[govindremesh]

My first car review on T-BHP which also includes a backstory. For those interested in only the review of the car, skip this post and continue direct to the second one.

Summary
A 29 year old guy averse to driving in European countries rents a Nissan Leaf in the Netherlands for 24 hours to "overcome the fear". Little did he know that the car would teach him some valuable life lessons.

Quick overview

What Car: Nissan Leaf
Trim: N-Connecta 40KWh
Additional Options: ProPilot
Runs on: Electricity.
Distance covered: 238 KM
Charge cycles: 1
Tyres: Goodyear
Length:4490 mm
Width:1788 mm
Height:1530 mm
Wheelbase :2700 mm
Weight Unladen (EU):1580 kg


The Good things:

• Electric Vehicle- instant torque on tap with "push into the seat" feeling
• E-pedal is an excellent solution for one pedal driving in the city
• Loaded with driver assistance and safety features
• Almost zero learning curve. Drive it as you would drive any automatic car
• High seating position lends a "mini SUV" feel.

The not so good things

• Cab forward design inherited A pillars, thick C pillars, huge sensor module at the top center of the windshield- Lots of blind spots!
• Not a long range champion- Best suited for trips <200 KM
• ProPilot is more of an assistance system than a self driving solution
• Fast-charging is via CHAdeMO standard, which is not common to find, at least in the Netherlands
• Interior quality, while good, doesn't lend the feeling of being in a 40K Euro car

Prologue

Anything with an engine and wheels excites me. The passion was reflected early on, when in early 2001, a 10 year old me threw a bad tantrum in a Maruti showroom demanding that my father buy a Hyundai Santro instead of an Alto 1.1. While we ended up with the Alto, the craze for cars and driving never left me.I was schooled by my mother for driving and got my license in the year 2009 from an RTO in Mumbai region. The driving test at RTO left me baffled: I was hardly tested for my driving skills. Once I had my license, my biggest dream was to drive a "Big and expensive car". Not being the kind of guy who dreams big, a big and expensive car for me back then was a Toyota Innova V. Never did I imagine myself driving anything more expensive than the Innova, forget migrating abroad.

Then life happened. Between 2010 and 2020 Dad had all iterations of the Toyota Innova and a Tata Aria as his company car; most of which I got to test-drive, some without his knowledge (Before I turned 25, he had specifically instructed his drivers not to allow me to drive the company car ). We also moved from Mumbai to Kochi and then to Bengaluru. In 2015, we brought a Honda City to replace our Alto and then I did multiple trips with family to visit relatives in Kerala. In January of 2017, I was standing at the immigration counter in Schiphol (Amsterdam) airport, pinching myself to check if it was indeed happening, I had moved to the Netherlands for my further studies. I got a job by the time I finished my studies and thus stayed in the country. Once settled in the country, the itch to drive came back.

While in India, I never let go an opportunity to drive. In fact, I would say yes to every chance to drive. However, things changed when I came to the Netherlands. Despite having a dutch driving license, I was overwhelmed by city driving due to the "right of way", "pedestrian/cyclist priority" and "different lanes for different routes". During one of the drives I got fixated with the navigation system, trying to find the correct lane to keep, that I missed a car that pulled into my lane ahead of me. Thankfully, I was doing just 30 KMPH and had my friends in the car as my "Alert system" to warn me and I could brake the car safely, but the incident further made me further averse to driving alone within the city. Highway driving was boring as well, since it just meant either cruising at steady speeds or getting stuck in rush hour traffic. I didn't have the confidence to drive within big cities in the Netherlands alone and I always relied on a second person to serve as an extra pair of eyes and help me with navigation and lane selection. The fact that I lived in the city center of Rotterdam, a major city, only made matters worse. One day, a friend of mine texted me about a new car sharing service from Sixt with a 20 Euro welcome offer. They has just started their services in the Netherlands, had an all electric fleet, were offering free registration and a 20 Euro welcome voucher to be utilized before end of June. With CoViD spoiling travel plans and office projects , I was in a desperate need of something to cheer me up. I had planned to meet my friends in 2 different cities of the Netherlands during 19th and 20th of June, plus I was very curious about fully electric cars. So, I took a deep breath and decided

"I'm gonna drive to meet them. I'm going to drive in the Netherlands with just me in the car".

I registered on the app and got my account approved in 24 hours. The calendar displayed 17th of June.

Chapter 1: Which car?

