wyx087

When I'm rapid charging the Leaf, I turn AC and heating (if required) to maximum to clear damp air and mist. It doesn't affect charging speed because the battery can receive less than what the charger is capable of delivering from ~40% onwards anyway. That will last vast majority of Leaf's rapid charger hop range. But I agree. It seems to be a solved problem in ICE cars but somehow for range, EV cars don't run the AC automatically, making demisting a manual toggle.

I drove 150 miles 3 times, each lasting about half day period in a first-gen Nissan Leaf, over last few weeks. Does it mean I did 450 miles over 1.5 days? With triple the rapid-charging hop range from 60 to 180, meaning instead of 1hr drive, 20min charging, they can do 3hr driving, 45min charging, covering 3 times distance in much less than 3 times the time. I really don't see that as a challenge in such a long range EV. It's more of a challenge to not fall asleep driving for such a long time, applies in all cars.

The range are estimates based on your last few miles of driving. So it might be due to your previous few miles were using more than usual. When ICE car manufacturers stop using guess-o-meters is when they have learnt how to make EV's.

OP linked dealer is doing Skoda's fixed pricing. Their fixed price have is on an exponential curve. Only thing I didn't get is a wash of the car, but I'm happy to save over £100 instead of a wash. A lot of main dealer's courtesy car now also require £10 additional insurance (at least all Nissan dealers wanted it in 2019, Skoda/Nissan in 2018 didn't need it). This further erodes main dealer advantage, if there ever was any to begin with.

Had my car serviced and MOT'd at Vee W services Bristol, yesterday. Excellent service and very cheap, £240.70 for major service + MOT - pollen filter, I can do pollen filter myself so I bought one on ebay with 20% discount for £9 and installed myself. They did the inspections, engine oil + filter, air filter, diesel fuel filter, and MOT, would have costed £347 at main dealers. Vee W quoted price was £260 for major service + MOT, £382 at main dealer using link in OP.

Just to update. After talking with Autel support, I've purchased this ML629 and successfully reset SRS message in the Volvo. The message was caused by disconnecting passenger airbag switch. The reader also works with Skoda Octavia mk3. It doesn't do long coding like OBDeleven, but work with SRS, ABS, engine and DSG systems.

There are known reliability issue with i3 REx engine not being used for a long time. It needs more engineering efforts but because general public and the government sees this the same as PHEV, it doesn't get as much attention as full EV. See this thread: https://www.speakev.com/threads/for-the-love-of-god-do-not-run-an-i3-without-a-warranty.101153/ There should be a slightly reduced grant for ~40kWh battery with REx engine. But all cars bought using this grant must be fitted a no ICE GEO-zone restrictor for cleaner inner city. Similarly, I think 80+ kWh is very wasteful and should have grants removed. This will not only spur manufacturers to make more efficient cars. Also sends message that EV is about covering 90% of your daily journey, then use rapid charging for long journey. Speaking of which: Well, they are not wrong. Queuing for charging sucks, 20-40min stop is already the maximum time I'm willing to stop mid-journey, doubling that time due to occupied charger makes going back to fossil fuel really attractive. Really need each location, especially on trunk roads, to have 6+ chargers as minimum. The removed big battery grants should go into rapid charging infrastructure for everyone. 7kW AC charging speed, on the other hand, it's non-issue as long as one can plug-in overnight. It will not be an issue until beyond 100kWh batteries become norm, which is unlikely over next 10 years. What's the average daily miles for a London taxi anyway? 100 kWh can easily go over 300 miles in an efficient car at such low speed. That is 15 hours of averaging 20mph, a speed that is difficult to achieve in London. 40 kWh LEVC should give over 120 miles range on a charge, that is 6 hours of similar driving. Rapid charge over food break and should give another 5 hours. Recharge overnight on AC, ready for another zero tailpipe emission day.

With current state of rapid charging network, especially at motorway services, I would be more than happy to go this route instead of Tesla. It is known as range extended EV.

