Starter battery? Radiators? That IS an EV, isn't it?

  29,000, that sounds pretty reasonable, maybe a stripped down version.
Carl2

Quote from: DaveMorton on September 10, 2017, 12:53:13 PM
Starter battery? Radiators? That IS an EV, isn't it?

Yes ALL serious EV's have a 12volt battery and radiators.

The 12 volt battery enables the relays that get the power flowing from the Li-on battery, it also powers the lights, in car entertainment and electric windows. should the Li-on battery go flat you would still have lights, it's a safety feature. 

The radiator cools the onboard charger, they can get quite warm when passing 7kW through them, the radiators don't get used at all when DC rapid charging or just driving the car.

Now you know or anyone else that might have read your comment 

I might get one of these new Leaf models (second hand) in 2 or 3 years time, trade in my Leaf, that's if I can live with the annoying analogy speedometer, to me it's the worst feature of the new Leaf.

From what I saw in the video, I'm not quite sure it's truly analog. It looked to me like part of the display itself, rather than a mechanical arm. Sure, it's not showing numbers, but it could be argued that it's at least partly digital.

I'm not too sure Dave, it does look like a old style analogue rotating stick to me but lets see in some future reviews, it could be part of the screen like you said, either way it feels like a backward step to me.

Moving on, I came across this video, what a great idea it is, go go USA 

Found these and thought I'd share:

Dave, thanks for posting them vids 

So the new Leaf does have an analogue speedometer then 

I can see the first gen Leaf becoming a bit of a cult car, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I prefer the look of the older model, it also seems far less complicated inside and as for the analogue speedometer, man that feels like a backward step to me.

The new Leaf is an EV for the masses, I get that,, but the old Leaf is a EV for the pioneers   

I'm a bit behind following the vids, pretty interesting.  I wonder if the driver assist is a standard thing or is a costly accessory  and does Data's
car has it?
Carl2

Things like "Driver assist", traction control, advanced braking assist (where the car stops for you if you're not paying attention) are all things I'm on the fence over. My nephew, Jeremy, is completely against such technologies, as he feels they let drivers "get lazy", and I somewhat see his point of view. But on the other hand, they're all steps toward wholly autonomous vehicles, and I can't wait for my trip to Mars to ride in a Johnny Cab.

LOL Dave 

I have traction control on my Leaf and the car does need it with the torque you get from the motor, if nothing else it makes your tyres last longer.

As far as I know you only get the full on "Driver assist" on the new Leaf with the top trim level or an optional extra, the older Leaf doesn't have it at all. 

  This has been coming on for ages with self parking cars, the traction control for cars on slippery roads where the car decides.  Decades ago I came up with an idea of sounding an alarm when a vehicle started to go into a different lane without the directional being on for drivers falling asleep,  a rough surface was used instead.    I watched a truck back up a hill so spread sand during a storm, don't think a computer would have thought of that.
Carl2

I'm going to drop the latest fullycharged vid in here, some pretty interesting news in there, look out for the oil company Shell and their new fuel station equipped with fast chargers and hydrogen. It's begun, however they seem to be charging way too much per kWH. 

As more oil companies hop on the wagon that price will drop, simply from the competition for your quid. this is early days, though, so it will take some time.

Quote from: DaveMorton on September 30, 2017, 18:57:42 PM
As more oil companies hop on the wagon that price will drop, simply from the competition for your quid. this is early days, though, so it will take some time.

It's a good point, as more of these fuel stations appear we should hopefully start to see some competitive prices. The beginning of some exciting times for EV owners.

We, as customers, always pay through the nose for convenience. I feel their price per kW is ok, seeing as they're putting in the infrastructure and supplying the convenience. As customers and competition goes up, they're prices will become more competitive.

Very handy to plan those more challenging distance drives.