Our Nissan Leaf long term test car has arrived, hurrah! The Leaf will be my daily driver over the next few months and I intend to fully capitalise on its electric efficiency. OY16XLO is a 30kWh Tekna, meaning it has the largest battery currently offered by Nissan and the highest level of equipment too – thank you Nissan! Official range is estimated at 155 miles (NEDC) but, as is true for all electric cars currently, true range is lower. The 100% fully charged Leaf shows 111 miles range currently and as weather conditions are favourable, this is likely to be about right and accurate. However, because OY16XLO isn’t a new Leaf – having covered a mere 750 odd miles already – I’ve reset all the counters and have already seen an improvement.
Travelling my commute of just six miles through excrutiatingly slow traffic has already delivered better than expected energy use, 4.6miles/kWh so far. At that level of energy use, actual range could be as high as 130 miles – but time will tell whether this is true or not.
Spec wise, the Tekna includes some nifty novelties including 360º camera that’s great for reversing and gives an excellent GTA view of the world. There’s heated front and rear seats and steering wheel, not that these will get much use in summer – I hope! And there’s also black leather trim, LED headlights, 7-speaker BOSE speaker system and smart 17″ alloys. Plenty to keep me occupied and entertained over the coming months. More updates to follow.
