Don't really know how you can think of that as a positive by any stretch of the imagination. It's not positive for the driving experience, not positive for the owning experience, not positive for resale value. The only positive is for people who don't own it and probably don't want to own it because of it.
My grand mother being from Bergen I ended up taking every second of your trek with you. Thanks for the nice ride. At 67 yrs old, not much chance I am ever gonna be able to visit Bergen in person so I appreciate the ride. And as a EV owner wanna be, vary interesting ride......... Again, thank you
I had the same temperature problems during a long motorway trip in the UK, mainly on Motorways. It was worrying, but the car accepted rapid charges with no problem, and there were no problems with driving the car at 60-70MPH.
Wish i could join you on your adventures/trips ..what a beautiful country/landscapes ! thanks for vids Bjorn ..still saving to get a Nissan Leaf here in Hk ..
This Nissan Leaf might be the next best thing to a Tesla. I am impressed. The 4-camera bird's eye view is great! Only one thing left for me: diver's licence. Must check into driving schools with a Nissan Leaf.
I completely agree with you on Arctic Roads. There business model makes no sense at all. Too expensive and too few charger's. I own a 30kwh Leaf and use Leaf Spy, the battery temp at 11 bars is around 47 Celsius. Thanks for a fun video!
That hot battery is exactly why I did not get a leaf. I live in hot Arizona. Too hot for that leaf. My volt has a Collins system for the battery. I keep it plugged in always at home sometimes without charging it will still cool the battery. It is a huge mistake for Nissan. They are testing the new Bolt here in Arizona. The hottest days and charging at public charging.
Hi Björn, It would be nice if you choose everytime the charging station, with which you cause the less possible obstacles for other drivers. So at minute 19 you charge at a ABB Terra 53 with CCS and Chademo, while on the other side there is a ABB Terra 51/52 with Chademo and perhaps 22kW Type 2. So if a owner of a CCS car comes to this location, he can not charge. Because you use the CCS/Chademo charger. If you would use the Chademo only charger on the other side, both cars could charge at the same time. Unfortunately in Germany we have some locations with 4 fast chargers at the Autobahn. Thanks to the german government, only 1 of this 4 chargers have Chademo, all 4 have CCS. So if a CCS driver would choose the 1 and only multi charger with Chademo instead of the 3 CCS chargers, he would block nedlessly every Chademo car. I know, it is a „cheap“ car drivers problem - but if you charge your Tesla with Chademo or if you make test drives with other cars, you could take care of other electric car drivers. :) Many thanks, Thomas
Bjorn stops at the wrong charger in Gol. He should instead have driven just a few more hundred yards to the local Nissan dealers ChaDeMo charger. That one you can use for free!
Hello Bjorn I watched your funny Ev videos ,it help me a lot with buying my first EV. Which is a new Nissan 2016 Leaf in Pearl white 30kw, like the one in this video. I prefer handbrake then footbrake ,also too many mode for driving. Like D -A or B or Eco. I picked it up yesterday and done 65 miles with no problem with overheating yet. It is very cool now in wales UK ,-4C . Teslas is too expensive now and Will lose half the value in three years. Cheers
Just insane too see the difference on DC chargers after 7.5 years ! Then, two 50kW stations was the best you can hope for, now these are only found on small unpopular destinations while all locations in video have replaced (or added) them with 300, 200 or 150kW chargers that can split energy and charge two cars, and many places more charging network has additional chargers. Not to mention all the other locations that have popped up between these charges since 2016. Even with Chademo you do not have to drive more than 50 km to the next one
the only problem with the leaf is the battery cooling system...the battery is air cooling while travelling...while other electric cars like tesla ,volt etc has liquid cooling system...
Thank you so much for this video Bjørn. And all the other videos man :) I just ordered one 30 kwh Tekna. Will arrive in Larvik the 21st of october :) This is hopefully the first step for me to Tesla (either Model S or Model X) :-D
The new Leaf is great. It is not as well equipped as Hyundai Ioniq but still very good. Yes, I have pictures of it some where :) Can't post'em here, or can I? Do I want to? Does TeslaBjørn want to? I don't think so ;)
Did you prepare the car for the trip? I like to block off 75% of the grill area, inflate the tires to sidewall max pressure, empty the car of non essentials and then fold the mirrors when leaving city traffic. I also have installed an extra mirror on the inside of the driver side door just to have some clue if I´m getting overtaken. I have the 24kWh and average about 12-13 kWh/100km when commuting. When I really go into eco driving mode I can get as low as 10,5 or so average over maybe 500 km small town driving with absoulte max speed 80 km/h and mostly 40-60. Also, when I charge my car from empty to 100% I read about 18-19 kWh from the meter. You said that the available capacity is 21 and 27 kWh:s in the Leafs... I´ve seen that elsewhere, but I do not think it´s 100% correct. Robert Llewellyn states (Volts for miles episode) 18-ish kWh usable in the 24 with 3 kWh blocked off in both ends of the battery. Also read an intervju with Nissan engineer when they released the bigger battery. He said that the number of kWh´s blocked was the same in both batteries, which results in a 30% increase of usable energy from a 25% bigger battery. So imho you can charge a 24kWh battery to max 21kWh, but only drain it to 3kWh. The bigger battery can use 24kWh. I might be wrong, but it sure seems match with my car, both distance driven, average consumption and juice charged into the battery. I really enjoyed this episode since I´m thinking of getting another Leaf, this time with the bigger battery. Link to Fully Charged Show, episode Volts for Miles ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ybt5z3_CGJM.html
I find it very odd why Nissan skipped the active cooling for the battery given its size. In comparison the BMW i3 and even the PHEV Chevrolet Volt has an active cooling circuit.
