E-evo

peposhi

I wish to share with you my recent experience with the Service department at Barlo Nissan Kilkenny.

Last March I bought a Nissan Leaf with the great assistance of Paul Flynn. As the car needed to get its yearly service I rang Barlo Nissan Kilkenny and asked for a suitable date and price. I was told that it would cost between €80 to €100 which was what I expected having previously checked with other colleagues EV drivers.

As I plan to change my 24kw Leaf to a 30kw one I wanted to test drive the bigger battery version before I make my final decision. I organised a test drive with the Sales department and luckily the test drive was going to be a little longer due to St. Patrick's celebration. I left my car on Wednesday morning to get it serviced and collected the 30kw Leaf. On Saturday morning I brought the test car back. I was in a great mood, very impressed with the test drive and the better range of the bigger battery. On my arrival, I went to pay at the Parts department desk. To my surprise, the cost of the service was nearly €125. It was very irritating that I was not informed in advance that the price would be different than previously discussed. I also asked for the state of health battery report that goes with each Nissan Leaf service and there was none left for me. The Parts department assistant could not give me any more information so I left it for Monday to ring and discuss the matter with the Service department.
I went to collect my car and I was really surprised to find out that the car was left at 43% state of charge when I was assured the car would be ready fully charged for me to collect on Saturday morning. At this point I was very upset as the fact that I had to spend 40-45 minutes at the DC charger meant I was going to be late for work, even though I had left enough spare time for me to drive to Kilkenny and go back to work. Now, I am pretty sure that everyone working in a Nissan garage knows that Leaf is not a car that you could just stop at the next petrol station and fill up with fuel within 5 minutes. It takes long time to get the car charged even at the DC chargers and a lot of trip planning is involved each time you go out for a drive. I could not find an excuse for not having the car ready, fully charged, for the customer after having it for 3! days in the dealership. I made myself very clear to the people working in the garage that day that I was very unhappy with the situation. After wasting 45 minutes at the DC charger I left for work, already late.
I thought that would be the end of the surprises that day.
Well, as I was driving fast to get to work a low pressure message for the rear offside tyre appeared. I thought it was a puncture, so I had to stop at one garage to check visually and pump up the tyre so to make sure I could go back on the road ASAP. The fore mentioned tyre was 27psi. I checked the rest. They were as follows - 30, 31 and 33psi where the recommended tyre pressure I seen on the door is 36psi. In the report I got from the Service department was clearly stated - tyre pressure checked. In my opinion that check has not been done as I had 4 tyres with different psi and this happened after been only 36km on the road after the car was serviced.

I consider myself as a very loyal customer. And as such I do understand that mistakes happen. But last Saturday's experience was one of those moments where my loyalty is been put under a severe test. Now I would have to think twice before I approach your Service department when the time for my next service comes.

This was part of the letter of complaint I sent to Barlo Nissan after my car was serviced.

Still don't have the SOH check done.

peposhi

Apart from the experience above I really, really liked the 30kw version. I got an extra 40 real life kilometres everywhere I drove it to. We love our Leaf and done 27k in it so far but a bit extra range is great. That would have meant less time spent on FCs yesterday when we did a trip to Galway and drove a total of above 320km. The Nissan Connect yoke is a big, massive improvement. So much easier and intuitive to operate with. The heat pack... After trying it for the first time I can not say I was disappointed, it's just not my thing appearantly. 6.6kw charger would be a MUST for me if I was to change to 30kw!
Paul was hammered and had very little time to spend with me so no good figures came out yet to convince me to change, but we left it to rest a bit and see what's best for ourselves. Still raging a did listen to him re not buying the 6.6kw charger last year. It would have not been so much for me to consider changing to a 30kw/6.6kw or not now....

The only thing that cost me extra in the "service" was wipers and pollen filter which the called me up and asked if I wanted replaced.

What I didn't like about Barlo was that they put a next service due in 15,000 kms on the windscreen sticker which is not really fair on those who don't know otherwise. Service is due after 1 year or 30,000 kms.

If you really need the extra capacity and the faster DC charging then think about it but it won't be long until the Gen II Leaf is out with 300-350 kms range so because I have work charging I didn't bother after spending the money, I'd rather put it towards the 60 Kwh or Tesla model 3 if it's not too insanely priced here.

peposhi

Deleted User wrote: »

The only thing that cost me extra in the "service" was wipers and pollen filter which the called me up and asked if I wanted replaced.

What I didn't like about Barlo was that they put a next service due in 15,000 kms on the windscreen sticker which is not really fair on those who don't know otherwise. Service is due after 1 year or 30,000 kms.

