I was looking at electric cars on the net, namely the Nissan Leaf. Car prices start at 15 grand if you want to rent the battery at 70 pound a month or 20 grand and you own the car and battery. I'm not thinking of getting one but was interesting was that when reading about the Nissan leaf that Nissan didn't mention the service costs. How much difference would there be in a service? No filters? No engine oil to change. Infact what would a service consist of? Screen wash top up and the hinges oiling? I wonder what the service interval would be?

I mentioned to the wife that maybe she should get one as she only does 2000 miles a year, her reply was that as I only do 5000 a year (10 mile round trip to work) that she would have the FL2 and I could have the electric car. Ive since gone of the idea of an electric car!

Has anyone on here looked into buying an electric car or is it too early in the life of electric cars ie wait till prices come down, more charging bays etc? Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

Hideous idea. The power for electric cars comes from power plants which means they lose the Eco friendly moral high ground. They take ages to charge up to go a short distance. Hydrogen is the better choice when oil runs out. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

I know what you mean about generating electricity but once it is generated it is pretty green. But also I know what you mean abut the range of the car, 100 miles or so, you need a dedicated charging circuit in your house but maybe the appeal is there for people who only do short journeys? Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

A friend has the Mitsubishi electric car with a quoted range of 95 miles in reality he is only getting 62 miles. Not so green after all. Audi A4 Avant 2.0 tdi 05 Liquid Blue
LFR 2.2 XS 07 Stornoway Grey
And a dedicated caravan puller CG

Manufacturing batteries puts an awful lot of s t in the atmosphere.
Plus, what do you do with the things once they have come to the end of useful life?
Not so very green.

With electric, it's a case of 'not in my back garden' i'm afraid. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

The manufacture and eventual disposal is not 'green' but there are merits to buying them.

My daughter and her partner run a few Nissan Leafs besides the usual diesel cars in their taxi business in Cornwall, and while they don't have the range they are well suited to the short 'town' runs whereas the diesels take on the rural side of it. When on the rank it can be topped up by plugging into the council installed charging outlet and then re-charged fully back at base overnight.

Running costs have been cut dramatically compared to their diesel cars and customers are actually requesting them over the diesels, probably a short lived craze. Servicing is very cheap at about £100 every 12 months or 18,000 miles and running cost just under 2 pence/mile.

As for long term savings to them, that's something to guess at for now.

Individual councils have government grants to install charging sockets in their towns but not many are doing it, so as an everyday car it is not viable for most.

Other issue is the actual life span of the battery. I drive an electric forklift at work, the battery is lead acid. The battery is 8 years old and is slowly losing its capacity. The fella that services the truck told me that when the battery goes you might as well buy a new truck as a replacement battery is very similar in price to a decent year old forklift. If an electric car requires a new battery would it be cheaper to buy a year old electric car? I know electric cars aren't run off lead acid batteries but a replacement Li-on battery must be really expensive? Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

Our nissan leaf at work broke down in a car park !
Recovery company didn't have a clue what to do with it or even recovery procedure !

Took 6 hrs to find a dealer that would take it on and that was over 120 miles away from where the car was parked as none of the local dealers would touch it !

Range is very short and if you booted it the range dropped quicker than the fuel gauge on my dads 4.2 jag on full chat !

Our new 5 dr C1 is now zero road tax & 62+ mpg nearer 72 on good run and its got very good range on full tank ( 535 miles ) about £40.00 and was less than half the price of an electric car !

Is any car safe around you oldgeezer

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