Yesterday was a big milestone in my EV journey. After 4 years and 2 months of ownership, I finally arrived at 100,000km on the odometer of my Nissan LEAF. When I bought the car in Novemebr 2017, it had about 53,000km on the clock, so I averaged about 11,500km per year so far.
Dispite what you may have read about EVs needing a replacement motor/battery pack after 100,000km, the truth is far less exciting; it’s still going strong with no problems.
You might notice on the (admittedly shakey) image above that the battery level shows 60% after 40km driven. This is consistent with my experience all along with the car, in that it does about 1km per 1% of battery at this time of year, with about a 20% increase in range in the summer. (See my EV project website here for more detail on this). This is a bit of a rough and ready guide, but it has served me well over the past four years. One thing this has completely eliminated is ‘range’ anxiety. I have never ever had range anxiety with the car because I reliably know how far it can go based on the battery level. ‘Charger’ anxiety is a different matter, but that is getting better now that fees have been introduced and so the infrastructure is less likely to be ‘hogged’ than it was a couple of years ago. Plus, there are more public chargers around these days, so it’s a diminishing issue (indeed, a non-issue if you can charge at home and commute within the range of the car).
But don’t just take my word for it.
It would be easy for me to write ‘”the car does x, y or z, isn’t that fabulous?”, but why believe me? Well, you don’t have to believe me, because there is independent evidence to support what I’m saying.
When I bought the car it had a battery State of Health (SOH) of about 90%. In a review I wrote three years ago, the battery pack had a SOH of 87.74%. Well, I tested it again today. The screenshot from the LEAFspy app is shown below:
As you can see, the odo reading is now 100,020km and the battery SOH is showing 83.48%. That means that at 7 years of age and after covering 100,020km, the battery pack still has over 83% of its original capacity. That is a very good state of health, and certainly nowhere near a level where replacement of the battery pack is even worth considering.
Quick cost comparison
One of the ‘barriers’ to getting an EV that comes up a lot is the cost. By itself the sticker price when buying new can be very misleading (i.e. upfront cost can make the car look more expensive), but in the second hand market, EVs are generally on a par with similar-sized ICE equivalents (if you don’t believe me, have a search of your favourite car buying website for something like a 2015 Nissan LEAF and a 2015 Ford Focus). Even new EV models are almost on par with their ICE equivalents now (again, do a search for something like a VW I.D3 and a equivalently specced VW Golf….you might be surprised).
In terms of ‘ownership’ though (as opposed to sticker price), EVs are undoubtedly cheaper to own. Fuel and unit costs are in a state of flux, but on an upward trajectory. So it is tricky to tie-down exact numbers over time, but a like-for-like comparison based on current prices gives a reasonable sense of the cost differences. Here’s a quick calculation based on my experience:
Previous car (Honda Civic 1.6l petrol) had fuel comsumption in the region of 6.5l/100km. Petrol at the local outlet is currently €1.73 per litre. So, that’s €11.24 per 100km.
The LEAF is returning an average consumption in the region of 18.2kWh/100km (based on telemetry recorded by the car). Current rate for electricity is €0.1714 per kWh. So that’s €3.12 per 100km.
Bear in mind that since I bought the car, I have driven 47,000km.
That 47,000km in the ICE car would cost €5,283 in petrol today.
The same 47,000km in the EV would cost €1,466 in electricity today.
The saving in fuel alone since purchase just over 4 years ago is in the region of €3,817. Suddenly, the equivalency in price of second hand EV versus ICE doesn’t seem right, does it? Why buy an ICE for the same price when you then have to put nearly €1000 per year more into it to fuel it?
There are other costs associated with driving an EV such as tyre, light bulb, cabin filter and wiper blade replacements, but these would be cancelled out by spending similar amounts for the same items on an ICE car. Where the EV saves you more is in general wear and tear and servicing costs. There are no oil changes, timing belts, fuel filters, gaskets, plugs and any number of nasty surprise costs associated with an ICE when owning an EV. And the brake discs/pads will last far longer in an EV, so even a component that has a direct equivalent in both cars will cost you more in an ICE.
Anyhow, after over four years of motoring, I have no regrets with the move into an EV. Why would I?
Dr Wayne Gibbons 