[Edd Beesley]

Can I please pick the hive-mind of the e-Niro drivers on here?

I have a 30kwh Leaf at the moment. I love almost everything about it, except the range when on a longer motorway run, especially in cold/wet weather.

I've also got a second car, which basically only gets used for those longer journeys.

I'd like to sell both and replace with one EV.

However, it would need to cope with a 200 mile round trip without charging. That's 100 miles out, and the same back again. No charging at the destination. Mostly motorways, sitting at 70mph.

It would need to do that summer or winter, dry or rain, and with the heater or a/c on! And it would need to get me home with a reasonable margin left so I'm not panicking all the way home about if I'm going to get stuck...

And it would need to do it today, and for the next six or seven years (as that's how long I tend to keep my cars).

It feels like a lot of demands! Can the e-Niro do that? Or am I expecting too much?

I'd really appreciate the wisdom of your experience before I make an expensive mistake!

At GPS 70mph in winter in seven years? No, that's an unrealistic expectation.

I managed 230 miles in winter (something like 3 degrees) at about 65mph indicated (not GPS) and arrived home with the battery warning on and --- miles displayed. No rain, a bit of wind but not a gale, one very small passenger, no luggage.

If you're willing to accept driving at 65mph, or a ten minute charge somewhere on the way home, then you'll be ok.

 

[Edd Beesley]

Yes..but as soon as you touch the brake pedal you start getting regen, even in regen setting zero.

So the only way to have no regen would be to always completely coast up to roundabouts, give ways, stop signs etc etc (which would really annoy other road users), or maybe use the parking brake!?

Braking while in Neutral won't use regen.

 

[Edd Beesley]

Can’t say I’ve tried that myself!

I've been driving cars with regen brakes for 11 years, got to do something to pass the time!

 

[Edd Beesley]

Hi - OP here!

You're right, Xinix - I'm very much a proponent of EVs. I've been driving electric for more than 4 years; I've encouraged two of my friends to also buy a Leaf each. It's absolutely my go-to for my next car, and I am prepared to make compromises to make that work.

The question is how far I'm willing to compromise, even as a fan of EVs:

I'd have no problem stopping for 10 minutes "once in a blue moon", or even 20 or 30 minutes every time I do those longer journeys IF I had confidence that it would only be a brief stop. However, I've probably used rapid chargers maybe 20 times so far, and about 25% of the time it's proven to be a problem. I've encountered:

• broken chargers (more than once; despite the provider's own website saying they were up and running) leaving me unable to charge
• a long queue (caused by someone using a rapid charger at 3kw to recharge their hybrid)
• chargers refusing to accept payment and hence work
• charges on the map not existing in real life, and vice-versa
• rapid charger cables being locked into my car because the app crashes, leaving me trapped, and requiring a lengthy wait in a phone queue until someone can remotely reset the charger (had that one twice!)

It's this rubbish that I'm really trying to avoid!

And, it's worth not losing sight of the up-front cost of the cars. I can get a c.2 year old e-Niro for just under £30k; I don't know what a petrol or PHEV equivalent would cost - but not too far off half that? OK, i'll recover some of that in running costs, but that extra money up front is a big consideration for me.

Plus, my wife and kids will be in the car for each of these journeys. They don't share my interest in EVs, and will therefore be a lot less understanding if/when something goes wrong.

So, I'm trying to find a way to make this work - I had hoped the e-Niro would be the magic answer that would allow me to go full-electric but yet completely escape the perils of the public charging network. Not sure it 100% achieves that. Which leaves me with having to make some tricky choices!

(Counter-argument: yes the charging network is improving all the time; no, I've not tried Instavolt - maybe they're better and I've been using the dodgy networks and getting a bad experience!)

Yes rapid infrastructure gets better all the time. when I had my first plug-in car in 2010 I believe there was one rapid at Mitsubishi headquarters and that was it!

I also understand the frustration that comes with having family in the car. A 130 mile round trip in our Leaf required 2x rapid stops and we had to cross the motorway to charge as both units one side were bust, then the working one on the other side crapped out just after we walked away to feed the family, and then they refused to lift the barrier to let us cross back over, cue one crying partner and two screaming kids. We swapped our second Leaf for a hybrid a couple weeks after that.

but with the Niro, well, to get your range targets, it’s a fairly simple decision. Stop and charge in the dead of winter and deal with the uncertainty, or, just go a bit slower. If you end up with enough miles in hand, great, speed up again. If this is unpopular with your wife then explain the rationale - do you want to go slightly slower, and arrive home 15 minutes later than ideal, or, go faster but have to stop and charge and spin the wheel of misfortune?