GM did a great job with their battery management. They even admit that the battery is overengineered, which is a nice thing for the longterm usage of the car. GM sales reps told me that the Volt/Ampera will actually start AC cooling the battery if the car is parked under the sun and get too hot.
Had a 24 kwh Leaf for a while...and hardly any fast chargers around. 30 kwh and fast charging network makes it a completely different car/driving experience. Actually, you can almost use it as a "normal" car.
The 2016 LEAF Tekna has a hybrid heat system in the US - i think it does in Europe as well. It will use a heat pump to heat the cabin, and only use the resistive heaters for extra heat. It will use waste heat from the inverter as well!
I want to get another LEAF but rumor has it 40kWh is coming in Q4 2016 and then the next generation coming sometime later as a 2018 model year. Stuck with a gas guzzler now.
At the charging station in Vinje, one of the chargers was used by a Renault Zoe, which is not supporting fast DC, only AC. I know many chargers can deliver AC to one car, and DC to another car at the same time. So Type2 can be combined with CCS or CHAdeMO. But CCS and CHAdeMO cannot be used at the same time. So if the cable was long enough, or it was more room between there, you could probably have charged on the same stall as the Zoe
Hi Björn. You said in the video that you had to charge the Leaf 30kWh on the trip to Bergen only as many times as your Tesla ( Model X?). Did you really mean that? I thought the Model X has a much larger range. Can you please comment on that. Thanks for your videos! They are the most informative real world EV tests out there.
Great video Bjorn. Two questions: (1) Did you like the charging port on the nose of the car instead of the back of the car which requires reversing the car into charging spots? (2) How is the 30 kWh LEAF's regen compared to Tesla? Thank you!
So the battery got a bit hot after excessive use but did not really overheat or reduce performance. What's the big deal? It's not like a huge number of Leaf users have serious complain about it. I have not managed to overheat my Leaf even driving it pretty hard.
Hi. When do you think you'll get your hands on the Chevy Bolt/Ampera-e? And do you think you will be able to do Oslo Bergen in one charge with that car? Cheers.
Spoiler part 3, they do, 62kWh has a lot less heat waste and less rapidgating than previous packs, and 3rd gen with liquid cooling will be even better.
+Bjørn Nyland looks like it will be a pain to drive long distance during summer with it overheating at 18degrees. bjorn, did the elevation descent help in cooling though?
Battery pack is inside the car so it probably did not cool down during descent. But constantly coasting instead of regen, removal of rubber floor mats and leaving the windows slightly open during the night should have kept the temp down. Also noticed a wierd figure in the cluster... 98% charge and 2h30m to reach 100% ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rf0PJwNsffE.htmlm28s Had those extreme time estimates myself when I tested the 30kWh recently, like 12 hours to charge full from 90% or so. But maybe both cars might be to new to have learned the correct charging times? If so, it´s not the best engineering....
As far as I know it works great... Until you want to quick charge it or you live in places like Phoenix where ambient temperatures alone are enough to keep battery temperatures high
Me neither, but otoh I live far up on the 63:rd parallel (North)... thats like a bit north of mid Alaska. I have other problems then high battery temp ;-)
I dare you to do that same trip in a Norwegian winter. I bet you won't have near as many positives to say in the bitter cold with reduced range and having to run the heater.
Hi Bjorn, I think It would be cool if you tested diferent EV´s on your road trips, I´m curios about the BMW I3. Asuming they are available. Keep up the good work my friend!
I'll have a Model S soon (next Tuesday in fact) and we want a second EV too, but the lack of thermal management on the Leaf definitely kills the deal for us :/ Why on Earth does Nissan still insists on no such management? Hasn't their class action suit in California taught them a lesson? As far as I know, all competing vehicles in this price range have a thermal management system for batteries... Just not the Leaf. Also, at the end of the video, you mention the Millenium Falcon? Nostalgy kicking in? :p
It is not about speed but range which with Leaf is painfull. If you are not traveling then ok, but for me is 300km in one go minimum. Another thing is charging. I dont want to charge every 150 or less. Just waste of time.
Then please wait a couple of years. After all, convenience is a huge factor when buying a car. A Chevy Bolt or Ampera in Europe, does have the range you need but not available everywhere yet. Cheers.
Also, the Leaf is a good coaster if you just put it into reverse at speed. You get a beep and then you just roll... And using Leafspy pro is recommended when driving on empty.
