Leura has a higher proportion of weekenders and second homes than almost anywhere else in the mountains, and that produces a use pattern you rarely see in a suburban market: cars that sit still for long stretches, then do a hard 100 km run down the highway, then sit again.
Standing still is not neutral for a lithium battery. What matters is the state of charge it stands at. A pack left at 100% for three weeks ages measurably faster than the same pack left at 50%, because a full cell sits at a higher voltage and higher voltage accelerates the chemistry that permanently removes capacity. It is one of the few things an owner genuinely controls.
This is why two Leura cars of the same age and the same odometer can measure quite differently. The one that was plugged in and charged to full every Sunday evening before sitting for a fortnight has had a harder life than the one left at 60% in the garage. Neither owner did anything wrong — most people have never been told.
If you are buying a weekender car, it is worth asking how it was stored. And it is worth measuring, because the odometer on a low-use car tells you almost nothing about its battery.
The other Leura pattern: short, steep, cold
The trips that are not the Sydney run tend to be very short — a few kilometres to the shops, to Katoomba, to Wentworth Falls. On a cold morning a short trip never gets the pack up to temperature, so the car spends the entire journey operating at reduced efficiency with limited regeneration.
That is hard on your energy consumption figures and completely harmless to the pack itself. It does mean that if you judge a Leura car's health by the range readout in July, you will arrive at an unfairly bleak conclusion. The measured State of Health is the figure that does not move with the weather.
Where we come to
Leura, Katoomba, Wentworth Falls, Bullaburra, Medlow Bath and Blackheath. A home garage, a driveway, a holiday-let car park.
Booking
Online booking is open for all Leura and upper mountains addresses. $249, no travel surcharge. Phone 02 7252 1390 if you prefer.
EV battery testing across the Blue Mountains · Katoomba · Blackheath and Wentworth Falls · Book a test — $249