Thats encouraging. I really want Tesla to do well. I haven’t got the money to support them until they release something I can put to work but I am trying to find an excuse to do so at the earliest opportunity.
It would be great if the prices can drop - even the Model 3, which was supposed to be more affordable is out there.
You’ll need a selfie cam if you do ever get an electric truck. Making the first haul with all that instantaneous electric motor torque from standstill will be a moment to remember!
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I have no complaints about the service. My experience with them has been excellent. I really like the mobile service system where they come to you to fix the easier issues. Software updates and upgrades just happen over the internet, so that is painless too. I have been really happy with the car and service. I think a lot comes down to having realistic expectations. Some people don’t.
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Heck yeah! Very much want to see the difference in power delivery
A Skoda Citigo.
I pretty much only need to go 25km to work and 25km back. Maybe drive to some store sometimes, but that’s it. I wanted the cheapest/smallest possible EV that has four seats.
The 250km range will do. My current Honda Jazz Hybrid (ten years old now) is kind of an overkill and slowly the battery is getting worse so it now needs 5.6L/100km.
In fact I’d not even have a car at all if there was decent public transport between my home and work. But there isn’t.
We have a Ford C-Max for larger distances (like vacations) so the short range and the fact that it is small is no issue.
I still did a test drive with my wife and kids and it worked surprisingly well. But 99.9% of the time I will drive it alone, and I need no special stuff. Just a radio and a roof. It is the only EV of that size below 20k€ on the German market, sadly. Unless you count the VW Up or the Seat Mii but that’s 100% the same car. 
As for the auto/manual discussion and what is fun:
I don’t drive cars for fun. If I want to have fun I hop on my Motorcycle. 
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Honestly I would rather wear down my break pads and disks since it is cheap as chips to replace vis a vis causing extra wear on the gearbox. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with engine/gearbox breaking so it depends on usage I suppose!
True, but in my F31 even sport/ manual mode I still feel like I’m only a voting member, and I really, REALLY miss miss the faster response time for shifting (though this transmission is miles ahead of the Tiptronic in my old Audi), as well as being able to properly feel where each gear is and what the engine torque curve is doing; I learned how to drive stick in an '81 Civic with no tachometer and a '72 GT6 with a tachometer that would’ve been more useful if it wasn’t there- I got good at a very young age at knowing when the (little bit of) available torque was about to drop off significantly. I have a hard time getting that feel from either of the German Manumatics I’ve owned.
I do wonder if I’d feel the same way about motorcycles- it’s been a very, very long time since I last rode, and I never ever rode in as technical a manner as I’ve driven.
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even as bigger defender of Autos as I am, I dont think an Auto bike would be for me. such a big part of riding is engine braking and being able to slip the clutch at just the right time etc. I am not convinced it would be a good thing for fast riding, but I am sure it would be a great addition to a tourer or commuter bike
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The bike I got my lessons on is popular as an auto model too. I do enjoy manual bikes though, just getting up to highway speeds in a second or so if you are still in first gear and hear that little engine scream up to 15 000 RPM is just a delight. Highway driving bores me to tears though so that’s just a 6th gear cruise along enjoying podcasts and such.
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Took a potential new ride home for a couple of nights to try out. 2015 Nissan Leaf X 24kW with the Bose sound kit, 35k km on the clock, battery at 87% SOH, i.e. circa 130km range.
I cleared a space in the garage for her to try out the charging time, put a baby capsule and child seat in the back and will do a typical workday round with her tomorrow - drive to and from work and go to the supermarket in the evening, see what the charge level is after that.
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The Leaf was also on my list. A bit too big for my use case though.
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I’ve heard some bad stories about being able to get replacement batteries, and prices on them in the news for older leafs.
Even if it is in good condition battery wise - make sure you are in OK shape in the event a replacement is needed.
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I have done a bit of due diligence and you’re quite right.
Unlike with some of the other EVs, the 2010-2016 generation Leaf’s battery does not have a Thermal Management System (i.e. a ventilation pipe running from the aircon to the battery stack), which can shorten the battery life. In addition to that, Nissan has not provided a replacement battery offering, which basically means that you can’t buy factory-new batteries for the 2010-2016 (Gen 1 - Gen “1.5”) Leafs.
I also read an interesting NZ study about how the later 30kW batteries may degrade faster than the 24kW ones: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201803.0122/v1 - hence my decision to go with a 24kW battery despite the 30kW ones having more range.
So there are downsides and risks. The positives / mitigating factors are:
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The battery cells can be investigated and replaced individually (circa NZD$100 per cell) and there are a few EV garages in NZ that offer this service and actively source second hand batteries in good condition - so if you get down to, say 50% SOH, and instead of getting a new car, wish to get your battery stack back up to a decent shape, at least for the moment there is ample supply of second hand batteries / cells at 80-90% SOH to get back to acceptable range. You do need to lift the body of the car off the chassis to get the battery pack out, so it’s a fairly major garage trip and not something you do until it is time.
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Some of the accelerated degrading and poor performance of the battery stack is caused by extreme temperatures (accelerated degrading due to heat or poor range due to cold) - NZ / Auckland is a temperate region and, in addition, our Leaf will be inside at the work car park in the heat of the day and inside our garage at home if not in use - so the car will very rarely sit in the baking sun, which will hopefully extend the life of the battery.
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The dealership offers a 36-month warranty with their (second hand Japanese imported) EVs, which protects you against buying a “juiced battery” vehicle etc. as if anything goes wrong, you can go straight back to the dealer.
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Ultimately a second hand Leaf is by far the cheapest EV, at least in our local market - so it’s kind of a “soft entry” into EV ownership for us and not a huge financial stretch: a battery overhaul would still cost us less than the next models up - e-Golfs and such.
We shall see - but I think I’m mostly convinced to give it a go.
I drove to work today and that used up just 7% of the battery, so I definitely wouldn’t have to charge it every night.
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For us it is the opposite - the Polo we have was okay with one forward facing toddler seat in the back, but the backseat doesn’t fit the rear-facing baby capsule without moving the front passenger seat forward…we’ve got a second baby coming in March so the Polo will no longer do. The Leaf is 50cm longer than the Polo and that length seems to be split between a slightly larger boot and more space for the rear passenger space - so we can both sit comfortably in the front and have 2 kids in the back.
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Excellent! You’ve definitely done the research and it sounds like you have the supports to not become the next news story shortly down the road.
If you do jump on the opportunity, keep us posted! We should have like an “EV Life Journal” thread. The diverse user base here makes for some interesting data collection potential.
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Unexpected words for the day.
As I originally learnt to drive in the UK, it was quite the culture shock over here that they didn’t even sell the smaller cars. It is all slowly changing though, but there is still the feeling that in a smaller car you’ll get wrapped around a jacked up Ford 350’s transmission as it goes right over you, thinking you’re roadkill. The highways and the bigger trucks would tend to give the name ‘Leaf’ a real-life accuracy too, as you are flapped away in the downdraft.
It helps because the roads are generally so enormous over here, but the speeds generally lower. So many pick-up trucks as well, as it’s sort of a first car/truck rite of passage over here.
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Hehe, yeah us Europeans love our tiny, efficient cars as we don’t have space on the road or on parking lots. Or cheap fuel.
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Ah yes, the law of gross tonnage!
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Mate! Congratulations! Once more unto the breach eh!
Except not gold plated. Big placques of umm… something different 
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Cheers 
Going to be a bit hectic for a while but definitely looking forward to meeting the newcomer. Another girl - apparently we don’t have enough strong willed women in the household yet.
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