The 45 minutes (charge stops) could be spent doing things you would do at other points of the day - reading for pleasure, answering emails, tea-break, using wi-fi hotspots to watch KZfaq videos etc. It does not have to be "lost" time. Just has to be re-arranged, freeing up that same 45 minutes for later in the day. Just a thought. Cheers.

No complaining about rain in the UK...you have green fields and plenty of crops. All sunshine makes a desert, the Arabs say.

Hi, I was due to change my bmw 5 series and was thinking about an electric but the usual concerns were putting me off. Pretty much decided on a Toyota hybrid when I stumbled across your videos. Totally allayed my fears about going electric and last week I bought a 2014 leaf tekna from Chorley Nissan. Absolutely delighted with the car, suits my needs perfectly. Happy to put you down as an ambassador, you are the reason I took the plunge!

Your advice was invaluable when I bought Maple in December. More than happy to have you as my Leaf Ambassador.

Isn't it high time that the charging network owners considered their customers comfort and put a roof over their chargers, like most petrol stations have.

I spend the 45 mins recharge , recharging myself with a bite to eat , coffee trip to 🚽 General chill before back to the rat race...... keep up the vids fella

For 9 months I used a 30kWh leaf to do a 200 mile round trip on three consecutive days a week. Each way was approximately 30 miles of A and B roads and 70 of motorway, the economy was helped by a 50mph zone on the M5. The result was very temperature dependant. on a warm summers day I could do the entire journey on 77% charge, below 5'C temperature I had to stop at the only rapid charger. I used to drive at 60 - 65mph (as fast as lorries) using cruise control. If the journey was 100 miles on the motorway alone, I wouldn't say it was sensibly doable without annoying lorries. As straightforward as it was, I'm looking forward to a 40 or 60 kWh Leaf.

I subscribed to your channel a few weeks ago and your excellent videos convinced wifey and me to upgrade from our 3-year-old Yaris to a Leaf. After a test drive at West Way Nissan in Coventry last week we placed an order for the Leaf Tekna and we're collecting it tomorrow.

For anyone buying a cheap Gen 1 Leaf now in the UK: check the battery capacity in kWh, then calculate what range you need for your commute. In my case, my battery capacity is now 18 kWh when charged to 100%. I do mixed highway (70mph) and town driving on my commute, which includes a couple of steep hill climbs, giving me an average of 3.5 miles per kWh. However, I don't want to use the last 2 kWh of the battery capacity, so in effect I have 3.5 x 16 kWh = 56 mile range @ 100% charge. I ignore the car's range estimate; it gives me "85 miles" when I charge to 100%, which is obviously impossible. If I drove at below 40mph and tried not to accelerate too much, lived in an area with fewer steep hills (!), avoid very wet weather, and didn't use AC or heating, I could get 4.5 miles per kWh. If I charge to 80%, the range drops down to about 45 miles in real range. For reference, by battery State of Health (SOH) reports as 82% and 11/12 health bars are lit on the car's battery display. The % SOH has actually gone UP since I bought the car, so take that number with a pinch of salt. Occasional charges to 100% seem to balance the battery cells and causes the battery management system to say that the battery health is improving. Most of the time, I charge to 80%. I also never run the battery down below 20%.

Good video... An observation on your savings though, I've done ~24k miles in a VW e-golf in the last two years and the only servicing costs have been wiper fluid and two front tires. In my wife's car, which has done similar mileage, we've probably spent two grand on general maintenance stuff.... We got our e-golf lease (deposit free as well) for less than the price of petrol every month in what was my main car, but I hadn't factored in as well the savings on everything else: brakes, oil, servicing etc, so its actually turned out to be a much better deal than I'd hoped.

