EV OWNER TELLS ALL
► CM published two interesting letters in your August 2022 issue regarding living with an EV and the hidden costs of owning an EV. I agree with Nigel Gutteridge that some of the hidden costs to owning an EV are never apparently discussed, but the battery is only one of many hidden costs.
I bought my Nissan LEAF new 9.5 years ago. It has covered 85,000 miles and still has the original main (HV) battery. Battery life was one of the concerns I had in mind when I bought the LEAF. I wanted to factor in battery replacement as a future cost to balance against the savings possible with the reduced running costs, and right from the start it was impossible to find any figure for the battery replacement cost. The dealer network was very evasive. It is still difficult to get a figure from any Nissan dealer. I’m not sure that many Nissan dealers are interested in maintaining an out of warranty EV, and I suspect that the Nissan business model involves steering customers away from keeping an older EV on the road, and towards buying a nice shiny new EV. This is my personal experience.
The apparent lack of manufacturer concern for older EVs kind of defeats the environmental responsibility ethos somewhat.
Back to my car. Being a Japan built model, made in 2013, it is one of the last of the series one cars. The UK built series two cars had substantial changes under the skin when they were introduced in late 2013, and the battery and electronics technology has been developed continually since.
But I am happy to report to Nigel Gutteridge that seven years is a somewhat pessimistic battery life estimate. At nine years I still have around 85% of the original battery capacity remaining, and that still amounts to a useful 70+ miles range from what is now regarded as a very small 24kWh battery. I can achieve 4+ miles per kWh with this car, and, infact, it is this figure that the prospective EV buyer needs to know.
Look at any EV review and you see the projected vehicle range from a full charge, but this is a rather vague and meaningless piece of information, because we all know that manufacturers data is optimistic, and the actual vehicle range is entirely dependent on the skill of the driver. Rarely do you see any data relating to the energy efficiency of the vehicle. Let me explain what that means. The data we really need in an EV review is along the lines of ‘The vehicle range should be 250 miles based on an average energy efficiency of 3.5 miles per kWh’. The vehicle dashboard in an EV will show the energy efficiency in the same way a petrol or diesel car will report the current and average MPG figures.
Nearly forgot why I started typing. Hidden costs... At eight years 11 months, I experienced my first panic attack as an EV owner when I got into my car one morning (I charge at a maximum rate of 10amps overnight) to find that it would not power up and that the
