It didn't go far enough for me to even make it to my mother inlaws and back and I live among hills.... Wait a minute.. SOLD! Shut up and take my money.
What was the original range and is there a graph of the implied degradation over the years? Data geek gotta data, after all. Thanks for this Rory, I’ve been a subscriber since before your TopGear days.
It did! Question is how do you recharge it or get it to charging point once it runs out of juice? That would be good video in itself! “How to rescue your EV once it runs out juice on the road.
Thanks to people like you Rory, Top Gear is now something of an insignificance. There are so many vloggers doing great videos that RU-vid (and this channel in particular) have become the ‘Go To’ place to view cars and tests that help us make decisions on what we should do with our ‘hard earned’. More power to you Sir!
So speaking from experience from a Nissan Leaf owner, I have found a good rule of thumb how to use the heat and AC for better range. I use the low setting on the heated seats, the lowest setting on the fan for either heat or AC and if you have cold hands like me the heated steering wheel adds enough comfort for warmth. this seems to be the best way to maximize your range in colder weather driving a 2107 Leaf, 2019 Leaf and a 2019 Leaf+, all vehicles I've owned and currently own.
@@stephensharp975 Don't I wish! Full charge off of 120v trickle charger puts a little over 100 miles on the gauge. I never use the Auto Climate mode to heat or cool.
@@markwellington1254 Mark, Stephen Sharp is pulling your chain... you have made a typo with the year for the first Leaf; I think you meant 2017 but you typed 2107. ;o)
I saw on RU-vid a group of guys called Nissan an found out the at 35mph is the optimal speed for maximum range. They took a 24kw leaf on a closed 7-9 mile track and held it at 35mph and achieved 135 miles on it before it was 100% dead. You could try the same type of test with a reduced capacity battery and see what it would do. Just a thought.
I think you'll get more range at even lower speeds. A lot of the loss for EVs is drag and that varies with the square of the velocity, so 17.5mph will have 1/4 the drag of 35mph. Some of the other losses I'd expect to be lower at lower speeds too. Rolling resistance would probably be the next biggest.
The Nissan leafs are notorious for the worst battery degradation because they have no thermal management. New EVs with thermal management seem to lose around 10-15% max. It's great progress in a short space of time.
This actually applies mostly to the earliest ones, as after that the cell chemistry has been worked on making the battery much more durable. They still don't have active thermal management, but on the other hand this makes them much easier to work on/swap dead cells and so on. Lots of shops doing this type of thing.
Our '75 KW' Model 3 was down to 66 KW by the beginning of year 3. The trip planner still shows '470 km' at the start of a trip, but it's only gone past 300 km on the warmest days.
What I find interesting is why they need thermal management at all. Batteries only get hot if you push them too hard, so if they designed the cars to go easier on the batteries the heat wouldn't be such an issue. But I suppose then you end up with a slower car and a larger battery pack and most drivers would rather better performance even if it shortens the life of the batteries.
@@vink6163 I think most of battery cooling is for rapid charging (50-150KW). So your can charge at services and not wait to 8 hours+ for trickle charge to finish (like you can at Home 7KW charge).
@@RandyTWester The trip planner is and estimate as far as i know it is just the WLTP. Why i just use % instead of KM. The Tesla estimated arrivial is for me within 1-2% difference
Rory had me well and truly 'going' there... I was fuming with the expectation that he was going to throw in the towel and cheat me out of the climatic battery death moment😲.... What a tease he is🙄 Rory is one of the best reviewers out there, professionally delivering real-world honest answers to questions that viewers want to know. Rock-on Rory👍
David: I did feel a little bit cheated though... with an ICE car, the tester then pulls out a can, tips a few gallons of dead fossil juice into the tank and motors off into the sunset. What did Rory do? I could lose sleep over this... could there be a "Part 2"?