I have a leaf and agree with what you are saying to a point. I have a Leaf with a 30 kw battery. I find that if I drive at 50 mph on the motorway , it has a range of around 150 miles. If I drive at 70 mph, it's range reduces to 70-80 miles. Both these are for summer temperatures of around 20 C, if the air temperature is below zero, the range is reduced. More importantly, I find that a rapid battery recharge increases the battery temperature by two divisions. That means that after two rapid charges, the battery temperature reaches it's maximum permitted level. I find that when driving the battery temperature remains unchanged. The consequence is that if your journey requires three (or more) rapid recharges, then the car has to be left to allow the battery temperature to cool by two divisions. I do not know how long that takes but do know that in my car leaving the battery 75 minutes to cool only reduced it's temperature by one division. I thought that I had a fault with my car but found that was untrue. A Nissan Main Agent provided me with another 30kw Leaf to test whether it had the same characteristics as my car with regard to battery temperature. The result of the test was that the two cars behaved in a similar manner. In conclusion, if your journey takes a maximum of two recharges, this is a superb car in every respect but for longer journeys , the driver is either required to wait long times for the battery to cool or has to drive slowly on the motorways which I found to be a frightening experience. It is possible to reduce the cost of your journey to zero by changing your home gas/electricity supplier to Ecotricity. That gives the driver 52 free rapid charges in a year.

A couple of months ago, my next door neighbour had a bunch of solar panels fitted to his roof. Just today I noticed a Hyundai Ioniq plugged in to the side of his house. I've got neighbour envy right now. Guess I'll have to keep buying lottery tickets.

Ive just bought one as your videos have been informative. Simon

I love commuting in my leaf but it is a shorter commute at US interstate speeds of 70-80 mph. The only issue I have as an American is I live in a big country everything is so spread out so I still have to have an ICE (ford focus hatch) but once the network gets expanded here and affordable longer range EV's are on the market I hope to be all EV. I do have one advantage though the US leaf plant is roughly in the middle of my commute and all the local nissan dealerships have free lvl 3 charging so I find myself charging on the way home just because it's free. By the way, love the channel (thought about doing an US version, because it is a bit different over here, lol). The network is crap in most states and to visit family it is a 300 mile 5hr trip one way so there are challenges that are very apparent across the pond.

It's the rain that makes this land green. We'd feel lost without it’s comforting sounds. ;-p // EV ranges are improving, so that a few years from now we'll be looking at these videos and wondering what all of the range anxiety fuss was about. BTW, seen plenty of stinker drivers over the decades who were having range anxiety, plus wallet anxiety. Thanks for the review, ELM.

Great video :) I've got a 24kw Leaf on the Motability scheme (as I'm disabled). I've traveled nearly 35,000 miles in 28 months, mainly drama free miles (apart from the Ecotricity app!). I wouldn't want to go back to regularly using an ICE vehicle. My only worry is currently there are no EV's on offer on the Motability scheme :( I hope that changes before January 2018 when I have to put my application in :)

It's funny some of the comments you get regarding the time spent aspects lol....I have just done a very Similar Journey from Liverpool to Leicestershire and back in a Toyota Auris 2Ltr Diesel and got 49.7MPG overall ☺the funniest part was this involved almost 50 miles of being stuck at below 50 mph due to roadworks and Average speed cameras back and front on M62 and M6 eventually managed to do 70+ on the A and 60 on the B Rds When I checked the trip on Sat Nav overall 30Mph average speed 😂I was forced to stop at a Service Station twice once due to a turned over van on M6 with standing traffic for 17 Miles so proffered to sit it out at the Service's Flask of tea butty time out LOL...So I can fully support EVs being a very Worthwhile alternative...It would be a lot better if they could improve the amount of Charging points and in the UK put them in a solar panel shelter for bad weather day's.....Great Video mate and good explanations 👍👍👍👍👍

I've done a similar one but not often, I have the luxury of working at home. Manchester to Rotherham, 75 miles. No stops. Rotherham back to Woolley Edge M1 North bound Ecotricity pump is about 25 miles, leaving about 22 miles left in the car, which is a reasonable margin. (I have a new 30kw Accenta). Plug in and charge. For the time it took me to go to the loo, get a coffee, drink it, answer a few emails etc, it's around 20 minutes, by which time the car now has 85/90 miles range. and I need 50 to get home - a bit less actually, as the return to Manchester is a nice downhill once past Bradford, and power usage is much reduced. The last two times at Woolley Edge, the pump has only charged me for the £3 connection and not the 17p per kW (Don't tell anyone or they will fix it!) So cost is about £5, or about £8 if Ecotricity mend the pump, or 3.33 p per mile or 5.33 per mile. Way worth a 20 minute stop I'd do anyway.

