Review of the 2018 Nissan Leaf | Should I buy One? | Rapidgate
Will the 2018 Nissan Leaf Work for me or does ‘Rapidgate’ ruin an otherwise good car?
It’s time to find out. I have secured an extended test drive to investigate if the 2nd generation Leaf ticks all the boxes for our family. Will it work for 100% of our journeys or will the throttling others have experienced at rapid chargers mean I’m better sticking with my 24kwh Leaf?
FOLLOW ME:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/evopinion/
Twitter:
Facebook:
SUPPORT:
MY KIT:
Rode Lapel Mic:
Tascam DR-05:
DJI Mavic Air:
Canon 70d:
The new leaf is more an evolution of the leaf 1. It’s like Golf 6 and 7. A big plus for all brits I would say that it’s Made in UK.
I thought I recognized the area. Is this Bournemouth?
Talk or drive, not both at the same time!
I would not buy it. Pay that much money no battery cooling only air cooling like a 50 year old VW beetle ?❌
Meanwhile in indonesia to protect a local and goverment oil company (pertamina), to get an EV licence its very hard…
I'm a disabled guy, war pensioner. Seriously thinking about one of these as a daily runabout.
Thing is it now has competiton, Hyundia….etc
Hi all I think the new 40kw Leaf is a completely irrelevant car. The original was industry changing a great car that could basically do Your normally commuter journeys day in day out and even get you anywhere even with lots of quick charge stops. But why buy the new 40kw when you can get a Hyundai Kona with better spec and twice the range for the exact same money. Your wasting your money and time on the 40kw. It's a great car that can't really do much more than the last and for the price Hyundia and the new Kia Niro have it beat hands down on price and spec. Maybe when the new 60kw Leaf comes out it'll put it back in the game. But the 40kw Is a waste of money due to nothing other than the charging issue. It looks great inside and out the epedal and adaptive cruise control all great but the Kona and Kia Niro can do all that and travel twice as the distance and rapid charge numerous times without over heating for the same money.
I saw your review of the Hyundai Ioniq and this Nissan Leaf 2018. Which is a better EV car in your experience? thanks.
Don’t buy it Longer range EV’s will come out the end of 2018 and in 2019. Wait six months you’ll be glad you did
What do you do if you want to buy a Nissan Leaf but you live in a flat with no garage or off street parking available where you can have a home charger installed
Nice car + poor battery technology and terrible customer service and management = no sale as far as I am concerned. Nissan used to be a great company but have now lost the plot. Hyundai & Kia are the new affordable EV leaders with cars that are fit for purpose (We need GM to bring the Bolt/Ampera to the party as well) . Leaf's, EV200's and Zoe's are dustbin of EV history models.
Good video – I have the 30kwh 2016 Leaf, on a PCP deal so goes back next year and I need to decide what I'm doing. The rapidgate made me concern about the v2, and although you're saying its not really an issue – I think it would impact resale value as others wont see it that way. By the time mine goes back the 64kwh should be available, but that for me depends on price and affordability. The 170 mile range is close to what I thought you'd get… Mine on paper is 155 miles, but get a little over 100 motorways miles (all my driving is essentially motorway), 235 mile range (on paper) – I was guessing about 180 – possibly upto 200 maybe with use of the e-pedal? – I wasn't sure how effective the e-padel was, although next to useless on motorways by all accounts!
issue with nissan for me has always been service i hate the local dealer (at least they have rapidchargers available though i hear some don't!) and the fact the company has been caught lying about things or just being lame about stuff like rapid gate or rolling forward odometers…
i feel like the leaf is the affordable way to go for ev especially used id love one
This guy just wants the car to be more expensive.
240 km not milles!!!
Isn't there more battery degradation without the cooling system?
I got the chance to drive one of these recently. Very nice car. Smooth, quiet, quick. All good really.
Waiting for the 2019 60kwh one myself.
Nissan totally misrepresented this car–no one told me about this problem–and I told the dealer how I would use it. It is totally impractical for anything but short trips–great short distance commuter car–but terrible for trips. I have spent time at a rapid charge EVGO only to get a few extra miles–sometimes not enough to get home. I wish I knew how to start a class action lawsuit.
What a biased review, no one will buy it cause of rapidgate, period.
At approx 65% charge or more and high temperature 36-40 degrees the charge rate may throttle back to 22kw so a old model leaf may charge faster than the new model.
I think it was a poor decision by Nissan not to liquid cool their battery. It will invariably shorten the life of the pack, regardless of throttling. Many early Leaf owners are seriously upset with the way the range on their batts has gone below 70% in a fairly short period of time. Imagine that battery in an Aussie summer with temps consistently in the high 30’s and early 40’s…
I disagree with you on the need for EVs to look “different”. That policy has been a huge barrier to uptake in my view.
We have had our Leaf for a few weeks now. initially, the E-Pedal was a bit odd to get used to (the first few times driving). Now, I have found it makes driving easier, especially in town. I find myself allowing it to slow myself down on hills and finding places to allow it to engage to optimize mileage. Implementing it in stop-and-go downtown driving makes it a pleasure. I very much enjoy driving it now
Keep 12v battery charged if car left for a while with a solar panel battery trickle charger costing £25 from Halfords. Plugs in to point under dashboard.