I noticed (and he did it for us remember) a few times he propped the accelerator pedal down with a piece of wood,and jumped out and ran Infront,behind and down the sides of the car at 30mph to get the shots. And had a couple of slip on leather sleeves to spice the steering wheel views up. 👍👍😀
Great video and interesting to see a review about second-hand EVs rather than the latest super expensive model to hit the market. When you started this series you were looking for the cheapest (proper) EV on Autotrader which meant the Leaf or the Zoe. Both these models have stood the test of time well and various strengths & weaknesses have emerged for each. Sadly range degradation has proved more of a weakness for the 24kWh Leaf, partly as it relies on passive air cooling of the battery, leading to increased loss of capacity (66% of original after 9 years in your example). However, as another commenter points out, it’s possible to replace the battery or even individual cells within the battery, but I don’t know how realistic this would be, given the value of the car. The Zoe did a little better in this respect having fan(s) to actively manage battery temperature, leading to typically 85-98% of original capacity (according to various EV forums) in similarly aged vehicles (capacity is not displayed on the dashboard of the Zoe, but requires an OBD dongle to interrogate the battery management system). Certainly my old 22kWh Zoe will still do over 90 miles when in Eco mode. The take home from this is it is possible to purchase an EV on a budget, but if range is a worry, try to discover the current state of health (SOH - capacity) of the battery in any prospective purchase.
The dealer told me I couldn’t replace individual cells. It’s all or nothing. I called three different places, and they all said the same thing. I’m down to 6 bars and only getting ~20 miles. And it’s $12,000 to replace the battery now. 😱 Reallllllly regret getting an EV due to this battery degradation issue!
Thanks for the video. Our old '65 Leaf (30kwatt battery) has done around 55,000 miles, and still gives us 105 miles of range (battery health indicator still shows all 12 bars). When it was new it was giving us up to 115 miles. So I echo your views on how slow (and therefore impressive) the degradation is. And it's so comfortable! We still love it, alway remembering its limitations of course - especially that under 5 degrees centigrade you are going to lose 20 miles of range easy.
Excellent video! Just for a bit more specificity on the "Turtle mode numbers". When miles of range go to --- that indicates approximately 6kw remaining, when battery goes to -- then 4kw left, and when the turtle mode kicks in (restricted throttle to about 10mph or less) you have 1kw remaining before the driving mode stops altogether. This gives you about 4 miles in turtle mode to get off the road. I have a 2013 Leaf 50k miles with 11/12 bars and have tested these numbers to be accurate. Keep up the good work!
Loved this video. Let's not forget, most people who own electric cars won't let it drop to zero while on the road. Most modern ones will guide you to a charging station long before that happens.
I’ve been patiently waiting for this video. Thanks Rory! Some of us can only afford these cars and to see these real world tests being done is brilliant! Hope you continue doing these videos, Renault Zoe ZE40 and all the other battery variations would be nice to see :D
I just bought a 2012 Leaf on 7-30-2022 and I am so glad I watched your video. Thank you for this as it was so helpful and helped me with my concern about the range. I feel so much better and will drive it now with joy and confidence. Seriously, thank you.
Entertaining to see a man drive an EV carefully until the battery died. Now do a video driving aggressively with all lights, AC, radio and windows open to get more drag, to see the minimum rage.
What kind of idiot has the aircon on and the windows open. That was actually a mild day. So yes, drive (rather than eco) mode on a motorway on a very cold day with the heater on and I am guessing this would die in 30 miles.
AC wouldn't consume that much. But the old resistive heater in the Leaf can suck over 6 kW at full blast. Worst case scenario for most electric cars is 2 miles per kWh and for a 24kWh LEAF brand new, well you do the math.
Great fun video Rory! The Leaf is much maligned in some EV circles but you have to give them credit for building it when battery prices were $1,000/kWh...adding the cost of an active BMS back then would have meant it never getting built. I wouldn’t mind betting that Gen 1 Leaf’s become EV classics and avoiding mishaps yours will still be doing the school run for someone in 15 years time, probably having had a recon battery, or may be an upgrade to 40 Kw as by that time batteries will be cheaper than an engine rebuild on a fossil car. There won’t be any CHADEMO chargers around then but that won’t matter for a car doing local trips. As you’ve said on previous videos the Leaf feels almost new, whereas a 10 years old fossil car with 70K miles on will be starting to fade. There is so little to go wrong with an EV that 25 or 30 years and >200,000 miles is doable.
