Thread: Personal EV journey.

Originally Posted by Optimark

Paul, I too would be sceptical about a secondhand BEV, however I've slightly changed my mind after talking to two owners who purchased ex Japanese Nissan Leaf automobiles.

Both mentioned the state of health of the batteries, something I had never considered being a possibility; but it made sense once I heard about it. Fortunately for me, these are about 20 minutes away from our place. That said, we are not actively looking for a BEV, but one never knows.

If you click on one of the cars, then a detailed description etc. becomes available.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES, NISSAN LEAF, FULL ELECTRIC, ZERO EMISSION

Mick.

Interesting. Why are so many available?

Is it because there is more opportunity in Oz to sell used BEV's? or is it because of a quirk in Japanese regulations? Aside from the Aust Govt revised Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme there must be a reason why the take up of used BEV's in Japan makes them available here.

With articles like this Why buying a cheap used electric car from Japan could prove costly - Drive makes one question both sides of the argument. The Takata airbag recall example at the tail of the article does make an excellent point though.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Interesting. Why are so many available?

I don't really know the answer, although I am a little suspicious of so many so quickly. Going back a few years the Japanese used to protect their car industry by imposing high vehicle taxes on older cars. Consequently, at about four years old it was advantageous in Japan to replace your car with a new one. In this way it propped up their automotive industry.

I know this because I purchased a couple of Japanese replacement motors quite cheaply and they were ex JP with about 40,000Kms on them, at least allegedly. Perhaps the same system is current there today, although that does not explain why one and two year old models are coming here, unless it is a as simple as they command better prices here.

Regards
Paul

One of my mates bought a second hand Nissan Leaf, uses it every day and he tops it up at work and home, Travels 100km + a day and 1/3 of that is very winding hilly roads, is ok with driver only but when he goes to town with the whole family, total 5, it barely has enough charge left to get them home. He said he is roughly $250-00 a week in front with the saving in fuel.
There is a NZ company specializes in refurbishing leaf batteries and they are about 1/2 the cost of a new battery.

Bob,

What is involved in the actual matinence of a Electric vehicle, a lot of us hear would probably know what’s involved in the matinence of petrol or diesel car, but an electric one, do they even look under the bonnet when it’s been serviced.??

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Bob,

What is involved in the actual matinence of a Electric vehicle, a lot of us hear would probably know what’s involved in the matinence of petrol or diesel car, but an electric one, do they even look under the bonnet when it’s been serviced.??

Cheers Matt.

In short its bugger all.

I'm not sure about other vehicles but here is what Tesla says about service/maintenance

Your vehicle should generally be serviced on an as-needed basis.
However, Tesla recommends the following maintenance items and intervals for your Model 3.

• Brake fluid health check every 2 years (replace if necessary).
• A/C desiccant bag replacement every 6 years.
• Cabin air filter replacement every 2 years.
• Clean and lubricate brake calipers every year or 12,500 miles (20,000 km) if in an area where roads are salted during winter
• Rotate tires every 6,250 miles (10,000 km) or if tread depth difference is 2/32 in (1.5 mm) or greater, whichever comes first

Thats it - no engine, tranny, diff oils or filters, no fuel issues and no coolant fluid, although I believe the Heat pump coolant is replaced after a longer number of (5?) years. [EDIT. 100,000]
May brother says its not that hard to do these things yourself although he is much more mechanically minded than the average bear.

Bob, you have got yourself a luxury car for not much more that a new Toyota. I think you'll love it. Tesla numbers on the road will be like Commodores in the early 2000's in a couple of years. They are the most advance car you can buy. Now I just wish I could afford one. Maybe, when they bring out the $40k model.

Originally Posted by BobL

In short its bugger all.

I'm not sure about other vehicles but here is what Tesla says about service/maintenance

Thats it - no engine, tranny, diff oils or filters, no fuel issues and no coolant fluid, although I believe the Heat pump coolant is replaced after a longer number of (5?) years.
May brother says its not that hard to do these things yourself although he is much more mechanically minded than the average bear.

Servicing of drive line & running gear. It will be interesting to see how all models fare over time.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Servicing of drive line & running gear. It will be interesting to see how all models fare over time.

Depending on the make/model etc, being heavier, EVs do need to use appropriate bearings and suspension mountings points etc.

A German Taxi driver has driven a 2014 Tesla S for more 1.6 million km.
During this time he has had the battery replaced twice. Once at 290,000 km under warranty, and once at about 1,000,000 km
He had the single electric drive motor replaced 3 times by 680,000 km when known motor faults were being worked on, and a fourth one at 1,000,000.
Replacing a EVs motor is also quite a bit easier than most ICE motors
Multi motor units put considerably less load on each motor so should fare even better.

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Bob, you have got yourself a luxury car for not much more that a new Toyota. I think you'll love it. Tesla numbers on the road will be like Commodores in the early 2000's in a couple of years. They are the most advance car you can buy. Now I just wish I could afford one. Maybe, when they bring out the $40k model.

