2020 Nissan Leaf . What a disappointment “within tolerance”

[mk2driver]

Are you based in NI?

My problem with them is I can’t see them being as convenient as ICE as the government may want us to buy them but isn’t supporting the network needed to make them a decent way to travel.

I’m not even slightly close to believing they are a sustainable answer to being a cleaner mode of transport either. In fact I think they are a complete farce for the most part.

No I’m based in England - realise that your comment was around public chargers which will be different however I wanted to reply stating that if you have a home charger it can be a non issue regardless of where you are

Convenience is subjective - I really like the convenience of being able to “refuel” my car at home overnight rather than detouring from my commute to get diesel

Again cleaner is subjective and depends on what you value - for me as a parent, local air quality is important and they absolutely make that better. Lifetime CO2 is debatable and varies by car, energy source for electricity etc.

They are not for everybody and I completely get that however they are a fantastic choice for some people including me. I have a 400bhp, 4wd car that costs me £2.25/100 miles. I can one pedal drive (which is great), have instant torque for acceleration and it’s incredibly quiet. Also heats up really quickly (with either pre heat before I get in or on the drive) which is nice on the colder mornings.

 

[Terry]

If people are doing big miles, routine long journeys and relying on public charging, then I can understand the nervousness with range and having to plan trips to include charging.

But for those who daily drive a variety of sub-ten mile journeys (some much less), and travel under 150miles per week (I think that’s the UK average now?), when you couple that to a home charger and a range of even 100-150 (every day) - it becomes less of a limiting factor and more of a reason to consider one.

 

[Mark Irwin]

I have been running relatively low range EV's in NI for the last 5 years doing 18k miles per year with only a few issues. It is possible with some compromises and planning but I always have the heating on at 25 degrees in winter. If the infrastructure ever gets up to standard it will not be such an issue and NI is only small folks.

 

[big_pete]

I’ve had my Tesla for 15 months and done 21k in it. You just have to buy the right car. It’s genuinely inconvenienced me 3 times in my ownership.

Once because I was too lazy to move another car and put it on charge and then something unexpected popped up

Once when going to Kildare, I didn’t set the nav properly and had to detour towards cork for a supercharger before heading back on myself (added 45mins to my journey so not a huge inconvenience)

The last time was when I was just doing a crazy amount of driving over one weekend and the public chargers could facilitate it, so I used my other car instead.

Tesla have EV driving licked though. Was tempted by a Taycan to replace it instead of the S Plaid I’ve ordered but the range on the Taycan just wouldn’t do