This week's EV bargain that I'm not buying

Lads. What is the best price possible on a used 30kwh Leaf Tekna 6.6?

kceire wrote: »

IRL or UK?

For 30kwh, just go onto autotrader and restrict search to 2016 models.
It will narrow it right down.

UK. Thanks.

Bif wrote: »

UK. Thanks.

Cheers.

kceire wrote: »

Did you go to look at that other one?

Quick look. A few marks but a nice car.

lob020 wrote: »

Thoughts on this car appreciated
https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2016-bmw-i3-bev/14799211

Looks grand... it's a 22kWh, not the newer 34kWh (but it can be upgraded for ~€7k if you want to do so in future).

160-180ish km in the city, 120-130ish km range on the motorway.

A good buy.

Quite simply by the reg and price. 34kWh didn't arrive in Ireland until July. And a 34kWh for anything under €30-32k would be suspiciously cheap.

To confirm:

Hold the trip reset button (on the side of the drive display) for 10 seconds until the menu comes up, tap the trip reset button until "Unlock" shows and hold.

You are then prompted for a code. The code is the last 5 digits of the VIN (printed on the passenger side, bottom of the windscreen) added together so for VIN WBY1Z8C58HV551287 it's 5+1+2+8+7 = 23. Then hold trip reset button to confirm.
Menu then unlocks which you can scroll by tapping the trip reset button, the battery depth of discharge is "Battery Kapa Max." for a 22kWh it's around 19kWh.

Alternatively just PM me the VIN and I'll do a run down fo the whole spec for you.

fyi,

if you are interested in a car and want to know if its an Irish car or UK import, enter the reg into this
https://www.motorcheck.ie/

Then it will display a screen, and if you can see a line with a union flag its a UK Import.
For example:

https://www.motorcheck.ie/free-car-check/161d48597/

lob020 wrote: »

I drove car today really impressed ,although my golf clubs will only fit with rear seats down.
Our concern is battery degradation,Any of you experts care to comment ,much appreciate all comments so far

Battery degradation is not an issue. There's an 8 year / 160,000km capacity warranty guaranteeing a minimum of 70% capacity at the end of the warranty. I've never heard of any owner ever claiming on that capacity warranty.

The pack on the i3 is temperature managed, I wouldn't be surprised if it took 15-20 years to drop to 70%. I have 110,000km done on one of those 22kWh i3 packs with ~200 rapid charges a year and I haven't seen any significant capacity loss...

You can pretty much assume that for any post-2013 EV the factory installed battery will handle over 300,000km before seeing 70% capacity... and you'll probably still be able to use it as a runaround for another 300,000km.
There's a reason almost all the EV manufacturers are confident enough to offer 8-10 year powertrain warranties.

BoatMad wrote: »

dont worry , by the time the battery is noticeably degraded, the doors will have fallen off,

I've always said, they don't build cars like they used to.

goz83 wrote: »

I reckon there will be cheap replacement batteries available long before the warranty expires. These replacements are also more likely to have greater range.

It remains to be seen. I really hope you are right (as I approached this with the same general expectation). However, it may not necessarily come to pass.

The 24kW can be upgraded to a 30kW as it's the same form factor. However, who will fit same? I contacted the one UK independent that I'm aware of working on EV's and they said it would be easier and more economic just to trade in and switch to a 30kW.

I find that a bit frustrating - as it's technically feasible. Notwithstanding that, the OEM manufacturer is not going to encourage this or perhaps even prevent this from happening?...if there are licensing issues, etc. There may also be issues with insurance as the car will have been 'modified' - again, it really shouldn't matter but I'm not sure I'd like to test it!

There are guys that bought into gen 1 - that have batteries running on 70-75% now - that could do with upgrading - but this is not an option for them.

I'm not sure what way I will play this. The 24kW Leaf works for me for the most part - but degraded to 70%, I can get by - but it's far from ideal. Once 'charging' for charging comes in, then I (and all of you) need to be charging at night-rate - 95% of the time - to derive max. value. With my current routine, that wouldn't be possible 50% of the time. Either I'd like to upgrade OR sell it on - on the basis that it is feasible to upgrade (will make it far more marketable) and switch to whatever is the more recent 2nd hand EV to be available to me (at the moment, that will work out as the Hyundai Ioniq - but if I can hold out longer still, then I guess there will be other options hitting an affordable price-point).

