Reasonable ev to replace ice car

gooner99

Looking for an ev to replace a petrol car. Average daily journey is 30km, so mk1 leaf may suit?

Most of the charging at home.

NIMAN

I take it by reasonable you mean price wise?

If so, a Gen1 Leaf would suit. Your journey is short and if you do all your charging at home then you could get a relatively cheap one.

You don't mention how much room you need, but the Leaf is a standard size car so should suffice.


Cheapest Leaf on CarsIreland is €7945, for a 2011 Gen 1.
https://www.carsireland.ie/search-results.php?make_id=61&model_id=2167&reg_year=&search-used-submit=Search+Used+Cars

Cheapest Leaf on DD is a provate sale 2011 for €7k.....mighbt get it for 6.5k?
https://www.donedeal.co.uk/cars-for-sale/car-for-sale/16578286

MK I leaf or updated leaf from late 2013, usually identified by the darker interior , eco button on steering and separate heat and ac button all of which the original Leaf did not.

The updated leaf had a much improved battery and a much more efficient heater that uses a heat pump. It also had the option of a 6.6 Kw charger which the original did not which would be handy for a quick boost at home if you need it or at a public charge point.

MK I leafs can have lost 15-25% range at this stage, usually one capacity bar missing, the leaf shows it's battery health on the dash which is a very useful feature.

Good enough for pottering about but you should ask yourself if you would need to take it on longer drives at times and if as little as 80 Km range would be suitable ? you can fast charge to 80% in 30-40 mins depending on cold and age of battery.

You can also replace the battery at around 5,500 Euro's with the current 24 Kwh updated battery should you need when the battery reaches 75% capacity. By the time you may need it the cost could have dropped further so the car should be usable for many years.

Usually the rate of capacity loss slows down as it ages, the first couple of years sees the greatest loss.

30% capacity loss may have a range of 60-70 Kms at roughly 90-100 Kph.

Leaf should be usable for many many years as long as Nissan make new batteries available. They need little maintenance and 2nd hand buyers will really only ever be worried about battery health. The electrics and Motor have proven ultra reliable so far.

A Prius battery , old skool NiMh technology will cost about 2,00-2,500 Euro's installed, it's got a capacity of 1 Kwh a leaf battery will cost 5,500 installed and is 24 Kwh, huge difference.

gooner99

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, trying to decides between an ice and an ev. Size wise we have a mid sized 5 door hatch and it suits us fine. It would be the main car, with a small van for back up. Usually 1-2 in the car daily, with 3 or more on occasion.

Here's a rough calculation of use.....

Average daily mileage is 64kms round trip to work and run to local town and back.

Long trip of 60kms each way to Letterkenny once a week., but could probably use a public charging point if they exist and work!

90km each way a few times a month, with either a few hours stop or an overnight. So could probably use a granny cable?

Donegal - Dublin, Belfast or Galway a couple of times a year.

Of course you never know we might need to go on that famous "ev range tester" trip from Donegal to Cork once in a blue moon. Lol!

Have a contact in the UK that sources, so could buy there if there is better value. Budget ideally below 10k all in.

How reliable have the leaf been outside of the battery. Suspension, brakes, trim, electrics, etc?

waynegalway

gooner99 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, trying to decides between an ice and an ev. Size wise we have a mid sized 5 door hatch and it suits us fine. It would be the main car, with a small van for back up. Usually 1-2 in the car daily, with 3 or more on occasion.

Here's a rough calculation of use.....

Average daily mileage is 64kms round trip to work and run to local town and back.

Long trip of 60kms each way to Letterkenny once a week., but could probably use a public charging point if they exist and work!

90km each way a few times a month, with either a few hours stop or an overnight. So could probably use a granny cable?

Donegal - Dublin, Belfast or Galway a couple of times a year.

Of course you never know we might need to go on that famous "ev range tester" trip from Donegal to Cork once in a blue moon. Lol!

Have a contact in the UK that sources, so could buy there if there is better value. Budget ideally below 10k all in.

How reliable have the leaf been outside of the battery. Suspension, brakes, trim, electrics, etc?

Hi

I’m relatively new to EV, only bought a Leaf last week. However, I spent more months researching before buying and I had lots of the same questions as you. My driving ranges are similar to yours.

While I know that I *could* go from Galway to Dublin in the Leaf (probably meaning a quick stop in Athlone and Enfield along the way), I honestly think that for the couple of times a year that I do it, I’d either take the train or the petrol car we have. You’re in the same boat if you have a van for back up.

For trips up to 110km between charges I’d be confident with the Leaf (24kWh version from 2015). If you’re going to do 90km one way and then return the next day, you’ll be fine as long as you can charge over night. Fast charging on the public network is really only useful for an 80% charge, which equates to about 80-90km range if you drive sensibly, so don’t plan on getting a 100% charge from the public network every time.

I replaced a 5 door Honda Civic with the Leaf, and size-wise it’s similar, perhaps a bit bigger inside than the Civic. (Civic was deceptively big inside compared to how it looked outside). So in terms of size, think Ford Focus.

As for reliability, I’ve only read positive things in general. Battery and motor faults are almost unheard of. On some models the rear axle can go slightly out of track and cause quicker tire wear in the passenger side. But it’s not a common problem and it seems random as to whether your car would experience that or not.

Other than that, it’s a very nice car to drive and as long as you’re sure the range suits what you need, you’ll probably really like it.

The other thing to the above is that the original leaf model will have sufferd around 10-20% capacity loss shown by a loss of a bar in the dash.

Fast charging is fine on occasion and what gets you 60-80 km with a battery that’s worn a bit will get you 100-110 kms with about 15-20 min charge on top of 100 % charge you set out at.

You will also need to reduce your speed if you want max range 80-100 kph.

Again, if you can stretch to a late 2013 updated gen then one from the UK won’t be too hard to find with the more powerful AC charger which will allow you charge twice as fast at a public slow charge point or at home if you need a quick top up you may even find you can get away with fast charging on many occasions.

unkel

gooner99 wrote: »

90km each way a few times a month, with either a few hours stop or an overnight. So could probably use a granny cable?

Donegal - Dublin, Belfast or Galway a couple of times a year.

From your first post I got the impression that you only needed a local runabout / commute car! For that a cheap first gen Leaf would be fine, you're looking at upwards of €5k

But from that post, I would advise against it, and you need one with the newer battery. I think you should be able to get one for under €10k