Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 15:20
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Hi

m considering purchasing a used EV was hoping for some advice on the three above.

I'm leaning towards the Zoe but does anyone think the Leaf or the i3 would be a better option.

My budget is around 10000 which im guessing might disqualify the BMW.

Appreciate any replies..

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 15:50
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - RT

Many of the older Leaf and Zoe were bought with battery rental, so you paid monthly on top of the purchase price - most of those rentals have been bought out so check carefully any model you're looking at.

Be aware that Nissan Leaf uses a different connector to most other EVs - not all chargers will work with it.

Edited by RT on 23/11/2024 at 15:57

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 16:07
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Thanks for the reply. I’m aware of the battery lease. Looking around at used Zoe’s they do go a lot cheaper with the lease. But the lease itself seems to be quite expensive. Didn’t know about the Leaf haven’t different charging, that’s handy to know

Thanks

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 16:14
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - madf

I went through the same exercise this year..

Ignore old Leafs : battery lack of cooling means life is limited.

Zoe lack of range in early models

BMW I3 with range extender and 94AH battery just about meets your criteria and is within £10k. BUT if things do go wrong you are talking £k to repair

.Key things:

front suspension noise.. bearings/seals £200 a side.

Air conditioning: also cools battery. If noisy or not working runaway. £4k repair CRITICAL.

Engine should work .. Sensor failure is engine out job £1500. Electric motor bearing can fail (noisy).

Disks corrode due to lack of use.£200 per side.

12V battery fails.. £150 new battery and bit of dismantling..

I bought 2016 57k miles FSH 94AH Range Extender £10k plus £1k 3 year warranty added to 12 months warranty = 4 years cover.

Check specs : lots have nice interiors..as options/leather seats/sunroof/etc..

Some have done 200k miles.

Tyre wear under harsh acceleration..0 -60mph 7.5secs,

Electric battery strong: should last 15 years.. 8 year warranty from new.

I believe Which said best buy small EV. Read Road Tests and Used guides ..lots.

Avoid crashed ones..Some loons drive them

Collecting mine next week

Note pre 1st April 2017 Registration - cheap VED £20.

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 17:06
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - pd

A £10k Leaf really wouldn't/shouldn't have much of a degraded battery. In terms of lifespan jury is out on the more recent examples (seem to be holding up OK with 100k+ miles ones all at 90%+ but all post 2018) but 10 year old ones usually have 80-85% capacity unless they have been abused (and sometimes a bit more).

Zoe does have a few more common issues than the Leaf (mainly motor bearings and aircon issues) but isn't a particularly unreliable car. Note not all of them have a fast charge connector (the LEAF is ChAdeMo but at least they all have one) although most at £10k probably will. Zoe, like the LEAF, doesn't have any active battery cooling or heating that I know of.

i3 not without common issues and expensive to fix but best of the bunch to drive. Early examples have small battery.

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 17:07
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - pd

Oh and on battery leases there are still a few Zoes around with them but not on the later cars. Hardly any Leafs had battery leases so very rare.

I3 no leases.

Edited by pd on 23/11/2024 at 17:08

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 18:41
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - paul 1963

Think SLO is needed here, not sure I agree with what madf posted, lack of battery cooling in a leaf means there best not suited to continuous fast charging but to be honest no battery's like fast charging.

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 17:26
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - mcb100
‘ Be aware that Nissan Leaf uses a different connector to most other EVs - not all chargers will work with it.’

If you only envisage charging at home, this won’t make any difference. The public charging network is growing rapidly, but predominantly with the more common CCS charger. There are are lots of Chademo but there aren’t too many new ones being installed.
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Sat 23 Nov 2024 18:57
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - madf

Most early 2013-14 I3s do not have fast charging.

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 20:33
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - pd

Most early 2013-14 I3s do not have fast charging.

And the Zoe will only have it if it has "Rapid Charge" in the name/model description. Most of the later facelift ones do but a lot pre 2021ish ones don't.

They have a rather unusual fast Type 2 AC charge capability instead which isn't massively useful.

