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I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#31

Post by nicce »

carstenhag wrote: post #23
Xenoamorphous wrote: post #4

* Limiting the number of QCs (Quick Charges / DC Fast Charge), as this heats up the uncooled Leaf battery, degrading it slightly each time, especially on hotter days * Keeping the charge between 50-80% when manageable * Charging up to 100% at least once a month, and letting it 'top off' to rebalance the pack for at least a few hours afterwards * Not driving like a maniac, despite having more torque in this car than I…

This is, as the title mentions, the cheapest EV. It's really old. It did not have tech that pretty much all EVs have nowadays. Nowadays you don't have to do this. You can. Just like with your phone or laptop.

> It's really old.

Funny, how 2 years old car is really old. For combustion engines, old is like 15+?

EVs will have the same problems as mobile phones. Maybe manufactures want that. But software will define the age of your car and I don’t like it. What if the car requires internet connection and the company dies?

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#32

Post by mschuster91 »

> And charging stations are run by multiple vendors with multiple apps and payment methods. It's not like gas stations, like with Shell, BP, Buckee's, etc. where you just drive up, stick the gas nozzle in your tank, and squeeze.

The "how to juice your car" question is pretty much solved on the electrical and communications side... but the "how do you pay for the juice" question is indeed absurd. I understand that providers of high capacity charging stations wish to charge a bit extra because a single 200 kW+ DC charger quickly reaches 40k € in pure hardware cost, in addition to the installation cost and the regular swapping of cables due to thieves. But why the EU and the US governments haven't stepped in yet and mandated either a "roaming" standard (where my primary billing contact would be a regular electric utility with a set base price per kWh and optional surcharges for high-capacity chargers or stations in high demand) or acceptance of all common credit and debit cards is way beyond me.

Instead, it's not just multiple vendors, apps and payment methods - it's also a (sometimes wild) difference in price depending on how you pay, at the same station. In contrast, at each gas station there is a sign that's visible from afar stating the exact price for your fuel, with the only thing one might hope for is a 1 cent discount for high volume diesel fuel pumps (aka, your truck's hole is big enough to fit a truck diesel nozzle) and a further 1 cent discount from some sort of loyalty reward scheme.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#33

Post by Okkef »

Nice, we did the same recently.

The choice was

  2016 100k km Golf Plus for 16k eur 
  2020 50k  km e-Golf    for 13k eur
I'm so glad we picked the e-golf! It's so fast and nice to drive and cheap to run. Only downside is the limited range (200km on a summer day) but even my commute (100km one-way) is OK as I can charge at work and home.

That said, we still have a Touran for when we need to drive further or with lots of luggage.

If only the chairs in the eGolf were a bit better...

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#34

Post by conradev »

behnamoh wrote: post #5

You should never purchase EVs, only lease them. That's what I did. This saves you from the terrible depreciation they have. The only time it makes sense to buy an EV is if it's used. Edit: He bought used.

I still agree with OP in that purchasing an EV, used or not, is brutal with depreciation.

You can lease a used Tesla Model 3 for $5k/24mo. Say the used Leaf was $15k, it would need to be worth at least $10k in 2027.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#35

Post by actionfromafar »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #21

Electric Vehicle Man on Youtube did a review of a 2000 pound second hand Renault Zoe that he picked up a few weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEvwtxGeVpQ The second hand market for EVs is getting pretty interesting. There are lots of EV owners that are replacing their EVs every few years and because of all the growth over the last 10 years, there are now quite a few fairly nice EVs on the second hand market…

Big Asterisk on the maintenance though.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#36

Post by lucideer »

masklinn wrote: post #25

> Lack of standards: For 'L3' DC Fast Charging, the Leaf has a CHAdeMO port. Teslas and many newer EVs have NACS. Then there's CCS1 and CCS2. And charging stations are run by multiple vendors with multiple apps and payment methods. It's not like gas stations, like with Shell, BP, Buckee's, etc. where you just drive up, stick the gas nozzle in your tank, and squeeze. Afaik in Europe, CCS2 is the standard (and mandator…

Anyone who follows Jeff will know he's US-based, but I still really felt he could've highlighted that fact more in that charging port standards section.

The fact that both J1772 & CCS2 are 100% universal in Europe is huge. So much so even Tesla switched to CCS2. This doesn't help Jeff but certainly one less problem for many readers of his article.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#37

Post by liendolucas »

Looks like you bought a faulty computer which happens to have 4 wheels buddy.

The neutral and parking brake issues: that just by itself should make Nissan stocks plummet. 2025 and we have these issues? It definitely looks an involution to me.

Things we humans are still lame at: adapters. Power adapters, cable data adapters. Why do we have bazillions adapters?

Can't we just design one adapter for the whole world that makes happy both manufacturers and customers? If not governments should step in and force manufacturers to include all adapters ever needed as part of a car purchase. That you have to spend more money just to charge a car because of the adapter is ridiculous.

If EVs are in this line of quality/user experience in general, thanks I'll pass and get something reliable and old school that actually works as expected.

Edit: And we don't need mobile apps to control our cars. Another really stupid and ridiculous idea that has been pushed to customers when no-one actually asked for that.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#38

Post by ahartmetz »

Okkef wrote: post #33

Nice, we did the same recently. The choice was 2016 100k km Golf Plus for 16k eur 2020 50k km e-Golf for 13k eur I'm so glad we picked the e-golf! It's so fast and nice to drive and cheap to run. Only downside is the limited range (200km on a summer day) but even my commute (100km one-way) is OK as I can charge at work and home. That said, we still have a Touran for when we need to drive further or with lots of lugga…

Bad seats in a VW? Yeah, I guess they really saved too much on the interior in that generation.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#40

Post by tpm »

nicce wrote: post #31
carstenhag wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is, as the title mentions, the cheapest EV. It's really old. It did not have tech that pretty much all EVs have nowadays. Nowadays you don't have to do this. You can. Just like with your phone or laptop.

> It's really old. Funny, how 2 years old car is really old. For combustion engines, old is like 15+? EVs will have the same problems as mobile phones. Maybe manufactures want that. But software will define the age of your car and I don’t like it. What if the car requires internet connection and the company dies?

It's a 2 years old car, but the model and technology (2nd generation Nissan Leaf) is from 2017, so it's 8 years old in a rapidly evolving field.
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