Barry drives a Nissan LEAF 160kW e+ N-TEC 62kWh 2020.

This is Barry’s first electric car, he’s owned the Nissan LEAF 3-4 years and drives 5,000-10,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 30,000-40,000 miles and he achieves 200 miles from a full charge.

Why did you choose the Nissan LEAF?

In 2020, there were surprisingly few cars available to see and test drive. Many companies had cars but they either were not yet available or were not available to test drive. So we test drove 3 cars and the LEAF was the one that met our requirements in terms of space, range and not being an SUV.

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

• Very simple to drive
• well-equipped
• comfortable.

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

• Terrible electronics – get warning messages about system failures on virtually every trip and the main dealer doesn’t know why
• CHAdeMO charging looks as if it’s being phased out by charging companies.

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

As far as we can tell. We haven’t noticed a change but we only do a few long journeys a year and charge 90% at home.

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

Virtually every journey we get a warning message of a system failure. This could impact use of the cruise control, automatic headlight control or anti-collision system. It resets every time the car is restarted. I have reported it at services and taken the car in while the warning is displayed but the main dealer has as little understanding as me as to why. Also, we needed the brake discs and shoes replaced after 2 years as they very rarely get used. We now make sure that we use the brakes regularly to prevent this.

What are the standout technological features of the car?

The Pilot Cruise Control (but see comments in previous answers).

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

The batteries only last 3 years and are very likely to catch fire.

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

BYD Seal & Polestar 2 – they have better range, CCS charging and hopefully better electronics.

Home charging unit – outline both positive & negative elements 

zappi v2 tethered – proved to be very reliable and controllable. It also works well with our solar panels, automatically charging the car when the sun shines. The tethered version may look less attractive due to the cable but it’s better than having to get the cable out of the car every time.

Electricity supplier & tariff – outline both positive & negative elements

Octopus Go – obviously the tariff has gone up but it still represents good value. The cheap rate is limited to 4 hours per night but this is sufficient to charge the car for our use and to run the washing machine, dish washer etc. Octopus have excellent customer service and have been very helpful whenever queries have arisen. The Intelligent Octopus tariff would be better for us but our car is not compatible.

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

InstaVolt – by far the most reliable. Only once had a problem with one of their machines of a type not seen before or since which had a very unresponsive touchscreen.

Insurer – outline both positive & negative elements 

LV= insurance has so far been very competitive and has very good customer service. We insure 2 cars with them and have compared well at each renewal with prices on comparison sites.

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

The main saving has come from fuel costs and VED. I don’t think I’m saving anything on insurance and the main dealer is overcharging for servicing. In terms of running costs about £80 per month.

See other Nissan LEAF Owner Reviews here