Rapidgate = fatal flaw. Going with a Tesla Model 3
I like your reviews. Disappointed that you have an EV and use it for two run schools a day.
I would not consider this EV. Nissan are still trying to get a premium price for the latest Leaf. To do this they have to step up their game.
For what they produced, I would expect a much lower price.
Do EV owners have no friends or Children over 14? I have never seen a review of the range with an actual family of 4 that may consist of “big” children and luggage. Are EV’s in my price bracket (£30k) just not able to cope with full load yet and really you still need a petrol car?
The lack of TMS Thermal Management System for the battery pack makes it a no go. Not only because issues with DC rapid charging but also the onboard chargers is too small. People want to get full speed at 11 and 22 kW AC charging stations. This will be available on the upgraded 2019 version of Nissan Leaf.
Fact is this – if you did want to undertake a long journey my BMW i3 – with slightly lesser range could potentially get 1000miles in less than 24hours – whereas it would take you days as you limped along on 10 hour charges (after your first). Trips to the continent from the UK in a Leaf are rules out.
No battery thermal management is like buying a home in the UK without heating and then declaring its OK as you only need it for a fraction of the year during winter months – but 90% of the time you are fine – so no problem.
If you are genuinely a stay at home type person and never venture anywhere further afield then i suppose the logic makes (kind of ) sense. I'll wager a fair amount though that one day when you need it most its terrible long range ability will leave you seething.
Don't buy leaf 2 wait for leaf 2.1 / 60kw with active battery cooling / heating. Why? Battery degradation will likely be far less over time. Leaf 2.0 40kw is basically the same car as before with a few gizmos, etc etc whatever anyone says.
Leaf 2.0 is great but the next version is what Nissan should have presented us.
Battery degradation is the soft underbelly of all ev's.
Leaf 1 24kw owner.
I think the new Leaf is a great car. Yeah.. so it´s not as up to date as an e-golf or a Ioniq, but at the same time they are more expensive. And you get good value for your money buying an Leaf. Its like buying a Nissan and expecting to get an Model S, ain´t gonna happen.
And about the design of it, it looks quite bland and looks like an Auris but alot were scared away buying the old model because of the exterior, there´s a reason why the e-golf is second best selling car in norway, the first is the new Leaf..
And the rapidgate, how often do you actually drive 250km+ 1 extra charge at 150-200km. on a single day anyway…?
for me the 24kwh Leaf works great in the everyday life, and when im going to our cabin 310km away there are lots of superchargers on the way up. We have to stop to eat anyway on a 7hour drive.
OK review. A little weird to suggest that RAPIDGate isn't a issue on a car review. I guess you're reviewing it for yourself or for people that will ONLY drive the distance you have driven in the last 4 years or less. Doing road trips of 300-400 miles in a day the car would be unusable.
2019 version with 64kWh battery and thermal management. No problem then right?
Nice video, I like the honesty. The drone shots were a really cool detail too. One thing strikes me though. You say the seats are good. I tried one here in Denmark, and I just had to get in the car, to realize I will never buy it. The seats are way to short and offers me no support for my legs. Since with my 180 cm I am pretty average. Are you a short person ? To be honest except the Quashqai, the seat problem seems to be an issue in most Nissan cars, at least here in Denmark. Maybe you have other seats in the UK, but I doubt it. Rapidgate would never be an issue for me, since after 30 miles I would run away from the car screaming 😉 The Ioniq have way better seats, and with the Kona and Niro comming up, I would choise one of them.
Keep up the good work 🙂
Nissan has now been reported to trading standards – as customers I feel we were mislead. I think they should provide a fix or an upgrade to 60kw ASAP
Why are you not talking about battery degradation, Nissan has a very poor record in this area, compared to other players like Tesla
Love the new Leaf 😉
Even Tesla's 'Autopilot' isn't actually autopilot (or even very good autonomous driving). We're a long way away from that. Tesla calling it 'Autopilot' is arrogant and misleading.
No active thermal management in an EV is bad design – probably decided by bean-counters
I love you Ryan.
You have the best presenting skills on YouTube.
I want you presenting top gear.
If it's hot out and you're driving highway speeds (60mph+), the FIRST CHARGE can be slowed
When we asked them about the passive cooling, they told us new chemistry made liquid cooling unnecessary. That's when they should have told us they crippled it. Instead, they pretended that the new chemistry fixed the problem.
I want to own a Leaf, but not without rapid charging.
Yeah, the crippling isn't often a problem, but it completely defeatsthe purpose of rapid charging.
Maybe I'll get a Bolt
I would be interested to know whether the recent hot spell in England caused much range degradation in your Nissan Leaf?
Thats cool how you struggle to like the car. Yes, its ugly. Very objective though
My ballooon, future value figure for the leaf i own, the 30 kwhr is about £4k less than what they are selling for currently with 8 months to go, is this a reflection on the new problematic, rapid charging 40 kwhr, putting the value of the earlier model up ?