Nissan Leaf 24hr Test Drive - Thoughts

[dean_ham]

Yeah that's one big problem is you need a garage or a drive within a decent distance to a socket.
Yes the Tesla model s does have a better range and this car has set the bar for others to follow. The problem is the price! Top of the range model costs near the 100k mark. These EV's need to be comparable in price to ICE cars for the general public to even consider them. Which in my opinion the leaf is getting that way. You can pick up a year old leaf for around the 16k mark which is still slightly more expensive than say a year old focus. But consider my case I would save nearly 2500 pounds a year on fuel within 6 years the car would have paid for itself!

 

[Hodders]

I reckon the answer is standardised battery packs. Pull up at any petrol station. A robot pulls out the battery pack and puts in a pre-charged one. Total time for a 100% charge approx 5 minutes.

Cars could be fitted with a 'standard battery' and also a battery that never gets changed. That way space for batteries can be maximised but teh car retains teh ability to get a quick 5 minute meaningful charge.

The cost of the battery pack is included in the purchase price, after that you are just paying for the energy (and profit) of the petrol station in charging the packs.

The only problem is getting car manufacturers to standardise on size and form factor.

 

[Glaucus]

Price will fall with mass production, all new tech is expensive. It's also not even close to 100k
First it's in dollars
160mile $49,900
240mile $59,900
300mile $69,900

They also do a perfomance 300 mile one at $84,900
Basic model would be around 36k with vat at current exchange rate. Minus 5k grant. So a lot more car for your money than the leaf. Assuming they didn't jack the price up for uk.


Aso you don't need a drive or garage, well you won't eventually.
As said there are several companies offering on street charging stations.
Secondly there HaloIPT which is induction charging at around 80-85% efficiency. At works at a distance of 40cm, even covered in ice and snow. The other thing you could do with this, is electrify main roads like motor ways. Currently they offer 2-7kw system and a 3phase fast version is in the pipeline.
I think the motorway idea is a pipe dream, especially if these battery protoypes make it to mass production. There just won't be the need for the huge outlay it would cost.

I reckon the answer is standardised battery packs. Pull up at any petrol station. A robot pulls out the battery pack and puts in a pre-charged one. Total time for a 100% charge approx 5 minutes.

.

I used to think like this, but its just not needed. Should see the fast chargers that tesla have for their cars. By the time you get battery swap places up, we should have a massive leap forward in battery technology. There's about a dozen promising protoypes. That even with the leafs small battery pack, should mean 300+ mile range. But they are around 5years from mass production, if the tests carry on succeeding.

 

[dean_ham]

Inductive charging is one possibility too. Align the car up to the inductive pads and the car will recharge! Obviously its not as efficient as directly plugging in but I was surprised when they quoted 85-90% efficient using inductive charging.
They say in years to come that on certain stretches of motorway there will be inductive charge plates built into the road. So in theory you charge your car as you drive along the motorway!

 

[dean_ham]

I reckon the answer is standardised battery packs. Pull up at any petrol station. A robot pulls out the battery pack and puts in a pre-charged one. Total time for a 100% charge approx 5 minutes.

Cars could be fitted with a 'standard battery' and also a battery that never gets changed. That way space for batteries can be maximised but teh car retains teh ability to get a quick 5 minute meaningful charge.

The cost of the battery pack is included in the purchase price, after that you are just paying for the energy (and profit) of the petrol station in charging the packs.

The only problem is getting car manufacturers to standardise on size and form factor.

I can see what your saying. But with batteries being quite heavy all this weight will be in one section of the car. The way Tesla has done it is distribute the weight on the batteries along the floorpan of the car. This heavy weight is very low down in the car and massively helps the handling of the car.

 

[bledd]

How long do they hold the battery charge for when not using them?

Sometimes I'll go ~2 weeks without touching my car.

 

[Glaucus]

Lithium ion even after months will have lost virtually no power.

 

[Werewolf]

I can see what your saying. But with batteries being quite heavy all this weight will be in one section of the car. The way Tesla has done it is distribute the weight on the batteries along the floorpan of the car. This heavy weight is very low down in the car and massively helps the handling of the car.

Also the petrol stations are going to have to get a lot bigger, and get much better power running to them for it to work.

The Leaf would probably fill about 90-95% of my car use with ease by the sounds of it, but I couldn't justify the cost, and would always be worried about the batteries (having spent 10-15+ years watching different battery technologies in mobility scooters, and seeing how they tend to fail a lot faster and have less range than the sales brochures).

 

[Glaucus]

I doubt mobility scooters have smart charging, that knows when cells are nearly fall and so stops charging those cells. Overcoming most of the issues associated with loss from overcharging.

 

[dean_ham]

I doubt mobility scooters have smart charging, that knows when cells are nearly fall and so stops charging those cells. Overcoming most of the issues associated with loss from overcharging.

Yeah that's correct. I suppose we will have to wait a good few years to see how the early adopters of the leaf are fairing with their battery life. Though Nissan have a 5 year warranty covering the batteries.

 

[ShakenNstirred]

Inductive charging is one possibility too. Align the car up to the inductive pads and the car will recharge! Obviously its not as efficient as directly plugging in but I was surprised when they quoted 85-90% efficient using inductive charging.
They say in years to come that on certain stretches of motorway there will be inductive charge plates built into the road. So in theory you charge your car as you drive along the motorway!

with the way this country updates its roads i'll be long dead

 

[Third Opinion]

I reckon the answer is standardised battery packs. Pull up at any petrol station. A robot pulls out the battery pack and puts in a pre-charged one. Total time for a 100% charge approx 5 minutes.

Cars could be fitted with a 'standard battery' and also a battery that never gets changed. That way space for batteries can be maximised but teh car retains teh ability to get a quick 5 minute meaningful charge.

The cost of the battery pack is included in the purchase price, after that you are just paying for the energy (and profit) of the petrol station in charging the packs.

The only problem is getting car manufacturers to standardise on size and form factor.

Thats always been my thought on the way forward. You could still have a few variants ie small car size, medium, large/van and lorry.

The cost of initial set up would be massive however.

 

[Imy]

I'm coming around to the idea of these. Like others on here, it would be able to cover 95% of my road trips and save me over £2k/year in fuel costs and a further £270 in tax.

There is still doubt in my mind over the longevity of the batteries so a 5 year warranty doesn't cut it for me. It should be 10 years to give more consumer confidence.

The biggest barrier is the lack of charging points. It would be nice if they get conductive charging working and you can pay e.g. £1k to have it installed in your driveway or parkng space. I live in a 2nd floor apartment so hanging a power lead out the window isn't ideal.

 

[Simon]

Thats always been my thought on the way forward. You could still have a few variants ie small car size, medium, large/van and lorry.

The cost of initial set up would be massive however.

A lorry will never be all electric. The batteries would need to be huge

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Yeah that's correct. I suppose we will have to wait a good few years to see how the early adopters of the leaf are fairing with their battery life. Though Nissan have a 5 year warranty covering the batteries.

Well they are already buying back Arizona cars due to battery degradation...