‘My electric journey starts here’ drives a Nissan LEAF Tekna 40kW 2023.

This is My electric’s first electric car, they’ve owned the Nissan LEAF from new and drive 5,000-10,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 5,000-10,000 miles and they achieve 160 miles from a full charge.

Why did you choose the Nissan LEAF?

This car is fully loaded, the mechanicals are well proven, I paid a good price for it and I thought it would be a good choice for my first EV.

Positives – List 3 or more reasons why you love this electric car

• Smooth
• fast acceleration
• cheap to run when charging at home.

Negatives – List 3 or more things that you really don’t like about this electric car

• Could do with a bit more range
• can’t run the heating too much in the cold weather without depleting the range
• the navigation screen is quite low on the dash so you have to take your eyes of the road to look at it.

Compared to when you first bought the car, does your battery still charge at the same rate & do you still get the same range?

Yes

Have you experienced any faults with the car? If so, what have they been?

Nothing other than a safety recall to refresh the software.

What are the standout technological features of the car?

The driver information interface is good, the powertrain is smooth & powerful and the exterior styling of the car still has a fresh design. The interior is more like an ICE car than some of the wacky futuristic ones you find in some EVs. The LEAF is very comfortable and has heated seats front and rear as well as a heated steering wheel. The NissanConnect smart phone app is excellent and easy to use.

Surprise us! Tell us something people wouldn’t readily know about this electric car

This car will show a clean pair of heels to many hot hatches and handles really well considering it weighs about a ton and a half!

What’s the biggest/funniest myth you’ve heard about EVs?

They will catch fire at some point!

What electric car(s) are you interested in next and why?

MG4 EV Trophy – it’s a great car for the money, has decent range and so far I haven’t read about any negatives from current owners. I also like the styling.

Home charging unit – outline both positive & negative elements

Hypervolt 3.0 – it has proved to be reliable so far and is unobtrusive on the house. It has a very good app with it and has a tethered cable because I didn’t want to mess about with loose charging cables, especially if it is pouring with rain etc.

Electricity supplier & tariff – outline both positive & negative elements

We live on a private estate so I’m unable to get a special tariff as we buy our electricity directly from the estate owner. On the plus side, we don’t pay VAT or have a standing charge.

What public charging networks would you recommend to others and why?

I had a bad experience with GeniePoint, finding a working one was a challenge and they all appear to have been located by hide and seek champions. I don’t like the way an amount of money is earmarked from your bank account for up to a week either. The best public charging I’ve used has been Pod Point, if a bit slow. I find the cost of using these charging networks is very expensive.

Insurer – outline both positive & negative elements 

LV= they are good but even so, compared to my previous ICE car it’s about 25% more expensive.

Please itemise where you’re saving money (or not) owning & running a Nissan LEAF

I’ve saved on road tax – £0 as opposed to £165 a year on my previous car. The electricity is working out about £20 per month cheaper than my previous petrol costs using my home charger. However, when I used the public charging network on a recent (long) trip to Wales, it actually worked out more expensive than my previous petrol car by about 10%.

See other Nissan LEAF Owner Reviews here