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Sat 23 Nov 2024 23:22
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Thanks for all the replies info.

Im beginning to wonder if I should just stick with my 13 year old Renault Scenic Auto Diesel

At least I know it will still be running for a while yet. I had the option to Lease a new Renault Symbian for 2 years at around 200 per month. I decided not to thinking a used EV would be better. I think I’m just going to give it a miss for now.

Thanks again for all the replies.

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Mon 25 Nov 2024 00:06
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - SLO76
My lovely Killie wife runs a 2020 Nissan Leaf and we both really rate it. It costs buttons to run, never goes wrong, it’s decently practical and comfortable. We’ve had no trouble, but the range isn’t as good as say a 50kwh Zoe. As with all EV’s the range drops quite a bit in winter so you need to factor this in. It is nice to come out the house and jump into an already defrosted and cosy car on these cold mornings however, something you can control from the comfort of your bed via the Nissan App.

My work run a couple of Renault Zoe’s as pool cars, a 40kwh and a 50kwh. Both have been reliable, but from following the Zoe Facebook pages there’s plenty that does fail on them. Too many cases of motor and charger failures to feel comfortable recommending one. But they do drive well and the range is substantially better than the 40kwh Leaf. The rear seat legroom is poor and the boot much smaller - it is in the class below to be fair.

Wouldn’t touch the BMW, again too many failures. Repair costs are crippling

I’d probably go for a Leaf 40kwh. Bargain hard though as values are in free fall. Buy it cheap and run it til it drops. Another concern is that many smaller garages won’t work on EV’s, so you’re often stuck with the main dealer. Ours to date has been fine and “servicing” costs have been low. If you own it outright and plan on keeping it then you could cut those servicing costs down by doing it every second year or not at all since there’s no oil to change, it’s really just a series of checks, change the cabin filter and coolant every 2yrs. The lack of battery pack thermal management means it can overheat if you fast charge it more than twice in a journey and throttle back the charging rate to a trickle, but we use it
as a second car and only charge at home on cheapo lekky overnight.

Edited by SLO76 on 25/11/2024 at 00:08

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Mon 25 Nov 2024 10:44
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - madf

"Wouldn’t touch the BMW, again too many failures. Repair costs are crippling"

Which is why I bought from BMW dealer - 12 months warranty .. and a full warranty added for there years.

Buying from a non BMW garage -is a major gamble. They are complex .

A few specialists are v good eg Wiseley Automotive.

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Mon 25 Nov 2024 00:50
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - Warning

I like the Zoe and it was a consideration. The NCAP rating of 0, was a concern.

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Mon 25 Nov 2024 10:35
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - madf

I like the Zoe and it was a consideration. The NCAP rating of 0, was a concern.

Apparently due to lack of pedestrian safety features...
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Mon 25 Nov 2024 10:53
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - badbusdriver

I like the Zoe and it was a consideration. The NCAP rating of 0, was a concern.

Apparently due to lack of pedestrian safety features...

Not really, the main reason for concern is the removal of the side head airbag (which had been standard equipment). The result of this was that in the "side pole test", which simulates hitting a tree or a lamp post side-on, the dummy's head actually struck the pole. Which would most likely prove fatal.

While the 2021 test did show poorer pedestrian results (now called "vulnerable road users") than the original 2013 test, that would simply be down to changes in the way cars are now assessed. Ditto for safety assist (which wasn't anything like as big a thing in 2013) and child occupants.

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 13:50
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

An Update :

Ive had a look around at Zoe’s and Leafs on Autotrader. Not many Private sellers for the newer models. There was one which was quite appealing but it was in Northern Ireland. Didn’t fancy going there. So after a bit of thought. I’ve gone for a BYD Dolphin on a 2 year lease, at £179 per month. I can comfortably afford that, and it leaves me some money in the Bank for other things Insurance etc. this will be the first time I’ve had a car on a Lease, it’s limited to 5000 miles a year which I believe will be fine for me.

