The EV fact thread

[poormansporsche]

Not sure if this is a ‘thing’, but where as non-EV users seem to have anxiety over things like range and availability of chargers, I’ve been out in mine with the kids this afternoon and most conveniently on a busy Saturday the venue we visited had an empty EV charging bay. Only a 7.3kW charger but totally free to use. My only regret - I wish I had a lower SOC to take more advantage of it

Still, it’s rude not to top up when it’s there on offer, right?

Unless it's occupied already by a car with a "pre booked only" sticker in the rear window, bloody annoying..........

 

[poormansporsche]

"You can't park there mate"

My cars brother, one letter away from my reg.

Still least it didn't burst into flames.

 

[SmartAmg]

"You can't park there mate"

My cars brother, one letter away from my reg.

Still least it didn't burst into flames.

View attachment 167389

Any particular reason why, it should?

 

[poormansporsche]

Any particular reason why, it should?

Because that's what they do innit !!!

According to some any minor knock and fiery death is the order of the day.

Just counting the days down til I get incinerated driving the innocuous Leaf ..........

 

[BTB 500]

Speaking of Leafs ... saw this rather long-winded video yesterday with lots of consumer rights stuff to wade through but the gist of it is that they bought a 5 year old Nissan Leaf that turned out to only have a range of 30-60 miles. Nissan's diagnostics showed it had multiple failed or failing battery modules so it required a new battery pack at a cost of £17,000. They had paid £9,950 for the car, and it went over the 100,000 mile battery warranty limit while they were waiting for a diagnostic appointment (6 week lead time). I lost interest in the bickering between them and Nissan but it seems they lost a small claims court case.

Interesting because they obviously weren't well off and this was their only car, so driving it long distances (Bath to Sunderland and back, IIRC?) for Nissan to look at it presented some problems.

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[poormansporsche]

For people's information, since I've been on the "Leaf" scene I've not heard of a single Leaf bursting into flames.

BUT there has been several reports of plug sockets catching fire whilst using granny chargers. This could be a concern to some but not to me because I know the route cause.......

Leaf owners are the tightest bunch of penny pinching miserly bastads in the world.........

For my granny charger I bought a plug socket with the EV kite mark regs, £5.50p. I bought the shortest EV specific extension lead with a built in RCD, £30.00 and I had a separate fuse put in my fusebox to run the plug socket £40.00. So for 75 quid I get absolutely zero heat through the lead.

Simples.

 

[BTB 500]

For people's information, since I've been on the "Leaf" scene I've not heard of a single Leaf bursting into flames.

BUT there has been several reports of plug sockets catching fire whilst using granny chargers. This could be a concern to some but not to me because I know the route cause.......

Leaf owners are the tightest bunch of penny pinching miserly bastads in the world.........

For my granny charger I bought a plug socket with the EV kite mark regs, £5.50p. I bought the shortest EV specific extension lead with a built in RCD, £30.00 and I had a separate fuse put in my fusebox to run the plug socket £40.00. So for 75 quid I get absolutely zero heat through the lead.

Simples.

I thought granny charging was generally limited to 10A from the mains, which shouldn't push anything particularly hard? Similar to many electric heaters (often 2 kW)

 

[poormansporsche]

Speaking of Leafs ... saw this rather long-winded video yesterday with lots of consumer rights stuff to wade through but the gist of it is that they bought a 5 year old Nissan Leaf that turned out to only have a range of 30-60 miles. Nissan's diagnostics showed it had multiple failed or failing battery modules so it required a new battery pack at a cost of £17,000. They had paid £9,950 for the car, and it went over the 100,000 mile battery warranty limit while they were waiting for a diagnostic appointment (6 week lead time). I lost interest in the bickering between them and Nissan but it seems they lost a small claims court case.

Interesting because they obviously weren't well off and this was their only car, so driving it long distances (Bath to Sunderland and back, IIRC?) for Nissan to look at it presented some problems.

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I didn't watch the video.

All the info is out there. Anyone who pays top money for a used Leaf without doing the proper research is a fool.

A old Leaf with a shot battery is still a reasonable ownership proposition, you just need to go in with your eyes open and pay the correct money and be prepared to accept the shortcomings.

 

[poormansporsche]

I thought granny charging was generally limited to 10A from the mains, which shouldn't push anything particularly hard? Similar to many electric heaters (often 2 kW)

I know bugger all about electrics but apparently 10 amp for 6 8 10 hours straight is not good for a 10 year old £1 wilko plug socket or a pound shop extension lead that's being run on the same ring as the rest of the sockets in your house.

