Should I take the Leaf?

dor843088

Thinking about taking the leap to an electric vehicle. I like the leaf but I'm not sure if it's a good decision as I'm not super informed about ev in general. Maybe someone a bit more knowledgeable can let me know what they think.
Iv got a 08 civic diesel probably do around 750km per week from nct calculation on average with a cost in fuel of around 60 quid or so from memory. Numbers could be a bit out there but its close. Mostly a 40 km round trip to work and a bit of tipping around with the odd 150km round trip . Should I buy a leaf or similar ? Would it be worth it to me ? What year ? Import from UK or buy here ? Any help appreciated as my head is in a bit of a spin .

Thanks

Mickeroo

The 40kwh leaf (newer body shape) would cover your 50km round trip and occasional 150km round trip with ease all year round.

Do you have a drive way where you can install a home charger?

dor843088

Mickeroo wrote: »

The 40kwh leaf (newer body shape) woud cover your 50km round trip and occasional 150km round trip with ease all year round.

Do you have a drive way where you can install a home charger?

Yea I could get a home charger no problem . Decent driveway

Mickeroo

I will say one thing, 750km a week doesn't match up with a 40km round trip for your commute!

First question I should have asked was what would your budget be when buying the car?

Sabre Man

Are there any chargers on your 150 km round trip, if required?

You can find out here:
https://www.esb.ie/our-businesses/ecars/charge-point-map

Nedved85

With the Ionity Charger network expanding in Ireland and it only providing CCS Charging (Leaf uses Chademo) I would be looking for something other than a Leaf with CCS Charging.

Nedved85

Nedved85 wrote: »

With the Ionity Charger network expanding in Ireland and it only providing CCS Charging (Leaf uses Chademo) I would be looking for something other than a Leaf with CCS Charging.

Luckily the other networks are not stopping ramping up CHAdeMO. And personally I'm wishing all the Kona Electrics will move using the Ionity for their 60-90 minute charging sessions.

dor843088

Mickeroo wrote: »

I will say one thing, 750km a week doesn't match up with a 40km round trip for your commute!

First question I should have asked was what would your budget be when buying the car?

Herself does a lot of running around with kids and school shopping etc and I use it for same . It's our only car but she is the only one who uses it for commute . On the budget I suppose 15 to 20k

dor843088

Sabre Man wrote: »

Are there any chargers on your 150 km round trip, if required?

You can find out here:
https://www.esb.ie/our-businesses/ecars/charge-point-map

Yes theres a couple m4 applegreen and a couple around the lucan area . Maybe a 30kw leaf would suit so ?

zg3409

dor843088 wrote: »

Sabre Man wrote: »

Are there any chargers on your 150 km round trip, if required?

You can find out here:
https://www.esb.ie/our-businesses/ecars/charge-point-map

Yes theres a couple m4 applegreen and a couple around the lucan area . Maybe a 30kw leaf would suit so ?

Filter for fast 50kw chargers only
On long trips you won't be stopping at slow chargers. In case you are not aware the fast chargers particularly in Dublin are busy, broken and blocked a lot of the time, so if you need to use a fast charger on a trip more than once a month I would wait until more fast chargers have been rolled out in a year. If you do 150km regularly (round trip) get a car that can do 150km like an ioniq or leaf with 40kwh battery. You are looking at 20k+ for used models, but research fully before making any move.

ELM327

Don't rely on public charging in the GDA... there's one charger per location which is always either in use, iced or broken.
If you want a car that won't be antiquated in 5 years get something with CCS and over 50kW capability for fast charging. Kona, eniro , e soul, Ioniq, egolf etc are all good options - not to mention the 48k base model 3 which if you have the funds is arguably the best option of all listed.

The leaf is over priced, poor thermal management, and sub optimal fast charging protocol compared to the other options above.

slave1

dor843088 wrote: »

Herself does a lot of running around with kids and school shopping etc and I use it for same . It's our only car but she is the only one who uses it for commute . On the budget I suppose 15 to 20k

dor843088 wrote: »

Yes theres a couple m4 applegreen and a couple around the lucan area . Maybe a 30kw leaf would suit so ?

Don't go for the Leaf30, you do not want to depend on public charging infrastructure (150km round trip is doable in Summer but not Winter), if it's your second car then fine but you do not want to be dependant on the completely inadequate public chargers.
Look at fuel savings and up your budget

KCross

ELM327 wrote: »

Don't rely on public charging in the GDA... there's one charger per location which is always either in use, iced or broken.
If you want a car that won't be antiquated in 5 years get something with CCS and over 50kW capability for fast charging. Kona, eniro , e soul, Ioniq, egolf etc are all good options - not to mention the 48k base model 3 which if you have the funds is arguably the best option of all listed.

The leaf is over priced, poor thermal management, and sub optimal fast charging protocol compared to the other options above.

His budget is 15-20k! :pac:

Realistically, he is looking at Leaf, i3, Ampera etc.
The Leaf doesnt seem like a bad option to me. The daily commute is quite short with an "odd" round trip of 150km.... the Leaf 30 will be absolutely fine for that since its just an odd trip. He wont be dependent on public charging everyday so I dont know why there is a focus on that.

ELM327

KCross wrote: »

His budget is 15-20k! :pac:

Realistically, he is looking at Leaf, i3, Ampera etc.
The Leaf doesnt seem like a bad option to me. The daily commute is quite short with an "odd" round trip of 150km.... the Leaf 30 will be absolutely fine for that since its just an odd trip.

Ah... that wasn't in the OP, just saw it now further on. I'm the first one to jump down the neck of people suggesting high priced EVs for people with lower budget so apologies!


The leaf 30 won't do 150km in the depths of winter. To be honest it sounds like an ideal use case for an I3 rex or an ampera.

redcup342

Could you see in work if there is a normal plug socket you could top it off from ?

That would give you a nice cushion for your return trips.

KCross

ELM327 wrote: »

The leaf 30 won't do 150km in the depths of winter. To be honest it sounds like an ideal use case for an I3 rex or an ampera.

He needs to clarify an "odd" trip. Is it once a month, 3 or 4 times a year etc, but his daily driving seems well within the abilities of any EV with no reliance on public charging.

The fact that it would be their only car does mean they need to be sure of their figures here.

dor843088

KCross wrote: »

He needs to clarify an "odd" trip. Is it once a month, 3 or 4 times a year etc, but his daily driving seems well within the abilities of any EV with no reliance on public charging.

The fact that it would be their only car does mean they need to be sure of their figures here.

The odd trip would be say once a month . Mullingar to Dublin. I'm usually there for few hours in lucan meeting the mother , sometimes coolock for an overnight stay so could charge overnight when I do stay.

Black_Knight

dor843088 wrote: »

The odd trip would be say once a month . Mullingar to Dublin. I'm usually there for few hours in lucan meeting the mother , sometimes coolock for an overnight stay so could charge overnight when I do stay.

And you have the ability to charge overnight while there? Garage with power/external power socket near parking? Running an extension lead out the window overnight isn't ideal. Extension lead itself isn't ideal.