Considering a Nissan Leaf - sanity check please?!!

Benny_Cake

cros13 wrote: »

I'm not sure I'm happy about balkanising threads like the Leaf thread and any potential Zoe thread.

What tends to happen with these things is matters of general concern to all EV owners get talked about in the Leaf thread purely because most people own Leafs.

I agree with this. There are approximately 1000 electric vehicles on the road in the Republic (according to the SEAI), a miniscule fraction of the total amount of vehicles. For various reasons, the bulk of these are Nissan Leafs. It's madness to start subdividing such a tiny community.

GreyDad

I'm only a guest here but I'd offer my opinion that it's helpful to keep everything together at this stage - it's useful to be kept aware of issues that drivers of other EV/PHEV cars have.

GreyDad

GreyDad wrote: »

I'm only a guest here but I'd offer my opinion that it's helpful to keep everything together at this stage - it's useful to be kept aware of issues that drivers of other EV/PHEV cars have.

106 posts, you're more than a guest at this stage !

GreyDad

OK, so I'm the noisy guest who won't shut up in the corner

Lemlin

What's the story with the Nissan Scrappage Scheme now? A lot of websites list it as ending on 31st July so is it gone completely?

invara

Advice sought......

Would you buy one of the 2011/12 Leaf's on donedeal/carzone

Specifics: has 11 bars, 1 owner, 30-40k miles on the clock, UK imports at the €11-14k mark. At this money if it was a huge mistake I would not mind too much. My commute is 20km each way with some juicy hills, charger at work, I pass a fast charger on the way to work, and there is a normal charge about 1km from my front door; car would be second in the house (have ICE for the other stuff), have drive-way and plan to install a pointpod charging station. It seems a no-brainer to me, suspect I will be dumping about €2-3k in annual running costs. About to press the button.

Particularly interested in comments about age, UK origin, 11 bars... and anything else that I should consider.

Thanks.

11 bars after 30-40 k miles on the clock screams fast charger abuse, this early generation leaf was a lot more sensitive to fast charging. I would avoid because without leaf spy data you could be just about to loose the 2nd battery bar. Which is around a 20% loss. However this would still meet 20 km round trip with no problem.

The price seems too high too for the fact it's lost one capacity bar.

Can you post a link to this car ?

Unfortunately now that the battery is ageing its internal resistance is increasing meaning fast charging will heat it up in a shorter time and this means if the battery is getting hot or close to the red zone temp wise then this can have another effect of accelerate degradation and increased fast charge times.

Some people also drive the car and run it down to 90% and plug it in again to always have the battery topped up, this is really not good practice. Because the battery is constantly at a high state of f charge.

There are better leafs around for the same money, but buy a OBDII to Bluetooth dongle and buy the leaf spy app and test any leaf you intend buying of the early generation. I don't remember which version works with the leaf but you can do a search on Google.

nokia69

it sounds OK for a short commute and a charger at work makes it even better

invara

Thanks for the comments... narrowed it down to two


https://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/nissan-leaf-110bhp-auto-fully-electric/9057333
this one has 11 bars and a salesman who I found somewhere between disinterested and rude.

Otherone I have yet to see.. its in the mid-lands around the same money.

Not at 14 k euros it isn't.

Loose 2nd bar and your talking probably 80 Kms range in winter and maybe slightly less. The problem is the shorter the range the more likely you are at using the fast charger but it shouldn't be bad unless it's getting hot.

Using the normal charger would be a good idea , and he has one at work so in theory that would be 80 odd Kms each way if he plugged in at work and home.

You know he's making a profit ? Talk him down to 10 k on the day if you decide on it but I wouldn't touch it without a leaf spy check and report back your findings. If you can't report back then judge yourself what you think is acceptable capacity loss. Remember for this early 2011-late 2013 a good safe minimum winter range is about 100 Kms so a 10% loss subtract that from 100 Kms and so on.

I didn't see mentioned a loss of capacity ?

