Friends are ditching their gasser for an EV (Leaf? Volt?) Update: Bolt!

[mpg_numbers_guy]

That Leaf looks SO much better than the 1st gen.

[MetroMPG]

I agree and so does he (owner). But his wife liked the old style better. To each his /her own!

[oil pan 4]

I only have 1 or 2 people thinking about getting an electric vehicle.
I know one of them has an out door 240v receptacle that can support up to 6.6kw charging, because I installed it for them.

[MetroMPG]

Funny thing: their garage was already wired for 240 because she had an electric kiln installed out there years ago.

[oil pan 4]

Kiln and cloths dryer circuits are good.
I'm worried about "dedicated welding circuits" where you could potentially have a 12 gauge wire on a 40 or 50 amp breaker. Perfectly safe for a welder, not so good for continuous loads.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Kiln and cloths dryer circuits are good.
I'm worried about "dedicated welding circuits" where you could potentially have a 12 gauge wire on a 40 or 50 amp breaker. Perfectly safe for a welder, not so good for continuous loads.

Easy and cheap to replace the breaker with a lower rating.

Current EVs don't pull more than 30A anyhow, except maybe for certain Teslas.

[NeilBlanchard]

My neighbor now has a 2018 Leaf. I have only seen the newest Leaf 5 or 6 times in the wild. Which is weird, because I have seen Smart ED's around about as much - another neighbor has one of those. I see multiple Model S's, and Model X's, and i3's and Bolts, and old Leafs, and even i MiEV's - I often see 2 or 3 of these on a single commute.

[MetroMPG]

2 or 3 i MiEV's? That's weird. Your neighbours are buying the odd ducks.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

2 or 3 i MiEV's? That's weird. Your neighbours are buying the odd ducks.

No, I meant 2-3 Teslas, Bolts, old Leafs, and i3's on a single commute. The new Leaf has not shown up very often. I think the NEXT Leaf will show up a lot more, though.

[MetroMPG]

Here's my friend's actual car, sporting its winter boots and covered in seasonal salt/dirt.

We did an eco-driving session today, and honestly, he didn't need it. (He actually beat my score, and graciously tried to soothe my bruised ego by blaming the heat pump for running more during my lap!)

He used to drive a 5-speed Impreza without paying much attention to efficiency. He would have described his ICE driving style as "a bit zoomy". But the combination of a touch of range anxiety, plus the quiet/calm nature of this car's drivetrain has transformed his approach.

He's driven it 11,000 km so far, and spent less than $200 on electricity (in expensive Ontario). My ecomodded Metro/Firefly, by comparison would have cost more than twice that amount to cover the same distance at 60+ MPG, and that's only accounting for the gas!


One thing I was able to show him that he didn't know was how to shift to neutral for long glides. He wasn't aware that he had to hold the shifter in the detent for a second or 2 for N to activate.