classic33
Leg End Member
There speaks the boy racer.This is true, but it how it gets to 70 is the fun bit![]()
There speaks the boy racer.This is true, but it how it gets to 70 is the fun bit![]()
I'm having an interesting time with my hire car whilst my ID4 is being fixed (allegedly - it's taken them 2 months of messing about so far).
The hire car is a Nissan Leaf.
What's notable is that for a car that is around £15 to £20k cheaper than an ID4, the tech is in many ways *better*. For example the adaptive cruise control actively steers the car when it can read the road markings rather than the ID4s ping pong style of guidance. I also like the front and back parking cameras and the combined overhead camera view, the ID4 is limited to a rear camera. The leaf has seat heating in the rea and my passengers say it is comfier although it often seems to get too warm despite the aircon settings. It also has a funky self dimming rear view mirror.
The main let-down is the battery. The leaf only has a range of 150 miles and that is VERY variable. As a case in point my wife paid for the family to go on a narrow boating holiday in Chirk / Llangollen. Total distance 180 miles. We had therefore to plan a stop - no problem, the BP Pulse Gigahub at the NEC is (I thought) well placed at 113 miles from home and then 82 miles from there to our Premier Inn (we were driving up the day before the hire) which had a destination charger (a good one too).
All went well, until I noticed that the range was dramatically shrinking and by the time we had 30 miles to go the margin between predicted range and distance was down to about 7 miles. Sweating slightly I moved to the left hand lane and stuck to 60mph which helped quite a lot. We decided to stop early at a motorway service station - big mistake. There was a space, but the charger where the space was was CCS only - the leaf I discovered needed a CHAdeMO connector. There was only one machine with a CHAdeMO which had a hybrid Mercedes plugged into it so the lazy git could park nearer the door.
We decided to keep going - we did make it to the NEC but with about 4% left in the battery. The roadworks around Birmingham helped.
Second leg was easy with the car delivering the predicted 150 mile range due to the roadworks and much slower A roads.
My second shocker was a few days ago when I hadn't been bothered to charge. The car had about 60 miles left of range. I knew I had to go to Virginia water (11 miles) then to claygate (12 miles) then dashwood close (8 miles) then home (7 miles) - so a total of 38 miles. Of course, I made a mistake coming back from claygate and ended up using the motorway which really didn't help - adding 6 miles on. But by the time I was 2 miles from home the car had clicked onto 1%. Could I do 2 miles at 20mph with 1% battery - that was the question. In the end, I opted to do one mile to the Travelodge and stretch a charging cable over the Merc parked in the EV bay and charge for 5 minutes on a really crap charger. That boosted me to 3% for the final mile.
Lesson learned is that the Leaf does NOT LIKE MOTORWAYS.
I'm having an interesting time with my hire car whilst my ID4 is being fixed (allegedly - it's taken them 2 months of messing about so far).
The hire car is a Nissan Leaf.
What's notable is that for a car that is around £15 to £20k cheaper than an ID4, the tech is in many ways *better*. For example the adaptive cruise control actively steers the car when it can read the road markings rather than the ID4s ping pong style of guidance. I also like the front and back parking cameras and the combined overhead camera view, the ID4 is limited to a rear camera. The leaf has seat heating in the rea and my passengers say it is comfier although it often seems to get too warm despite the aircon settings. It also has a funky self dimming rear view mirror.
The main let-down is the battery. The leaf only has a range of 150 miles and that is VERY variable. As a case in point my wife paid for the family to go on a narrow boating holiday in Chirk / Llangollen. Total distance 180 miles. We had therefore to plan a stop - no problem, the BP Pulse Gigahub at the NEC is (I thought) well placed at 113 miles from home and then 82 miles from there to our Premier Inn (we were driving up the day before the hire) which had a destination charger (a good one too).
All went well, until I noticed that the range was dramatically shrinking and by the time we had 30 miles to go the margin between predicted range and distance was down to about 7 miles. Sweating slightly I moved to the left hand lane and stuck to 60mph which helped quite a lot. We decided to stop early at a motorway service station - big mistake. There was a space, but the charger where the space was was CCS only - the leaf I discovered needed a CHAdeMO connector. There was only one machine with a CHAdeMO which had a hybrid Mercedes plugged into it so the lazy git could park nearer the door.
We decided to keep going - we did make it to the NEC but with about 4% left in the battery. The roadworks around Birmingham helped.
Second leg was easy with the car delivering the predicted 150 mile range due to the roadworks and much slower A roads.
My second shocker was a few days ago when I hadn't been bothered to charge. The car had about 60 miles left of range. I knew I had to go to Virginia water (11 miles) then to claygate (12 miles) then dashwood close (8 miles) then home (7 miles) - so a total of 38 miles. Of course, I made a mistake coming back from claygate and ended up using the motorway which really didn't help - adding 6 miles on. But by the time I was 2 miles from home the car had clicked onto 1%. Could I do 2 miles at 20mph with 1% battery - that was the question. In the end, I opted to do one mile to the Travelodge and stretch a charging cable over the Merc parked in the EV bay and charge for 5 minutes on a really crap charger. That boosted me to 3% for the final mile.
Lesson learned is that the Leaf does NOT LIKE MOTORWAYS.
Lesson learned is that the Leaf does NOT LIKE MOTORWAYS.
Absolutely, and it's perfect for that sort of driving. But 115 miles was pushing it!That’s a very interesting tale. Years ago when I was thinking EV it was a toss up between a Leaf or a Clio, the Leaf was always my favourite choice as range doesn’t matter to us as the longest trip would be to see Mrs relatives about 70 miles away where two chargers are situated 100 meters from our destination.
I should have also added that on the leg from home to Birmingham it was absolutely caning it down with rain. I think this was part of the reason why the range suffered so much. On the return journey we didn't have an issue.Just checked auto trader and Nissan. Can't find a 62kW Leaf in the UK. Nissan don't sell that battery anymore.
I remember there was only two maybe three available when I bought mine.
My car is being delivered 2 months early!
But I haven’t got the home charger sorted yet. How feasible is it to use a domestic supply for a few weeks if i’m only averaging 50-80 miles a day?
My car is being delivered 2 months early!
But I haven’t got the home charger sorted yet. How feasible is it to use a domestic supply for a few weeks if i’m only averaging 50-80 miles a day?
My car is being delivered 2 months early!
But I haven’t got the home charger sorted yet. How feasible is it to use a domestic supply for a few weeks if i’m only averaging 50-80 miles a day?