New Leaf ordered in Ireland

[hsilgnede]

No distance at all. Took it for a spin this morning when I got it and the wife will take it too work tonight.

I think the EU are working off a 'build it and they will come' idea. ie put the charge points in place and the cars will follow. We're a good place to experiment. We're an island, small, high % car ownership etc. You're right about the timing though, five years ago would've been better but there again petrol was 80c a litre five years ago so swings and roundabouts.

I noticed a lot of people turning their heads today when I was driving which is nice. I guess it's just a bit unusual still. I definitely got a few looks when I plugged it into the charge point in town. Most folks will never have seen one being used before!!!

Only downside to day one is I put a scratch in it against the pillar putting it in the driveway. Not a major scratch, no dent. Was bound to happen just a bit gutted with myself for doing it on day one.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

No distance at all. Took it for a spin this morning when I got it and the wife will take it too work tonight.

I think the EU are working off a 'build it and they will come' idea. ie put the charge points in place and the cars will follow. We're a good place to experiment. We're an island, small, high % car ownership etc. You're right about the timing though, five years ago would've been better but there again petrol was 80c a litre five years ago so swings and roundabouts.

I noticed a lot of people turning their heads today when I was driving which is nice. I guess it's just a bit unusual still. I definitely got a few looks when I plugged it into the charge point in town. Most folks will never have seen one being used before!!!

Only downside to day one is I put a scratch in it against the pillar putting it in the driveway. Not a major scratch, no dent. Was bound to happen just a bit gutted with myself for doing it on day one.

I know if I had the choice of a new ice car costing 27,500 Euro's or the Leaf, then I would choose the Leaf because I wouldn't have to pay so much for fuel.

But the majority of people aren't willing to settle for 75 mile range even though they don't drive more than that in a day. A real 150 miles range would be perfect at say 75 mph.

Recharge times are also much slower than filling a tank with fuel. People aren't willing to wait for 30 mins on a lengthy trip.

Also people don't know how long the battery will last and Nissan won't say what happens an end of life battery. Nissan also say that an end of life battery has got 70% capacity or more. That is not good enough for a car that still only has 75 miles range.

I wouldn't comfortably make my 85 mile commute in winter without a charger in work. and most work places won't even think about installing chargers and this is what the E.U need to address.

A real 100+ mile range and fast chargers everywhere and 5 min charging would change the minds of a lot more people.

The Leaf is good enough for most journeys but until it can cover 100% people won't buy a car for the occasional trip that's beyond the Leafs range and what we call fast charging to most people is a nightmare.

Don't feel too bad about the scratch, at least the next scratch won't make you feel so bad.

 

[hsilgnede]

Had it for just over two weeks now, loving it. Finding that I'm getting better at driving it too. I can get over 10k per bar if I'm paying attention which gives me 100k range or even a bit more. Saved a fortune in petrol already. Haven't driven the ICE car once since the leaf arrived. I have to go somewhere on Saturday in it and actually feel a bit depressed about it

I'm really looking forward to testing the range. On Sunday I have a trip to Dublin which will be a nice spin. Will have to charge en route but going to enjoy the challenge of driving slowly from limerick to Nenagh, then on street charge, then onwards for the longest part of the journey to the fast charge @ J14.

The things I've noticed that affect efficiency are temperature - 6C or less are not your friend and also carrying a passenger hurts as well although I'm less sure if this is because I feel I need to turn the heating on and drive a bit faster when she's in the car, or just cause of the extra weight.

I've had no issues with the car so far. The only niggles are the lack of fast chargers on the motorways, which is apparently being sorted, and ICE'd up on street chargers. I'm also not impressed with the amount that the on street chargers are out of action. If I get to Nenagh on Sunday and the charger is not working for some reason, I'm goosed.

Overall though it's been a very positive start to my EV experience. I can't see a scenario, assuming EV's are available and charging infrastructure is in place, that I would go back to an ICE.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

Had it for just over two weeks now, loving it. Finding that I'm getting better at driving it too. I can get over 10k per bar if I'm paying attention which gives me 100k range or even a bit more. Saved a fortune in petrol already. Haven't driven the ICE car once since the leaf arrived. I have to go somewhere on Saturday in it and actually feel a bit depressed about it

I'm really looking forward to testing the range. On Sunday I have a trip to Dublin which will be a nice spin. Will have to charge en route but going to enjoy the challenge of driving slowly from limerick to Nenagh, then on street charge, then onwards for the longest part of the journey to the fast charge @ J14.