Emir Tunçyürek, if i remember correctly, currently sold leafs come with a Type2 to Type1 cable. like the one which the lady next to the Bjorn's leaf borrowed from him.
You need to test Hyundai Ioniq when it's released :o BTW, using Rv13 and Rv7 between Vossevangen and Gol would have been easier, there are several Grønn Kontakt charging stations on the way at Eidfjord, Geilo and Ål.
.Low mileage is not a Nissan LEAF'problem. It's owner's problem. Buy new modules and have fun driving, without any Webasto heaters and twinbats in the trunk. Now I have real same as original modules for upgrade. Not original module , but same as nissan's, is avaible now! 24/30/40kwh
When you go to your friend's house and ask if you could charge your phone, it's no big deal since the power consumption is so low. What if you go to your friend's house and need to use 30KW to charge your car? Do you pay him somehow? I mean with EVs there's a whole lot of new situations which need to be considered. In Poland currently it wouldn't make too much sense to own an EV. Three infrastructure's still undeveloped and ppl are more into powerful IC cars which show their financial status. Plus EVs are still way more expensive than their gasoline and diesel equivalents due to lack of any govt programs supporting this technology. I hope it'll change some time in the nearest future though.
Maybe it was still regenning less than the rest of the car was consuming and that's why it went from 6% down to 3%? The lack of real battery cooling is terrible... This car still ain't cheap, so there should be normal water cooling and the heat used for car hearing. Heck, the battery has such a large surface that they could add a thin cooling structure with air channels through which there would be a forced air flow, and that preheated air could be then directed to the air filter when cabin heating was on, or outside. Does the Leaf have any fans to cool the battery, especially while charging? And maybe the middle range on the display is in fact the optimal battery temperature? Hard to believe that it would not cool properly overnight when only getting less than 3kW of power.
I'm surprised that the Leaf doesn't even have _fans_ to cool the battery pack. Even the 2004 Prius with ~890 Wh of usable battery capacity had a battery cooling fan! Unbelievable to me. Especially since Carlos Ghosn basically bet the company on their electric cars. One thing is for sure though. If they want to keep selling electric cars, they're going to have to get active thermal management figured out and shoehorned into their cars, because I would certainly never even consider one over a Model 3 without it.
HI Bjorn, I had test-drives with (in different occasions) the Tesla P85+, the 24 kWh Leaf, Kia Soul EV, Mercedes B EV, the Renault Zoe and Twizy 80. The Tesla still the best experience. But i think that Zoe is better than Leaf (24kWh). Could you tell me what do you think about the Renault Zoe? Please. Thank you for your videos! This one is one of my favorite...
What do you think about a 2013 Nissan leaf for the 24kw battery pack I drive 30 mile round trip every day. Your input would be greatly appreciated thanks near Pleasant blessed day may God bless
jamie sweatman: 24 kWh Leaf would be perfect for that. Assuming you charge overnight at home, then depending on traffic conditions and how you drive you could possible get three trips per full charge. However, battery life is significantly improved if you don’t let the battery get too low -recharge after every two trips would be better. Of course, there’s nothing to prevent you doing a top-up charge after every trip if you prefer. And don’t let the car regularly stand unused for long periods with a fully charged battery as this too will shorten battery life. If its going to stand like that, try to restrict the charge prior to standing, to around 80% to maximise battery life. You could achieve this by not recharging after one of your 30 mile trips if the car is then to stand for several days. Also avoid letting the battery get to hot - high temperature has a significant effect on battery life. Of course, you can choose not to do any of this but the battery will degrade faster.
Up to 6% Battery it shows on dash, then totally disappears! Will only show percentage again if you can regen back to 6% or more otherwise will just not show battery percentage :( But 5% is usually at least 5 more miles, 1% battery to 1 mile driven. See the turtle you have less than one mile and it will stop dead in it's tracks!!
hello, what electric car wold you recommend Nissan leaf 2013 60000 km at 10 000 euro or BMW i3 2015 same mileage 15 000 euro for 90% city usage of the car ? thank you
The leaf should have more range on paper but because of battery degradation in earlier models, the i3 should have better range of around 65 to 80 miles. The i3 has a more luxury feel than the leaf but both feel well made.
Just got home from Oslo to Bergen, in my Citroën C-zero (A Citroën branded Mitsubishi MiEV). It has active cooling, so no problem with a overheated battery.. I talked to a Leaf owner this summer, he had to skip a fast charge due to the battery was so hot that it refused to take a change.. Weird that Nissan have a such poor design...
The smart money limits Chademo ( rapid DC) charging to 80 %.Good practice is to operate the car between 90 % max and 20 % .. if charging to 95-100 % you should do that slowly... and only if you are going to drive the car. What Bjorn is doing wrong is violating the temperature constraints of the battery.. by over charging, when the batter temp is already high due to extended driving. While the car will work the way he is using it.. he is doing damage . Slower charging would not be heating the battery nearly as much. Of course this could require 4-5 hours instead of 30 minutes... They temp guage is marked in RED for good reason.. it is telling DONT. The charger is 6.6 kw if run on 240 v with 32 amp or more EVSE.