Chris B drives a Nissan LEAF e+ Tekna 2021 electric car.
This is Chris’s first electric car, he’s owned the Nissan LEAF e+ Tekna under 1 year and drives less than 5,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 10,000-20,000 miles and he achieves 220 miles range from a full charge.
Why did you choose the Nissan LEAF?
I looked at several different brands and models over a few weeks. The car I wanted was mostly for my wife to drive and she doesn’t like driving big cars. I have had Nissan cars in the past and they have always been reliable, so I wanted to check out the LEAF because we had a Nissan Note a few years ago and it was my wife’s favourite car.
We took out a test drive of the LEAF e+ Tekna. My wife drove it and straight away she loved it. It was so easy to drive and she felt at home in it immediately. When we got back to the dealer we said we wanted a LEAF and enquired if the demo model was up for sale anytime soon. He said that it had come up for sale in the last day or two. It had 10,000 miles on the clock and was 10 months old so we bought it for £30,400.
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Positives – List 3 or more reasons why you love this electric car
- Very comfortable for a smallish car even over long journeys
- the gloss red paintwork is superb
- does 220+ miles on a full charge.
Negatives – List 3 or more things that you really don’t like about this electric car
- The sub woofer in the boot takes up too much space.
Have you experienced any faults with the car? If so, what have they been?
None
What are the standout technological features of the car?
- The auto cruise is good and it also slows down and speeds up with the traffic and keeps in the lane too
- The infotainment system is well laid out and the buttons next to it make it easy to switch between map, radio etc.
- All the buttons and switches are within easy reach and intuitive to operate.
Surprise us! Tell us something people wouldn’t readily know about this electric car
It’s a delight to drive. It just feels so easy. The cabin is light and airy. The range of the car is also great. Never had to worry about running on empty. Charging from 30% to 85% takes about 35 minutes on a CHAdeMO rapid charger. Never had to wait for a CHAdeMO charge point.
What electric car(s) are you interested in next and why?
Hyundai IONIQ 5 – this will usually be the one I drive and will replace my Jaguar F-PACE.
Home charging unit – outline both positive & negative elements
I have an Indra charger that utilises the solar panels on my house. It reads how much unused power is going to the grid and only uses that to charge. This does mean it charges at about 1.5 to 2.5kW depending on the brightness of the sunshine so charging takes longer but you can boost to full 7kW if you need to. It has timer settings etc so it’s very versatile. I got it via efaraday and there was some initial teething set up problems which took a couple of weeks to fix but both Indra and efaraday were excellent in sorting them out.
Electricity supplier & tariff – outline both positive & negative elements
Shell Energy standard tariff – changed to them when the other companies went bust in 2021. I don’t have any bad comments about them and their app for submitting readings and viewing my account is good and simple to use.
What public charging networks would you recommend to others and why?
No bad experiences so far. Most often use Pod Point but have used Gridserve for rapid charging too. Many Tescos and city centres have Pod Point chargers with free use and free parking which I use when out and about. Warning though, many users have been caught out by overstaying the time and get a fine. So always check the notices in the car parks for length of stay.
Insurer – outline both positive & negative elements
I use different insurers every year.
Itemise how much money you’re saving monthly owning & running your Nissan LEAF
£50
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