Nissan Leaf

[NeilBlanchard]

We are naming her Forest. Geddit?

I am charging Forest for the first time. I drove 68.5 miles, and I am measuring the charge with my Kill-A-Watt meter, so I'll post that to my Garage in the morning.

The dash indicator said I raised the 3.6 miles / kWh (which includes the ~29 miles driven by us and other test drivers) up to 4.6 miles / kWh average - that is 155MPGe.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm a fan of the Leaf, although I've only taken one for a 10min test drive. Hopefully they will be very cheap when the leases end. It looks like leasing is the most popular option, and it seems once the novelty wears off, many people switch back to a gasser. My hope is to replace one of my gassers for an EV in the next 3 years. Perhaps the new Tesla will be out by then. The shape of the Leaf bugs me because it looks weird, and isn't even that aero.

I test drove a used one for a couple miles, couldn't really do more as it only had ~8 miles of range left (how hard is it to plug in a car?). The silence was deafening even compared to my Prius. Seemed like a pretty good little car, but I totally agree about the looks. If it looks weird for aero, fine. If it looks weird just cuz, whyyyyy?

I would like our next car to be an EV. The Volt is the only option within our price range that would work for us with wanting to remain a one car household, nothing else can really be used as a road trip car. Unfortunately the used market for them is pretty much nonexistent around here. I guess the Prius and ebike will have to be good enough for the time being...

[Daox]

I believe the funky headlights are there to push air up and around the rear view mirrors. Its one of those things that keeps the car crazy quiet. I completely agree, its ridiculously quiet even compared to the Prius.

[sendler]

I assume the $7,500 US incentive was also applied. How much is your payment? These incentives really knock a lease payment down. I work at a Mercedes dealer and the employee price of the $42,000 electric B class car is $0 down, $253 for 2 years/ 20,000 miles. If it enters the Master lease program which is an incentive for the employees to stay master certified, I would get back matching $75 refunds from the employer and the manufacturer making the payment $100 for a base model. Both of the vehicles we have coming in have two option packages so they would be $130. Charging primarily at work will also save $700 per year in gas over my worn out Insight.

[NeilBlanchard]

Since it is a lease, no the $7500 federal tax refund is not applied.

I logged the first charge!

[Daox]

Woohoo, very nice Neil!

[NeilBlanchard]

We have two options: 2.4¢ additional per kWh for the Green Start program, or 3.8¢ for the Mass Wind program.

https://www.massenergy.org/renewable-energy

We are paying (with NStar) 19.2¢ / kWh already. And that price is likely to go up by as much as 37% this winter.

On Forest (our new Leaf) it cost us 5.1¢ / mile which is less than a Prius - at 6.4¢ / mile at the current local $3.199 price for gas @ 50MPG.

I charged Forest last night - 16.17kWh and drove 68.5 miles = 4.236 miles / kWh = 142MPGe. At our current electricity rate plus the Green Start cost, that makes it ~$7.279 / gallon equivalent. Again that is 5.1¢ / mile.

It makes a solar PV system look even better!

[user removed]

When I was considering a lease on a Leaf the dealership discounted the price $7500. They got the tax credit, or at least that is what they told me. I think the OTD lease price was around $22.5k. Buyout after 36 months was around half that.

regards
mech

[Cd]

Originally Posted by Daox

I believe the funky headlights are there to push air up and around the rear view mirrors. Its one of those things that keeps the car crazy quiet. I completely agree, its ridiculously quiet even compared to the Prius.

Nissan uses the same odd styling on the Juke. I'm not convinced it does anything worthwhile.
The Tesla does not have them, and neither do so many other low drag cars.

The air does indeed get channeled around those headlights, but is it really necessary ? If the noise was such a huge issue, they could have just reshaped the nose.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

We have two options: 2.4¢ additional per kWh for the Green Start program, or 3.8¢ for the Mass Wind program.

https://www.massenergy.org/renewable-energy

We are paying (with NStar) 19.2¢ / kWh already. And that price is likely to go up by as much as 37% this winter.

Do you have to be enrolled in a "green" energy program, or is it optional? Your electric utility rate is more than double what I pay, and our power is already mostly renewable as it comes from hydro.

Originally Posted by Cd

Nissan uses the same odd styling on the Juke. I'm not convinced it does anything worthwhile.
The Tesla does not have them, and neither do so many other low drag cars.

That's my complaint with the Leaf. While I hardly care what a car looks like on the outside, considering I will spend 1% of my time looking at it, and 99% looking from within the cabin, there is no reason for it to look terrible AND not be aerodynamic.

In my opinion, the Tesla S is the best looking car on the market AND has a very respectable CD.

If metal has to be bent into a car-like shape, why not bend it in a way that is appealing to the eye, and advantageous to slipping through the air? It makes me wonder how much extra range, on average, lowering the CD by a single point would add to the Leaf. It could be the difference between the anxiety I would have driving from PDX to my parents house in Salem, and enjoying the journey.