EVs anyone?

[Yak]

So I'm finally going to be living Uncle Clive's dream tomorrow when I go and collect my new (well, one year old) Renault Zoe from the dealer. The knackered old Seat Leon I've been chugging around in the last couple of years would have needed more work than it's worth to get through the MOT, and I've been thinking about going EV some time in the future, so that time is now.

EVs (well, apart from Tesla but I'm not rich enough for Tesla) have basically been thought of primarily as town cars, but I think there is a use case for them for rural dwellers too, at least those such as me who work from home. Most of my car trips are local - pub, shops, town every now and again, beach if the weather's nice, Swansea for posh, nothing more than 30 to 40 miles away. The thing that makes it work is the ability to charge at home - if I can treat my car like my phone and just charge it up overnight then range should rarely be an issue. And on the handful of occasions I need to go further I can either carefully plan the trip via available chargers or take the train (as I have been doing on such occasions for the last couple of years as I haven't trusted aforementioned knackered Leon over long distances anyway as the engine light always seems to be on).

Really interested to see how it goes. Loved the test drive, it felt like science fiction with the silent movement and just torque over the whole range with no steps due to gear changing. Appropriately enough the first journey from the dealership will be to the curry house in Newcastle Emlyn.

I mentioned on Twitter I'd got an EV and as it turned out one of my borthers just did last week too, he's got a Nissan Leaf.

So anyone else here taken the plunge? I know Matt303 has had a Zoe the last couple of years as he mentioned it on Twitter. Anyone else? Any tales to tell?

Uncle Clive'd be proud.

[Misfit]

My business partner has just got a Leaf and in general, it seems like a good thing. Although he did have to come into work late yesterday as he'd forgotten to switch the charger on when he plugged in the previous night! In the end he saw Nissan had a free fast charge on his route, so did a pitstop there to top up.

It does seem a little more thought is needed but I'd imagine, for most people, it is do-able and over time it can only get better.

I'd like to do it, but right now I can't. Most of my life is a short commute, but 3 or 4 times a month I need to do big journies and the logistics get too much and my wife isn't keen on the idea of 3 cars on the drive...

The biggest flaw with the Leaf is it looks terrible! How did they expect to entice buyers in with that? The Zoe looks nice and next years Leaf looks a lot better.

[defsdoor]

I want a EV - have had Tesla envy for a number of years - but can't afford it

Told the wife that her next car has to be an EV though - she barely goes further than 10 miles in her car. I'd love to go all the way and get solar panels and battery storage but can't justify the cost.

Have looked in to small wind generation too - there's not a lot of choice but I think this is a potentially massive marketplace. Wind would be ideal for your place wouldn't it Jeff ?

[Misfit]

I want a EV - have had Tesla envy for a number of years - but can't afford it

Yes, very tempted to put the £1k deposit on the next Tesla in the hope I can afford it on release or sell my slot if I can't...

[Whiteball]

Was looking at a renualt Zoe recently myself as they had a cheap(ish) one going at the dealers that was previously used as a test drive vehicle (7,000 miles 2015 model).

Truth is the extra costs of getting all the charging stuff installed and up and running put me off a bit.
Has any of that changed these days?

[arcaic]

I've had a Leaf for about 18 months now.

Overall very pleased with it but I did a lot of research to ensure it was suitable for my usage pattern.

I only do about 20 miles a day. I have off road parking so can charge at home (I bought used from a Nissan dealer so got the charger for free).

If you don't get a charger for free with the car then there are OLEV grants of up to 75% of the cost so it shouldn't cost any more than 150 quid to have one installed. Anyone can apply for these I think.

I guess the biggest issue, although it doesn't really affect me, is range.

Claimed manufacturer ranges are obviously very optimistic. In winter, at night, when its cold, raining and windy and when the car is now 2 1/2 years old I will be lucky to get 60-65 miles from a full charge when the 'claimed' range is a laughable 115 or so. Even the more realistic US testing method suggesting 85 on a full charge will not be achievable in those conditions. When you add in the fact that I wouldn't want to run it down to near 0, far too nerve wracking, the longest trip I'd attempt now, in those conditions, is about 55 miles.

As I said because I only do 20 or so a day it doesn't bother me but if you bought a 3 year old car which the salesman said will do 100 miles on a charge and so you would think you will be fine on your 50 mile round trip commute. Don't be too surprised in a year or two if you find yourself approaching 0 miles left on the way home and after 5 years it might not do it at all.

My worst miles/kw average is about 3.2 in winter. My battery has lost 10% of its capacity and will prob lose 2-3% a year from now on. The leaf battery has 22kw/h usable. So after 5 years mine might have lost up to 20% of its capacity and at 3.2 m/kw will mean I can do around 22-(22/100*20) * 3.2 = 56.32 miles on a charge.

Still love it though and the way it drives.

Andy

[adam]

seem to be a lot of cheap zoe's on autotrader, ecotricity let you use their fast charge points free if you get your leccy from them

[Loada]

Had EVs for 3 years now, I'm on my second Leaf - had the first one (2015, 24kwh Tekna) for 2 years and now have a 2017 30kwh Tekna. I'm totally sold on EVs and will never go back to pure petrol or diesel. I've got a 7kwh home charger (got fitted as part of the first Leaf deal) and as far as I know, it's still free to get one if you have an EV or PHEV (plug-in hybrid), even if it's on a lease.

