I followed a new style Leaf home from Daughters the other night. They were using the same back route I do to avoid rush hour traffic. Despite myself I actually found myself liking the look of it. It didn't hang about either, certainly quicker in the mid range than the average non hot-hatch. The Volvo has 450NM and kept up ok, but I was surprised that I was having to pay attention to stay with it (it was an unlit country road and their headlamps were far better than mine, so I was trying to stay close enough to benefit!)
We have a number of BEVs at work as pool cars and I routinely will chose one of those over an ICE car. The current generation Leafs are indeed quite nippy, even with 4 big blokes onboard. Handling is a bit meh, but such are most modern cars with electric power steering which gives little feedback, and the ride is a bit firm. However as Drago says, they can be hustled along the back roads and will leave most things for dead at traffic lights, especially as so many ICE cars have to restart the engine once the driver sees the green lights.
We are considering a power vault of some type, but hadn't really considered that a BEV sitting in our drive connected via a smart charger could be effectively acting as one. I'm working from home mostly and some weeks the Caravelle rarely goes out, so a BEV could be powering our house during the evenings and could be "topped up" on a cheap overnight tariff combined with charge from our PV panels.
Hmm, i wonder how much a Leaf is second hand, or to lease?
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