Is the coolant level difficult to check under the bonnet? Is it something the customer is allowed to do? Tesla also have a reputation of withholding repair information. Look up Rich Rebuilds on youtube. I had a Merc that didn't have a dip stick, it was beyond stupid. It only had a computer readout saying "engine oil OK" or "add 0.5l engine oil"

Haha, that's a very long winded way of driving that short distance. May I ask how did you buy the car? lease or PCP or cash? The cosmetic flaws probably won't bother you if you were leasing, I know I wouldn't take my time out to sort out cosmetic or even minor mechanical issues. But if I bought the car outright or plan to, I'd be bugging their customer services every week to get everything fixed.

Great real world account of your experience. Indeed they have a real fanboi issue, and it's really hard to avoid on the internet. Honest brand based forums like Briskoda is hard to find. Shocking to hear they've forgotten about your issues! The satnav should work without subscribing to their premium connectivity? I think £120 per year only adds live traffic visualisation (they say it still takes live traffic into account when routing without paying) and streaming services. I've been thinking to use bluetooth for entertainment and the Tesla screen for satnav. I think not having access to supercharger network is your biggest reason feeling indifferent to the car and brand. Down south, it's either single stall chargers in a car park, unreliable ageing Ecotricity chargers or multi-stall Tesla chargers. For me personally, there is no way I'd replace my Skoda and repeat my Leaf long distance driving experiences relying on public charging network.

Would a OBD tool like this read and clear SRS airbag errors on Volvo and future cars? https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N0QQZY7?pf_rd_r=APY4Y36D1BT43YZK4EXM&pf_rd_p=e632fea2-678f-4848-9a97-bcecda59cb4e I installed dashcam to my Dad's Volvo, while doing so, we had to disconnect the airbag off switch on the side of the dashboard. But after putting everything together, we see service airbag message. Hopefully the message was as simple as switch error, can be cleared and won't come back. Anyone else had SRS airbag error messages and had success with such OBD tools?

I have one but never used, finger's crossed it continues to be not needed, on my car. I think the bulkhead terminal is more for measuring battery state for trickle charging. If your car needs jump starting, it should be okay connecting directly to battery terminal.

Your situation would mean on-street charging or only use rapid charging. Latter is a hassle and cancel out all financial benefits of EV. Usually takes 30-45min to charge to 80%. For slower on-street charging, it will always take hours so it's best to do it overnight, hence it doesn't matter how long it takes. A very reasonable requirement, 10 years is typical amount of time to run a car. Considering all car manufacturers give 8 years warranty on their batteries these days, I think having the battery powering the car for 15 years is zero problem. Remember, most car manufacturer only gives 3 years warranty on the engine, we still run the car far beyond that period. For battery health, my car is only a single story to tell. I implore you to research EV battery warranties to see current state of batteries. You won't find many older cars than 2014. 2014 is still considered very early for EV's. It has first generation EV battery and currently it retains ~85% of its original range. So yes, they degrade, but considering the money saved from not needing to service the powertrain, fuel cost saved over 6 years, the slight degradation is acceptable. No, I don't need to charge it more frequently because I didn't run it down to last 20% previously, now just dips below 20% sometime. But when choosing EV, I'd buy 150% of your daily range. Use EPA rating as European WLTP rating is not very useful. NEDC is totally useless.

I ordered 2x 1L Comma DOT4 in the end, mid-range in price. Halford sells the same thing in case I need more. We'll only do the 2 DOT 4 cars, DOT 3 LEAF the fluid looks clear, it's only been 2 years since last change, I'll do it next year and use DOT 3 as required to be safe. Thanks everyone.

Remember to compare same level of equipment, not the rock bottom poverty spec tiny engine against well equipped and quick electric versions. Why does it matter for standard 7kW speed? It's not like you need to stand like a dummy, squeezing the trigger and smelling fumes. The question only matters if you intend to use the battery to flat everyday. If you drive 100 miles a day, the better question is how long does it take to recharge 100 miles. Answer is just over 3.5 hours at home while you sleep or at work while you do something productive (100 miles, 4 mi/kWh => 25 kWh; 7kW charging speed => 3.5 hours) Battery will outlast the car around it. My Nissan Leaf is 6 years old this year. Unlike what Clarkson said, its battery is still very healthy and giving me more than enough range.