The things I've noticed that affect efficiency are temperature - 6C or less are not your friend and also carrying a passenger hurts as well although I'm less sure if this is because I feel I need to turn the heating on and drive a bit faster when she's in the car, or just cause of the extra weight.

I've had no issues with the car so far. The only niggles are the lack of fast chargers on the motorways, which is apparently being sorted, and ICE'd up on street chargers. I'm also not impressed with the amount that the on street chargers are out of action. If I get to Nenagh on Sunday and the charger is not working for some reason, I'm goosed.

Overall though it's been a very positive start to my EV experience. I can't see a scenario, assuming EV's are available and charging infrastructure is in place, that I would go back to an ICE.

Glad you like it. !

Do you have heated seats/steering wheel ? I'd use that more if I were you.

One of the huge problems I think with the Leaf is that you can't just turn on the fan without A/C or Heat. Someone posted a mod yesterday, allow you to switch on and off the heater but may void your warranty ? Have a look you'll find it if not I'll post the link.

The fast chargers are to improve greatly, but I wish garage owners would install fast chargers, Topaz only have a few. Pity they don't have 5-10 min charging. Maybe in Leaf II.

I'd like to see fast chargers in tourist locations and popular beaches and in the very few national parks we have like Glendalough Co. Wicklow etc. I wouldn't mind paying for the electricity.

Sadly though they won't be installing them on the motorway network because there are 0 facilities on 99% of our motorway network. So you will have to turn off into the old towns and villages.

How about not driving the Motorways anyway and sticking to the old national routes ? you wouldn't feel as though you are going at a snails pace ? Not much traffic on them any more with the new motorways.

Do you find yourself having to drive really slow to keep good range ?

 

[hsilgnede]

Slowing down definitely helps range. The difference between 85 and 75 is very noticeable in terms of range. However I haven't altered my behaviour on my daily commute one bit because it can handle the 50 or so K with ease.

I had thought about using the old roads instead of the motorway. The downside is that you can get stuck begin tractors and you have to slow down for every village and in some cases it's longer. But it might be worth the trade off. 75k is a bit slow maybe even dangerous on a motorway, not so much on the other old roads.

The second national EV conference is on today in Dublin and the owners have a rep or two at it who will be speaking. The ESB are good so far to listen o what our experiences are and want the feedback. Whether it turns into action remains to be seen.

Don't have heated seats/wheel.

Side note - set a personal distance record today. 94k with a passenger. Didn't yet have low battery warning when I pulled into the charge point

 

[o00scorpion00o]

That's almost 58.5 miles. How much more range do you think you could have got ?

Did you have the heat on much? Unfortunatelyatly I wouldn't make my 85 mile commute in a Leaf yet, I won't be getting one for some time by the looks of it, and work refuses to install a charger despite consuming 30 Mega Watts continuously. They have no clue what I was talking about nor consulted me, of course they know more than I do.....NOT.

They said they will wait until more people have e.v's and I said well 99% of people here either take the bus or live close enough that they don't need to charge, they think that they need to install one fast charger, I just can't get it through and I can't talk to the main man as his mind is already made up. it would cost Them hardly anything.

The Leaf would have such more potential if work places installed chargers, there needs to be E.U intervention, though Usually it's the Germans who have the most influence and French and they will not do anything that supports E.V's until Germany and France start making E.V's.

On the plus side though there are many who drive from Kilkenny or the likes who drive to the Luas every day and can park at one of the chargers. you could cover 120-130 miles a day easy.

Even if one of the garages on the N7 installed a charger I guess all I'd need is 5 mins on the charger to get me the extra 10-15 miles I need.

The other thing that bothers me is the ESB do not include the kw output of any of the chargers on the charge point, O.K we know the DC are fast charge, but we don't know what the hotel chargers are or the public, are they 3 kw, 20, 40 kw ? Most of the public A/C chargers are 20Kw. And some of the newer fast chargers are 40/kw A/C but how can we tell ?

