Going Electric... Richard's EV thread.

[BossFox]

First day with a frost in this car.

Temp was 0 to +2 on the way to work.

 

Preheated the car with it plugged into the charger and used 55% of the battery to drive 39 miles.

Not too bad considering I wasn't hanging about for the first half and then went at traffic/busy road speeds for the second half.

I made no effort to do any slipstreaming. (lorries couldn't keep up).

 

Theoretical range therefore around 71 miles not driving economically at around freezing.  Heating at +19c.

Plus I have the winter tyres on too, guessing they don't help the drag profie.

 

To be on the safe side I've adopted a new plan.

Set the charger to come on an hour before I leave and the heating 15 minutes before I leave.

So I get in the car already defrosted and warm with enough of a boost (20-25%) to get me back to work at a cost of under £1 per day.  Bargain.

[BossFox]

Here comes another one...

 

[Thecko]

You've bought shares in Nissan, right?

[Paul007]

I was just about to post that !

[gadgetman]

Replaced already?

[BossFox]

Replaced already?

 

No, 4th one for the firm.

 

Can't see any reason to trade mine in.

 

Over 7,000 miles now since the 5th September and it's been faultless.

Plus it cost me peanuts to actually run it.  Between £50-£100 with all the free charging about.

 

Yes, the Yeti is more fun to drive but I don't miss stopping to put £75 in it every week.

[900000]

Did you see the new "Leaf" Taxi for London Richard?

 

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2014/01/nissans-fully-electric-black-cabs-will-hit-london-in-2015/

 

 

 

I can imagine you using modified version of these as part of your bus fleet!

[BossFox]

These will be ideal for low volume wheelchair purposes, but being made to Taxi standards will probably be too expensive for use on competitive council contracts. It's all about the lowest price.

[HJM12]

No, 4th one for the firm.

 

Can't see any reason to trade mine in.

 

Over 7,000 miles now since the 5th September and it's been faultless.

Plus it cost me peanuts to actually run it.  Between £50-£100 with all the free charging about.

 

Yes, the Yeti is more fun to drive but I don't miss stopping to put £75 in it every week.

How are you going to be using this for ferrying people around? Won't it run out? 

[Yeti_Man]

How are you going to be using this for ferrying people around? Won't it run out? 

...and thats when it gets plugged in again.

[BossFox]

How are you going to be using this for ferrying people around? Won't it run out? 

 

Yes.

Like most car journeys in central london we'll probably struggle with it's 80 mile usable range.

 

Somehow we'll manage...

 

I expect the two 32A chargers at the depot will help.

[HJM12]

...and thats when it gets plugged in again.

good one... 

[BossFox]

Please note, GIDs used here rather than battery percentage as the car views 100% as what it can achieve, so if you lose 5% the new 95% capacity becomes your 100% on the display...

 

GIDs is a count of true charge capacity.

Which is not visible without a gadget you plug into the diagnostic port.

 

 

 

When the car was a few weeks old it was showing 279 GIDs on the LeafDD.
 

3,753 miles on, averaging 500 miles per week and running it low a few times (so plenty of battery cycling) it was up to a healthy 284 GIDs.



Now at 8,427 miles after four and a half months it's still the same on 284 GIDs.



Even though I've covered a fair distance (now 8,500 miles in under five months) and charge to 100% most of the time (and have used 20 Rapids) there has been pretty much no battery loss at all.

 

 

 

Kind of flies in the face of what the doom-mongers say.

[mandaroo]

Why do they make electric cars so ugly?  I could never pay so much money for a car that look so horrible in my opinion. It would take days just to drive down to Cornwall for example for a holiday in a Leaf as it would have to be charged every 100 miles. Not such a problem in a little city car but a small family car needs better  range. 

[Paul007]

The Prius, whilst not strictly 100% electric isn't ugly IMO. I'd have one and as my new place of work has rapid chargers in its car park, the prospect of having a car that is 100% electric is more enticing. And, if you've followed this thread from the start, the Lotus isn't exactly ugly either, despite its £80k price tag.

[BossFox]

Why do they make electric cars so ugly?  I could never pay so much money for a car that look so horrible in my opinion. It would take days just to drive down to Cornwall for example for a holiday in a Leaf as it would have to be charged every 100 miles. Not such a problem in a little city car but a small family car needs better  range. 

 

You clearly haven't looked into electric cars very much, before making assumptions.

Or do you base your motoring opinions on Top Gear?

 

When you say "days to Cornwall" it's ill informed.

I bought my LEAF in West Devon and drove it back to Essex (270 miles) the same day.