This is a great series because I live in a parallel world: 2011 Leaf, 61,700 miles, 8 bars, 58 range, northern CA coast line. Thank you for "going the distance", I never had the balls to find out. Looking forward to coming episodes.
@@disc-golf If I was charging away from home I have enough choices to get around locally (Eureka, CA). But I charge at home and feel, for me, the EV will never be a long distance vehicle. It's part of my "hybrid" combo; Leaf for local, RAV4 for distance. And since we have the Leaf for local, my 2012 RAV4 just turned only 70.000 miles, mainly camping trips. Side note: the Leaf is actually my wife's car, her decisions concerning it, and she has chosen to replace the battery although the dealership has been waiting months to receive it. Yep, old battery, old technology, but it has satisfied our local needs for ten years and with the price and availability of new vehicles it might not be a bad decision contrary to my thoughts about never supporting old technology. For me, hydrogen is the better choice once costs come down and infrastructure is in place.
I echo other comments that it would be really interesting, in due course, to see you go through the process of replacing the battery with a reconditioned battery. I too have watched a couple of videos of garages doing this, and it's a great idea.
I don’t use the mileage counter as a guide because it isn’t linear, especially as I travel up a lot of hills. I use the % indicator and the bar indicator is useful too.
Love your videos and this one was especially gripping. I have a near identical car with 10 bars. Took it from 20 meters to 200 meters above sea level on a 29 mile test. It cost me 38% - about 3.6 miles per kWh. The return trip cost me 27% - about 5.6 mile per KWh.
Proper real life and very informative test Rory, well done! 🤩 Just noticed that poor Leaf looks a bit grubby... It’s yours, therefore deserves a nice shiny look. If you are looking for a free deep clean and polish, please let me know, I’ll do it for you more than very welcome! 😊
Loving the Leaf videos, was my first EV and I still kinda miss it a bit... Surprised you didn't see turtle mode though? I'm wondering if you were in gear when the battery got too low it'd show the turtle mode? I never did get mine down low enough to see it. Can't wait to see what else you've got in store! :)
Cheers! I bought a used 2016 Leaf and was wondering exactly the same thing. Easier to do with a traditional car where you can just throw a petrol can with a couple of gallons in the back. Glad to know what the “cushion” is.
Nice! My 2020, I did drive it once down to the point that the range indicator shut off, haha, but I was only 1 mile from home, I knew it would make it from there. Like here, it shut down at 5 miles. Note for those trying to eke out extra range: Newer LEAFs have "ECO Mode," but it only really changes the throttle response and aircon settings.
If you're considering a Leaf I would definitely recommend late 2013+ Acenta/Tekna models with improved battery chemistry and heat pump. Look for one with at least 10 bars out of 12. I own a 2014 with 74k miles and only lost 1st bar at 73k. Range is roughly 60-80 miles without going to the extreme. You'll also learn how to maximise range even in winter. I would say even with heater on I can easily achieve 60+. Trick is not to use auto climate control, rather set your fan speed to low followed by heater on, mode to blow on you.. Starts off around 1.5kwh then quickly drops to less than 0.5kwh. Even 0 at times when the cabin has reached it's temp.
"Camera guys didnt want to do it riding ages" with an old Leaf... I cracked laughing :). Very nice t3st though. Shows that for many purposes such a car is totally enough. And now think of all the morons riding a huuuuuge SUv guzzling 12-14 liters at 20 mph just to stop and go to work or drop kids off 2km from home... such a clever choice you show people. I mean such car is megacheap to get used. But maybe a cleverer choice is the Dacia Spring which after subsidy at least in Germany or so is around 10,000 eur. And it will be very cheap as a used car, low resale price. Regarding degradation check out Björn Nyland and his Millenium Falcon. 8 yrs old, I think some 200,000 km or so and about 8% degradation... and that was one of the very first model s, so not so great battery management back then BUT software updates uimprov3d that. So a lot will depend on the quality of the software-based battery management
Very interesting report. 3 remarks though: 1. A on board heating system has about 7-9 kW of power. Heating over an hour consumes 7-9kWh… That’s roughly 15-20% of your range. 2. 30% on 9 years is quite a lot. A BMW i3 enjoys warranty for 70% capacity in 10 years. 3. Continuing to drive will bring the batteries into « Deep Discharge » area; basically destroying the batteries. And thus voiding your warranty… You should avoid to continue to drive when the mileage indicates ZERO. Always a joy seeing your reports, Rory. I’m a big fan.