Sixt offered a variety of electric cars: Skoda e-citigo, VW e-Golf, BMW i3, Jaguar i-Pace and Nissan Leaf. There was a three tier pricing structure, with the Leaf and Citigo in tier 1, i3 and e-Golf in tier 2 and the i-Pace in the highest tier. Pricing was around 22 (euro)cents per minute, or one could book a 3 hour, 6 hour, 1 day, 3 day or 7 day package. For the first tier, the 1 day (24 hours) package was 69 Euros with 200 KM of usage included and 34 cents per extra kilometre and 22 cents per extra minute over the allowed usage.I checked the app and found a Nissan Leaf parked in the street next to where I was living. I decided it was to be the car and proceeded to reserve it, but I was informed that no advance reservation could be made and I could only reserve the car when I needed to use it.

"She'll be there on the 19th if she's meant for me"

With 48 hours to go, I already started researching on "How to drive a Nissan Leaf", "How different is driving an electric car compared to a petrol car"


Chapter 2: Day 1

I finished work early and got ready. The first trip was to Den Haag (The Hague) from Rotterdam (where I live). I checked the app and the car was still there. Got ready and reserved the car with a day package. The app asked me to unlock the car within 15 minutes to confirm the reservation and showed me the directions of the car. When I reached the place, the car was plugged in.









I followed the instructions in the app to unplug the charger. The app did not tell me how to disconnect the cable from the car, but my research on the car during the last 48 hours helped me. With the cable disconnected and stored in the boot and damages reported (the car was dirty and small paint damage on the rear bumper), I jumped into the drivers seat. When I turned on the car, I was shocked. Here's what I saw:



I tried cycling through all the trip meters, thinking it might be the distance on the trip meter, but no, it was indeed 45 KM on the Odometer. To confirm, I checked the RDW website (The Dutch equivalent of Vahan) and found out that the car was just registered on 29 May. The joy of getting a brand new rental suddenly sank in and then it dawned on me that

• I was going to drive an electric car for the first time
• I was going to drive in the Netherlands without anybody else in the car to assist me for the first time
• I was driving to Den Haag, a major city, for the first time

With so many "firsts", it was natural for my self confidence to sink and start a series of "what if's"

• What if I am not able to control the electric car? Aren't these known for accelerating hard?
• What if I run out of battery power?
• What if I get lost?
• What if I cannot find a parking space in the city center?

I took a deep breath and told myself "I've been driving in India for 10 years. A country where you get potholes, stray animals and people jumping in front of your car when you're driving at 100 KMPH on the highway. Parking in city centers is another problem altogether. If I've never crashed my car or worried about parking the car in a big cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru, what makes me worry about driving in the Netherlands where people actually follow traffic rules? YOU CAN DO IT! Just keep your eyes on the road and car in your control. If things go south, keep driving till you find a place you can stop, like a gas station. Plus this car is equipped with idiot proof safety features, to help."

Having said that, I released my breath, put my foot on the brake pedal,disengaged the electronic parking break, selected D mode on the drive selector, checked the mirrors, turned on the left turn indicator and let go off the brake."Meeeee" The car began to crawl forward with it's signature electric motor whine, as if it was waiting for the moment. I prodded the throttle a bit and the car picked pace. The traffic light turned green as I approached. "Good sign" I told to myself as I checked for any pedestrians or cyclists and turned right to the main road. 100 meters on, I misjudged a lane and ended up going another way, but Waze corrected me and soon enough I was on the highway to Den Haag. I reached the city center without much ado and again missed keeping the correct lane, but after a small detour, I was right in front of the restaurant, 30 minutes before the appointment. Then what I dreaded happened: There was no parking space.

I checked for parking garages nearby and asked Waze to take me to one. I followed it and it took me a way back to Rotterdam. I was a bit skeptical, but Waze never has been wrong till date. However, this time, it didn't know that the only exit on that route ,leading back to the city center, was closed for repairs. To my horror, I saw the speed limit signs change and within seconds, I was back on the motorway to nowhere . I had no idea where I was heading, in an electric car which had 60% battery, with no exits in sight. Worse, I could not stop on the motorway to check the map and assess where I was headed or find an alternative route.

I almost lost my sanity, but reminded myself to stay calm, focus on the road, keep driving and follow the navigation instructions. The car was on ProPilot so it was keeping the lane and speed while I was regaining my composure, tugging at my hand and telling me "Keep driving, I have enough battery and things will be alright!". 15 KM and 40 minutes later, I got to the parking garage without any further problems, being 10 minutes late for my dinner appointment.