If you really need the extra capacity and the faster DC charging then think about it but it won't be long until the Gen II Leaf is out with 300-350 kms range so because I have work charging I didn't bother after spending the money, I'd rather put it towards the 60 Kwh or Tesla model 3 if it's not too insanely priced here.

There was not a bother paying for it, just got thick they did not inform me...

We are Not so bad re charging and range issues. I might making it sound dramatic, but you know yourself... The grass is always greener on the other side hahaha

TBH you'd be killing yourself when the 60 Kwh electrics arrive that you didn't wait.

1 year 8 months !!!

BoatMad

Deleted User wrote: »

The only thing that cost me extra in the "service" was wipers and pollen filter which the called me up and asked if I wanted replaced.

What I didn't like about Barlo was that they put a next service due in 15,000 kms on the windscreen sticker which is not really fair on those who don't know otherwise. Service is due after 1 year or 30,000 kms.

If you really need the extra capacity and the faster DC charging then think about it but it won't be long until the Gen II Leaf is out with 300-350 kms range so because I have work charging I didn't bother after spending the money, I'd rather put it towards the 60 Kwh or Tesla model 3 if it's not too insanely priced here.

Nissan Wexford do the same , and neither garage quoted be less that 120 euros for the service excluding any unusuals

Its something I am going report to Nissan Ireland for their opinion, the service is either 30,000Km or one year or its not .

Given I have received exemplary service from Paul Flynn, Iam disappointed with you tales of the service dept, which as a nissan pickup truck owner seem depressing similar to their ICE service

k123456

BoatMad wrote: »

Nissan Wexford do the same , and neither garage quoted be less that 120 euros for the service excluding any unusuals

Its something I am going report to Nissan Ireland for their opinion, the service is either 30,000Km or one year or its not .

Given I have received exemplary service from Paul Flynn, Iam disappointed with you tales of the service dept, which as a nissan pickup truck owner seem depressing similar to their ICE service

What are the T and C's re the warranty, ie how often do we need to have Nissan service the car, so that the warranty in not invalidated, please

KCross

Deleted User wrote: »

TBH you'd be killing yourself when the 60 Kwh electrics arrive that you didn't wait.

1 year 8 months !!!

You put alot of faith in the 60kWh that are "coming soon". Even if they do arrive quickly they wont be cheap based on €3k extra for the 30kWh above the 24kWh... unless they plan to hammer all existing owners by devaluing the 24kWh and 30kWh cars overnight... I dont think they'll do that if they want to keep the "few" loyal customers they have.

I understand batteries will get cheaper but still, I cant see a 60kWh LEAF being cheap.... more in the BMW i3 bracket which most wont buy.

BoatMad

BoatMad wrote: »

Nissan Wexford do the same , and neither garage quoted be less that 120 euros for the service excluding any unusuals

Its something I am going report to Nissan Ireland for their opinion, the service is either 30,000Km or one year or its not .

Given I have received exemplary service from Paul Flynn, Iam disappointed with you tales of the service dept, which as a nissan pickup truck owner seem depressing similar to their ICE service

I think you may clear this up in case Paul is reading, you have quoted me as if I were saying something against Paul. Please clear this up.

KCross

KCross wrote: »

You put alot of faith in the 60kWh that are "coming soon". Even if they do arrive quickly they wont be cheap based on €3k extra for the 30kWh above the 24kWh... unless they plan to hammer all existing owners by devaluing the 24kWh and 30kWh cars overnight... I dont think they'll do that if they want to keep the "few" loyal customers they have.

I understand batteries will get cheaper but still, I cant see a 60kWh LEAF being cheap.... more in the BMW i3 bracket which most wont buy.

Who knows, if they are offering it at a high cost there is no point.

The I3 would surely cost a lot more then also if they have a 60 KWh option.

Nissan have hinted of multiple battery Kwh options.

peposhi

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I think you may clear this up in case Paul is reading, you have quoted me as if I were saying something against Paul. Please clear this up.

mad_lad, Paul is in the Sales Department. The Service department is a separate unit and you can talk about them as much as you like and it would not affect Paul (never mind they are the same company)


I have another reason to be pissed with the Service dept. Apparently I have to travel to Kilkenny again as the SOH report can be done only there!!!

samih

k123456 wrote: »

What are the T and C's re the warranty, ie how often do we need to have Nissan service the car, so that the warranty in not invalidated, please

Every 12 months or 30k km whichever comes sooner.

peposhi

On a few occasions I have noticed that when I drive the car after a long rest, a few hours, the regen seems to take time to start working. While slowing down I select D, B, D, B and there is no change in the speed/regen, when normally you feel a considerable drag when the regen kicks in... Anyone experienced it so far?