Great vid. I took my 1963 Mini Minor shopping today as I always do. It costs £25 to fill and does 200 miles. I can refuel in 5 minutes. The car is very 'green' as it's 58 years old. Not sure where the progress is. Batteries need to be a lot better and cheaper. The current battery costs make EV scrap after 10 years.
Because my Tesla Model 3 can do the same 200 miles on £2.50 since I charge it overnight at home? And I don't have to make a trip to a petrol station just to fuel it up?
@@NickFoster tesla 3 costs 80k in my country and most people live in apartments and have no way of charging at home. Whereas you can buy and old diesel here and go 600 miles on a single tank
@@dwade3202 You asked where the progress was citing your fuel costs and boasting about refuelling times, and I demonstrated an EV is dramatically cheaper and less hassle to run. I've actually been driving a diesel car for a few weeks recently and it's just a sucky experience in comparison.
The battery degradation of a Nissan Leaf is quite a bit more significant than that of, say, a Tesla. Nissan does not have thermal management, which is bad for battery health. I was amazed that the new Leaf still does not have thermal management built in. The problem with EV's like this is that they require regular charging. If you have an EV with a larger battery, you don't need to charge daily or every other day, you could only charge up to 80% and down to 20% every week (or every other week, depending on your needs). But short range EV's (just like plugin hybrids) often require you to charge to 100% and drain it to close to 0%, which is bad for your battery.
Great work, Rory. I would be Interested in seeing how much it would cost to replace the battery on a 10yr old ev in relation to what the car is worth. That would give us a ballpark idea as to what even newer ev's cost of ownership compared to a economic petrol car would be. Shame you have to sacrifice heating/cooling. Imho still not worth switching yet.
Cleverly Autos will replace the 24kWh battery for ~£5500 with a good used battery. Or, for £8900 they'll fit a good used 40kWh battery to a 24kWh Leaf. Lots of info on this on youtube.
@@davidholden2658 lol you could buy a whole car for that. I am literally looking at second hand petrol/diesel cars for £6k right now. EVs are at least another 10-15 years away from being accessible to the masses.
@@davidholden2658 Or, on the other hand, Cleveleys can refurbish a Leaf battery for much less than that. I watched a RU-vid video of a Leaf battery being refurbed by Cleveleys, and after 4 hours it was done, at a cost of £600.
Serious question. When you were living in London why didn't you use public transport? Genuinely interested. For me I like the personal space and convenience a car gives me.
@@dudmanjohn It was a weird commute from Tottenham to Hampstead , and sometimes to Southgate. Lots Of changes , buses tubes etc. just one of those routes that was easier to drive door to door .
Thanks for this video! I have a 2015 SV with 9 capacity bars (between 70-80 miles displayed when fully charged) I’m trying to take on a 38 mile road trip with a couple of buddies. The camp site has NEMA 14-50 outlets and I’ve already bought an adapter for my charger! Can’t wait for my weekend, I’ll totally take a video of how things go. Worst case I’d have to call a tow truck…
It is virtually impossible to get replacement batteries for Leafs unless you can get one from a crashed Leaf. However, a company in New Zealand is designing a replacement 40kWh battery that will use cylindrical Li batteries, have a cooling system and will fit into any 24, 30 or 40kWh leaf. It is called EV enhanced.
@@DarkDutch007 sure it’s got it’s use case but i would not call it competitive enough to buy for most people. I think as of now the everyday Joe should still buy ICE / plug in hybrid whether new or used
You kind of implied that "heating and air con" both reduce the car's remaining range equally. The model LEAF you're driving has resistive heat, though, while its air conditioner is, of course, a heat pump. Using your car's air conditioning in summer will impose much less of a burden on the car's main battery than demanding cabin heat in winter will.