I realized that the car already gave me a life lesson:

Leaf (life) lesson #1
Mistakes happen, but you need to keep moving and stay objective. Brooding over mistakes only makes it worse, accepting it and moving forward will eventually lead you to your destination.

From there, I had a wonderful evening, treating my Dutch friends to south Indian dishes (Idli, dosa, kesari, filter coffee and so on). 2 hours later, we started our journey back to Rotterdam. I could drive back to Rotterdam without problems (probably because my friends were with me). As a bonus, I got a parking spot with a charger right below my apartment building. But my joy was short lived, as the Tesla in front had encroached into my spot, making it a tight fit. after 2 tries , I gave up thinking that there was no way I could fit the car in parking spot without hitting the car somewhere. One of my friends was not convinced and he took the driving seat. 4 attempts later, he squeezed the car into the spot, much to my amusement. The Dutch have a way of doing seemingly impossible things!

Here is how it looked like (photo taken the next morning):



Leaf Lesson #2
"Try Try Try, until you succeed. Quitters never win and winners never quit!"

Having covered 72 KMs in total on the Leaf, I got comfortable with the car. The next day going to be a 160 KM trip, To Amsterdam (thankfully not the city center!) and back. I could not sleep due to the excitement that night!

[govindremesh]

Chapter 3: Day 2- Morning: All about the car!

Doors open wide enough. The front one opens one stage further and comes with a 3 stage closing mechanism.



Dashboard is well laid out



A closer look at the steering wheel, the blue button is for the ProPilot.



With the driver seat set for an upright driving position for myself (I'm 5'11"), It is possible to seat 2 6 footers one behind the other (That's me in the backseat). As you can see, one sits in a knees up position and under thigh support is poor for tall people. This is due to the floor mounted battery pack.



Headroom is just O.K. Folks taller than 6 feet will get a hair redo.



Driver door controls



Glovebox has a lot of space.The thick instruction manuals get their own space.



Control stalks have a nice feeling to it, but I've never driven anythning more expensive than an Innova!





The heart of the car, Leaf is powered by an electric motor on its front wheel.






Alloy wheel design



Center console, with the drive mode selector, ECO and e-pedal buttons.



All seats are heated, the rear seats get the control on the co-driver's seat!



Controls for the driver. The first button on the top row are for opening the charging port and unlocking the charge cable.



The sensor module (for rain, light and traffic sign) creates a blind spot for tall drivers.



Reading lamp: Front



Reading lamp for the rear passengers is placed too far ahead. The small black bump at the bottom of the photo is the co-driver seat headrest for reference



All 3 seats get an individual headrest, but



Things are not so rosy for the middle passenger with this tall middle floor bump!



I found the upholestry nice. Notice the blue accents. The stiches and accents are in blue throughout the car.



Big parcel shelf



Bootspace



Some more exterior shots

[govindremesh]

Chapter 4: Living with the Leaf

Driving in the City

The Leaf is started by pressing the power button on the dashboard (look for it closely in the image below! I forgot to take the picture of it exclusively). Like any push button start car, press the power button to turn on the accessory mode and press it with foot on the brake (the MID tells you this) to start the car ("energize the motor" might be the correct usage). The car offers the following options on the drive selector:



P: Parking (Press button on the drive selector)
N: Neutral (Push the drive selector to the left)
R: Reverse (Push the drive selector let and then up)
D: Drive (Push selector left and down, Forward drive without regenerative braking)
B: Brake (Push selector left and down again after engaging D, Forward drive with regenerative braking)

Select the D mode and the car creeps forward without your foot on the brake. Acceleration is brisk, feathering the A- pedal is the best way to get a smooth drive within the city. Press harder and you get pushed back into the seat. Lift off the pedal and the car coasts without, like if you were to press and hold the clutch during your drive. With the B mode however, you get the normal engine braking feel that you get in fuel powered cars. Acceleration characteristics and creep function remain unchanged. There is no feature to adjust the level of regenerative braking, but a higher amount of regenerative braking is available if you enable the e-pedal (discussed later).

Put the car in reverse mode, and the Leaf emits continuous beeps (sounds like it's saying cream-cream-cream-cream) to warn nearby road users and pedestrians about its presence. You also get reverse and forward parking sensors and an all around camera view. The cameras switch views if you get too close to something at the front or back. If you're too close to the front, then the MID displays the front camera view and likewise for the back.