Check out these new car sales figures for Australia for May 2023.
Evsales.jpg
So in selling my Isuzu and getting a Tesla Y I have moved from #6 to #3 - well for May anyway.

The engineering on the Teslas is pretty amazing which is why they have one of the highest energy efficiencies of all EVs. Plus they are so mice to drive.

Originally Posted by BobL

Replacing a EVs motor is also quite a bit easier than most ICE motors

Bob

I am sure I saw a post where a Forum member has already done a DIY replacement of the battery in an EV. My memory is that he said it was both easy and cheap! I will try to find the post when I have a little more time. I don't think there will be any rush for your vehicle.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Bob
I am sure I saw a post where a Forum member has already done a DIY replacement of the battery in an EV. My memory is that he said it was both easy and cheap! I will try to find the post when I have a little more time. I don't think there will be any rush for your vehicle.

My Mate had 2 Priuses (now has only one) and he swapped the batteries back and forth between the two cars himself several times.

About 10 years ago the batteries in the Tesla Model S could be swapped out in half the time it takes to fill a fuel tank! but Tesla did not end up fostering battery swapping as a recharging method probably because
It's potentially EFFIN dangerous
It requires specialist lifting gear as they are very heavy, the Model S weighs ~500 kgs and the Y's battery is ~770 kgs.

Well I have had the Tesla car for 4 days and done 400km. So far I've been diving during the day and plugging it in at night and even on the provided 240V/10A Mobile charger (derated to 8A) easily tops it up over night, The mobile charger can be used on a 15A plug whereby its about 50% faster, but I need to sort out a properly rated extension cord for it. With the 32A wall charger I'm getting installed it should be 2 times faster again.

Driving wise, it's become dead easy to use. The one pedal driving is making me a smoother driver and I hardly ever touch the brakes which explains why brakes on an eV can last lot longer than on an ICE vehicle.

Of course every man and his dog wants to try it out. On Sunday at the weekly family gathering with the 3 other Tesla owning brothers present and all wanting a test drive I stayed behind and let them go out and play.

My first country trip looks like being in about 2 weeks to the Wyalkatchem Mens shed for wood dust consult. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Originally Posted by Optimark

Paul, I too would be sceptical about a secondhand BEV, however I've slightly changed my mind after talking to two owners who purchased ex Japanese Nissan Leaf automobiles.

Both mentioned the state of health of the batteries, something I had never considered being a possibility; but it made sense once I heard about it. Fortunately for me, these are about 20 minutes away from our place. That said, we are not actively looking for a BEV, but one never knows.

If you click on one of the cars, then a detailed description etc. becomes available.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES, NISSAN LEAF, FULL ELECTRIC, ZERO EMISSION

Mick.

The Nissan Leaf is a bit of an oddity amongst BEV's due to the batteries not being actively cooled by coolant and solely relying on air cooling and passive cooling is not good for battery longevity. I have a friend who has had two of them both requiring battery replacement and she does not drive much compared to most people.

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

There appears to be several barriers to the uptake of EVs in Oz.

Government policy is and was the greatest hurdle to BEV take up in Oz. Europe took the view and set a date for ICE sales to stop and the individual governments working within that framework began to offer incentives to meet that deadline. The manufacturers in Oz (about five years ago) led by VW and Toyota decided they did not want any BEV's in Oz if they could avoid it and lobbied the government to avoid any incentives and at the time the political scene was very amenable to what the manufacturers wanted. Subsequently the political view changed and the state governments decided to give the feds the single finger and began to offer limited incentives of their own some of which are now being removed. It is curious that VW now support the idea of rebates for some strange reason!

Most of the BEV sales in this country were also hampered by being subject to LCT and that made them far more expensive than they should have been but now that has either been removed or is in the process of being removed. There is also discussions taking place to remove all import taxes for BEV's manufactured in Europe but the Eagle hasn't landed on that one yet. EV prices likely to be slashed in Australia as part of EU trade talks (smh.com.au)

There are a lot of places in the world where electric cars simply are not viable and Australia has large bits which are part of that scenario. I think that the Japanese led by Toyota have not totally swallowed the kool aid on electric cars and have taken a view that with the Europeans going full throttle on electric cars someone has to supply ICE vehicles for places that can't use electric cars at the present time though that will change as technology and infrastructure change. My son is a service manager for BYD and it is obvious that the Chinese have looked at Oz, seen the slow uptake and decided that a sensibly priced BEV will sell and they are correct. BYD have built a dedicated production line solely for Australia and NZ so they are fairly serious about selling electric cars here and the Chinese a have stated target of having 85% of the world's electric car sales. At the moment BYD are producing 1500 cars a month for Oz & NZ and selling every one of them with a waiting list on top of the sales.

All car importers have had quarantine issues so BYD took the pragmatic view and decided to load all the cars coming off the production line into containers so they did not have to be stored outside subject to getting dirty and attracting unwanted insects etc and thus having to go through rigorous cleaning and inspection when they arrived in Oz. It has gotten so bad that inspectors are checking cars at dealerships even after cleaning at the docks. Putting the cars into containers also gives BYD the added advantage of not having to rely on car carriers as well.