Electric cars

NigeWick wrote: »

I bought a Nissan Leaf 2.ZERO 40kWh battery car. The vehicle itself is an improvement on the old 24 or 30kWh version, except, the efficiency.

The best I have managed was 4 miles per kWh slipstreaming HGVs on the A1 when I was expecting what others had got. This was 4.2 miles per kWh without slipstreaming at 55-60mph. 4.2 miles per kWh would give the WLTP estimate of 168 miles per full charge which is acceptable to me.

The NEDC estimate for the 30 kWh car was 155 and at 5 miles per kWh I was close to that. The NEDC for the 40kWH vehicle is 235 miles and I am nowhere near that at about 170 miles indicated on the Guessometer with a full charge

I will let you know how I get on.

That's not good, the slippery Leaf should have much better than that I was getting 4.2 through to 4.9 on several trips I did yesterday and thats with my Kia Soul which has worse aerodynamics than a house brick. (Non motorway mostly A and B roads no faster than 50 in most places)

However if I might be so bold you are being somewhat foolish expecting to actually get NEDC figures from it any more than driving an ICE you'd expect to get the NEDC mpg figures, they are all fantasy.

People with the new Leaf are reporting around 150-160 range in real life. Is there a WLTP or an EPA number for the new Leaf? They should be closer to reality.

AnotherJoe wrote: »

People with the new Leaf are reporting around 150-160 range in real life. Is there a WLTP or an EPA number for the new Leaf? They should be closer to reality.

Leaf 40 WLTP & EPA Figures

https://insideevs.com/2018-nissan-leaf-got-range-ratings-in-wltp-cycle/

So neither's exactly contributing to the death of IC, is it?

No, but they increase electric miles driven, versus diesel or petrol - that's a good thing.

That's not true, at all. Both have contributed to the death of ICE's.

I think the only point Adrian was making here is that a sale of a hybrid IS a sale of an ICE.

Saw a Nissan Leaf taxi the other day. Seemed a strange choice?
Woulds have though limited range and charging times would hit the fuel saving benefit?

In my experience, EVs excel in town driving vs ICE - even without any congestion charge incentives. Stopping and starting is really inefficient in ICE cars, even ones with Stop/Start fitted, and there's also no clutch to content with. Yes, it's lazy, AKA, easy. So that limited range goes further in town. Not so good for airport taxi runs though in terms of needing to charge more often. If they can choose their jobs, I would imagine the ICE drivers would WANT the airport runs, and the EV drivers would WANT the town drives with rubbish traffic.

Yet 99.4% of new cars sold in the UK in Q1 2018 still have ICEs.

Yep, there's yer stats!

On a side note,the new restyled Leaf is a vast improvement IMO. The 'old' leaf was a bit too fat Micra for my liking.

Ironically, the new Leaf looks like... the new Micra, and Pulsar.

NigeWick wrote: »

My point is, that I was getting 150 miles from the 30kWh Leaf around town and pottering. The NEDC was 155 miles. The 40 kWh Leaf's NEDC is 235 so I reckon I should be getting say 230 around town and pottering and I am getting 170 - 180, which as I say, is a disappointment. Especially when a "working" 40kWh Leaf is producing 4.8 miles per kWh.

40 isn't that big a jump on the 30, it's 33% more so 33% more than 150 is 205. Plus you have the extra weight of the 10kWh battery so even 200 would be optimistic. If you are gett8ng 170-180 it's not that far off. From the comments I've read, most users of the new Leaf are somewhat disappointed with its range.

I seem to have missed the last few weeks on this thread..

I read the PSA chairman's comments in the online edition of La Stampa, which being based in Turin seems to have a pretty good motoring section. I always thought the criticism of Chinese industry was that they copied everything! Although I note that PSA have had electric vehicles for some time they never seem to be convincing supporters, and this latest statement doesn't engender confidence. Mind you, that could be said for lots of manufacturers; as somebody noted above about a different maker they don't seem to want to sell electric vehicles, and dealers seem clueless.

Sales are still being held back from a lack of availability let alone suitable models for a wider market. Many of the models are still versions of ICE vehicles and for those designed from the ground up we've seen disappointment with the latest Leaf (range and charging), and lack of availability of the new Ioniq. From what I see on the EV boards people are eagerly awaiting the larger battery models promised by various manufacturers.

As for people like myself who always buy second-hand, we've got to wait even longer! But the situation is changing rapidly.

We could really do with some leadership from the government (ha!) on rapid charging and standardising payment systems, and that particularly includes the Welsh government who seem to prefer wasting their money on other alternative transport than addressing the gaping void of central Wales when it comes to rapid chargers. When I get (eventually) my EV I hope a bit of touring that way will be on the cards, but if they don't want my money there's other places in the UK that will.