Balmed Out wrote: »

I very much doubt it, its in their best interest not to be backward compatible. A well looked after electric car could go on for donkeys years by replacing the battery.

It won't be the manufacturers offering upgrades but 3rd parties that will fill the void.

lob020 wrote: »

More questions.what's the cost of servicing i3.

Servicing is practically non-existent. Inspection is usually once every two years.
I had my first inspection at 105,000km (This January... I have a 151) and my second is in 2019. Unsure of the cost as I purchased a service plan that covers the first three inspections.

lob020 wrote: »

also any idea of cost of tyres as I am told they are expensive and only made my Bridgestone .

Tires will be your biggest maintenance expense... but that's largely due to a lack of other expenses (though the high torque tends to mean you go through tires quicker... esp. if you drive hard). While it was initially true that bridgestone was the only option there are now more options for tires... particularly for winters and there is now an all-season pirelli too. For summers I'd still go with the bridgestones... they've dropped in price since competitors arrived. https://www.eiretyres.com/search?vehicleTypes=PKW&vehicleTypes=RACE_PKW&vehicleTypes=LLKW&vehicleTypes=VINTAGE_PKW&vehicleTypes=OFF&season=SO&width=155&profile=70&size=19&speedRating=&priceCategory=all&brand=

The factory Bridgestone Ecopia EP500s are €129/tire from oponeo:
http://www.oponeo.ie/tyre-finder/s=1/summer/t=1/car/r=1/155-70-r19

Be very wary about winter tires as they are different sizes front/rear for REx and BEV i3s and they also have a different offset.

lob020 wrote: »

car come with 3 chargers as standard ?

Not sure exactly what you mean, standard equipment includes the Type 2 charging cable for your home and streetside ESB chargepoints and a "granny cable" which terminates in a 3-pin plug for emergency/occasional use.

You can also use a rapid charger... and the i3 you linked to has the CCS socket to be able to do that.

lob020 wrote: »

Any issue with electricals

Nope. I did have an issue since I picked it up with the sunroof on mine not closing flush... but they fixed that under warranty.

lob020 wrote: »

Sorry I meant 3 charger cables ,the rapid charger cable is included in price,which I guess is good .

The rapid charger has a fixed cable connected to it (the voltage and current involved require it). Only the socket on the car side is needed, as illustrated by my pride and joy charging on the way to London (click to see bigger image):



For home and destination charging you get a standard type 2 cable:



And for emergency / occasional charging you get the "granny cable", which plugs into a three pin socket:

lob020 wrote: »

When on average would you need to change tyres ?

I drive like a maniac... full throttle off every light... so every ~35,000km in my case, I've got a few months left on my second set of summers (I use winters for four months a year).

lob020 wrote: »

Will BMW Ireland honour warranties even though car was purchased in England ?

It's a european warranty, so AFAIK they are obligated to honor it.

Lots of low mileage SV and SVE cars just made available for sale in a UK Nissan dealer. They are all 2013-2015 so they are all Gen 1.5.

https://speakev.com/threads/lots-and-lots-of-used-nissan-leaf-from-115-deposit-115-per-month-8kpa-36-month-pcp.41449/

oinkely wrote: »

not many bargains there however!

Not brilliant but a 151 Tekna for £11k isnt bad either. You'd have that landed here for €13500.

Yes, usually exaggerated.
What distance is the Sligo trip?

@shefwedfan should be able to give you accurate feedback as he just bought one.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057723422

D0NNELLY wrote: »

Cheers for that, it's 210km door to door.
She normally bounces on from sligo to Westport to friends of hers, which is grand on the way down, but on the way back it'll be a decent spin Westport to swords.. we'll have a look at charge points now i know what 10min can do!

I'm not familiar with the charging speeds of the Golf, but I would be fairly certain that 10 minutes would give a 25-30% top-up.

I had 60% battery in my Leaf earlier. I wanted to stop off at a garage and pick up a roll. I pulled in at a Fast Charger. I plugged in. Went inside and ate a roll ( eat quickly). I came back to 82% after only a few minutes. The charge slows down after you hit 80%.