Great things about EVs:

• Great torque - turn off ECO mode and watch it embarrass most hot-hatches off the line
• Easy to drive - automatic (smooth, no probs), re-gen braking
• Quiet - hear the birds singing as you drive along
• Well-equipped - most EVs come with decent tech, the Leaf Tekna comes with everything you could want really
• Community - EV chat at the public chargers, friendly forums/FB groups, always get a wave off fellow Leaf drivers
• Practicality - no engine/transmission taking up space, cars/boots are surprisingly roomy
• Charger availability - plenty of public chargers, infrastructure getting better all the time
• Phone apps - most EVs support some online/app control, plug in a cheap OBD reader (£10 off ebay) and get access to all sorts of geeky battery/car info , Plugshare and ZapMap are two great websites/apps for EV owners
• Cheap servicing - about £90 a year for a tyre-kick, no oil or any other faff to worry about

Not-so-great things about EVs:

• Pedestrians/wildlife - they can't hear you, supermarket car parks in particular are accidents waiting to happen, full concentration required
• Long-distance driving - possible with motorway charging infrastructure (altho not free now), still not practical
• Public charging costs - totally-free charging days are over (apart from Nissan dealerships), small connect charges on most public units now plus on-demand charging, on the upside this has cleared some of the dicks from the public chargers
• Public charging hassles - ICE'ing of EV charge bays, inconsiderate EV owners hogging chargers when others are waiting etc
• Purchase cost - cars are not cheap to buy new although 2nd-hand they're very affordable, residuals are toilet, PCP/lease all the way
• Repair costs - can be expensive if you have a bump, insurers can load you for an EV to compensate

Never had a problem with range-anxiety - the 24kwh Leaf did ~90 miles on a good day, the 30kwh does around 120. Although it doesn't seem much on paper, the 30 is noticeably better and I never give a second thought to the range or running out of charge now where I came close to "turtling" in the 24 a couple of times. My commute is a 30 mile round trip and if I need to, there are fast and rapid chargers nearby (altho my work is looking to get one too). Just home charge a couple of times a week overnight, no problems.

[Yak]

Picked it up today and immediately drove from the dealership to the curry house in Newcastle Emlyn, then back here, then down the pub (including an extra few miles taking interested parties on a little joy ride to show it off), probably done 40-ish miles and it's still showing 30-something left - now it's on charge with just the 3 pin plug and will be full again in the morning. Still waiting for a quote on how much it'll cost to put in a more powerful dedicated charging post, will definitely get that done just for the added convenience if making it super easy to just plug in when I get home each night.

*Lovely* to drive, just so smooth and silent, and the off-the-mark acceleration is quite something . The display gently chides you by changing colour when you're being a bit aggressive with it, but then you get the satisfaction of seeing the KERS dump power and range back into the system whenever you come off the throttle. Mates down the pub quite impressed after a little joyride .

Tomorrow I'll have a bit of a sit inside and figure out all the tech goodies and how they work, get my phone paired and such. Still having to get used to not needing to use a key to get in, and how to lock it you just walk away .

If it proves reliable I think I shall enjoy this.

[(o)(o)]

Not-so-great things about EVs:

• Pedestrians/wildlife - they can't hear you, supermarket car parks in particular are accidents waiting to happen, full concentration required
• Public charging costs - totally-free charging days are over (apart from Nissan dealerships), small connect charges on most public units now plus on-demand charging

To the first point, do mfrs not fit some sort of noise making option for such situations? Animals are surely more prone to running into these things.
On the second, is that always the case? I notice most of the ASDA round here have charging at some of the parking spots. Saw a guy just plug in his EV, didn't see any method of payment etc just plugged a plug thing in.

[Yak]

My Zoe has a choice of three swooshy sounds it plays externally when you're driving below 15mph or so, specifically to give an audio clue to people in Morrisons car park type situations. You can turn them off but I think it's wise to leave them on, because apart from that the car is uncannily silent at low speed. You're so used to revs, clutch to move off, and all associated noises, that when they are absent and you just glide away when you press the throttle it feels really odd at first.

Closest thing I can think of to compare it to is flying your ship in Elite Dangerous. In fact I think "Elite ship noise" should be an option for the ped warning sound .

[(o)(o)]

Swooshy sounds nice.. but that's interesting cos there must be a synth on board and maybe that's hackable so you can load your own sounds...

Like, "We're all going on a summer holiday" when it's snowing..
A flock of geese..
Choral music..

[(o)(o)]

Or Hare Krishna chant ...

[Yak]

I should just have it blast out the KLF really.

[(o)(o)]

Sounds nice just a little bit futuristic. I like 'pure'.

https://soundcloud.com/renaultze/z-e-vo ... enault-zoe

Seems like it's important to apply vaseline to ones flap :

https://www.gogreenautos.co.uk/how-tos/ ... harge-flap