peposhi

Yesterday i was on my way to work when I seen same car like mine wandering around the parking (some people find it confusing if they have not stopped at Junction 14 before). I did one round at the round about so she could see me and then went to the SCP so she could use the FCP. A lovely woman was the driver, got her 30kw Leaf on Friday in Cork and was going to Drogheda. Brave new EV driver I said to her. She said she'd stoped at 2 charging stations before she came to J14 as range anxiety kicked in and she was not used to driving an EV. She said she'd be doing this trip very often and is now finding her feet. We spoke at length and appearantly she was not shown how to use the sat nag, nor the CPs search options, nothing. The dealer told he the car is not set up, so she had no clue that she could still use the sat nag and etc. I found it very poor service to leave someone not technology wise with just the keys and the car. Oh, and they did not even mention that she needs to have both sets of keys out so she could lock the car... She was freaking that something was wrong and she could not lock it. Also no one showed her how to open the charging socket bay with the key fob. She did not have a clue if the car is with 3.3 or 6.6kw onboard charger and on, and on... Very poor service!
But fair play to her for taking the risk!!

DrPhilG

peposhi wrote: »

On a few occasions I have noticed that when I drive the car after a long rest, a few hours, the regen seems to take time to start working. While slowing down I select D, B, D, B and there is no change in the speed/regen, when normally you feel a considerable drag when the regen kicks in... Anyone experienced it so far?

Never noticed that. Only time the D/B mode doesn't affect the drag is when the battery is full, hence no regen possible. Once it drops to about 97 it returns to normal.

peposhi

Must pay attention and see when is that happening and if there's any pattern... Tha

Rafal

peposhi wrote: »

Must pay attention and see when is that happening and if there's any pattern... Tha

Is it a Leaf that you are referring to? If so, look at the power meter (the dot display at the top of the main, central panel behind the steering wheel) and see if the circles on the left in which the green (regen) dots appear have a single or a double outline. Single outline indicates amount of regen that is not available, while a double circle indicates you can get that much regen. Rapids don't seem to affect regen as much as fast and slow charges, on my 30 kWh MY16.

When the battery is cold it can't take the same level of regen the same will be observed at the fast charger, it will take longer to charge at 3 bars and some of the 4th bar than some of the 4th and the 5th etc.

On a few occasions this year I noticed at 3 battery temp bars sitting for a few days I could't get more than 20 Kw max regen the max normally is 30 kw. The warmer it got the more regen I got.

Perfectly normal.

So from 4 bars it could start to reduce regen strength but it doesn't mean at 4 bars you will have reduced regen because the temp bar range is very wide.

peposhi

Rafal wrote: »

Is it a Leaf that you are referring to? If so, look at the power meter (the dot display at the top of the main, central panel behind the steering wheel) and see if the circles on the left in which the green (regen) dots appear have a single or a double outline. Single outline indicates amount of regen that is not available, while a double circle indicates you can get that much regen. Rapids don't seem to affect regen as much as fast and slow charges, on my 30 kWh MY16.

Yes, that's the one I mentioned + the general feel that there's no diference between B and D mode when you lift your foot from the acceleration pedal.
I thought there's something not right with the car, but appearantly there are a few reasons (logical) that could cause it.

Rafal

peposhi wrote: »

Yes, that's the one I mentioned + the general feel that there's no diference between B and D mode when you lift your foot from the acceleration pedal.
I thought there's something not right with the car, but appearantly there are a few reasons (logical) that could cause it.

If the battery is full and balanced, there is nowhere to store the regenerated electricity, so regen is reduced or nil. An overnight charge with no end time set leaves a full and a rebalanced battery, hence no regen till it drops a bit. A rapid charge does not leave the battery in a balanced state, unless still connected at 100% and charging, so regen is available much earlier, as regen energy can be still used for balancing.

Indeed a 100% charged battery will not accept regen, even 95% will only see about 8-9 Kw or so going back to the battery.

However, unless doing a lot of town driving then regen doesn't give you much energy back anyway but is particularly useful for hilly terrain.

According to the nissan connect app I consumed and regenerated the below the last few months.

so far in April Consumed 449.6 Kwh and regenerated 48.6 the Wicklow trip probably contributed a lot to this.

March Consumed 323.8 Kwh and regenerated 35.5 Kwh

February Consumed 445.8 Kwh and generated 39.3 Kwh

January no data for some reason.

So you do regenerate some but not a lot, yeah it all adds up but compared to what you consume it's nothing and it certainly won't really make any difference on a long drive, good for the brakes though.

peposhi

Deleted User wrote: »

Indeed a 100% charged battery will not accept regen, even 95% will only see about 8-9 Kw or so going back to the battery.