I drove a 2019 leaf a few weekends back and could have sworn that the heated seats get hotter under braking, pretty smart if Nissan actually dump the extra electricity to the seats.
Great video, but the Leaf is old tech battery wise with its air cooling. Post Leaf EV’s got temperature controlled battery management systems as well as generous buffers they can release over the course of the battery life. My BMW i3 clocked up 110,000+ miles over 4 years with hardly any loss of range.
I leased a brand new 2012 Leaf back in the day. FYI - I live in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Summer temperatures get up to 115F (46.1C) frequently during the hottest days, and cooling to 90F (32.2C) at sunrise. Due to that lack of a battery cooling system, my car lost 5 bars battery health bars, and received a warranty replacement battery at 2Yr 9Mo, about 30k miles. For a couple months before replacement, I was making long, hard drives during the summer (52 miles w/DCFC round trips) almost every weekend for a couple months. Leafspy (android app) and an OBD2-Bluetooth plug showed the battery frequently going beyond 140F (60C) during those hard drives and not really cooling off overnight. Very bad for the battery. After getting the replacement battery, I had a new car again... for a few months (end of lease). These days, I drive a Volt (Ampera) with a cooled (sometimes refrigerated) battery.
@@brettd5884 thanks Brett, living here in outback Oz .i have the same concerns you experience as to weather and driving distance, you are the first person i have heard from regarding the range in extreme temperatures (ie needs aircon) and battery degradation. Over here we had a leaf with 6 miles range, After 3 years in Canberra from new (temperature range similar to Phoenix). Nissan quoted 30,000 to replace the battery. (about 22000 US) under their replacement program. I think the court of public opinion changed the prices of the program after that. and thanks Rory, for showing a little of the affects to battery life for using aircon.
My Subaru WRX does about 200 miles per tank with all the lights and stuff on ! It's also pretty fast and handles great !! Also only normally takes me about 2mins to recharge with Shell Super at the nearest Tesco !! I rest My Case !!
Rory, can you do another range test in your Leaf please, but this time on the motorway, so we can see what difference it make, I guess round 45 miles. Oh, but you don't need to take it below zero miles range! :)
In our Leaf, which has done 55,000 miles and is a 2015 30kwatt battery, the motorway makes a fair bit of difference. WE currently get just over 100 miles (originally about 115) and I think this would come down to about 85-90 if I did 65mph on the motorway on a pleasant spring day. But there is quite a big difference going up to 75mph, and beyond that the charge seems to evaporate. Hope this helps.
I drive a 2015 leaf minimal running costs and didn't cost me £30k plus to buy. Range is not amazing car may be ugly if that's your opinion but no finance and gets me 99% of places I need to go in comfort. You all got the look at me syndrome. Sorry guys but it's true
The important thing that you touched on was that those old, first generation EV's didn't manage their batteries at all. Plus the battery tech was created in the early 2000's. Batteries now are way better, it's like comparing an old flip phone to the capabilities of a modern smartphone. The other issue with the first gen ones, which I know as an owner of one, was that due to the small mileage you have to work the battery much harder i.e. you are fully charging and discharging it way more than a modern EV with a range of over 200 miles. That means the battery degraded faster on the old cars as you have to put more charging cycles through it. Those sort of old EV's are ideal town run arounds. It's not going to depreciate much in value, will be very cheap to run and with 50-60 miles range will easily do all the mileage you need running around town. Lots of households have a second car which solely does low mileage local trips and these are ideal for that
Rory, you are perhaps One if the very BEST TV presenters for car TV shows. Unlike the trash-tv top gear show, your presentation is accurate and informative. Your presentation appeal and honestly is addictive. On a side note: the Leaf is a great design car, still looks way ahead of its time! I had a 2015 BMW i3 with the bubble range indicator on the Nav Screen, very useful and accurate. Like the leaf the BMW had a real world range of 83 miles driven in Economy Mode. Remember these cars are designed at driving sensibly, NOT motorway speeds of 70 MPH (fossil cars too, are not fuel efficient at 70 MPH) . The best thing is: over 70,000 miles you have done, the LEAF has not required Replacement Exhaust, engine oil changes, spark plugs, servicing costs , the list goes on !!! Eco-Cars will go on and give a careful driver 100,s thousands of miles trouble free motoring. Rory, a great video. Great review ! Do more style reviews like this: THEY WORK !