To supplement the driving modes are the two buttons on the center console

ECO: Economy mode

Dulls the throttle response and the acceleration is not as sharp as before. Still feathering the throttle is recommended. if you're in adaptive cruise control, the car doesn't accelerate briskly to reach it's target speed when the car in front speeds up or changes lane. I didn't see much difference in range though, but the dull acceleration is noticeable. The A pedal is also a bit heavy to press.

e-Pedal: One pedal driving mode.

The feature that I loved the most in the city. It takes a few minutes and kilometres to get used to. the e-pedal mode combines strong regenerative braking and mechanical brakes to control the car. While in other modes, the acceleration is proportional to the accelerator input, the e-pedal mode links accelerator input to speed. The car will not creep without accelerator input (0 input on accelerator- 0 speed). The A pedal also feels heavy and feathering the throttle will only result in a creep, compared to the "shooting off the line" behavior in other modes. I had to use a heavy foot on the A-pedal for this mode to get the same level of performance in D or B mode. Leave the accelerator and strong regenerative braking kicks in, which can be a little overwhelming at first. The brake lights light up as well. I would recommend anyone who wants to try this mode to take a orientation drive on an empty road, because if you suddenly let go the accelerator , the car brakes sharply. Once you're used to the e-pedal then you'll appreciate the feature. I didn't use the brake even once for driving within the city. The car also holds its position on inclines. For emergency braking however, you do need to use the brake pedal even in the e-pedal mode.

Other points
The steering is light and sharp and the high seating position gives a good view out of the car. I found the width of the car a little hard to judge which resulted in me holding to the left of the lane most of the times, but never did I have a situation where I had to second guess the car clearing an obstacle on the left. The only complaint I had is that I had to stretch out and avoid the sensor module behind the IRVM to see the traffic lights whenever I was first in line, as the sensor module came directly in my line of sight. It should not be a problem for shorter drivers though.

Highway drive & high speed manners

The Leaf is a delight to drive on the highway. Overtaking is as simple as flooring it. The car shoots ahead and at no speed under 100 KMPH do you find the car lacking pep. The Dutch government recently capped speeds on all motorways to 100 KMPH between 7 AM to 7 PM, so I could not test the car at higher speeds. Barring the wind noise, the Leaf is a comfortable cruiser. Listen hard and you'll hear the electric motor humming in the background, a sound which will easily drown if you turn on the infotainment system.The car comes with Apple Car-play and Android Auto. The infotainment screen is an 8" LCD with capacitive touchscreen, which is snappy to respond and has a decent user interface.

While the car was steady, I felt the suspension was jiggling around for no reason. I could relate it to the way the 4th gen Honda City behaves on the highway with its back bouncing. It does not to the point of compromising the stability, but an annoyance nonetheless. You also feel the road surface, which is not surprising considering electric cars have stiff suspension. I'm yet to see a broken road in the Netherlands, so I cannot comment on how it would feel on broken roads. The steering weighs up nicely at speed, but it lacks a "connect" with the road that one gets with a hydraulic unit on, say, a Ford Fiesta. It's more close to the EPS units on VW Polo if I can compare it. Nonetheless, the handling is brilliant around the corners. I had a situation where I exited the highway to a sharp S curve exit. Dutch highways usually have a "recommended speed" board for such exits, which is usually 20- 30 KMPH lower than the maximum speed limit, but this one did not have one. This was one of the "hear in mouth" moments, but the Leaf handled the S curve well without any fuss! The ProPilot gave up though resulting in me getting a little too close to the curb, but the Leaf immediately sounded the lane alert and steering warning and helped in correcting the mistake. I tired the handling ability again on another such exit, but this time fully prepared and the car held the road well. The placement of the battery back on floor means lower center of gravity, while the width of the car might also be a factor that contributes positively.

Leaf Lesson 3
Life can throw unexpected surprises which sometimes might scare you. If you can't handle it alone, what you need is a trusted partner by your side, who can lead you through the crisis while keeping your confidence level up. A partner who is forgiving on your mistakes, yet reminds you to improve.