However, unless doing a lot of town driving then regen doesn't give you much energy back anyway but is particularly useful for hilly terrain.

According to the nissan connect app I consumed and regenerated the below the last few months.

so far in April Consumed 449.6 Kwh and regenerated 48.6 the Wicklow trip probably contributed a lot to this.

March Consumed 323.8 Kwh and regenerated 35.5 Kwh

February Consumed 445.8 Kwh and generated 39.3 Kwh

January no data for some reason.

So you do regenerate some but not a lot, yeah it all adds up but compared to what you consume it's nothing and it certainly won't really make any difference on a long drive, good for the brakes though.

I do not worry about the energy I have regenerated :O
I just don't like using the brakes and the regen gives me a great pleasure and an oportunity to do so LOL... With the usage my brakes get I may have to replace them at 150-160 000 kilometres haha

The brakes should last a lot longer !

BoatMad

Was at midway yesterday , very busy charge point , leaf in front and leaf behind me

I changed my strategy and now will use killbeggan and Carlow ( Gorey -Athlone ) as they are much quieter.

I notice each FCP session over about 60-70% adds one bar of heat which does not dissipate while driving


I find the ability to bring outside air in by turning off the heater and using the fan very useful and a great idea.

I will drive the pickup around the block today just to turn over the engine


Ps: relating to Barlow service , I think you made your point , my leaf was refunded charged and washed.

k123456

"An overnight charge with no end time set leaves a full and a rebalanced battery,"

Tell me more about rebalanced battery please ,
whats happens there,
how often should the battery be rebalanced
[font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is it important to [/font]rebalance battery

Thanks

(I have a 2016 Leaf 24kwh 3.3 battery usually charged to 80% rapid charge and sometimes use Domestic charger overnight )

KCross

BoatMad wrote: »

Was at midway yesterday , very busy charge point , leaf in front and leaf behind me

I notice each FCP session over about 60-70% adds one bar of heat which does not dissipate while driving

I was at midway twice over a weekend and it was clear both times. I guess its just luck of the draw and time of the day. It would be good if we could get usage figures out of ESB... unlikely they would divulge that though.


I agree on the extra bar of heat while rapid charging. My long trips so far(3-4 successive rapid charges) have seen the same and took the temp bar to just below the red each time.

BoatMad

k123456 wrote: »

"An overnight charge with no end time set leaves a full and a rebalanced battery,"

Tell me more about rebalanced battery please ,
whats happens there,
how often should the battery be rebalanced
[font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is it important to [/font]rebalance battery

Thanks

(I have a 2016 Leaf 24kwh 3.3 battery usually charged to 80% rapid charge and sometimes use Domestic charger overnight )

Li cells subject to high discharge rates , can have a final voltage versus state of charge divergence., so if you disconnect the cars charger before it indicates it's complete, then certain cells are not as charged up as others.

Balancing , which occurs after the 100% , equalises cells so that the charge levels are similar across the battery , this allows maximum capacity of the battery to be realised

Unbalanced cells , operating within normal limits , are not detrimental to the battery , they just result in a slight loss of realisable capacity

The leaf does top balancing , which occurs after it finishes charging the cells , it also charges the 12 v battery as well if needed at this point

( you'll notice the third dash light flashing on its own when this is occurring )

A suceesful 100% with balancing is indicated by all three lights off, at the end of a charge cycle

k123456

Thank you

peposhi

BoatMad wrote: »

Was at midway yesterday , very busy charge point , leaf in front and leaf behind me

I changed my strategy and now will use killbeggan and Carlow ( Gorey -Athlone ) as they are much quieter.

I notice each FCP session over about 60-70% adds one bar of heat which does not dissipate while driving


I find the ability to bring outside air in by turning off the heater and using the fan very useful and a great idea.

I will drive the pickup around the block today just to turn over the engine


Ps: relating to Barlow service , I think you made your point , my leaf was refunded charged and washed.

I suggest J14 as opposed to Midway. Very rarely you'd find more than one lLeaf charging.
Yesterday I actually saw for a first time a black 151 Outlander charging at the FCP.

After a few emails exchanged over the last month, Barlo Kilkenny are collecting my Leaf on Thursday to do the SOH report and will return it by the end of my working shift. A good step forward on their side.

peposhi

SOH done. Only 2 stars for fast charging... did not think I have done soo many...hmmm. Could not get details as the car was taken and dropped back by someone, not a mechanic. I thought the report would be a lot more in detail, not just stars.