VW EV owner's woes.

[kenneal - lagger]

No one argues about the standard petrol and diesel nozzle sizes and the standardised fuel quality so why should there be any complaints about standardised charging facilities.

The problem with letting the market decide is that the system with the most money behind it usually gets on top rather than the actual best system and the way that the moneymen are persuaded is by the person making the biggest, brashest claims and that person is not necessarily the one with the best system. That way could lead to the worst possible system being adopted because a company promised the best monetary returns on the investment.

A scientific committee siting down and looking at all the systems available and making a decision is the way to get the best system and a government, or even an international standard would be the best way to go.

One single system is what is required and the different companies should be shut is a room until they come up with the best system. While they are in there they should also decide on the best system for rapidly replacing batteries as well. This could be complicated by the new lithium metal batteries which are said to be a 50% improvement on the old batteries.

[PS_RalphW]

Took my new eV for its first long run today. 220 miles with 4 passengers in rain and sub 10C temperatures mostly on fast roads, but lots of roadworks, diversions and some heavy traffic kept speeds mostly at 60 to 65mph. Total consumption was about 73KWh with one 45 minute recharge at 40KW. Got home with 23% battery left. Some heating was used for passengers as well as the high tech cruise and steering controls which add extra load. Lights and wipers also used extensively.

End result is 3 miles/KWh which can be viewed as a worst case economy figure. This is worse than the old Leaf, showing that EVs are getting less efficient as bigger batteries become available, partly because of increased weight, but also unnecessary styling changes like big diameter wheels. SUV style EVs are increasingly popular and these all have worse efficiency due to their terrible aerodynamics.

Some things never change, like claimed efficiency figures. Nissan claims the car will do 239 miles. In today's conditions, the real figure is below 180miles.

[johnny]

I am buying my second eV on Saturday, another Nissan Leaf, this one with over 200 miles of range real world.

How is this car working out? I've just acquired my first, used, 2015 with 50k km on it, 24kWh pack and 11 bars showing on battery health. Think it'll last another 5 years if I go gentle on it? The alternative was a 2014 BMW i3, and I skipped on it because it was more expensive, and when it needed to be repaired (which appears to be quite often) it was expensive.

[johnny]

End result is 3 miles/KWh which can be viewed as a worst case economy figure.

I did a 12 mile out and back test with mine. Full charge start, 8 miles of mixed secondary and 4 miles of high speed 4 lane. 4.9 miles/kwh outbound (slight elevation gain and starting with a full charge) 4.3 miles/kwh on the return. No heat, no additional load other than the radio.

Is this good, or bad?

[Catweazle]

End result is 3 miles/KWh which can be viewed as a worst case economy figure.

I did a 12 mile out and back test with mine. Full charge start, 8 miles of mixed secondary and 4 miles of high speed 4 lane. 4.9 miles/kwh outbound (slight elevation gain and starting with a full charge) 4.3 miles/kwh on the return. No heat, no additional load other than the radio.

Is this good, or bad?

I would be very interested in how much total electricity was used vs miles covered. That would mean monitoring the mains electricity into the home charger plus the on-road charge stops. It would account for the inefficiency of chargers, self discharge plus any trickle / float charging too.

[PS_RalphW]

I owned my 2015 leaf for over 4 years and did about 25000 miles in that time. The key to maintaining long battery life is not to charge it to 100% (or leave it below 20%) for any length of time. I usually charged it to 80% (which its a setting on the car interface). Plan ahead if think you will need the extra range. At this time of year anything over 4miles/KWh is good, of course the car's own reporting tends to be optimistic. I have a dedicated meter on my supply just for the car charger, but I cannot remember the overall efficiency I got, I probably reported it earlier in this thread. Actual miles/KWh depends a lot on weather, speed and driving style. I always ran in eco mode and tried to maximize regenerative braking. The energy losses in charging are probably around 10 -20 % total.

Fast charging in the new Nissan leaf can cause problems with the battery overheating in some circumstances, but only really when charging multiple times on the same day in warm weather.