2013 Plug-in Prius or 2015 Nissan Leaf Tekna

[David Kent]

Good morning,

Our present car is a 2008 T-Spirit with 60,000 miles, we have owned and enjoyed it since 2011.

We are now considering replacing it with one of the above cars.  

We have had a ride in the Nissan and it was all very lovely and would suit our needs 90% of the time.  But the trip to our son in Devon would need two recharges each way - range anxiety would be a problem.

On Monday we are hoping to get a ride in the Toyota which will be at our local main dealer.  What should we be looking out for?

I have browsed the forum this morning and it seems that no spare wheel is a problem.  I will be sure to have a look in the boot.

I have off road parking and can drive the car up to our garage door.  There is power in the garage and a 13amp socket just inside the door.

Will I be able to plug in and charge from there using RCB in that socket safely? 

Your advice and comments will be greatly appreciated.

Dave

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards the Prius, see the following extract from Toyota UK blog:

What do I need to charge the Toyota Prius Plug-in?
The Prius Plug-in comes with a dedicated charging cable, which fits under the boot floor. This plugs into a standard domestic socket, but we recommend an isolated charge point is installed to protect against overloading your home’s system.

As regards the Leaf, see the following extract from the Nissan site:

Plug into mains - 12/15 hour charge: The most conventional way of charging the Nissan LEAF is via the supplied cable, which plugs directly into a regular domestic supply. This allows you to charge anywhere there is a standard wall socket. The use of a dedicated circuit for your chosen socket is recommended.

 

[Anthony Poli]

How long does the Devon trip take?

How fast would the leaf take to charge at each stop?

Compared to the Prius that would use regular fuel for the long trip.

It's swings and roundabouts, as which would suit you best. If your mileage normally is only about 10 miles then either car would suit for electric only.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Duffryn]

Is there a Nissan Leaf forum I wonder? If there is then check to see if a chap called Grumpy Cabbie contributes - he used to post regularly on this Prius forum until he swapped to a Nissan Leaf a year or so ago. I'm sure he would be very helpful to you.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

How often do you go to your son's? Could always hire a car is needs be.

TBH I really like my PiP, but the Leaf is a Tekna is a lot of car. If my PiP was written off tomorrow, it'd probably be swapped for a Leaf. However it now suits my useable a lot better, where as the PiP did at the time I bought it.

The PiP will hold its residuals a lot better than the Leaf however!

[aCactus]

There might be a hidden cost for the Leaf as Nissan might require a monthly Battery hire

[FROSTYBALLS]

23 minutes ago, aCactus said:

There might be a hidden cost for the Leaf as Nissan might require a monthly battery hire

One can either buy or lease the Battery

[David Kent]

Thanks to all for responding to my post.

To Frostyballs: It seems that I will have to pay up for a dedicated charge point whichever car I purchase. Thanks for the info.

To Anthony Poli:  Our son moving to Devon is a problem that is easily solved by the PIP. The trip takes about 4 hours.  Travelling there in an EV would require a couple of stops.  Will there be a vacant charge point or will there be a queue to use it?  Or even worse, the charge point is 'out of order'?

The rest of our mileage is almost all local so either car would be suitable as these trips at the moment use petrol more than Battery.

To Duffryn: Taking you advice, I have spent some hours trawling through a couple of Leaf forums, but haven't come across Grumpy Cabbie.  However, there is lots of stuff to read on their forums, just as there is here.  

To MEP's Yaris GS: Yes, hiring a car would solve that problem.  I will have to look into the costs.  I agree that the PIP will have the better resale value in a couple of years.  Perhaps by then EVs with longer ranges will be available at reasonable prices, so that may well be the route to take.

To aCactus and Frostyballs:  I would only be interested in buying the car and Battery. 

I will have to take both cars for a drive and then make a decision.  In the meantime I will continue to wake in the night mulling things over!

[PeteB]

I don't know if they still do, but Nissan once gave you 14 days a year car hire with a Leaf for longer trips.  That would not please me though, becuase:

1. it's a pain putting all my bits and pieces in another car then transferring them back again
2. having been used to a smooth, quiet car, even an auto 'ordinary' car is really frustrating.

[David Kent]

I asked about the 14 day car hire and they tell me that it only applies to new cars.

[cmclean]

David, have a look at this site where you can find lots of info and advice from EV owners. http://speakev.com/

[Duffryn]

Perhaps he uses a different moniker now, but I'd be surprised if Grumpy Cabbie didn't contribute to a forum, he was a very frequent poster on this one.

Why not join the Leaf forum and ask a question - mentioning Prius of course - and you might find others had been in the same quandary as yourself. Good luck!

[David Kent]

Thanks cmclean, I did spend some time yesterday looking at this forum.  I have now joined and have posted a question.

 

[johalareewi]

My friend used to have a leaf as their main car.  The BIG problem is long trips. If you plan it so you can recharge along the way, there is no guarantee that you will be able to charge once you get there.  Quite often my friend found the charge point either out of service, occupied by a non electric car, or in use.  After coming to see us on a cold winter's day and being unable to top up en route, they had to complete the trip with no heating.  His wife was not amused and soon after that, they got a hybrid Yaris.  Also, the Nissan free hire car for longer trips only applies from the dealer where the new leaf was purchased, and you can't leave the UK.

My cousin has a leaf as their second car which they charge from solar panels on their house roof.  It is used for shopping trips, school run, etc.  They have a petrol car for long journeys.  The leaf works well in this situation.

