Nissan Leaf

[sworks]

I've had the pleasure of a Nissan Leaf for almost a week now. I wasn't sure what my thoughts on a 100% electric car with zero emissions would be or what to expect. The car has discs all round, keyless entry, sat nav, Bluetooth, electric hand brake etc.......... It takes around 12 hours for a full 'slow' charge which equates to about 100 miles and costs around £1.20 ish. 100 miles may not sound much but the school run and running to work equals a charge every other day. If you think about it a diesel will do around 500 miles to approx £80 - if you don't need to do 500 miles in one go the Leaf will cost £6, makes you think doesn't it the car is extremely smooth a you would expect with no gear changes and is as quick as a modern day 1.4 diesel. The only real downside that I Can find is that the car is silent so you need to pay attention to people stepping out in front of you as your not heard. I'm not sure if this is the future of motoring but its definitely a step forward imho. If you ever get the chance to have a go you will be impressed

[rich17865]

I am impressed with the technology, just range is too small for me, my parents live 150 miles away, a 12 hour stop so I could get there is unrealistic.

[sworks]

Certainly issues with longer distances, more suited for local routes. I believe the rapid chargers charge in around 3 hours though. Also when you brake or go down hill the battery is topped up slightly by regenerative braking, all very clever

[dattrike]

.

My son works for Ecotricity in Stroud, they have a fleet of them,
he had the use of one for a week. I never drove it, but he took me out in it,
I was impressed with the acceleration and speed of it, even the
interior was fairly good. Only issue is battery life and replacement
I think he said about £6000 to replace.

.

[MrDoodles]

If the electricity was coming from Nuclear powered Power Stations, then they would make sense, but as we are STILL burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, they make no sense whatsoever!

The time it also takes to "re-fill" them is still an issue for most people, if you ever had to go on a slightly longer journey as well!

The only "Real" way forward for cars, is the Hydrogen fuel cell route as seen here http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/ electric cars are a dead end!

[bongi69]

Yes the concept of these cars is good, albeit the short range etc. but they are hardly a runabout at €33,000 are they?? A Dacia Sandero costs just short of €10,000 over here for the diesel model, so you're gonna be a long time making up the €23,000 cost difference if all you want is a car for about town or to nip down the shops, which less face it is all the Leaf can do

In my own mind until we see a vast improvement in the range and the price drops dramatically to the levels of the ordinary runabout hatchbacks now they will remain a fashion statement.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it! Electric is the future & I whilst I would love one for our family to replace the missus car and keep the 75 for long distance travel, I'm just not ready to fork out nearly a years salary for a nip-down-the-shops car

[Dorset Bob]

One of these looks like quite good fun, a Zero S
A read a road test, about a year ago, and it had quite respectable performance.



I must agree with Mr. D's comments though.
Although these electric vehicles are described as zero emissions, I drive past Didcot Power Station on a regular basis, burning about 5 million tonnes of coal a year, to produce electricity.

[bongi69]

Originally Posted by Dorset Bob

I must agree with Mr. D's comments though.
Although these electric vehicles are described as zero emissions, I drive past Didcot Power Station on a regular basis, burning about 5 million tonnes of coal a year, to produce electricity.

There is also the issue of end of life batteries. The emissions expended making them in the first place, shipping to assembly, shipping back to a recycling plant and then the energy used by the plant to process the dangerous chemicals within erodes away at the savings made by the car

[ceedy]

Driven one , quite good space inside nice , comfy , quiet ..
handles well due to the large dollop of weight in the middle ( not me! )

But very expensive, range for round our rural area, pretty useless.
Couldn't even make a Nano in one !!


Nowhere to charge if you haven't got a drive or garage.

And the battery, after about 3 years .. you may need a new one ..
ouch!! @ many thousands ! ( the battery tech is just not good enough yet! )

And the carbon footprint of the battery during its manufacturing ..
o' Dear!! tends to rather outweigh the whole concept .

[GT Courier]

Originally Posted by bongi69

Yes the concept of these cars is good, albeit the short range etc. but they are hardly a runabout at €33,000 are they?? A Dacia Sandero costs just short of €10,000 over here for the diesel model, so you're gonna be a long time making up the €23,000 cost difference if all you want is a car for about town or to nip down the shops, which less face it is all the Leaf can do

In my own mind until we see a vast improvement in the range and the price drops dramatically to the levels of the ordinary runabout hatchbacks now they will remain a fashion statement.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it! Electric is the future & I whilst I would love one for our family to replace the missus car and keep the 75 for long distance travel, I'm just not ready to fork out nearly a years salary for a nip-down-the-shops car

It is quite expensive as above, from a cost point of view all your savings are completely out of the window, and what happens when the battery pack goes belly up? I bet that isn't cheap to sort out when it gets older, factor in depreciation etc and it makes no sense at all on the financial side,

As for the environmental side, I don't know if it is actually greener either! Maybe it is but not by much I dare say if at all...

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