Electric hilarity

[Eddy77]

A friend of a friend bought a second hand Leaf today. 63 plate with 82k on the clock. He paid £6k for it. He bought it from someone 90 miles from his house. The car was supplied fully charged but was out of juice after 60 miles. Imagine the range in the winter when the heaters and lights are on. He paid £6k for it using a personal loan. It’s worthless imho. Not sure I understand the logic of some people!

 

[MercedesDriver]

When it was new it had a range of only 84 miles so 60 miles range after 82k is not that bad.

 

[Benzmanc]

Give him some good news...

Cost of replacing the Nissan LEAF's Batteries DROPS 90% in seven years | Cars UK

 

[219]

A friend of a friend bought a second hand Leaf today. 63 plate with 82k on the clock. He paid £6k for it. He bought it from someone 90 miles from his house. The car was supplied fully charged but was out of juice after 60 miles. Imagine the range in the winter when the heaters and lights are on. He paid £6k for it using a personal loan. It’s worthless imho. Not sure I understand the logic of some people!

Depends what he plans to use it for .

Something like that would be fine for my GF . Three days a week she drives to the local railway station 1-1/2 miles away , or to the shops in nearby villages , no more than 5 miles away ; she rarely drives further than that , preferring to take the train for longer journeys .

 

[Eddy77]

His commute is 25 miles each way. That’s the stupidity! He needs 50 mile range and it only does 60 in the summer. ‘Own goal’ I would say for his intended use!

 

[MercedesDriver]

His commute is 25 miles each way. That’s the stupidity! He needs 50 mile range and it only does 60 in the summer. ‘Own goal’ I would say for his intended use!

But if he can plug it and leave it plugged after outward journey he will be returning to a fully charged car for a return trip.

 

[moonloops]

Get them to fit a 2 stroke lawn mower engine and an alternator under the bonnet = problem solved.

 

[grober]

Running out of "propulsive energy" is not the sole province of EV's either. Cue the begraggled man in a soaking wet business suit and carrying a petrol can, thumbing a lift from the hard shoulder on a dual carriageway near you! "Thanks for stopping mate ----I feel a complete idiot --- forgot to fill her up this morning didn't I?"
And the commonest cause of IC propelled car "failure to start/breakdown "as listed by all the major roadside assistance companies ---wait for it----- wait for it---- flat or faulty battery!

 

[poormansporsche]

...... "Do you not have the ability to do simple maths, been sold a EV that wasn't your fault, call the claims guys NOW".......


I've never once run out of petrol once in 25 years and half a million miles of driving.

Do the likes of the AA charge a fee if you run out of electrics at the side of the road (or petrol for that matter) if you are a paid up member ????

 

[Alex225]

I can't help looking at £6k car with that kind of range to be a bit nonsensical but that said the type of driving I do in the main part is not conducive to EVs. I do 130 miles in one sitting, turn round and come back so need to be confident in a range of 300+ miles.

My mum on the other hand is perfectly suited to an EV. Drives 4 miles to work and back, three times a week. Visits her mum who's 20 miles away and I only live a couple of miles away too. A 100 mile range would last her a week no problem.

 

[grober]

...... "Do you not have the ability to do simple maths, been sold a EV that wasn't your fault, call the claims guys NOW".......


I've never once run out of petrol once in 25 years and half a million miles of driving.

Do the likes of the AA charge a fee if you run out of electrics at the side of the road (or petrol for that matter) if you are a paid up member ????

I would offer in mitigation that the members of this forum would not be characteristic of the bulk of the motoring public In answer to the second I believe its common practice for breakdown services to carry a couple of jerry cans of "get you to the nearest filling station" fuel particularly if that has been the problem identified by the callout phone call. Because of the non universality of battery fitment that may not be the case in the case of a IC battery failure necessitating an additonal leave and return emergency vehicle journey. In both cases I believe the person who initiated the call is expected to pay for any fuel/battery to get them back on the road. For pure EVs I would venture total vehicle recovery would probably be the norm and any extra cost involved would be likely to be dealt with in terms of the breakdown policy conditions /premium.
Its an interesting question mind so thanks for posing it.

 

[whitenemesis]

AA's Electric Vehicle Mobile Charging Unit First in Europe - AA Blog

 

[tangey]

His commute is 25 miles each way. That’s the stupidity! He needs 50 mile range and it only does 60 in the summer. ‘Own goal’ I would say for his intended use!

and

It’s worthless imho. Not sure I understand the logic of some people!

Certainly your friend's decision doesn't make any sense, but the car's not worthless, it just doesn't suit his intended application, and the information was there to allow him to know that in advance. The problem isn't the car's fault, it's the decision's fault.

 

[tbourner]

Should have done some research, it's a pretty common problem on the earlier Leafs that they "lose bars" fairly quickly, and is easy to spot when you look at the car. Buyer beware and all that, same as with any car.

 

[st13phil]

I can't help looking at £6k car with that kind of range to be a bit nonsensical but that said the type of driving I do in the main part is not conducive to EVs. I do 130 miles in one sitting, turn round and come back so need to be confident in a range of 300+ miles.

My mum on the other hand is perfectly suited to an EV. Drives 4 miles to work and back, three times a week. Visits her mum who's 20 miles away and I only live a couple of miles away too. A 100 mile range would last her a week no problem.

Precisely. The utility of pure EV's is very much use-case dependent.

If they fit your use case then there's a good deal to commend them, but if they don't then they're an expensive folly. However, even for good fit use cases they don't always make sense on a pure cost basis.

The first-generation Leaf (a colleague had one from new) had a very limited range that only gets shorter as the battery pack deteriorates. When his Leaf was three years old my colleague would never rely on a single charge for his 50-mile round-trip commute in the winter months, and always relied upon charging it at work.

 

[BTB 500]

A month or so back I passed a Leaf doing about 20 mph on a major A road with hazard lights on. Presumably trying desperately to get to a charger before it ran out.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I wonder why the OP finds his friend's misfortune hilarious?

 

[Larkone]

AA's Electric Vehicle Mobile Charging Unit First in Europe - AA Blog

Brilliant - an emergency charging system for EVs in Ireland powered by the vehicle so would assume its a diesel engine.

My next business venture - a diesel truck fitted with a diesel generator for stranded EVs

 

[Larkone]

Get them to fit a 2 stroke lawn mower engine and an alternator under the bonnet = problem solved.

Surely the Leaf is small enough that a handful of AA batteries or a powerbank would suffice.

 

[Bellow]

Get them to fit a 2 stroke lawn mower engine and an alternator under the bonnet = problem solved.

For some reason, BMW have dropped the range extender option for its i3. No idea why (other than a guess that its RE engine was overspecified and hence costly (bulkier and heavier too) for its role).