kotuku4:

 

Hi so looking at a Leaf after a little research, pretty much eliminated the Hyundai Ioniq ev and Kia Soul ev.

 

Not not really sure on the difference between the models S, X, G?

 

And the question of buying a cheaper 2013 ish car,

 

or probably a 2014/2015 Japanese import 24kw battery approx $20,000,

 

or 2014/2015/2016 UK import 30kw and possibly 6.6kw fast charger nearer $30,000.

 

I think it better to invest more on a newer car/battery. Likely most charging overnight at home, and only have single pole 40 amp max power supply. The garage is separate from the house with 10 amp sockets, could possibly upgrade one to 16 amp charger in future. 

 

Would prefer the centre display in English. Any thoughts or advice please?

 

I'm all about the range.....so I bought a 2015 LEAF with 100% SoH battery a year ago.....and that was pretty good. but I found I wanted just a wee bit more range to comfortably and easily move between the fast charging stations available at the time....so I bought a 30kWh LEAF "Tekna" from the UK....basically the most expensive LEAF you could buy at the time....and probably still is today. I also like the 6.6kw internal AC charger in (most of) the UK LEAFs. You may not use it much at home, but on the road its definitely better to be able to charge at 25% / hour when available instead of 12%-13%. 

There are now more fast chargers, particularly in the North Island, and it's possible to get around fairly well with a Gen 2 (2014 or later) with a 24kWh battery provided the battery is at least 90% SoH. 

I would recommend getting the 30kWh LEAF as the battery in it both very new (none are 2 years old yet) and the it uses different chemistry than the previous two iterations. My fingers are crossed that it will prove to be the most reliable and durable battery. That higher capacity also means you usually don't have to drive like a Nana if you're less than 130km from a faster charger....even in winter when the cold reduces the capacity of the battery (assuming the car isn't in a headed garage overnight).  

The other thing is that even if your 30kWh battery degrades to 80% several years from now, it will then be equivalent to a brand new 24kWh LEAF battery. 

English for the dash? GVI (EV vendor as well as other cars) in Penrose (Auckland) have worked out how to convert the Japanese dash to English. They will do it for any LEAF owner.