 

[hsilgnede]

Only used the heating a few times in short bursts to clear the window. Another 8-10 k I think would've been about it.

J14 on the M7 has a fast charger.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

63 miles is low if not using the heat much.

What speed were you doing ?

The other thing is the wind is a real bitch here, so that must have a fairly noticeable effect ?

 

[hsilgnede]

Varying speed. 70-75 on the motorway on the way back. 85-90 on the way there plus some town driving. There's more there to be had for sure. Up the temperature and lose the wind some and that will help. Also not having a passenger would be a help. I rained for part of the journey which ment wipers but more importantly a wet surface for the whole journey.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

70-75 kph is slow on the motorway I couldn't cope with that. Even 90 kph is a wee bit slow. But the more chargers that go in means you wont have to go so slow.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

Hi hsilgnede,

How are you gettinng on in the Leaf ?

 

[hsilgnede]

Loving it so far. Fuel bill for Feb was €39 - whatever I got from onstreet chargers. The wife is getting into driving it now and her confidence levels are rising. Off to Cork in the morning, will be a 200k round trip. Looking forward too it.

No issues to report with the car. Issues with icing sometimes but that's really been the only negative. Could do with a few more FCP's around where I live and on the motorways but they are coming.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

Excellent stuff !

What do you mean you have problems with icing ?

Did you know the updated model was coming before you ordered yours ?

Yeah there are a few more Fast chargers coming online soon, they are keeping quiet about it though.

Pity you got to turn off the motorways to get to a service station. I just wish they would put one on the N7 before Naas but instead they intent to put it in town somewhere so coming from Dublin you would have to go into Naas, madness.

John Whelan form the ESB said a lot of garage owners simply will not hear about installing chargers and that is disappointing news to say the least and that's whay they put them in stupid places sometimes.

 

[hsilgnede]

There's no need for one between Naas and Dublin, that's what J14 is there for. They are much more needed south of Portlaoise. Currently Dublin is only accessible from Limerick/Clare/Kerry if you go via Cashel. A fast charger in Nenagh/Roscrea would fix this. I understand both are in the pipeline.

Had an inkling that a new model would be coming with reduced charge times etc. Needed to change the car when I did so waiting wasn't really an option. Don't regret it though.

Icing - where a non EV parks in the charging spot. Example this morning, there are 6 accessible & working charge points in Limerick City. Four of them were blocked.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

Ah I get ye now!

The Government are working on making it law, I believe some County Councils have e.v specific spots already, but not sure if they enforce it.

The update also has a much more efficient heater. But no big deal if you got enough range and fast chargers.

If I were to drive from My house to Dublin City and back (100 odd miles) I would need 5-10 mins fast charging, currently I could do that at Topaz Newlands Cross, it's a pity they don't have one on the road itslef you always got to turn off the damn road somewhere through traffic, apart from maybe the one on the N4.

But before I got let go from work there would have been no way to charge unless I drove from GrangeCastle Business Park to Newlands Cross and that would have added a lot of time to my journey with traffic. So the only way would be to have a charger on the N7 itself.

We don't yet know though how fast charging will effect the battery. IF I need a 5-10 min daily fast charge, that might effect the battery.

I would have considered getting a Leaf from the U.K 2nd hand, I saw one a few weeks ago for around 18,000 miles but you never know what way they are stored in a garage if it's sitting there all day fully charged that's bad for the battery.

I would probably do the mod I saw on the forum that allows you turn on the blower without AC or heat as it seemed mad you couldn't do this in the first place.

You should check out the heated seat covers, i got one for the Prius and I love it.

 

[hsilgnede]

Tiernans in Limerick are selling one second hand. It's the 12 reg they were doing test drives in last year.

I've been meaning to have a look at heating alternatives like seat covers, steering wheel etc. must have a look in halfords & Argos.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

I See a 2011 in Wexford for 20k Euro's. But only 4000 or so miles, it would worry me at what state of charge they leave it at for long. Not good to be sitting at 100% charge for long. The salesman in Windsor Belgard didn't even know there was a charge to 80% function and I bet dealers will always try to have it charged to 100% so potential customers don't see 50 miles left when they test drive it.

I got my seat cover on Amazon.co.uk. It makes a big difference.

You can also get heated jackets motorcyclists use, they are becoming popular with Twizy owners.