Nissan LEAF 2015 electric car owner review

Sparky Rich drives a Nissan LEAF Acenta 24kWh 2015.

This is Sparky Rich’s third electric car, he’s owned the Nissan LEAF less than 1 year and drives 5,000-10,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 40,000-50,000 miles and he achieves 85 miles from a full charge.

Why did you choose the Nissan LEAF?

Strangely, I must be one of the few people who actually like the design of the first generation LEAF. My last EV was a considerably newer second generation one and, frankly, it was just a car. Looked like every other car on the road, both inside and out. My current one is, erm, challenging aesthetically, but it just feels ‘futuristic’ and that’s why I love it!

Positives

The baby blue colour
the alloy wheels – fitted by the previous owner but really suit the car
huge boot space.

Negatives

Nowhere for a spare tyre. I’m not a fan of the squirty gloop and compressor.
the Nissan app – it was a royal pain getting it to work with the last car but I’ve given up completely with this one. Plus, Nissan have withdrawn support for it on the older models.
the annoying start up screen that wants you to press a button to connect to Nissan’s servers before you start your journey.

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

It’s a 9 year old car with 40k miles on the clock. I only got it on the first of January so it was bitterly cold. As it’s warming up in Spring, the range is increasing, which is nice. I’ve got the ‘LeafSpy’ app and according to that the battery state of health is better than 90%. The majority of charging (1,263 times) has been at home, with only a few (92) on rapid chargers.

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

It recently failed its MOT for excess play in the front suspension ball joint. They also flagged corrosion on the discs but the brakes aren’t used as much as on an ICE car so it’s fairly common. Other than that, she’s been fine.

What are the standout technological features of the car?

This is a difficult one. The sat nav, cruise control, speed limiter and the rest are all pretty standard in even the most basic cars these days. When she was new, it was a good package.

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

The biggest delight for me is setting the climate control to warm the car up before I go out to it on a chilly winter’s morning.

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

“They’ll all need a new battery pack at 5 years old!”

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

In an ideal world, both the Tesla Model S and the IONIQ 5 would appeal. Realistically, I’m retired and my current LEAF will probably see me out, and I’m happy with that.

Do you charge your electric car from home?

Yes

Do you have a home charging unit installed?

Electricity supplier & tariff

At the moment I’ve just got a standard tariff with Octopus which costs me 27p per kWh. They have a couple of EV tariffs, depending on whether you just charge from a household socket or have one of their compatible chargers installed. I’ve still got a couple of nearby supermarkets that have free chargers too 😁

Using a socket, the price from 00:30-04:30 is 9p per kWh. But the daytime rate goes up to around 30p per kWh, and the standing charge rises too. If you only do a low mileage and your washing machine and drier have timers, it’s an option.

With a dedicated charger the price drops by another couple of pence per unit (and the standing charge is like the off-peak one). This probably works well if you cover more miles. It can also get bonus charging when the national grid is overproducing (all those wind turbines and lots of windy days).

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

The few times I’ve used public chargers I’ve found Pod Point to be pretty good. Their prices aren’t the worst and their equipment has always worked for me. I’ve used a couple of Shell garages and the equipment is OK but the prices can be eye-watering.

Insurer

Tesco Insurance – I owned an ICE car between the LEAFs and this insurance was started with that one. It didn’t cost much extra when I swapped but I’ve not got this year’s renewal yet and rates seem to be rising all round.

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

I bought the car for cash (as I did with its ICE predecessor)
road tax for the ICE car was £220 per year v £0 for LEAF (although it’s going up to a towering £20 next year!)
insurance is currently £2 per month more for the LEAF
last service was £180 for the LEAF, £360 for the ICE car
I used to spend around £100 a month in diesel for the ICE car. So far this year, I’ve spent £6 at home and £40 on public chargers for charging the LEAF. The rest of the power is courtesy of Mr Sainsbury, Mr Lidl and Mr Tesco (although he’s now started charging 40p per kWh).