The ProPilot

The steering gets stiffer if you have the ProPilot engaged. It's good to note that the ProPilot requires you to have your hands on the steering wheel at all times. Take your hand off wheel and it will start complaining within 5-7 seconds to put your hands back with a warning on MID. I am told that if you don't take action even then, you get an aural warning, which will escalate to the car slowing to a complete stop, should you not put your hands on the steering wheel again. Further, the system cannot tackle sharp curves. Anything that requires more than a nudge on the steering wheel is out of scope for ProPilot. It can give up unexpectedly on sharper curves and it does so with an aural warning. The steering symbol on the dashboard will disappear as well.

Leaf Lesson 4
You should always be in control of your well being. Other people, process and systems might help, but growing too dependent on them could put you in serious trouble when they're not there to support you.

Safety systems

1. Lane Watch: Vibrates the steering wheel with an aural warning if you're drifting over to another lane without flashing your lane change indicators. The steering vibrations are strong and will definitely get your attention.
2. Blind spot warning system: If there are vehicles in your blind spot, a light will light up on your mirrors to warn you of the presence of the vehicle on the respective side. Should you turn on your indicators to change sides without checking the mirrors, the indicator will flash and the car will sound beeps as an aural warning.
3. Pedestrian detection: Supposedly detects pedestrians and brakes the car. Thankfully I didn't have to use it.
4. Automatic emergency braking: If the vehicle in front brakes and you don't, the car will brake itself to prevent a crash or to reduce the impact.
5. Rear cross-traffic alert: If there are cars approaching you while you're reversing out of a parking space, this feature will alert you. Again, I could not test this feature
6. Traffic sign recognition: Scans the speed limit boards and displays it on your MID. I double- checked to ensure that it was not picking up the speed limit mentioned in the navigation . If there are conditional speed limits (time restricted, weather restricted), the MID displays both the speed limits, but without the condition.
7. 360 deg. camera with front and rear radar based distance alert: While it helps in parking the car, it also warns you if you are too close to an obstacle on the side while driving, like too close to the walls on your sides while entering a parking lot

Charging the Leaf

The Leaf is available in 2 battery capacities: 40KWh and 62 KWh (Leaf e+). It can be charged in 3 ways

• Using your 15A home socket. This takes about 20-24 hours. No extra wiring is required.
• Using a 240V AC 7KW (or above) charging station, installed at home or available in public. This takes 4-7 hours for a full charge. The base trim of the car can only charge at 3KWh, while higher trims charge at 6.6KWh
• CHAdeMO fast DC charger with 20-80% in 30 minutes. The car charges at 50KW but the newer models of the Leaf support 100 KW (due to the introduction of Leaf+ with 62 KWh battery)

I could not get detailed pictures, but here is how to charge the car:

• Press the charge port lid open button
• lift the charge port, on your right is the normal 240V charger socket and on the left is the fast charger port
• Plug in the charger, if it's seated correctly, the car will lock the charger and emit a long beep
• Follow the instructions on the charging station to connect the other end of the charger to the station and start charging. For fast chargers, this is not required as the cable cannot be removed from the station
• To disconnect, first stop charging from the charging station. Press the charging port release button in the car and you'll hear a mechanical "click" sound (the car has unlocked the charger).
• Remove and store the charging cable (if required) or put it back on the charging station

There are 3 LEDs on the dashboard of the car, that blink to indicate that the car is charging and also the battery level (similar to the battery indication levels of old Nokia phones). I didn't have the need to use a fast charger, but a quick search on YouTube will show up a lot of videos explaining the same.

Elephant in the room: Range Anxiety

The common perception is that Electric cars come with Range anxiety. In this case though, I had none. The Netherlands has a lot of public charging points and except if you are in the city center (where most of the points will be occupied), it's easy to find a free point in the outskirts of the city. Further, Electric cars perform better at city speeds than highway speeds. That being said, the range displayed by the car was realistic. I would subtract a 20 KM from the displayed range to keep a buffer though.

I could not figure out how to get to the energy usage (KWh/100 KM) screen on the car as I was running out of rental time, but for my trip to Amsterdam with 157 KM, the car consumed 65% of battery (it started with 100%). It said it had 110 KM of range left when I ended my trip. I had been cruising on the highway on ECO mode though and had the e-pedal enabled.

Is it for India?

