Be Excellent To Each Other

Yes! The correct reason to get the higher capacity is because it's a side effect of the AWD and several hundred extra horsepower, which reduces the range!

I'm not quite sure I've got the hang of this yet.

Having moved house to a place where I have to use a so-called 'granny charger' overnight for my Leaf (which is a relatively small battery compared to some newer EVs, at 62 kWh) I don't agree.

It takes fucking forever to charge to a reasonable degree. It took from 3pm until 10.30am this morning to charge from 41% to 100% (with a break between 4pm and 9.30pm to avoid super-costly electricity)

//edit: It's being collected next Monday though, getting rid of it under Voluntary Termination.

But did you need 100% today?

Don't put me off

You said you've got a DC charger though kov - so 7kW versus 3.6kW AC?

Also "3pm to 1030am is fucking ages to charge! Apart from the 5.5 hours I chose not to charge!"

That's really 830pm to 1030am which is admittedly still 14 hours for 60% charge but presumably would be a lot less to reach 80% full since they slow down quickly as they approach capacity.

And again, starting from 40%, how much range did Gaz really need? That's a significant part of the mindset shift - overnight to "enough" not overnight to "full" (which context gaz's selective quote removed)

3 weeks until you've ordered an Ioniq 5 N.

My superb is slowly accumulating mods, by the way. So either I'm keeping it a fair while longer or will unexpectedly make the EV jump myself.

I did, as I thought they were coming to pick the car up today and it needed to be on 100% for them to accept it

I take your point — but the problem with the slow charging rates is that it massively reduces the flexibility of the car and means that if you do anything other than short distance journeys on a semi regular basis you need to really plan when you charge back up.

I can easily burn through 50% of my battery in a single day in some cases, and if I need to do a similar set of journeys two days on the trot it can be problematic. With the 7kW charger it was easier — an overnight charge would easily do 20% to 95%.

I do think that a lot of the tests are a little unrealistic, like the videos where they say "hey we just got two new EVs so lets drive from London to Lands End and back while trying to stop as little as possible, and also make it a race"... but of course to do something more related to real-life-for-most-of-us would take a lot longer and probably be a bit boring to watch.



99% of my car use is short-distance journeys (less than 50km) so I reckon an EV would suit me quite well, and we are fortunate to have garage spaces for overnight charging. I'm strongly considering leasing something like an MG4 for pootling about.

An EV would probably would suit Lady T too but she much prefers big ones ( ) - the only possible exception being towing the caravan on holidays and the odd longer distance journey. Perhaps that's where a PHEV would shine.

I can see, however, that they might not suit every use case or situation.

Yes my PHEV needed 3.6KW, but it was only £100 to fit a 7KW and future proof it.. Incase I wanted an EV in the future

I got a Leaf on a biz lease when Gaz moved out because I need something to do the odd short trip (taekwon-do, gym if Shane isn't about, odds and ends errands that I can't walk to). It seemed like the most sensible solution with the charger already on the side of the house (and the only thing I could really afford). Surprising myself how cheap it is to run tbh - I try to only charge it overnight when the rate dips low (octopus agile tariff) and so far I've done ~200 miles on a few quid.

I know some of that is me opting to walk, being selective about charging (and doesn't include lease related costs) but it's working for me

Same for me, but I charge overnight on the granny cable. Octopus Agile too, super cheap to do.
Works perfect for my needs of pottering around, but I still have the MX5 in the garage if I ever need to do a 200+ mile trip. I wouldn't do that in the leaf as I can be arsed with the charging hassle.

Considering a Leaf next. Going to wait until they start coming down towards autumn though.

Depending on what job I get next, an electric car to replace Helen’s Twingo is quite likely. That’ll do most of our regular driving and I can keep my Mini for sunny days and longer drives.