Interesting video. Let's hope they put more chargers in ahead of mass adoption of EVs, queues at charge stations would not be good. The Zoe could just about do that journey but a twenty minute stop would make it comfortable. I reckon a 300 mile range would be worth paying for because it would mean only ever needing public chargers on very long journeys (though a fast charging solution is required for people without parking as I remain skeptical that people will want to use self driving taxis all of the time - I just like to carry things on a just in case basis and that would be impossible plus it is nice to have a car where you know people haven't been doing god knows what in it just before you get in, I also think cars driving around empty going to pick people up will replace a parking problem with a congestion problem).

I have an eNV200 van that has been amazing for the last three years. The only down sides are one, high insurance, and the damp heater in the winter

Just started watching and it's great that you put the ambassador program at the start mate, pretty much certain that I will be getting the second gen model so you'll definitely get my reference. On a side note you might want to consider adding or editing your petrol/diesel comparison with higher mileages (that us taxi drivers will encounter years before average owners or potential owners of higher mileage leafs) with the extra costs of replacing the timing belt 60-100k plus water and fuel pumps, exhausts (or parts of) injectors dpf filters etc. Just a thought mate.

my bad I was also replying to another site where his name was Ian so ...... anyway I thoroughly enjoy your musings and check in often.

Interesting article. Conclusions I draw: such a long distance commute costs a lot of extra time because of the need to recharge, and be careful how fast you drive. However, were there to be charging points at your destination, and/or were the car range to be 150 miles or more, then it would be competitive timewise with an ICE. So, give it a couple of years...

They really need to standardize the charging methods, preferably on contactless inductive chargers like the paddles GM had briefly. As it currently stands, the plugs on the charger will eventually wear down or be damaged enough to not operate and no one would pay to replace them or even notice they no longer work. The chargers should also have cameras and toll tag readers to charge anyone who are parked in the stall regardless of whether or not they are charging and the chargers need a feature to send an SMS message when the charge are near completion.

Consider if one was commuting to a job there would be a charging facility set up more than likely and therefore they wouldn't have to stop to charge at all.

Your man maths is out this time. The leaf costs approx £3 to charge at home and you spent £5.30 on each charge each way. That’s £13.60 plus the overpriced burger (£4) your on par with the 50-60mpg car. And you have lost 45 minutes. However, in an i3 94Ah rex you could have done it for £11 including the home charge and wouldn’t have had to stop. £9 petrol and £3 home electric. You may have also had some fuel still left in the tank at the end towards your next trip. The i3 is also more efficient so you could also do a higher average speed. I highly recommend one if you like the drive of your mini. The steering on the i3 is more like the mini and very fun.

It would have been nice if you displayed all the times, stats and numbers on the screen

Good video. I will definitely be buying an electric car next. Not sure if it will be a Leaf. I am considering the Kia Soul EV and the Hyundai Ionic (especially as these two companies have said that they will be releasing 200 miles plus range versions of these cars soon). This time one year ago I was doing a similar commute (Coventry to Cambridge) every day. This was in a VW Polo petrol car. I was able to average 50 MPG +. If I buy an electric car with a 200 miles plus real-world range (plus a home charger with 25-40 miles per hour charging) I would be able to charge overnight and do the commute non-stop.

Hopefully you'll be doing a "you're thoughts" video on the new leaf in the coming days. I got up in the night to watch the live stream. Was very impressed with the whole package!

:) in our Model 3 I took my wife and little girl to a beach some 100 miles from where we live the other day and, starting with an 80% charged battery we were able to do the round-trip and recharge the car in our garage for our next day's adventure. But I don't believe you have Mod 3's in the UK yet so the Leaf is a nice alternative.

