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IMHO, Korean companies seem to be making a more direct beeline to electric than the major Japanese makers for some reason. I'm in Japan right now in fact and se

by bane 8y ago

IMHO, Korean companies seem to be making a more direct beeline to electric than the major Japanese makers for some reason. I'm in Japan right now in fact and see many more variants of hybrids than in the states, but haven't seen a single all electric of any type yet. I've also seen a handful of fuel cell and other fuel type vehicles...last time I was in Korea I definitely felt a faster convergence on electric tech than here. The Japanese makers seem to be going at it more slowly...perhaps lessons learned from the leaf?

cptskippy 8y ago
> The Japanese makers seem to be going at it more slowly...perhaps lessons learned from the leaf? I'm not sure they learned anything from the Leaf tbh. It's a fine little car and I've never met anyone who owned one (myself included) who said anything other than "it needs more range and it's too expensive". Sure there's all sorts of things you could nitpick about, just like with any car, but at it's core the range and sticker price are the only major issues.
- kozak 8y ago
  It looks like all the first generation Leafs from the USA are now here in Ukraine, selling like hot cakes for around 20k USD. For that price, the range that is left on their now-degraded batteries seems just fine.
  - cptskippy 8y ago
    20k USD? Yikes! You can get a 2015 Leaf in the US for under $9k.
    - kozak 8y ago
      I guess it depends on condition of each car, there are cheaper ones as well. But the point is, quite a lot of people even in my "poor" country are ready to pay $20k for a low-range EV. Which makes me conclude that range is not as much of an issue as price.
      - cptskippy 8y ago
        I bought a Certified PreOwned 2015 Leaf in 2017 near mint condition with 20k miles, full battery bars, and a warranty for $12k. Comparable cars are ~$3k cheaper now. My Leaf has a reported range of 75-90 miles fully charged. I'm in the South Eastern US and my commute to work is roughly 25 miles of highway (65-80mph) driving one way. So in theory I should have 25+ miles of range when arriving home in the evenings but highway driving draws more power as does operating climate control so that's best case. It doesn't leave much room for errands in the evenings after work. I lost a bar recently but oddly it does not seem to have affected the range at all.

by bane 8y ago

cptskippy 8y ago

> The Japanese makers seem to be going at it more slowly...perhaps lessons learned from the leaf? I'm not sure they learned anything from the Leaf tbh. It's a fine little car and I've never met anyone who owned one (myself included) who said anything other than "it needs more range and it's too expensive". Sure there's all sorts of things you could nitpick about, just like with any car, but at it's core the range and sticker price are the only major issues.

kozak 8y ago
It looks like all the first generation Leafs from the USA are now here in Ukraine, selling like hot cakes for around 20k USD. For that price, the range that is left on their now-degraded batteries seems just fine.
- cptskippy 8y ago
  20k USD? Yikes! You can get a 2015 Leaf in the US for under $9k.
  - kozak 8y ago
    I guess it depends on condition of each car, there are cheaper ones as well. But the point is, quite a lot of people even in my "poor" country are ready to pay $20k for a low-range EV. Which makes me conclude that range is not as much of an issue as price.
    - cptskippy 8y ago
      I bought a Certified PreOwned 2015 Leaf in 2017 near mint condition with 20k miles, full battery bars, and a warranty for $12k. Comparable cars are ~$3k cheaper now. My Leaf has a reported range of 75-90 miles fully charged. I'm in the South Eastern US and my commute to work is roughly 25 miles of highway (65-80mph) driving one way. So in theory I should have 25+ miles of range when arriving home in the evenings but highway driving draws more power as does operating climate control so that's best case. It doesn't leave much room for errands in the evenings after work. I lost a bar recently but oddly it does not seem to have affected the range at all.