Rory, what you did for me was think about the short term drives I typically do. I have been focused on long drives and the stress, but in reality, that's not what I do. Thank you!
Good test. I want to test my Leaf driving short distances in and near Georgia, USA. I drove my leaf until it went into neutral, lol. I and a friend just arrived at a chademo charger after driving about 79 miles on the highway. The total range was about 82 miles. I drove at around 50 miles per hour in eco mode, which conserves the battery.
I think you should do one of the later episodes on it covering having the battery replaced, and seeing if it brings it back to as new spec, or whether the actual electric motors wear much or not.
You don't necessarily have to have the battery replaced. You can have your existing battery refurbished......usually at way less cost than a new battery.
Rory's Leaf is the original version from Japan, with it's well documented battery degradation issues. Leafs from 2015 onwards have the much more durable and robust 'Lizard' battery which has significantly lower degradation over the years and roughly on par with other EVs.
5:15 Use the sat navs *Detailed Range screen* where it shows everything in detail as how the A/C affects to range more analytically. And it shows your power usages, How much power it uses accordingly how u put your foot down and regeneration.
AS a Leaf owner, the heating will show a significant drop in range. However, after a couple of minutes when the car has started to warm up the range gets better. Put the heating on auto and it will adjust the temperature as it warms up therefore allowing more range. Same principal for summer air con.
I enjoyed this video, good work! I like the way you demonstrated how easy the cars controls are easy to use. I have friends who are concerned they would have to learn all sorts of new things when driving an EV. I assure them this is not the case and your video demonstrates this.
As I mentioned when you bought it, you bought the Japanese built one with crap battery chemistry and why yours has lost battery health bars and NO heat pump and only a PTC heater compared to the one built a year later in Sunderland WITH the heat pump and way better state of health battery chemistry.
I completely agree. I have a 2104 Leaf with 46k miles on the clock and it still has almost full battery health. The air source heat pump is also quite efficient and it is really nice to be able to turn the heating on from the phone app 5 to 10 minutes before you leave home on a cold day so that the car is already warm. You can also preheat the cabin while being plugged in at home, saving range.
I see it shows A next to Odometer, hold Odometer reset button and see if it changes A to B, if so B mode will double your regen! Looking forward to more Leaf updates!
many old 24 kWh leafs don't have B mode, only drive and eco. All 30 kWh leafs have b mode I think The a and b your refering to are 2 resettable odometers.
Thanks for the tour around Bedford. You seemed to go by my street a few times. That made me lol. Interesting range and a bit disappointing that I can get to Cambridge and back without a bit of a range anxiety. Love the video.
Horrible range - remember that one has to return so the range in reality is half that - also I cannot imagine the range anxiety… Quality video nevertheless 👍🏻👏🏻
2011 Leaf owner here. Range is about 20 miles with my current temperature of -20C. In the summer this number can be as much as 40 miles. 7 capacity bars remaining.
Thank you, I've been on the fence about getting one since they are so cheap and after watching this i might consider it for my daily commute to work and doing errands.
Nice video haha I was wondering what would happened. I recently bought a 2016 Leaf SV and I love it! It gives me 92 miles at full charge and I keep it at 80ish percent which gives me 77 miles with AC and 83 without. Charging time is about 1 hr per 5% of the battery so at 50% I have to charge it for 6 hrs to get it to 80% at 110 it would probably take 3 hrs to charge at 220. I don’t drive that far to work and I stay away from the highway whenever possible. I really love the car and I call it a glorified fancy golf cart. All in all and for the price it was a great purchase.
what? no turtle-mode? that's strange. did the first ones not have that? It should display a small warning-light showing a turtle when it starts reducing power. turtle means: find the next parking space and look up the number of a tow-truck. thanks for looking into old EVs. this is my recommendation for a second / commuter car: EVs with degraded batteries. If you charge them daily and think a bit before you get behind the wheel, they offer insane value. Love my 2015 Leaf Tekna-edition. 400V > 16V!
