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Linuxluver

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#1937432 11-Jan-2018 22:47

RUKI:

I spoke to the Leaf Taxi driver the other day at Greenlane Fast Charger. He said he is charging every 70kms to be confident he can make the next trip. He did not sound too happy about that and said he is looking to buy a hybrid. I was told by another guy who was Ubering in Leaf - and they were absolutely happy. I guess because with Uber you can see the destination and can accept what will work for you.

I've talked to the same guy at Greenlane. He bought a cheap LEAF (Yay!) but it's relatively limited range and slower DC charging mean he spends a lot of time charging (Booo!)

He should have bought a newer LEAF.

I've done some Ubering in my 30kWh LEAF and I only have to charge a couple of times / day for about 15 mins each.....and that generally fits well into the legal break requirement times.

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frednz

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#1937672 12-Jan-2018 13:19

If we assume you have a spare $65,000 to spend on an electric vehicle, which would you buy, a 2017 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3 94ah REx Range Extender 2017 ?

Both the above vehicles are now on sale at EV Central for the same price of $64,990.

wellygary

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#1937708 12-Jan-2018 14:24

frednz:

If we assume you have a spare $65,000 to spend on an electric vehicle, which would you buy, a 2017 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3 94ah REx Range Extender 2017 ?

Both the above vehicles are now on sale at EV Central for the same price of $64,990.

It would depend on my usage

The i3 is a great city car for a couple of people (its 1/2 metre shorter than the Leaf)

If you are regularly going to have adult Pax in the back or will be doing more highway driving I would go probably go for the Leaf,

As an aside its the first i3 I've seen with Chademo, apparently the regular socket is in the frunk...

Linuxluver

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#1937710 12-Jan-2018 14:25

frednz:

If we assume you have a spare $65,000 to spend on an electric vehicle, which would you buy, a 2017 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3 94ah REx Range Extender 2017 ?

Both the above vehicles are now on sale at EV Central for the same price of $64,990.

A 30kWh LEAF costs half that.......and is good enough for Uber or taxi.

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paulchinnz

Circumspice
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#1937730 12-Jan-2018 15:38

eGolf 2017 because with that sort of money I'd want good backing/warranty (e.g. VW gives 8y/160000km battery warranty) ... that of course assumes VW are as good as their warranties!

MarkH67

522 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1937735 12-Jan-2018 15:52

frednz:

If we assume you have a spare $65,000 to spend on an electric vehicle, which would you buy, a 2017 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3 94ah REx Range Extender 2017 ?

Personally: No I wouldn't.

If I had $65k to spend on an electric vehicle then I would put it in the bank in an interest-bearing account and wait a year. Then I'd be looking at what to buy out of the new cars using the LG Chem 60kWh batteries - Leaf, Ioniq, eGolf, whatever.

I wouldn't drop that sort of cash on a 40kWh car and I'm not buying an EV that has a petrol engine in it. The only reason to have a range extender is that you have bought the wrong car and it doesn't have enough range, that's why I'd wait a year and buy a 60kWh car.

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PhantomNVD

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#1937769 12-Jan-2018 17:55

MarkH67:
frednz:

If we assume you have a spare $65,000 to spend on an electric vehicle, which would you buy, a 2017 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3 94ah REx Range Extender 2017 ?

Personally: No I wouldn't.

If I had $65k to spend on an electric vehicle then I would put it in the bank in an interest-bearing account and wait a year. Then I'd be looking at what to buy out of the new cars using the LG Chem 60kWh batteries - Leaf, Ioniq, eGolf, whatever.

I wouldn't drop that sort of cash on a 40kWh car and I'm not buying an EV that has a petrol engine in it. The only reason to have a range extender is that you have bought the wrong car and it doesn't have enough range, that's why I'd wait a year and buy a 60kWh car.

Well now you’re into the tech zone ... next year 80Kw will be on the horizon and you’d want to save your $67K (after interest) for another year until it could buy an 80Kw 😂

Meantime you’d have spent $3000-4000 on fuel and servicing the current ice and...

MarkH67

522 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1937800 12-Jan-2018 18:51

PhantomNVD:

Well now you’re into the tech zone ... next year 80Kw will be on the horizon and you’d want to save your $67K (after interest) for another year until it could buy an 80Kw 😂

Meantime you’d have spent $3000-4000 on fuel and servicing the current ice and...

Except that my current car is already an EV so I'm not spending on fuel and servicing.

Even though 80kWh would be nice and more would be even better, I would be pretty happy with 60kWh. I've considered my normal travelling and how far it is between chargers and how often I'm happy to stop and I believe that 60kWh would be a very nice amount of battery power to have. So, for the variety of performance increases and other improvements, I'd love to buy a 2019 60kWh Leaf if I had that sort of money spare to spend on a car.

paulchinnz

Circumspice
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#1937809 12-Jan-2018 19:08

The other aspect about the kWh is the threshold of comfort re range. Not sure what would make Kiwis happy but 200 miles commonly quoted for USians, which 60 kWh should do comfortably. So from that aspect it's a bit different to the tech zone, where requirements change year on year as the e.g. software demands increase. There're tech zone aspects to EVs of course, such as autopilot (e.g. get Level 2 now or wait for Level 4).

Separately: if 40kWh is $65k in 2018, I'd be surprised if the 60kWh Leaf will be $65k, unless there's a lot of competition (maybe) and it isn't a Nismo (rumoured).

frednz

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#1937825 12-Jan-2018 19:42

MarkH67:

frednz:

If we assume you have a spare $65,000 to spend on an electric vehicle, which would you buy, a 2017 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3 94ah REx Range Extender 2017 ?

Personally: No I wouldn't.

If I had $65k to spend on an electric vehicle then I would put it in the bank in an interest-bearing account and wait a year. Then I'd be looking at what to buy out of the new cars using the LG Chem 60kWh batteries - Leaf, Ioniq, eGolf, whatever.

I wouldn't drop that sort of cash on a 40kWh car and I'm not buying an EV that has a petrol engine in it. The only reason to have a range extender is that you have bought the wrong car and it doesn't have enough range, that's why I'd wait a year and buy a 60kWh car.

Thanks, some surprising answers to this question! The BMW i3 2017 Generation 2 model provides a pure electric range of around 200km from a 33kWh 94Ah battery and a further 120km if you need to use the range extender to get you to the next charging point.

Sure, you could buy the pure electric model if you were satisfied with a range of 200km, but if you buy the REX model, you might only have to use the range extender very occasionally, but it provides very important peace of mind and is designed to overcome range anxiety. I don't agree that it suggests "you have bought the wrong car"!

However, I can understand an EV enthusiast not wanting to have any type of hybrid EV, so the 250km range of the 40kWh new model Nissan Leaf (more if you just drive around town) would appeal to me more than the 30kWh model, but I am surprised at the $65,000 price tag of the only one currently on sale!

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