Quote:
Originally Posted by jray3
Issac, I'm trying to understand why you still have trouble with trips that are too short for engine warmup and too far or too cold to bike.
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So a lot of my driving is, 30, 50, 70 or more miles somewhere, then short drive here and short drive there, short drive here and short drive there, then the 30, 50, 70 or more miles back home, with my wife. So saying, "Honey, I'm going to throw a couple bikes on the car so we can ride around all day (or all night) in the next town in sub-zero weather" isn't exactly appealing. There are a few places I/we could use a bike. But it wouldn't work well in every situation. A bike rack would be a step in the right direction though for the summer.
A lot of people don't get why we drive so much, but most of it not work related at all. Family and other obligations make us much needed elsewhere. So it is what it is. We have to drive far, all over the state of Colorado and do it often.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jray3
Did your LEAF not have CarWings/ Nissan Connect? The remote preheating function in EVs is awesome. My i-MiEV can melt 2" of snow off of the windshield within 30 minutes, and of course doing it while plugged in means near zero impact to the battery.
Or did you give up the LEAF because it couldn't handle the long trips?
A used first-gen EV can be the perfect car for local errands or average commutes.
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We loved our Leaf! The preheating was awesome even after AT&T dumped 2G and the CarWings stopped working. I'd just go program it manually, sometimes a few times a day. But since we started to do a lot of long distance driving it didn't make sense to keep the Leaf, especially with the cold weather. We drive through a lot of long, uninhabited portions of highway where the only way to charge an EV is with a generator. Trying to make it to the next destination wasn't always so easy in the Leaf, and sometimes it was downright impossible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jray3
Sure, in summer my i-MiEV can do two of my hilly 35 mile round trip commutes, but in winter that round trip better not include any serious side excursions. However, with plugging in at work, I could commute in my skivvies in a blizzard if desired. Gaining L1 (and later upgrading to L2) EVSE at work was the functional equivalent of doubling my battery capacity on weekdays.
Battery design is a leading reason why I picked an i-MiEV over the LEAF, and it delivered the full OEM-rated battery capacity up to 94,000 miles, as Mitsu under-rated the battery by 20%. I'm now at 24% degradation and beginning to feel the loss, so I salvaged a newer low-mileage battery for pack replacement shortly after the OEM warranty against full pack failure expires at 100,000 miles, which will be sometime this winter. Since Nissan has made it near impossible to swap late packs into early cars, the early owners are at Nissan's mercy for replacement pack pricing. We have a couple of local 2011 LEAF owners with less than 30 miles of range even before winter sets in. Mitsu has been EVen less forthcoming about pricing and terms for out-of warranty pack replacement, but the need just hasn't arisen for many yet.
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The battery never was a real problem in the Leaf for us personally. I figure the cold weather does a good job at preserving any EV battery. But I do think I'd try to get a better EV the next time around.
We did try to make the Leaf work and made several +150 mile trips in the Leaf, including a 400 mile and a 700 mile trip. It can be done during the summer, but it was still a bit of a pain having to charge only from L1 all night and part of the day in some areas.
I did try to get a Prius Prime instead of the Avalon. That way the engine could be shut off for certain smaller drives and then used when most needed, on long drives. But the problem was getting the federal tax credit of $4,500 and the state of $5,000 to somehow go towards the down payment on the cheapest $25k Prime I could find in the USA. But I just couldn't get my money to work like that so I got a car I could afford after selling the Leaf and the Bug. Plus I figured I needed 5 seats and a spare tire. And there's nothing in the manual against putting on snow chains on the Avalon. So the Avalon won.
I often wish I had an EV again. But I don't see the point in having two cars right now, except that my insurance actually went up after going to just one car. (They told me because the cost to insure the last car I took off was actually cheaper than what they were giving me in the multiple car discount.) Oh well!
The idea of having an EV for around town and an ICE for long distances has also crossed my mind. But I think biking around town and using the ICE for those long distances makes more sense. It's when we do short trips elsewhere that are the main concern. I want the Avalon to last as long as possible. The longer it lasts, the cheaper it will be to own and operate. I think figuring out a way to keep the engine warm would help me do that.