I'm on holiday on the island of Crete, and just watched ELM....fun huh :3

Range anxiety ? Watched a few of these various vlogs now and more than once the chargers have refused to work for some reason or another. Cannot help but wonder how you get on should your mobile/app etc decide to fail at this most important time ? As you know an ICE car will cover 300/400 miles at high speed without even thinking about it & some of the much newer ones are very economical as well (petrol focus I hired with the new 1.0 lit was real good) and will only need a service once a year. Yes for me an EV like the Leaf would work (well a Focus estate type would be even better) as we could charge at home but reading about this Leaf battery degradation has given me pause to wonder as they are only covered for 50k (need to now check out other makes ?

I have merc diesel and would only have to fill up at the start of the week, admittedly it costs more in diesel than electric but I value being with my family, so taking an extra 45 mins a day from my time is unacceptable, sorry EVM until the batteries can do 450-600 miles from one charge electric is not viable for long motorway trips. I believe the way to go is Hybrid.

Great video on the practicalities around long trips in our Gen II cars. People will laugh when they've driving 200 mile range EV's someday, but oh well. (And screw the complainers...)

As far as spending money at Services, couldn't you pack a lunch or snack from home with a thermos (do they still sell these?) of tea/coffee? These costs probably add up to more than your on-the-road charge stops. Cheers for uploading a great video about the real world EV experience! I am ever closer to having an EV thanks to your and other EV aficionados' efforts. Thanks.

Hi there, I've ordered a nissan leaf acenta 30KwH, and watching your videos helped that decision. Whiz across that link and I'd be happy to help. Cheers

As battery range improves up to 200 a mile range, the need to stop in between to charge will decrease. You could do a round trip with ease.

Once there are charging stations everywhere, you would just drive to the venue or jobsite, charge there while you are doing your thing or working, then it would be fully charged for an uneventful ride home with no charge stops. The problem is not the range, it's the infrastructure.

Nicely done. That was a great and balanced video.

I have a maximum 42 mile motorway commute each way. I can use a slower route that's 36 miles. With 6 free charge points at work I should rarely rely on other charge points. I have another large ice vehicle for family.

Haha Tesla people don’t wave, come to think no Leafs notice me waving either. I drive an iMiEV(only saw 1 this year and they waved like crazy). Love your accent, trying it out on my 10mth old. I live in Winnipeg.

Charging at work would also have been easy but slower but if you are their for 6-8 hours no loss of time I just run a cord out the back of my shop and leave with a full charge not that I need it but why not the car is sitting their all day anyway.

It's not particularly cheap to use those services, but to me the main benefit of EVs are not the cost savings but more just how much better they are for day to day use. Engines are better for "emotional" cars, but eMotors do the job very well for everything else.

Ian Always enjoy your posts. Just think about how far the infra structure has advanced since you began posting. And it is only going to get better

I'd like an electric car but live in a block of flats so no way of charging at home and not many charge points close to were I live

5 years from now an entry level EV will be able to complete the whole journey without needing to charge - EVs are only going to get better! For now my commute is 35kms (22 miles) each way which makes it very easy for my 24kWh Leaf to get me to work and then back home with only overnight charging needed.

Done the same charging place myself on the way to Middlesbrough, But ccs, So far i have it at 50% charges with no problem.

I currently drive a Smart diesel, my daily commute is 37 miles each way, I considered an electric vehicle,but I live in a little lane which is a shared access, no guarantee of a parking spot, so no guarantee of being able to charge my car, as my commute is along the M5, during the summer months, getting in and out of Gordano services is a major expedition, very time consuming, in the area in which I live, we have no charging points, not good for a country looking at cutting down on emissions, if I were to get another car, it would have to be small to be able to park in the lane, sadly, the range of a Smart just doesn't make it worthwhile, sorry, I have to carry on polluting with my dirty diesel. Useful information on your videos though

Hi Electric Leaf Man (if thats your real name). I would love to make you my Nissan Leaf ambassador. I love your leaf videos they are really educational and funny! I am soon going to purchase a Leaf and you have played a huge part in that!

I'm a new subscriber and am really enjoying your factual and down to earth reviews. Thanks. I'd be interested to know your opinion of hybrids, specifically the Prius or Auris as I'm considering these as a potential next motor. Cheers - John

Hi mate I'm happy to recommend you, just waiting on my lease on my current car to finish and I'll be getting one. send me the link and I'll do it straight away.

