Nissan Leaf

jasonb

Thanks for your replies. I’ve seen some reviews in the US that say the EcoContact6 come with ‘only’ 6mm tread depth when brand new, compared to the ‘usual’ 8mm on other Tyres, hence reducing how long it will last. Could you check that when you get your tyres today McGiver, as well as letting us know what you think of them, are they quiet etc.? And did you order them online or find a garage that stocks them?

Thanks...

zilog_jones

Tyres sold in the US often differ significantly from what's available here, though I don't know if that's the same for European brands sold there like Conti.

McGiver

jasonb wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I’ve seen some reviews in the US that say the EcoContact6 come with ‘only’ 6mm tread depth when brand new, compared to the ‘usual’ 8mm on other Tyres, hence reducing how long it will last. Could you check that when you get your tyres today McGiver, as well as letting us know what you think of them, are they quiet etc.? And did you order them online or find a garage that stocks them?

Thanks...

Energy economy increased in my case by 10%. I got 0.12 kW/km and actually matched the GOM first time ever, under ideal climatic and driving conditions (little wind, no rain, 80 tp 100kph roads).
Worth the money if you have odd and/or rubbish tyres.

jasonb

That's good to hear! Any chance you could see what the tread depth is on them when new? Reckon I'll order them next week, the tyres on mine aren't great at all so anything half decent should be an improvement!

McGiver

jasonb wrote: »

That's good to hear! Any chance you could see what the tread depth is on them when new? Reckon I'll order them next week, the tyres on mine aren't great at all so anything half decent should be an improvement!

Definitely. But I have to point out that any energy savings can be obliterated by aggressive driving... If you keep driving the same as you do, then you should see an improvement.

Actually, I've had a look at the Nokian ones and I'd buy them instead, they have slightly better noise rating.

Also, the issue with EcoContact6 is that the tread depth is only 6.5mm, if it's more with nokian I'd say go for them instead.

jasonb

Cool, thanks... Good to know that the EcoContact are 6.5mm as I'd read, have to see if I can find out what the Nokian are! Glad they're making a difference for you though...

jasonb

Decided to order the Nokian today, I'll put up a post about them once they're fitted. But they're website says they have a number system on them to show the thickness of the tread, and the first number on the tyre is 8, so that suggests that they're 8mm new. We'll see!

NIMAN

Had a flat last night, noticed the Leaf manual says there is a space saver under the car.

Is this true?

deadduck

NIMAN wrote: »

Had a flat last night, noticed the Leaf manual says there is a space saver under the car.

Is this true?

Not on mine, which I brought in from the UK. Just checked, as luckily I haven’t had need for one yet. Really must pick up one for the boot!

NIMAN

I was thinking that maybe it was a generic manual for all Nissan cars?

But had a quick look underneath and couldnt see anything that looked like a space for one.

Luckily I also had a full size alloy with decent wheel on it. And there was me about to sell it cos I thought I'd never use it.

Original tyre has a screw in it. Thats 3 punctures from nails in the last 18 months. I must be unlucky.

The trick with EV cars, look for A wet rating, this helps and will probably help 40 Kwh Leaf owners with that dreadful wheel spin.

Don't just look for economy, the difference between A and B economy in my experience is negligible but the difference between A wet and the C Wet dirt tyres that normally come with the leaf is a lot.

samih

NIMAN wrote: »

Had a flat last night, noticed the Leaf manual says there is a space saver under the car.

Is this true?

Our launch edition L40 has a spare under the boot floor and in any case you can order the mount and the wheel/jack kit as an accessory.

NIMAN

samih wrote: »

Our launch edition L40 has a spare under the boot floor and in any case you can order the mount and the wheel/jack kit as an accessory.

But mine is a L24 and it's 2014 manual says there is a spare under the boot. There doesn't appear to be.

And I think I'll get a jack from argos, I can imagine the price of a Nissan one from a main dealer.

_dof_

AFAIK, the UK leafs didn't/don't come with a spare, but the Irish ones do.

slave1

Spare wheel kit is an option in the UK for L40, presume the L62 too

samih

NIMAN wrote: »

But mine is a L24 and it's 2014 manual says there is a spare under the boot. There doesn't appear to be.

And I think I'll get a jack from argos, I can imagine the price of a Nissan one from a main dealer.

Probably a misprint so although I think I read from somewhere that the Australian market LEAF mk 1.5 had a spare wheel option also. Wouldn't be a smallest bit surprised if your boot floor had provision for underslung spare carrier. You'd have to lose the plastic trim panel behind the battery pack to fit it.

jasonb

Got two new Nokian eLine2 tyres fitted today. I checked and they are 8mm new, unlike the Continentals. And I'm fairly certain that they are quieter than the ones on it, I noticed less noise anyhow. Too soon to see if they make any difference to the economy, and that might not become more obvious until I have all 4 tyres replaced, which will be next month!