This summer I bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf and a 2002 GEM car. I would never drivel my Leaf down to zero on purpose, but I find 60 miles range to be very useful. We even used it for a weekend getaway. Like I said, I would never drive it down on purpose, but I do keep a tow strap ... just in case.
I had a cheap used leaf and regularly got 80 miles out of it, but I sold that thing two years ago. I pretty much never left eco mode and it started as a ten bar car, nine when I sold it.
Totally agree. This guy talks about the cars he reviews & solely so without trying to be 'smart' & so called 'funny' keep up the good work sir..very refreshing 😌
Awesome! You don't often see people test old electric cars. It's very helpfull and more youtubers should be doing this. But just imagine. This probably means that in about 9 years or earlier, you are going to get cheap EV's and you'll probably still be able to drive over 120 and up to 200 miles. So even used EV's are going to be very usefull then. I'm looking forward to this! I'm also looking forward to how my Skoda Citogo e is going to age. I bought it last year and i love it!
My Dad was 85 and loved the simplicity of his leaf. It only had 90 miles max but we only got caught out twice when chargers were out of action and most times would stop for coffee or lunch somewhere as car was getting charged. Bloody fun if you turned off the eco mode.
Rory, right up to watching this , I was very anti full electric cars. This was very eye opening and a very well presented test. My only concerns are the very negative side of battery production and disposal when you take into account the huge numbers of vehicles that will appear over the years.
Disposal doesn’t happen; too valuable. Once the battery range drops too much, these get repurposed for renewable energy and grid storage. Check out Fully Charged.
@@calvinclimie And should they be recycled, the lithium and cobalt can at least be 90% recovered and reused in new batteries...... Not possible of course with used petrol or diesel..... They can of course also be refurbished, which can restore a healthy percentage of the lost range. Usually at considerably less cost than a full replacement.....
I leased a 2016 Leaf for commuting to work 30 miles round trip at freeway speeds and still had enough range to take it for shopping near home. On the weekends I would drive it to Bay Area (180 mile round trip) and had to stop 3 times to charge battery. Nearing home I would be driving at zero range. When the lease ended the battery was still at 12 bars. I contributed that to being charged overnight everyday.
I managed 19km on zero with just touch on accelerator 50km/h to get to charging station, but last week 1km before charging station it went from turtle to neutral and luckily it rolled slightly down the hill right to Nissan dealer and next to it Toyota garage had slow charger to help me charge for 1 hour to get 500m further to fast charge it 😀. Its 2014 Leaf, 186k km, 10brs battery, now we have around -10'C below zero temperature and fully charged shows 127km but with heater on it makes 80km. In summer it was over 120km. Still fun to ride electric ✌🚗🔋
I honestly love the Leaf. If it just had a CCS port, it would be nearly perfect. It would be perfect if it had liquid cooling, but that's not really necessary if you never fast charge it more than once a day and just use it for daily driving. Finding a Chademo charger for that one fast charging is the most frustrating part of owning a Leaf the few times you need to fast charge it. Don't buy this car if you are not able to charge at home and buy used after the prices come down as it's a great deal for a second car.
I owned a 2016 with the 30 KWH pack. it normally was good for 100 miles. now i have a 2019 S plus, its good for 225 miles in the summer and about 150 in the winter.
Awesome fun trip Rory! How did you get back to a charging station? After a month of searching, and a very tight, rapidly changing market here in the US due to computer chip shortages, I bought a 2016S with 40K miles on it and 86% State Of Health on the battery. Not bad by half for a5 year old car. A full charge shows 85 miles on the Guess-o-Meter which for a five year old car and the 24Kwh battery is right fine. It is immaculate inside and out. The previous and only owner took superb care of it up here in the northeast. I paid $12,200. You can't find an equivalent one now, 3 weeks later, for less than at least $1000 to $2K more..and it's white which also comes at a premium. Totally for local driving here in the country so it's perfect. Our next car probably in a couple years when our 200K mile Prius is done will also be electric and with at least 350 mile range. And then we'll be free of gas, oil, timing chains, water pumps, hose leaks and the whole sorry mess. Meanwhile, in 3 1/2 weeks, we've driven the Prius twice. Keep up the super videos, you do a great service to electric drivers Rory!!
