Nissan Leaf long-term test

26 November 2018 – Advance warming

The Nissan Leaf climate control timer has been coming in handy in recent weeks to pre-warm and demist the interior in advance of me setting off to work each morning.

At first, I wasn’t sure whether it would work unless the car was connected to a charging point, but it turns out that the interior can be warmed up either via the mains or the high-voltage drive battery – the latter for no more than 15 minutes and at the expense of chopping a few miles off the range.

So far, the timer has been doing a decent job, leaving the cabin warm and mostly mist-free on cold mornings. The side windows still seem a bit reluctant to clear properly, though, and the unheated door mirrors take even longer.

Meanwhile, the indicated range on a full charge has dropped even more due to the colder conditions. Last weekend I charged up the Nissan Leaf battery overnight with the car parked outside and I had just 124 miles of range showing when it was complete. That’s a big drop from the 160-170 miles usually promised during the summer months and means the realistic range is no more than 100 miles. All electric cars suffer similarly in cold weather, but it’s a little disappointing all the same.

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