Yes, I did have to stop and charge it three times on the motorway for around 30 minutes, but I got back the same day and the "fuel" was free.

Overall if I'd used a petrol car I could have driven right through without stopping to get back two hours quicker.  Bit different to "days". 

 

Open your mind.

 

As for criticising the looks of the LEAF when you are buying a Yeti with it's mismached corporate face from the Octavia slapped on...

Looks are a matter of opinion as you say.

I don't like the facelift Yeti either.

It's boring, bland and the new face doesn't gell with the shape of the body that's been carried over from the previous model.

Looks, as always, are a matter of opinion.

But thanks for sharing.

[Taylor93]

Why do they make electric cars so ugly?  I could never pay so much money for a car that look so horrible in my opinion. It would take days just to drive down to Cornwall for example for a holiday in a Leaf as it would have to be charged every 100 miles. Not such a problem in a little city car but a small family car needs better  range. 

 

Well my take on the situation is they are chasing the lowest drag coefficient to improve the range/efficiency of the car whilst also abiding to the countless international regulations regarding car safety and head and tail light positions etc and also dropping a full electric drivetrain system in it you will have to make a compromise somewhere. 

 

And the appearance makes them stand out as a brand spanking new car which doesnt blend in with the cars from the past 20 years and actually looks futuristic.

 

plus if your target market is after a cheap car to run, and they dont like IC engines for environmental reasons. there is a chance they dont give a monkeys what it looks like as it fullfills their need for a "green" car.

[mandaroo]

You clearly haven't looked into electric cars very much, before making assumptions.

Or do you base your motoring opinions on Top Gear?

 

When you say "days to Cornwall" it's ill informed.

I bought my LEAF in West Devon and drove it back to Essex (270 miles) the same day.

Yes, I did have to stop and charge it three times on the motorway for around 30 minutes, but I got back the same day and the "fuel" was free.

Overall if I'd used a petrol car I could have driven right through without stopping to get back two hours quicker.  Bit different to "days". 

 

Open your mind.

 

As for criticising the looks of the LEAF when you are buying a Yeti with it's mismached corporate face from the Octavia slapped on...

Looks are a matter of opinion as you say.

I don't like the facelift Yeti either.

It's boring, bland and the new face doesn't gell with the shape of the body that's been carried over from the previous model.

Looks, as always, are a matter of opinion.

But thanks for sharing.

I did say in my opinion. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know the Yeti will never win a beauty prize. I think the face lift is a step backwards again only my opinion. We originally ordered a pre fl but they messed the order up so stuck with it. 

[BossFox]

I did say in my opinion. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know the Yeti will never win a beauty prize. I think the face lift is a step backwards again only my opinion. We originally ordered a pre fl but they messed the order up so stuck with it. 

 

Well I was correcting you on the range issue, so thought I'd address the point about it's looks while I was at it.

 

Thing is, a lot of people use a car for short trips and don't do long trips that often.

LEAF makes a lot of sense if it's abilities fit in with your car usage.

No car is perfect for everyone.

 

Me and the wife both have pre-FL Yetis, we like cars that are a bit distinctive.

[Paul007]

as well as a Nissan, a few buses and....

[BossFox]

Just over three years since it was released the Nissan LEAF has now reached 100,000 sales worldwide.

 

http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/uk/en-gb/Media/Media.aspx?mediaid=114372

 

Sales were quite slow at first, but in the last year they have started to gather pace.

[900000]

Electric car attempts London-to-Edinburgh in a day

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25878172

 

I'd love to see BMW's response to this and how low it will take an i3 to do the same trip.  Ha.

[Totally Square]

Electric car attempts London-to-Edinburgh in a day

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25878172

 

I'd love to see BMW's response to this and how low it will take an i3 to do the same trip.  Ha.

"achieving an average speed of 68mph" ... So, er, not driving for max range then? I suppose if the rapid chargers are close enough that is fine, but it still means they must drive for 1 hour or less, and then charge for 35 minutes.

[Paul007]

The rapid chargers at the car park nearest my office regularly have non electric cars parked in the bays assigned to them, which must irritate the *** out Leaf owners (and others, Ampera, i3....etc).  Funnily enough, it's usually the same 3 series and Audi A4 on the level I park on. Not having a dig at Audi or BMW, but...

[gadgetman]

The rapid chargers at the car park nearest my office regularly have non electric cars parked in the bays assigned to them, which must irritate the *** out Leaf owners (and others, Ampera, i3....etc).  Funnily enough, it's usually the same 3 series and Audi A4 on the level I park on. Not having a dig at Audi or BMW, but...

Milton Keynes Council are issuing shed loads of fines for parking in these bays at Centre MK!