 

[markjay]

I didn't watch the video.

All the info is out there. Anyone who pays top money for a used Leaf without doing the proper research is a fool.

A old Leaf with a shot battery is still a reasonable ownership proposition, you just need to go in with your eyes open and pay the correct money and be prepared to accept the shortcomings.

I think the key issue here was that the faulty battery started giving grief just before the 100,000 miles warranty was set to expire, and the owner wanted the battery replaced under warranty (hence the £17k estimate from the dealer).

If the car's battery was already well out of warranty when the problem was first spotted, the owner would have just gone and fixed it on the cheap (e.g., using a second-hand battery of eBay) and the entire saga including the court case would have been avoided.

What seems to have happened here is that the dealer didn't have availability for an inspection, and by the time the issue was looked at, the warranty has expired as the car tipped over the 100,000 miles mark. As BTB 500 correctly said, this is mainly a consumer rights issue.

 

[Will]

I think the key issue here was that the faulty battery started giving grief just before the 100,000 miles warranty was set to expire, and the owner wanted the battery replaced under warranty (hence the £17k estimate from the dealer).

If the car's battery was already well out of warranty when the problem was first spotted, the owner would have just gone and fixed it on the cheap (e.g., using a second-hand battery of eBay) and the entire saga including the court case would have been avoided.

What seems to have happened here is that the dealer didn't have availability for an inspection, and by the time the issue was looked at, the warranty has expired as the car tipped over the 100,000 miles mark. As BTB 500 correctly said, this is mainly a consumer rights issue.

Agreed - there will literally be thousands of similar cases over the years with vehicles that have faults and garages or dealers who won’t repair for various reasons.

Nissan are well known for engine issues and as previously mentioned I am aware of at least two people whom I personally know who required new engines out of warranty which equally rendered the vehicles beyond economical repair.

Ironically up until a few months ago you could buy a brand new Nissan Leaf for less than the suggested cost of a the battery - something not right there!

 

[190]

I know bugger all about electrics but apparently 10 amp for 6 8 10 hours straight is not good for a 10 year old £1 wilko plug socket or a pound shop extension lead that's being run on the same ring as the rest of the sockets in your house.

At 13 amps It will definitely get warm, maybe even too hot to hold comfortably but it shouldn't fail. The standard calls for a certain temperature rise over a certain time period at the rated 13 amps. 10 amps sustained shouldn't trouble it but it seems a sensible derating for sustained use and it will still get warm even then. Who knows what plugs or sockets from Wilko would do, I wouldn't buy them, though they are compliant.

 

[poormansporsche]

Nissan are well known for engine issues and as previously mentioned I am aware of at least two people whom I personally know who required new engines out of warranty which equally rendered the vehicles beyond economical repair.

Is not the current range of Mercedes small capacity turbo engines an evolution of the same Renault engines that Nissan used ??????

Don't think I'd be happy if I spent 50 grand on a new MB

 

[poormansporsche]

At 13 amps It will definitely get warm, maybe even too hot to hold comfortably but it shouldn't fail. The standard calls for a certain temperature rise over a certain time period at the rated 13 amps. 10 amps sustained shouldn't trouble it but it seems a sensible derating for sustained use and it will still get warm even then. Who knows what plugs or sockets from Wilko would do, I wouldn't buy them, though they are compliant.

Granny charger fires IS a thing.

The EV haters love this sort of thing.

My point is that it easy to stop it from happening with a bit of common sense and minimal outlay.

Apparently it's not good to unplug the charger from the socket straight after charging, it's best to let the pins cool for a bit before unplugging.

 

[markjay]

...Nissan are well known for engine issues and as previously mentioned I am aware of at least two people whom I personally know who required new engines out of warranty which equally rendered the vehicles beyond economical repair....

Obviously, if the engine issue wasn't covered under warranty, it's highly unlikely that the owners would have opted to get Nissan to fit a new engine at RRP

The cars would have been repaired most probably using a second-hand or reconditioned engine for much, much less.

The entire issue of very high warranty repair costs is mostly an academic paper exercise, because no one in their right mind would opt for this option when the car is not covered by warranty. How many brand new engines do Mercedes Bebz dealers supply and fit every years to cars not under warranty? Not very many, would be my guess.