The only problem I see is the charging infrastructure, but that aside, I believe that the Leaf is an excellent candidate for usage in India for the majority. The roads and the ambient temperature might be a problem, but I am sure that with the kind of average speeds and our driving styles, one could easily get 250+ KM of range with this 40 KWh version on a single charge. Don't get me wrong: This is not a intercity express and will not fit situations like say a drive from Bengaluru to Tiruvananthapuram, a 750 KM trip which I managed to do in less than 10 hours with a Honda City given the excellent highways in Tamil Nadu. Finally, the cost is a factor. At the current exchange rate, this version of Leaf reviewed here will cost ~ 34 Lakhs. For a car that's the size of a Honda City with a little better interior quality, I am not sure how many people would be willing to go green. On the flip side, the top spec 1.0 L Polo Highline TSI-DSG costs 27K Euros in the Netherlands. Cars are generally costlier in the Netherlands than in rest of Europe. Considering the relative cost of living, I guess it should be possible to launch the Leaf in India with localisation at 15-20 Lakh price bracket.

[govindremesh]

Epilogue

I returned from my friend's home in Amsterdam and navigated straight to the same charging point below my apartment. In the entire day, I made ZERO navigation errors. I didn't miss any lane and I was very comfortable with the car and patted myself on the back to have made this decision to drive. Coming back home, the charging spot was available, and the Tesla in front had moved on, leaving me a lot of room to park. After turning off the car and following the process to end the ride and lock the car via the app, I could not help but look back at the car in the parking lot. I spent a good 5 minutes staring at the locked car from all angles. Finally when I went upstairs, I gave a good final look. Waking up the next morning, she was no longer there and I felt sad. Here the Leaf delivered it's final lesson

Leaf Lesson 5
You know you got the right partner if you are going to miss each other badly when you part ways.



The whole experience of trying new stuff has been a huge learning experience which turns this weekend of mine into a memorable one with a lot of learning in both driving and life. I just realized that this is also the first time that I am writing a car review. The fact that there are more cars left to be tried in the fleet keeps me excited and if the members in this forum wish to hear more electric car reviews (though I understand that the reviews might be not fully relevant and ahead of time considering the maturity of the EV market in India). I'll be happy to review the remaining cars in the fleet, and also conventional cars (Time permitting). I've already set my eyes on the Jaguar i-Pace for the next drive.

When I called my parents home to talk about my day, the talk of getting me married came up. I'll be turning 30 in a few months and by Indian standards, I'm kinda old already to get married. My past love interests have told me that if I ever have to woo a girl, then I should start talking less about cars and airplanes, at-least when around them. Arranged marriage it is then! My parents presented the question that I have been avoiding for a while: "What are you looking for in your life partner?". But now I have an answer:

"She should be unconventional in thinking, good looking, intelligent, tall , forgiving, supportive and if possible, come with an e-pedal"

I'm sure my mother has kept a saucepan ready to throw at me when I arrive home.

PS: Apologies for the dirty car, but I wanted to spend more time driving the car than cleaning it up!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Electric Cars Section. Thanks for sharing!

Shortly going to our homepage

[powershift]

Good work govindremesh. Nice pictures.
As you mentioned, unless we have a good pricing strategy and charging infrastructure, its difficult to succeed in India at this point of time. But it will reach there eventually.

And for localizing, the whole India-China political issue will crop up again as the major source for magnets and battery components are from China. All the OEMs are moving towards permanent magnet motor as the prices are lowered by China bigtime. Hardly any companies are focused on induction motor.

[frozen.ash]

Hello, Govindremesh,

Thanks a lot for sharing your life lessons with us.

It was wonderful reading through all the details through your mini-review of the Nissan Leaf. It was a subtle reminder as to some of the little things in life that we are missing out on in this part of the world. Was a great read going through the different steps involved in charging and driving the Leaf.

I sure hope that you would be taking the plunge and going for the Jag as your next drive. Now that your first-time anxieties have subsided a bit, may I request you to please share even more photos for your next vehicle: including the charging point and what it displays, a close look at the charging cable and the charging socket on the vehicle, and whatever else you may deem fit to share with us!

I understand that every single minute counts for you when renting out cars in this manner, but there are tons of BHPians out here who would just LOVE to know more about electric cars (even though we don't want to miss driving the ICE any time soon!)

[carthick1000]

For those of you interested in the Dutch Electric Vehicle market, this special statistics report (attached) by Netherlands Enterprise agency (rvo.nl) until 2019. This gives an insight into the number of EVs, types, market share and the charging infrastructure numbers. Just like Netherlands is the cycling capital of the world, it is no less to say the EV capital of the world (Norway being the one sharing the title with NL) too.

