Nissan Leaf

[sendler]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

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

There is a $7,500 credit listed on the lease of the B class which gets the employee price down to $253 on a $42,000 car. It doesn't say where the money comes from but the number is suspiciously the same.
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My electric in Syracuse 13066 costs around $0.15/ kWh at the end of the bill including taxes and transmission fees. But part of the lease agreement states that I am allowed to plug in at any MB dealer for free so I would only have to charge a few kWh on the 110v charger at home to pre heat in the winter and then 3-4 hours on level 2 at work to stay fully topped up once a day.

[freebeard]

Congratulations. I trust that all the money you save will help to get CARBen on the road. I look forward to you announcing you're going to go with the Toyota/Lexus MGR.

I just checked my latest bill. I'm out-of-pocket to the tune of 5.17¢ per kilowatt hour. I think it comes from the Bonneville Dam that Woody Guthrie used to sing about.

I want to go electric so I can sit at stoplights and eavesdrop on people not-quite-shouting at each other over the sound of their car idling.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I just checked my latest bill. I'm out-of-pocket to the tune of 5.17¢ per kilowatt hour.

That is your usage in kWh divided by the payment amount? That seems incredibly low for anywhere in the USA where the average for residential is $0.13

[mort]

Originally Posted by sendler

That is your usage in kWh divided by the payment amount? That seems incredibly low for anywhere in the USA where the average for residential is $0.13

Here is current electrical pricing. Note industrial rates for Washington state. Bonneville it is.
-mort

[NeilBlanchard]

The Green Start program is optional, for sure. Not many people are using it, and it is not hard to figure out why.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by sendler

That is your usage in kWh divided by the payment amount? That seems incredibly low for anywhere in the USA where the average for residential is $0.13

They do the math right on the bill. Actually the way I stated it is inaccurate. it shows 227kwh X 0.051700 = $11.74 but there is a base charge of $9.00/mo so it's close to twice that.

[Astro]

Originally Posted by freebeard

They do the math right on the bill. Actually the way I stated it is inaccurate. it shows 227kwh X 0.051700 = $11.74 but there is a base charge of $9.00/mo so it's close to twice that.

Soooo cheap... those might have been the prices a hundred years ago where i live but not today.
Here in Australia, in the lovely state of Victoria the prices are about 30 cents / kWh peak times and about half that during off peak times (11pm to 7am).
Then there is the daily base charge (supply charge) of around $1.10 per day, roughly $33 per month.
So your bill for the same kWh + a monthly supply charge here in Australia would be just over $100.

Makes having solar panels on the roof attractive even if to just reduce the amount of electricity drawn from the grid. Any excess that can be sold back to the grid is a bonus.
I put enough panels on the roof to cancel out our average usage plus enough so that the excess can be sold back to the grid and cancel out the monthly base charge.
It has been working so far with the last 2 years averaging $25 credit per month.

Oh and if you want green electricity, from a hydro dam or wind etc then you add somewhere between 5 and 8 cents per kWh to the price depending on retailer.

At the prices you are paying why doesn't everybody have an electric car.

And back to the cars aero design. Maybe they should have removed the side mirrors and replaced them with rear facing side cameras and some LCD monitors either side of the steering wheel.
Then they wouldn't need crazy shaped headlights to move the air over the side mirrors.
The cameras could be mounted way up front giving you a really good view down the side of the car and not much of a blind spot.
With so many people putting cameras on their cars and posting accident videos on youtube it won't be long before insurers catch on and start making it a requirement on the policy. May as well have them integrated into the design of the car.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by freebeard

They do the math right on the bill. Actually the way I stated it is inaccurate. it shows 227kwh X 0.051700 = $11.74 but there is a base charge of $9.00/mo so it's close to twice that.

That is what I thought. Nobody in the USA pays $0.05 for electricity. The bills are intentionally misleading. The only way to know what you are really paying is for you to do the math. Base fees, transmission fees, and taxes can become 2/3 of the bill. Take the actual payment amount at the end of the bill and divide it by the kWh that you used.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by Astro

At the prices you are paying why doesn't everybody have an electric car.

Because gas in my town is only $3.20 / gallonUS, $0.85 / Liter right now and going down.
My electricity is $0.15 / kWh so a leaf is $0.045 / mile and a PriusC costs $0.058. A Ford Fiesta is $0.08. Add in the limited life of the Leaf battery at $5,500 every 5 years/ 80,000 miles (hidden cost of $0.07 / mile is probably quite a bit higher than a ice drivetrain), and the limited range, and the best gas cars are still cheaper to run and more versatile.
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Battery Capacity Loss - Electric Vehicle Wiki
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If gas were $9 / gallonUS as it is in Europe it would be a different story. But then electricity is more expensive there also. The other thing to consider is road tax. Eventually the free ride for electrics will end.
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But electricity is renewable and fossil fuel not so much so it is important to start learning how to use electric transportation now so we will be good at it when the oil runs out.
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[RedDevil]

In a way, battery capacity loss / replacement is just maintenance.

It is a big post, but then you would not have to change oil, clutch plates, mufflers, cats, timing belts, spark plugs, air filters (except the cabin one); you'd never blow a head gasket, have a radiator leak, gearbox trouble or faulty alternator.
You'd use the brakes less so they'd wear less.

That all might just make up for it.