My Chevy volt has gone 230,000 miles over 100,000 of that on the battery. Battery has degraded but only by 9%, but it does have a buffer and a liquid battery management system.
EVs are typically conservative with the range with the idea that around 10% reserve is held in the battery for scenarios outside the norm. The Volt, for instance, uses reserve battery in the rare case of running out the battery and fuel tank, so you get a little grace period to find charge and/or fuel.
Leaf is the very last car with no battery cooling. Some later cars had pathetic air cooling, but almost every model on sale now has advanced liquid cooling. It's the temperature that kills the battery - that's why the Leaf degrades much, much faster than any later design.
I LOVED MY LEAF. But an upgrade was in order. Once I got to 8 bars of battery health it wasn't enough. I have no regrets for buying my Tesla, but sometimes I wish I would have just replaced the battery, but here in Phoenix AZ. there was no way to get it done.
I have a 2012, got a Nissan battery replacement under warranty (thank goodness) in 2017. Have lost one bar since then. Recently drove out of town, 46 miles one way, high speed driving, which drained battery quickly. Didn’t get to my destination, as I had to go to the nearest charging station and have someone pick me up. *** the first gen leaf will go 94 mph per my experience. Just once though!
Great vid & keep up the good work 👍 I'm a driving instructor & I'm going auto instructing next year so I'm probably going to switch to an EV. I'm doing my research on what's suitable at what range & budget. My wife is also thinking about going to an EV when she's ready to change because she does very low mileage each day and something like an old Leaf might be spot on.
While 60 miles isn't a lot for £3k it's great. I might drive 6 miles a day so that's more than enough for me. I could charge once a week and be totally fine I think Rory could have got more though. If the battery was originally 24Kwh and is 66% that'd mean that the efficiency was a fairly low 4.16miles/Kwh (4.7 if it's on the edge of dropping to 7 bars)
I have a used 2015 Leaf (down 2 bars) that I routinely drive 60+ miles (RT, ECO and cruise when practical) in hilly country that pops the Low battery at 20% (I gave up on the 'guess-o-meter). FWIW the ECO button is on the Wheel in 2015. I've gotten over some of my Range Anxiety for longer trips, but there are few DC charge points in my area. Some highways the is NO chargpoints (paid or free) for a long way. 4 Hour charges make real long distant travels an issue ( USA here, I shock the rental folk in Rigate when I brought back their car with 1200 miles in 2 weeks.)
Fun fact: you can buy a cheap Leaf like this one, plus a decent gasser truck or SUV, for a heck of a lot less than any modern EV. Just drive the Leaf 95% of the time, when your daily driving is less than 50-60 miles, and drive the gasser for longer trips. The combined cost of a low-range EV and an ICE car, even including the cost to insure them both, is still far lower than what it would cost to buy and insure any of the modern high-range EV's currently on the market.
EV’s are the future, they are here to stay(unlike 3D tv’s😄) and videos like these I personally truly appreciate because they’re fun to watch😁 but most importantly they’re educational. Looking forward to owning my own EV one day.
Great report Rory. My son is looking at a leaf for sale here in Australia, but not as a tourer of course, just a 'shopping trolley' ! Nice to see all your pleasant countryside, thankyou!
I didn't see a turtle on the dash, so I'm not 100% convinced that the car fully ran out, but it probably just wasn't there when Rory filmed the dash. Either way, the Leaf is clearly very conservative at estimating its range, and you'd have to be an idiot (or playing with it like Rory was) to actually get properly stuck somewhere. The issue however is that not all manufacturers are as conservative, other channels have tested other cars and they have no reserve buffer, if it says there's only 2 miles left, that's all you're getting!
