Nissan Leaf long-term test review: final report

Early on, in a fit of enthusiasm, we tried to use the Leaf as transport for
a 24-hour Three Peaks Challenge but failed miserably because convenient charging points, although theoretically available, were not. Our lesson was learned: the car came back to London and assumed duties that made sense. If we needed to dash to Edinburgh, we selected a convenient long-legged diesel motor, as Leaf-owning two-car families tend to do. 

Such is the speed of electric car progress that, for all our Leaf’s endearing qualities, it did strike us as nearing the end of its time. Companies with electric models in the pipeline now talk of a 200- mile range as an emerging owner’s requirement. The Leaf’s performance isn’t exactly brilliant against
others, and the cost — we’d have 
paid £28,380 after deducting the government’s £4500 incentive — is pretty solid for what you get, even if for your 8000 annual miles you’re saving the thick end of £1200 on fuel. 

Our Leaf and its peers have made important points about the practicality of electric cars. But now it’s time for a new Nissan to take the matter further. Luckily, there’s one in the pipeline. 

LIKE IT

Response - clean, quick step-off from rest is one of the Leaf’s driving delights. Refinement - you won’t find greater smoothness or silence this side of a Rolls-Royce. Economy - power costs far less than it does in a petrol car, even at full tariff. 

LOATHE IT

Range anxiety - this Leaf’s range is shorter than that of the most modern EVs. Charging - charging time tends to make owners impatient. Home charging is best. 

Price £27,230 (after £4500 gov't grant) Price as tested £28,380 Economy 3.6 miles/kWh Faults None Expenses None 

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As our Nissan Leaf rolls on, impressing everyone who drives it with its comfort and refinement, I feel I’m becoming integrated into polite Leaf society.

In the course of our time with the car, I’ve spoken to more than a dozen owners (interestingly, the ones I’ve met have almost always been travelling at least two-up), all of them at charging points in the south of England, and started to learn the habits of the common or garden electric Nissan buyer. 

The first I met was at Membury services on the M4; he was on a journey with his wife from Malvern to Reading. While we each waited for our 80% charge (this guy knew very well, and I’ve since learned, that pursuing the final 15% isn’t worth the extra time it takes), he explained to me that his other car was a Westfield V8, but this was the one in which he did most of his miles.

The one place you’re most likely to meet other members of Leaf society is at those free charging stations on motorways, at around 6pm. Owners in adjacent towns or suburbs tend to drive a few miles on the motorway to pick up free ‘tickle’, courtesy of Ecotricity, to get them to work every couple of days.

This is where you witness the closest thing to EV road rage, although it never comes to that, because these people tend to be supporters of an orderly society, not the sort who want to tear it down.

But what gets the Leaf owner’s goat (I’ve felt the annoyance myself) is arriving at a charging station and finding it occupied by a plug-in hybrid, already charged to the hilt, with its owner away having a languorous coffee. Here is a car that can proceed anyway, hogging the facilities. We pure battery car owners feel they’re breaching the rules of charging point etiquette.