A British LEAF review

[apvbguy]

I hope that this isn't repost

http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a535803/living-with-a-nissan-leaf-the-ins-and-outs-of-electric-car-tech.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[loomis2]

I disagree with the notion that electric cars are primarily made for city driving. The best use case for an electric car is to get you back and forth from work every day where you then charge it in your garage when you get home, then repeat the next day.

Having a convenient way to charge it is the most important consideration to owning an electric car. If you have that then owning one is easy.

 

[GlennD]

In my case ir was a perfect commuter car. I retired 2 months ago and it is still fine for my needs. I do drive a whole lot less. On the other hand the city no longer pays half. I think I will survive!

 

[apvbguy]

I disagree with the notion that electric cars are primarily made for city driving.

I agree that the the notion that all electric cars are primarily made for city driving is not accurate but IMHO the LEAF is much better suited to urban settings than it is to open highway driving.

 

[ebill3]

Picky, picky, picky, but I wish people would not call cells batteries, and those 192 LEAF cells just have to be huge compared to a laptop cell.

To each his own, but to me and many others, that little ECO tree is just something to fill a space.

Hey, if that £10 (about $16.50) gets a person unlimited charging for a year, that is great.

Agree, road tripping in a LEAF does require planning and is not for the faint of heart. Great car for commuting or running around town.

 

[tps]

I think he's spot-on in his verdict: electric cars are about planning (for now, anyway), since the charging infrastructure is in its infancy. (And, from his comments, I'm guessing London is even ahead of much of the US.) I've always felt that the EV paradigm is that the vehicle should be able to charge whenever it is parked; we have a long way to go to get anywhere near that. Both quick charging and conventional charging need to be intelligently deployed. That is, conventional charging points in locations where the car is likely to be parked for a while, and quick charging along well traveled routes. And we need to be able to rely on the charging network to be in working order; there should be enough charger points to accommodate the volume of EVs and so one can just use another in the (what should be) unusual case of an out-of-service charge point.

For the past couple years, my experience has been mostly that I charge at night at home. Today I'm charging from 120V at work, but only because snowy weather turned my half hour normally 3 bar commute into 1 1/2 hours and 10 bars! The best placed public charger points are in area parking garages. Many charge points at businesses (including Nissan dealers and Walgreens) are only convenient if within walking distance of another destination where I can spend some time, like a restaurant or such; these locations would better be served by quick charge points.

 

[RegGuheert]

Then again, it's pretty obvious from the word go that the Leaf is designed for the city.

I disagree with the notion that electric cars are primarily made for city driving. The best use case for an electric car is to get you back and forth from work every day where you then charge it in your garage when you get home, then repeat the next day.

Agreed. Not everyone lives in cities and the LEAF can work for very many who cannot. Our LEAF has 15,500 miles on it now and it has never yet made it into a large city. The closest it has come is when we went to the the National Plug-In Day event in the suburbs.