Whatever you do it's going to be far cheaper to run than any petrol or diesel but repairs on electrics will be very expensive. Then again an ice can cost a lot of money if something breaks.

invara

Not a huge problem with someone making a profit as long as it is reasonable. Have been forking out the odd 500-1000 euro on tetchy low co2 diesels for a while now.

Capacity loss is a concern....

Will seek out the leaf spy kit. Overall the car did seam a little tired. So planning to check out grey one in westmeath. ... and perhaps some of the 2012 ones .

invara

invara wrote: »

Not a huge problem with someone making a profit as long as it is reasonable. Have been forking out the odd 500-1000 euro on tetchy low co2 diesels for a while now.

Capacity loss is a concern....

Will seek out the leaf spy kit. Overall the car did seam a little tired. So planning to check out grey one in westmeath. ... and perhaps some of the 2012 ones .

Where did you find out about the capacity loss ? I see no mention in the link you posted ?

Capacity loss is only a concern if it doesn't meet your daily needs. If you have a total of 40 Kms then even a 20% range loss wouldn't be a problem for this especially with work charging.

Oh and remember the U.K leafs were sold with a portable evse (aka granny cable) this allows you plug into a normal 3 pin socket via an extension lead. This should still be in the car, it's worth about 800 Euro's new.

invara

I saw the Dublin one- 11 bars on the permanent battery meter; which I think means capacity loss. No mention in the ad- the sales guy did not really know much about the leaf- he kept saying it had been into Nissan for a regeneration. This one has the evse; but I suspect it would be nicer to have a wall mounted charger (rainy December nights).

thanks for the comments... very useful.

invara

invara wrote: »

I saw the Dublin one- 11 bars on the permanent battery meter; which I think means capacity loss. No mention in the ad- the sales guy did not really know much about the leaf- he kept saying it had been into Nissan for a regeneration. This one has the evse; but I suspect it would be nicer to have a wall mounted charger (rainy December nights).

thanks for the comments... very useful.

No Problem

There is no "regeneration" once capacity drops it doesn't come back.

What I'd do is get the OBD II bluetooth dongle.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Turbo3.Leaf_Spy_Pro&hl=en

Get the dongle and see what the "actual" capacity loss is and remember the Winter range on the leaf without heat pump heater is about 100 Kms on a "new" battery at the height of winter @ about 100 Kph, you will get more at slower speeds. On the current gen Leaf you'd get about 110-120 Kph. @ about 100 Kph so subtract the capacity loss form the 100 Kph and this is still most likely perfect for your commute and more for many years to come provided you use the fast charger as little as possible or if you do try not let it go beyond 6 temp bars.

You could try talk him down a few hundred based on this and he might be happy to get rid of it but do inform him that the late 2013+ leafs battery is a lot more durable so he isn't turned off selling electrics.

invara

Thanks for the advice... I took the plunge, bought a 2011 one from the fellow in the Midlands. He was decent to deal with, knew his stuff. My first job is to get a second key.

Roen

invara wrote: »

Thanks for the advice... I took the plunge, bought a 2011 one from the fellow in the Midlands. He was decent to deal with, knew his stuff. My first job is to get a second key.

Well wear, hope you enjoy it!

Benny_Cake

invara wrote: »

Thanks for the advice... I took the plunge, bought a 2011 one from the fellow in the Midlands. He was decent to deal with, knew his stuff. My first job is to get a second key.

Nice one! Enjoy!

invara

invara wrote: »

Thanks for the advice... I took the plunge, bought a 2011 one from the fellow in the Midlands. He was decent to deal with, knew his stuff. My first job is to get a second key.

fair play, best of luck, another Ev out there !

nokia69

Deleted User wrote: »

fair play, best of luck, another Ev out there !

well not really, the number of EVs remains the same

nokia69

nokia69 wrote: »

well not really, the number of EVs remains the same

Yeah , true, it was already on the road, but not in Ireland so to speak, it was an import.