I have a 2013 plugin prius.  It works well for me.  I can fully charge at home so a large chunk of my daily commute is done using electricity.  I can also charge from any 3 pin mains socket (the plugin takes 10 amps max) and with suitable adapters I can use other types of sockets (like Euro, commando, etc.).  Armed with a EV charge cable (type 2 to type 1) I can get a handy top up charge from public charge points.  The great thing about the plugin prius is that you don't have to plug it in.  So if there is no handy 3 pin socket (or charging station), it is a normal petrol car.

 

[QuantumFireball]

I think the Leaf makes a lot of sense as a second car. It seems like too much of an inconvenience for longer trips as you describe. I don't know how good the public charging infrastructure is in England, but reliability and contention seems to be just as much of a problem as it is here.

I've had a Prius Plug-in for nearly a year and it has worked well for me, for both short and long trips. I can do about 30% of my driving in EV mode (around town, short commute to work). I also got a cable for public charging, though financially it doesn't make a lot of sense (I get free parking and free charging here, but it would take years to make back the cost of the cable). The only big disappointment is the fact it needs to run the ICE for cabin heating, so it's not great for EV driving in the winter (I can get anything from 40-200 MPG depending on the journey and outside temp.).

[Harters]

Long distance driving is the reason I am changing my Zoe for a Prius and I agree with the reasons on the post by johalareewi.  The charging structure that Ecotricity introduced was the final straw.

I am looking forward to being able to just get in my car and drive wherever I want to go without having to plan and think ahead as to where, when and if I can charge. 

[David Kent]

So, if you can't use the climate control in the winter to heat and demist the car, presumably you can't use it to cool the car in summer without using the ICE.

Can you use the heated seats without using the ICE?

I don't think my wife will be too impressed with that.  This could be a deal breaker.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

1 hour ago, David Kent said:

So, if you can't use the climate control in the winter to heat and demist the car, presumably you can't use it to cool the car in summer without using the ICE.

Can you use the heated seats without using the ICE?

I don't think my wife will be too impressed with that.  This could be a deal breaker.

Luckily you presume wrong. You can't call for heat without the ICE kicking in to create it.

You can cool and use AC in the summer, and use the heated seats without ICE as these are all electric, but there is no electric aux heater. This is the reason the PiP came with heated seats as standard, as to be honest for short journeys you don't really need cabin heat in my opinion. Just keep your coat on and use the heated seats.

[johalareewi]

The new plugin prius (when it gets here) will be able to heat without needing the ICE.

[aCactus]

3 hours ago, David Kent said:

So, if you can't use the climate control in the winter to heat and demist the car, presumably you can't use it to cool the car in summer without using the ICE.

Can you use the heated seats without using the ICE?

I don't think my wife will be too impressed with that.  This could be a deal breaker.

You have the same problem with the Leaf - just change ICE for Battery. Changing temperature up or down requires power, the Prius can use the ICE to provide this but the Leaf has to use the Battery thereby reducing its range. What put me off going all electric for my next car was the time it takes to charge which even put me off another plug in so my next car will be an "ordinary" hybrid.

[QuantumFireball]

Why would that put you off a PHEV? You only have to charge when it suits you. I guess if you couldn't charge regularly from home or work then it probably doesn't make much sense.

[aCactus]

28 minutes ago, QuantumFireball said:

Why would that put you off a PHEV? You only have to charge when it suits you. I guess if you couldn't charge regularly from home or work then it probably doesn't make much sense.

Plug in is extra cost and limited choices - Toyota sell hybrid versions of most models available in UK but only one plug in. I found the need to have the car attached to a charger for an hour to get enough power for a couple of miles rather frustrating coupled with me doing lots of short journey so requiring ICE to provide heat, even running in EV mode engine would be running for most of the first two miles even when stationary at traffic lights. The local charging infrastructure is almost non existent, the only place I have been that has a charger is the Toyota dealership, there are a few more chargers locally but seems a bit pointless to drive extra miles to get to supermarket that might have a charging point working and not blocked by someone else. This has meant that I have only charged my car at home using the "free" charging point (actually paid for by British Gas customers), The new Prius with a solar roof does appear to be an attractive option but the price compared with a hybrid C-HR means that for me a charging cable will not be required next month!

[David Kent]

Well, we went to see the Plug-in Prius yesterday, a 2014 model.  The car had been cleaned but hadn't been security checked so we were not taken for a ride or had a drive.  We were very disappointed with the size of the boot, we carry a lot of stuff under the lid of our boot.  Add to that the dark trim inside the car which we found depressing, we have decided to keep our Gen 2 Prius for the time being. 

As pensioners we can't justify the additional expense of a second vehicle so we will probably wait for an affordable longer range EV to arrive before considering changing our car.

While waiting to see the salesman yesterday we took a look at the cars in the showroom and they all had dark seats, dark trim, and dark head linings. At our time of life they were too reminiscent of coffins..........

Thank you to all that have taken the time to post on this thread.

Best wishes

[PeteB]

Agree on both counts David.  A day in some of the current interiors (not just Toyota) and I'd want to slash my wrists!

Whilst I'd have preferred a nice, richer colour, the "cool grey" (which actually looks cream) of my new Gen 4 Prius is a breath of fresh air.  And the shiny white trim that so many don't like actually looks ok with it.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Personally prefer darker interiors myself. Light colours turn nasty quickly if the car is in regular use from experience. You only need to look at the awful interiors of the phase 1 Leaf's vs the darker colours of the phase 2.