The workshop manual for doing brake fluid change on Leaf looks very straight forward. No special tools needed, whereas workshop manual for Skoda requires a VW contraption. https://www.speakev.com/threads/brake-fluid-change.152537/#post-2870296 So not sure why brake fluid service on this EV could be more expensive than on other cars. It should be cheaper than doing it on a VAG car. I’d thought all cars nowadays use electric brake pump........ I’ll have to double check this. Thanks for pointing this out.

Plan is to DIY 3 cars at the same time (2 DOT 4, 1 DOT 3 car) Thanks. If that's the case, cheapest it is! £15.50 to do 3 cars is rather cheap.

Thanks Mick. I found this, £15.50 for 5L of DOT 4. Seems excellent price to do 3 cars at the same time, my Skoda (DOT 4), wife's Leaf (DOT 3) and Dad's Volvo (DOT 4). https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MANNOL-Brake-Clutch-Fluid-DOT-4-5L-SAE-J-1703-FMVSS-116-DOT-4-ISO-4925/303081767251 Is it any DOT 4 fluid will do the job? Any point in spending more (£22.50) to get branded ones like this Brembo brake fluid? https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/brembo-dot4-brake-fluid-5ltr-524770341

I see DOT 4 written on the brake fluid reservoir. I guess I need to buy DOT 4 to do brake fluid flush. Is any brake fluid with DOT 4 written on its bottle okay? Any recommended brand? (For road use only) I gather I need more than 1 litre of the fluid for flush. 1.5l according to an older thread: My Nissan Leaf says DOT 3 on its brake fluid reservoir. Does it mean I can’t buy 5 litres of DOT 4 and use it across the two cars?

22 and 7 kW chargers are different kettle of fish though. They need to be spread to every corner so everyone can be within walking distance of a couple dotted around the neighbourhood. They are like parking spots, if ones on your road is in-use, try around the corner. Rapid chargers, on the other hand, is like motorway petrol stations. They are expensive to use and you rarely use them, but when you do, they MUST be reliable and numerous, should be manned and you would never want to queue 30min mid-journey.

The bad charging experience is not directly due to poor government legislation. The key is manufacturers need to actually want to sell a car that is able to offer equal end user experience to their fossil fuelled counterparts. Currently no ICE manufacturer is happy to push EV and the lack of investment into rapid charging infrastructure shows this. Business model for charging operators is simple, blanket cover as much roads as possible with chargers that are used as often as possible. This means single chargers everywhere. But single charger are unreliable as means of continuing one's journey. A single charger can be in-use, causing one to wait up to 30 minutes, and a single charger can be broken, requiring plan B. With multiple chargers at a location, it means virtually zero probability needing to wait full length of charging time, it also means probably of all chargers broken is very low. But business case for installing multiple charger hubs is not so clear cut. The fewer the charger per location, the higher its utilisation rate, thus the higher return on investment. But to get high utilisation rate, it means end user will likely have to wait -> bad user experience. Car manufacturers need to invest in charging operators to provide the initial investment for multiple large charging hubs along trunk routes. This, in turn, gives better end user experience and pushes EV as fossil car replacement. But which ICE manufacturer want to strangle their golden ICE goose?

Welcome to EV ownership. 😝 I've been slagging off the poor rapid charging infrastructure for years now. It's simply not reliable enough to do long journey. Only one brand provides a good enough charging infrastructure, enabling seamless travel throughout Europe, like owning a fossil car.

What's the difference between 150 mi bottom left and 180 mi bottom right? I'm okay without percentage reading if one of those number is calculated based on constant (eg. car assumes 4 mi/kWh), not based on your previous driving (eg. tells you remaining range is 50 miles after going downhill, but in reality you only have 20 miles of up hill left) Lesson learnt from driving any car is that never trust the remaining range guess-o-meter calculated based on your driving habits. It applies to all powertrains. How responsive is the app? The Nissan app is horrendously slow. It never shows up-to-date info, refresh takes minutes. I have given up using it. Instead I poll Nissan servers via my home automation system every hour. That'll teach them! 😈