Calahonda52

samih wrote: »

Probably a misprint so although I think I read from somewhere that the Australian market LEAF mk 1.5 had a spare wheel option also. Wouldn't be a smallest bit surprised if your boot floor had provision for underslung spare carrier. You'd have to lose the plastic trim panel behind the battery pack to fit it.

You may invalidate the insurance... you can't fit a towbar

kennethsmyth

Calahonda52 wrote: »

You may invalidate the insurance... you can't fit a towbar

Spare wheel kit has nothing to do with a towbar. Its an underslung spare wheel cage that is also factory fit to the L40 in Ireland, I've removed mine to fit a non-towbar bike rack - the leaf is not type approved for towbar, mine cannot tow.

Calahonda52

kennethsmyth wrote: »

Spare wheel kit has nothing to do with a towbar. Its an underslung spare wheel cage that is also factory fit to the L40 in Ireland, I've removed mine to fit a non-towbar bike rack - the leaf is not type approved for towbar, mine cannot tow.

Thanks, thought we were talking about the L30.

can you share the details of the the non-towbar bike rack pls.

KAGY

I just worked out that in the 15 months I've had my leaf I've saved 1300 on fuel alone :-)

I did this simply by assuming if I hadn't the leaf I'd be doing the same mileage in a diesel ICE
Prices per 100km
ICE € 1.35 /l @ 5.2 l/100km ~ €7.00 / 100km
EV
€0.08 / kWhr @ 15 kWhr/100km ~= € 1.20 /100 km

Savings 5.80 per 100 km!
Assumptions:
all charging done at home at night (it wasn't, but any daytime charging is more than offset by free public charging)
A lot of journeys in the ICE would have been < 5k so the fuel consumption would be higher than when the engine is heated up
I would have bought a new car anyway

Calahonda52

KAGY wrote: »

I just worked out that in the 15 months I've had my leaf I've saved 1300 on fuel alone :-)

I did this simply by assuming if I hadn't the leaf I'd be doing the same mileage in a diesel ICE
Prices per 100km
ICE € 1.35 /l @ 5.2 l/100km ~ €7.00 / 100km
EV
€0.08 / kWhr @ 15 kWhr/100km ~= € 1.20 /100 km

Savings 5.80 per 100 km!
Assumptions:
all charging done at home at night (it wasn't, but any daytime charging is more than offset by free public charging)
A lot of journeys in the ICE would have been < 5k so the fuel consumption would be higher than when the engine is heated up
I would have bought a new car anyway

Nice math!
The energy efficiency math is even more interesting:
1 litre diesel is c 11 KWh so 57 kWh per 100km

The ev is 15 at the plug or 37.5 at the power station per 100 km

krissovo

Calahonda52 wrote: »

or 37.5 at the power station per 100 km

Is that an average or all energy sources or clean & fossil only? Its an interesting stat, also the diesel needs refining, shipping, extracting does the 57KWh cover that?

Calahonda52

krissovo wrote: »

Is that an average or all energy sources or clean & fossil only? Its an interesting stat, also the diesel needs refining, shipping, extracting does the 57KWh cover that?

No re the fuel, the SEAI use the 2.5, (or close to) multipler for electricity. The clean component will reduce it a bit but 2.5 is easy math!

I don't know if they have a similar figure for fuel, they don't for NG!

Firblog

Calahonda52 wrote: »

The ev is 15 at the plug or 37.5 at the power station per 100 km

What does this mean? Bamboozled

Calahonda52

Firblog wrote: »

What does this mean? Bamboozled

EVs consume roughly 15kWh per 100 kms
SEAI have a 2.5 multiplier to cover losses in generation/transmission so 37.5 kWh/100kms.

They don't have any for NG which is madness

samih

kennethsmyth wrote: »

Spare wheel kit has nothing to do with a towbar. Its an underslung spare wheel cage that is also factory fit to the L40 in Ireland, I've removed mine to fit a non-towbar bike rack - the leaf is not type approved for towbar, mine cannot tow.

Australian LEAF spare tyre discussion from 2012

And from that thread a DIY solution which looks really neat actually:
DIY underslung spare for a LEAF

NIMAN

Question for Leaf 1.5 owners,

When you plant the accelerator in D mode, does your power bar go the full way to the right?

JPA

NIMAN wrote: »

Question for Leaf 1.5 owners,

When you plant the accelerator in D mode, does your power bar go the full way to the right?

Should do, in any mode.

NIMAN

JPA wrote: »

Should do, in any mode.

Yeah I was thinking that.

I had an occasion to plant it today (and no, not because there is no GoSafe vans out there), and it didn't appear to be as fast as I remember it being last time I did it.

So I tried a few more times in D and B, and the power bar is not getting the last 3 lit up.

Any ideas?