Hey, I'm in SW Florida. We do have 'sun' but, believe it or not, we also have rain and, during our 6-month-long 'rainy season' which just happens to be in the Summer, we have rain just about every single day.

Fascinating comments. Good to get an unbiased educated view

The whole thing would have been much easier had there been some sort of charging available at your destination.

I would agree in some respects but not in others for example you make 2 assumptions:- 1. The charger(s) always work 2. There is not a queue to use them Commuting is the type of journey that is "time sensitive" - ie you need to be at work at a certain time... I have a LEAF and I do commute but my journey is a mere 11 miles or so so I can do several return journeys on a single charge and I get the luxury of free charging at work (7kw)... But the important aspect is that I don't have to stop because as soon as you do how much time do you allow? As the journey is "time sensitive" you have to factor in busy chargers or detours if the charger is faulty... That said, we are a 2 car family and probably like many others figured we would use the ICE for longer journeys, UK holidays etc... But it hasn't panned out like that as there is a certain fun associated with long distance EV driving and even being stuck in motorway traffic not seeing your temperature gauge going up and your fuel gauge going down is more satisfying and relaxing! So now a large number of our road trips are in the LEAF... Last year we started from LEAFy Surrey drove up via the Lake District, stayed and toured locally for a couple of nights... Upto and around a lot of Scotland eventually coming back down the M1 side via North Yorkshire... It was great! With no dramas apart from the rapid in Keswick which refused my RFID - luckily a phone call resulted in a remote charge being started.. Especially enjoyed and made use of the free CYC Rapids in Scotland! Something I didn't realise before I set off! Thank you Scottish government subsidy. Keep up the good work ELM - always an interesting watch...

Can you get a battery or generator trailer for the long trips?

IRC it would be quicker to go a solid 70 on the first leg, even though you'd spend longer charging and it would cost slightly more, but the charge rate is faster than the discharge rate so the total time would be less.

Hi Electric Leaf Man I would like to make you my Nissan Leaf ambassador. Your videos are a great way of educating the general public on electric vehicles. After watching your videos I have bought a 2014 leaf tekna 😁👍

Nearly 4 hours on your working week (assuming a 5 day week)!

The ideal commute car has a good music system and wastes nothing in traffic jams and rides quiet or silently. An EV seems to be the ideal.

It would cost me approx 15 quid in diesel to do a similar trip and that takes a quick couple of minutes to put fuel in. Cannot see how electric cars and that much cheaper, but needs a lot more planning and stress to do longer distance. Diesel for me all the time untill a better alternative comes along Ive tried lpg but even that needed planning when you needed to stop for fuel

I drive for Uber in a Nissan Leaf and I drive over 300 miles a day and do just fine in the United States.

still free charging at all charge points in Ireland only one company to charge ESB which i think is super private companies to greedy all they think of is profit

Interesting though isn't it. In the next gen Leaf, you could potentially manage it with only 1 stop, costing you only the 3 quid connection and the KWh used (with it hopefully being more efficent) So the bigger the range, the cheaper it costs. Only downside of course is due to the car being new, I guess we will find out how much more a month it'll cost. I know for sure that driving an EV for me would be more expensive than my ICE just because I bought my ICE outright 7 years ago costing £1200 lol. But that could be said for any car on finance.

That was a very good example off doing a longer journey in an EV if you are happy with the two twenty minute stops for charging,I have a BMW 2series Grand Tourer Diesel which on the same run as he did would do 55mpg running at the speed he did,if you were to take the fuel duty and VAT of diesel there would be very little difference in fuel costs for that journey,when we've spent thousands buying an EV as we all will eventually do you think for one minute that the government will not tax electricity ??? Dream On.

I'm not sure you're right about the efficiency of IC engined vehicles when the temperature drops. I thought the thermal efficiency improves when there's a greater temperature across the engine? Also, the heat you use to warm the car is waste heat that would normally be wasted, so it doesn't reduce the range either. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of electric cars, but things stated as fact should be correct.

i still dont fully understand the issue on big trip using this chademo.. ev force you to dont exceed speed limit.. so keep me safer (i tend to go fast) my back hurt a lot after 2-3 hours of driving.. you take 30 minutes brake after every 2 hours of driving.... for an holiday looks fine to me...

