Considering an electric car, but...

[VenusClapTrap]

They’re not as green as they’re cracked up to be, are they? Is it still worth it? I like the idea of not funding certain oil producing countries/regimes though.

I have a Nissan Leaf. I've heard that it takes some time before the environmental impact of actually making the car is offset.

My electricity comes from a renewable source, so I know the environmental impact of running the car is somewhat lessened.

It's saving me a fortune on fuel and is a delight to drive.

Absolutely they are a great improvement, not least from an air quality point of view! We’ll probably replace one of our cars with a Leaf whenever we can’t get any more use out of them, if we can’t stretch to a Tesla. Although it will be a few years until we need to change cars, by which point the Model 3 will be in the UK.

As always, it’s better to get the most out of something you already have than to replace it.

As always, it’s better to get the most out of something you already have than to replace it.

Totally agree with this. I currently drive a ten year old diesel which just cost a lot in replacement parts when it was serviced, so it’s good for another year or so but I feel it’s approaching the end of its life, as it will start to cost serious money soon to keep it going.

Considering putting ourselves down for the Model 3 Tesla in the meantime.

@Firstbornunicorn I really want a leaf but the driving pedel puts me off a little. How is it to drive? Reccomend it?

@Notquiteagandt it's just the same as driving any other automatic. You can turn the regenerative braking off and just use the brake pedal. That's what I do.

I think I'm about to buy a second hand leaf. I walk my pushchair height kids around a city breathing in the pure shit that passes for air and I cannot justify to myself buying anything but an electric for the short, city trips I'm going to start having to make soon. (I've never had a car before so I've very much done my bit for emissions as long as I could, but it's about to become essential.)

I do not want to be pumping out diesel fumes at toddler height in the middle of London.

But it works for me - short trips, charger already installed where we're moving to.

Yeah, for the 2018 leaf, you don't have to drive 1 pedal.

They may be good in the cities but if going out of them you need to seriously look at everything about them,

Electricity is still mainly produced by power stations which are less environmentally friendly than petrol or Diesel, and are there places to charge them? where I live the hills would make it worthless getting one and we have no charge points

Diesel is still the best around here as they go further on the fuel so less of an impact on the environment.

We have BMW i3, have had it for about 3.5 years and done 40K miles in that time.

Very rarely charge outside home/work, but we have done longer journeys and stopped for a coffee and quick charge, you just have to plan your route abit more. Ours has a range extender which is a small generator to power the battery in the event of no charge, so it's not the worst thing if you can't charge.

Love it.

I think we’d be the same, Furball; nearly all charging would be at home except for once in a while longer journeys. Live rurally but in the SE so plenty of charging points anyway - even our local pub has them.

The fact they are so quiet worries me. I think they make roads more dangerous for pedestrians and wildlife / animals. Guide dogs, for example, won't hear them as quickly as they would other vehicles. I believe there will be more vehicle v pedestrian accidents as they become more widely used.

I love the Leaf, I’ve borrowed one a couple of times and I would have one tomorrow if I could afford it.

The stop go pedal thing is something you can turn on and off. It just drives like a regular automatic.

BloodyBosch that worries me too.

If you love and drive in town then go for it. I think they are great in town. Quiet. No emissions. Can be helpful when getting parking. But if you drive on the motorway then don’t do it. The majority of the uk doesn’t have infrastructure for electric car use.

What sort of electric car? Battery electric, plug-in hybrid?

Depends what sort of driving you do.

I kind of disagree with the OP who said that keeping old vehicles is the best environmental option, though. Not if the old vehicle is a diesel without a particulate filter! Even our four year old diesel Toyota is dodgy from the pollutants POV (no NOx abatement) though because of the sort of driving we do it's not bad for CO2.

Mistigri it’s because the production and disposal of cars have a massive environmental footprint.

I live in a famously hilly area and there are a lot of Nissan leafs. One business has a fleet of them so they must be ok! I see fiat 500s struggling uphill but have yet to see a leaf struggling.

However, all car driving entails noxious particles ending up in the atmosphere from tyres and brakes so although electric cars are far better than Diesel/petrol in terms of air pollution an electric car does not mean 0 pollution driving, cycling/walking is always better if it is possible/practical.

Mistigri it’s because the production and disposal of cars have a massive environmental footprint.

Sure, but you still have to balance the impact on CO2 with the toxic pollutants that are produced by older cars, especially diesels (unless you are prepared to retrofit them - and while that's theoretically possible for particulate filters I doubt you can retrofit NOx abatement).

I love my Phev- plug in hybrid. I had to get another car as my last was totalled in an accident. I will keep this until it is no longer viable.

Almost all my miles are electric- cheap, clean and quiet. Motorway journeys are petrol, but only about once a month.

For me it works and I look forward to future improvements to the battery.

A leaf won't struggle on hills: they are very powerful and accelerate quickly. If you live very rurally then I guess I could see it being a struggle, but you'll get a charger installed at home, so lack of public charging won't make a difference.

We've driven to Dublin and back in ours. It's 112 miles each way, so we just charged in the city while we were doing our shopping. We have the 30kwh model.

They're incredibly cheap to maintain due to the lack of moving parts. Tyres seem to last longer, too.

Oh, and re: the lack of noise, our Leaf emits an artificial noise externally at less than 30mph. Over that speed, the road noise is enough to alert pedestrians and cyclists.

We are looking at the Kia Niro which is a hybrid - bit of engine lots of electric - engine kicks in on hilly bits for e.g. and no recharging as its mostly kinetic/braking or through boosters from the engine when that kicks in

Iv wondered if once they become popular if that means most people will lose the skills to use a manual car.

I thought electric vehicles were much better for hills because the torque of the electric motor is much higher, even at low speeds and even compared to diesel?

Have a look at Lexus OP they stopped producing diesel cars and invested heavily in self recharging dual fuel cars. My DH has been testing one on a company car scheme and is looking to get one on PCP as he's been so impressed no need to charge at any points or have one installed at home, tax £10 a year and petrol tank costs £40 and has lasted him over 8 weeks.

Electric cars have infinite torque. They won’t struggle on hills.