Hi, I'm Peter, a new Leaf owner in Auckland, New Zealand. The car is actually for my wife, but the purchase of this Japanese-origin 2012 Gen1 G model was triggered by the recent need to pay unexpected maintenance costs on her 12 year old Audi A3 which were almost equal to the car's current value! Enough!
I have had a longstanding general interest in electric vehicles, and have considered converting a small conventional car to electric, using a superb DIY manual produced by New Zealander Gavin Shoebridge. However, the lack of a dedicated garage for the project has made that impractical, at least at the moment.
I have been running a Vmoto Emax electic scooter for some years, and have found this great. In the meantime, the cost of EV's has gradually reduced and pre-owned Leaf's are gradually becoming more available here, within an attainable price-range. These vehicles are mostly sourced in Japan and imported, while Nissan NZ seems rather disinterested in promoting a second-hand market. The network of charging stations in NZ is still sparse, but now developing at some pace. I feel that it is a good time to enter the EV fraternity, particularly as NZ has abundant renewable sources of electricity.
Anyway, we're just getting to grips with our "new" Leaf. The driving is superb, but it is a challenge to manage the native software, for selection of dashboard functions, despite having an English manual from the US, because they are all written in Kanji. I'm sure we will gradually master this.
All the best.
I have had a longstanding general interest in electric vehicles, and have considered converting a small conventional car to electric, using a superb DIY manual produced by New Zealander Gavin Shoebridge. However, the lack of a dedicated garage for the project has made that impractical, at least at the moment.
I have been running a Vmoto Emax electic scooter for some years, and have found this great. In the meantime, the cost of EV's has gradually reduced and pre-owned Leaf's are gradually becoming more available here, within an attainable price-range. These vehicles are mostly sourced in Japan and imported, while Nissan NZ seems rather disinterested in promoting a second-hand market. The network of charging stations in NZ is still sparse, but now developing at some pace. I feel that it is a good time to enter the EV fraternity, particularly as NZ has abundant renewable sources of electricity.
Anyway, we're just getting to grips with our "new" Leaf. The driving is superb, but it is a challenge to manage the native software, for selection of dashboard functions, despite having an English manual from the US, because they are all written in Kanji. I'm sure we will gradually master this.
All the best.