I see you are pretty local to me. There are DC chargers at Meadowhall and AMP in Sheffield that are free. AMP has a cafe next to it and uses energy from the wind turbine, so is also green energy. Both are a minute or so from the motorway, so don't really cost time to use. Not sure if you also calculated the charge at home and final recharge into your castings, but even still Jon the 30KW leaf would have only added another £2 I think. If I see you around I will wave from my leaf.

Got to remember that petrol/diesel doesn't magic it's way in to the fuel tank. It involves stopping, getting out the car, going in to the station to pay etc... Takes time too!

Wow, it even took longer to plug in than put a hose in a gas tank. Another 45 minutes on a trip that's less than 100 miles in each direction. Too bad there wasn't charging at the destination. It's not enough better to make me trade my Volt.

I purpose you a challenge ! A 200 miles Trip Diesel VS Electric The race is not about speed , its about costs , to make this race interesting my Diesel has 19 inch wheels stock . The person which uses less money wins charging costs receipt's & fuel costs receipt's would have to provided !!!

My Leaf has lost about 30 miles range since it was new. But my commute is only 41 miles round trip, so it is not a problem so far. I do not have range anxiety because I do the same trip every day and always have about 12 miles left on the GOM when I get home. I often wonder if videos like this one help or hurt the image of electric cars. It seems to promote the idea of range anxiety as a major issue. While any EV driver knows better, persons who have not driven one might get the idea that range is all EV owners think about. The truth is, i think about range far less than an ICE driver thinks about filling his car with gas.

Hi mate,sorry I didn't get your name ,but two things that I can see as to why I think E V s are not ready for most computers, firstly time is money for me and 45 minutes twice daily would cost me considerably ,secondly imagine doing that trip with kids in car ? It's bad enough when you don't have to stop for fuel ! I can see good points too ,but they a ling way off ready for me ! BUT no doubt that they'll get there cheers Steve

Seems like you had a nice driving experience. I noticed at the start of the video you where trying to be a Leaf Ambassador all the best with that. Don,t forget to send me the link. Thank you.

If it had been your actual work that you went to every day, you'd arrange somewhere to charge at work, which would mean the 45 minute difference would evaporate.

ICE critics would point out the cost of home charging wasn't included in your figures... but nice to know the 30kWh Leaf is more than capable of distance commuting!

Great video. One massive thing though. Why are these areas not covered?

So glad you got rid of that old phone mate

I'm all for ev I commute on an e bike pedelec 11 mile a day and save good time and money but i can honestly say I dont see the benefit in this instance for the commute you have done Its took longer by about 1 hr you have had to stop twice to charge up where you might not have stopped atall in a normal car you risk being late if you cant find a charger available you spend money you prob normally wouldnt ie services food drink to save 10 ish pounds in this instance easily you could blow that in extra spend at services Now if you could do whole trip on 1 charge recharge on site of work and whole trip back on that charge both ways 70mph cruise I would be singing its praises as a 100mile trip in 1 sitting non stop is completely doable by human

I think Ecotricity's connection fee should be capped at £3 a day - otherwise in effect you're paying around 40p a kWh for electricity. by the way - as the new leaf has been launched just noticed the price on the current model 30kw non flex tekna model come down to £23,290 - bargain? Or wait for the new model?

Mr Ambassador, if the Leaf had come with curved graphene-based ultracapacitor batteries, you could do this commute every day without having to stop to recharge, would yer ? What I am saying is that there are ultracapacitor modules in the size of truck batteries that have the power of about100 kWh, and why not the Leaf come with such batteries. @

You lose about 3 to 5 miles per gallon in the rain. According to the experts. So if your getting 22mpg regularly, you will get about 17-19 during rainy days.

I wanted to buy Leaf. But now... I've had a small crash today, so I might not be able to afford insurance on a Leaf anymore:( will see.