IMHO, Netherlands is the best country in the world (alongwith Norway) when it comes to charging infrastructure and owning/using/leasing an electric car.

[rideaholic]

Thanks for sharing Govind!

As you mentioned, it is a challenge to get higher adoption till there are strides made in both EV tech and Infrastructure but with that said I think prospects for India are still good even on the current date.

Statistics can help to define this. some important questions are "how many people drive >100kms,>150kms,>250kms in a day?" "what is the average running of the car?" "how many people are alright with sharing?"

This will lead to two segments an economy/budget segment mostly preferred by fleet owners as well as individuals with more intracity usage and a premium segment where the cars have greater range and better performance and are as good as any ICE car.

PS: The Opel Corsa in the last picture looks very similar to Tata Indica in top view.

[govindremesh]

Originally Posted by frozen.ash

I sure hope that you would be taking the plunge and going for the Jag as your next drive. Now that your first-time anxieties have subsided a bit, may I request you to please share even more photos for your next vehicle: including the charging point and what it displays, a close look at the charging cable and the charging socket on the vehicle, and whatever else you may deem fit to share with us!

Noted! Thanks for the feedback!

Originally Posted by carthick1000

For those of you interested in the Dutch Electric Vehicle market, this special statistics report (attached) by Netherlands Enterprise agency (rvo.nl) until 2019.

Thanks for sharing the document, it has some interesting analysis. This year, the Dutch government raised the "Benefit in kind" tax on fully electric company cars from 4% to 8% (For petrol/diesel/hybrid cars it's 22%), which resulted in a massive surge of Model 3 deliveries in Nov-Dec 2019. Hyundai/Kia had supply constraints, but I am wondering why Leaf has sold in small numbers!

[kvothe_rules]

Fantastic review Govindremesh.
Infrastructure wise India is way behind most countries. Hopefully with the stated goal of going all electric, the infrastructure would come up in cities very soon. Its much needed given how bad the pollution is.

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by govindremesh

Noted! Thanks for the feedback!



Thanks for sharing the document, it has some interesting analysis. This year, the Dutch government raised the "Benefit in kind" tax on fully electric company cars from 4% to 8% (For petrol/diesel/hybrid cars it's 22%), which resulted in a massive surge of Model 3 deliveries in Nov-Dec 2019. Hyundai/Kia had supply constraints, but I am wondering why Leaf has sold in small numbers!

This is infact the updated document with stats until May 2020 and I think Leaf is in 3rd place when it comes to total units sold. However, Volkswagen is providing some aggressive discounts on e-Golf (stock clearance due to ID3 deliveries about to begin) and Kona has a crossover feel to it and about the same price as Leaf. These 2 reasons might affect the sale of Leaf. IMHO, Leaf's design is not the most interesting. I saw the Dutch version from another website which was updated until 2019. Apologies for the comment with wrong year.

[naveenroy]

TBH, I have never seen the newer Leaf here. Seen a lot of the older ones - when GA was giving heavy discounts on the electric car, a lot of people had bought it as their 3rd car. Newer one looks good - wish they'd give some good deals on it though.

[SKC-auto]

Very nice review, great way of story telling.

Hyundai/Kia had supply constraints, but I am wondering why Leaf has sold in small numbers!

I think this is mostly due to the bad name leaf got to itself. The first gen leaf battery degraded very fast. With the second gen everyone expected Nissan updates with Liquid cooling to its battery, guess what Nissan did not even provide Active air cooled battery pack like the cheaper Renault Zoe, or VW triplets(e Up,
skoda citigo, seat ...) have instead used the passive air cooled battery pack which are notorious for their degradation in their first gen leaf.

This could be one of the reasons with the very low noise in the leaf because there's no fan running to cool the batteries.

CHAdeMO fast DC charger with 20-80% in 30 minutes. The car charges at 50KWh but the newer models of the Leaf support 100 KWh (due to the introduction of Leaf+ with 62 KWh battery)

One correction though, you may have overlooked and I cannot resist letting you know. Power figures to be measured in KW, energy figures in kWh.

[govindremesh]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

This could be one of the reasons with the very low noise in the leaf because there's no fan running to cool the batteries.


One correction though, you may have overlooked and I cannot resist letting you know. Power figures to be measured in KW, energy figures in kWh.

Thanks for your feedback! The reasons you mentioned + early cars having Rapidgate issues might be an explanation for low sales. I've also reported the post to mods for correcting the power units. Thanks for pointing it out!