The Thing is now to have a wall Charger installed, the Car will be on a Driveway so easy to fit the Box the front of the House. What I’m not sure about is which charger to go for I’ve heard of 3 phase Chargers ? Any others I might consider. Was looking on eBay and have seen Charger boxes going for around £230 new I’m guessing I’d have to have that fitted by a qualified Sparks. Or would I be better off going for a supply and fit. Anyone know if Prices for these in the Glasgow area. Thanks for any advice.
ian

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 14:09
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - paul 1963

Congratulations on your new car, hope your pleased with it.

I would definitely get a qualified electrician to fit your charger, there are companies that specialise in ev chargers, got feeling SLO is around Glasgow way? He may well have a contact.

Is there still some sort of grant available for home chargers?

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 14:23
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - madf

BYD a bargain at those prices.(too large for me)

Kwikfit do chargers and installations. As do Octopus and others.

Domestic properties are single phase.

You need a qualified competent electrician: who can check your control box can handle the currents involved ,

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 15:03
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Thanks for the replies.

Didn’t know KwikFit did Charger installs.

I won’t have the Vehicle till end of Dec beginning of Jan. Gives me some time to have the Charger Installed. Plus try and find sim invisibility netting so the Wife doesn’t spot it ??

I probably go through about 4-5 different Cars a year so she may just shake her head and tell me to get on with it. ??

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 15:04
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - mcb100
The maximum AC charge rate on the Dolphin is 11kW, so a standard 7.4kW box is ample. Not that your house will have three phase electrics anyway.
Who’s your supplying dealer? If it’s Arnold Clark, they offer installs. Most dealer groups have hooked up with a charger provider. Talk to your energy provider, they’re also in the installation business.
If you’re an Octopus customer, by any chance, they’ve a clever tariff called Intelligent Octopus Go, on which you’ll occasionally be paid to charge your car - but you’ll need a compatible charger.
I’d be having the installer also supply - if there are any issues going forward, you’ve only one port of call.
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Thu 28 Nov 2024 21:03
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Thanks

I believe the issuing dealer is BYD in Linwood Renfrewshire

My current supplier is Brittish Gas aka Scottish Gas. No iidea if the do a special tarrif. Ill try and find out.

Thanks

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 22:14
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - Ethan Edwards

Welcome to the clan EV. Like the look of the Dolphin.

My 2p get a quote for an install from a trusted local qualified sparky. Mine saved me wasting 1500 quid that a company (PP) wanted. My consumer unit is 35metres away from my garage where I wanted my EVSE. Turned out I already had a 50amp armoured cable running to the garage and could use that. The company wanted to dig up my front garden, side garden etc, to lay an additional one. Yours sounds like a simpler proposition!

From memory BG do offer a time of use tarriff if you have a smets 2 smart meter ( you'll need one). Octopus are probably the best, I'm with EDF. You've got time to sort all this out. So good luck.

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Thu 28 Nov 2024 22:16
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - mcb100
Scottish (British) Gas do have an overnight EV tariff, it’ll be c7p per kW/h.
Which will give you a ‘full tank’ for either £3.14 or £4.23, depending on which battery size you’ve opted for.
And the car has a ‘Vehicle-to-Load’ capability, which means you can run mains powered items from the battery.

BYD in Linwood is Arnold Clark.

Edited by mcb100 on 28/11/2024 at 22:17

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Fri 29 Nov 2024 09:29
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Thanks

Nearly pulled the Trigger on the Hive Wall charger from British Gas.

They had it for £699 Black Friday deal, read the small print, it doesn’t include installation.

So they were going to send the Charger in the Post and I would then have to pay to have it installed. British Gas have a backlog of people wanting installation. And looking at their website, they only tell you the Tarrif prices not the installation charge ??

Ill keep looking and see what else is available.

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Fri 29 Nov 2024 17:49
Renault Nissan Bmw - Zoe or Leaf or i3 - killie77

Went over to Linwood this afternoon. BYD is indeed Uncle Arnie. Theirs nothing they don’t have finger in. While I was their had a look at the Dolphin, have to say was quite impressed

level of Kit in the Comfort model which I will be. purchasing is rather nice The Car overall looked impressive.

looking forward to receiving it.

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