Wow so that what a commute in summer looks like when you live on a drizzly little island off the coast of France :P

Hi. Good to meet you at the services (Ferrybridge?) last Monday. Keep posting. If you know anyone who has an EV but doesn't have off street parking I'd be interested to know how they get on. I know a few people who'd like an ev but have to park on the street.

Hi, I've found your videos on leaf ownership really interesting and have spurred me on to considering buying my own. We're taking one on a family test drive on Monday! You make a great leaf ambassador, would be happy to support you, send me the link!

I love the rain.

Interesting video as always. Very timely for me - I'm on the precipice of swapping my diesel death machine for a 30kWh LEAF. I have a weekly commute of 140 miles each way, which I know in theory would be a doddle but I appreciate every reassuring voice! Be interested to know how you got such a good price on your car, by the way...

20 mins per top up charge?

You priced how much it would cost in petrol or diesel but the E mode would have cost more as well as you didn't include the initial charge when you started which would be another £5

That is cold for me. 11C is 52 I think we would be 85 to 90F

I want to get or even build an ev. I don't drive everyday and when I do. It's only about 20-40 miles at most! I am off grid. And use solar power. I guess I'd need another 2kw in solar for charging alone? I guess also I'd be better off to build a charge station with Batteries and 2kw in solar atleast. What is the minimum charge current?

I will definitely make you my Nissan Leaf Ambassador. Look forward to your very informative videos. As a Leaf owner I definitely have range anxiety, luckily I don't do many long journeys. Not so much the range as to if the next charging point is available and working. Don't know how to send direct message through KZfaq?

Can someone tell me..... I bought my first Leaf yesterday - a 2015 S and trickle charged it last night. It shows 100 percent and 96 miles. I read it may be better to charge to 80 percent rather than 100. How would you do that? Can you turn on the car WHILE IT IS CHARGING and look at the display? I thought I read in the manual that the car had to be off while charging. It would be nice to have a display that shows you details while it is charging. Is it really better to only charge to 80 percent ?

If you compared it to a diesel your savings would be even less, anyone doing that kind of journey regularly would buy a diesel for reliability and range. So let's say a diesel did 80 miles to a gallon which is not unreasonable considering some of the old diesels that I know of used to get 90 to the gallon, but let's say 80, it would cost you 2 and a hlf gallons of fuel, which is approximately 15 pounds, however if you take into account the time wasted refueling the electric car, then the extra time which would be money means your car is more expensive due to the time lost. So diesel costs around £15 electric around £21 or so pounds, I forgot to mention, diesel is both ways, electric is one way, if you add the coming home time as well it then goes to around 32+ pounds in your electric car cos of the need to stop on the way home compared to a diesel you wouldn't need to stop at all. Oh and then you need to consider the fact that when you get home you will need to recharge again, while with a diesel you would just fill up the tank and use the rest of the fuel all week without any loss of time recharging. So if you take that into account as well, we are looking at a vehicle that is seriously expensive to run based on the time lost. But hey i'm with you on this, I would much rather do this kind of trip if I could in an electric car preferably a Tesla model s p 100, in which case the cost would drop dramatically due to the range of a Tesla, the only problem is the cost and inconvenience of finding a super charger, i'm just guessing there were no Tesla super chargers at that service station, but I bet you could buy diesel which anyone with half a brain wouldn't need cos they would have refueled before joining the motorway, but your electric car had to stop it's wasn't really a choice you could make with ease.

Just got a leaf today using your videos so if the ambassador thing is still valid give me a shout

If you have a 200 mile commute, it's not a new car you need but a new home.

It's all about downtime. Just buy a suzuki celerio for 6 grand .you can have 4 cars then and less depreciation and 60+ mpg

The leaf does not seem cheap for how much your journey cost !!!? My diesel golf is like a £1 more expensive same journey

I guess you have the 30kWh-version with LBW at 15%. Why did you charge at 39%? Is there no fast charger closer to the destination? I'm thinking you if you can charge between LBW and VLBW and get faster speeds since you charge between 10%-60% rather than 27%-88% and the average charge speeds would be closer to 30kW rather than 25kW.