[minion]

Hi everyone
I'm Luke, in my 30s now. The family is getting bigger and you know, I'm looking for some way to reduce my petrol bills. I commute to work, and that's about 25/30 mins away. I drop the kids to school on the way and pick them up when I finish at the after school club. So I do about 70/80 miles each way every day. The building where I work has just recently installed some charging points free for residents so I'm considering an electric vehicle.
The Nissan Leaf is quite interesting but I'm here to get some advice.

Luke

 

[Paul]

Hello and welcome.

LEAF is good, other options are available, have a look through the various forums and feel free to fire away with any questions, someone here will probably know the answer, no matter how "odd" the question may seem to be.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

welcome to Speak EV @minion

 

[flipper]

Hi everyone
I'm Luke, in my 30s now. The family is getting bigger and you know, I'm looking for some way to reduce my petrol bills. I commute to work, and that's about 25/30 mins away. I drop the kids to school on the way and pick them up when I finish at the after school club. So I do about 70/80 miles each way every day. The building where I work has just recently installed some charging points free for residents so I'm considering an electric vehicle.
The Nissan Leaf is quite interesting but I'm here to get some advice.

Luke

70-80 miles *each way* or 70-80 miles total each day (I'd hope the latter if you do the commute in 30 minutes!)

My daily commute is 70 miles round-trip. I've only had my Leaf less than 2 weeks but I've yet to make it home with less than 15%/15 miles remaining.
My journey is mainly A-roads, across country, some hills (Herts/Beds/Bucks) so average speed of 50-60MPH. The one short dual carriageway stretch I tend to stick to 60MPH as 70MPH certainly drains the battery faster.

So, on the surface of it, especially if you can charge at work, I'd say an EV like the Leaf or Zoe would fit perfectly.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

My daily commute is 70 miles round-trip. I've only had my Leaf less than 2 weeks but I've yet to make it home with less than 15%/15 miles remaining.

Just to be clear... yours is a Mk2... right?

A mk2 might be OK. Mark Tebbutt drives 83 miles (IIRC) every day on a single charge in his Mk2 but even he occasionally has to pop into a supermarket for a bit of a top up to get home and sometimes he arrives back with no range remaining!

 

[flipper]

Just to be clear... yours is a Mk2... right?

A mk2 might be OK. Mark Tebbutt drives 83 miles (IIRC) every day on a single charge in his Mk2 but even he occasionally has to pop into a supermarket for a bit of a top up to get home and sometimes he arrives back with no range remaining!

Yes, Mk2.
I work in Milton Keynes so I do have a fall-back option of a choice of Rapids if my morning journey is a complete nightmare.
Ask me again in the depths of next winter...

 

[flipper]

In addition, my journey home is kinder than the journey to work (average 45% in the morning, 40% evening).
Not forgetting I'm still an EV novice so there is probably potential for squeezing out a couple of % here and there once I learn the best driving styles (I was pretty good at hypermiling my previous ICE cars, both petrol and diesel, so hope I can do the same with the Leaf).

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

My daily commute is 70 miles round-trip. I've only had my Leaf less than 2 weeks but I've yet to make it home with less than 15%/15 miles remaining.

as @Paul_Churchley stated this might be ok with a new Gen 2 car in spring temperatures but you'll be using your eco driving skills next Winter if you want to stay warm. If you factor in the Gen 1's poorer winter performance and probable battery degradation then that's simply not an option for most drivers.

Mark Tebbutt (here) is one of the most trustworthy Leaf resources having undertaken regular commutes with both a Gen 1 and Gen 2 Leaf. He's prepared to drive down to the wire and considers the Gen 2's range as 80-85 miles.