Is Leaf right for me?

[GRA]

Ah, so. From near Almaden Research it might not be too tough a ride down to Capitol in the morning, but I wouldn't want to face that ten mile slog back uphill to get home every night.

Ray

we have hills here as well and i know a friend who had a bike that had motorized assist on it. he rarely used it (he was in great shape) but said it came in handy several times on days where he was too tired to manage the hills. now his commute was not extreme in any sense. only about 8 miles one way but there was a good 300 ft elevation change with the first 200 feet or so in the first 2 miles.
he also had the luxury of being on the bike trail (Capital area/State workers have it made!) for 90+% of his commute

Yeah, e-bike or Scooter is great for 10 miles one way. IIRR Max. speed is normally limited to 28 mph. But cwerdna is definitely at the edge of practical, given where he needs to go; moving would probably be his best option .

I'm in the East Bay in the gore between two BART stations on different lines (5 blocks to one, 1.5 miles to the other), so I can use transit and/or bike for anywhere within roughly a 30 mile radius, although south and west are a problem now; the BART extension to Warm Springs will help considerably in the south, and on the rare occasions I go to the Peninsula I usually take my car across the San Mateo Bridge. Getting to the City is by BART, with or without (usually with) bike. It's awful to drive there, but great to walk and ride.

 

[Caracalover]

I don't want my message mixed !!!!

I do to recommend buying this vehicle EXCEPT for those who have a short daily use, and don't care how badly the resale value may get. Even if your battery NEVER gets hot, the whole fleet will be affected by an industry known problem. Many will just be the car "with the bad batteries" at some junk yard in the future.

Leasing is fine, if you don't expect your needs to be exceeded throughout the ENTIRE term of the lease.
That means some rational thought as to how hot your environment is, and how that might affect range.

Yes, I grew up in a machine shop, and I've destroyed / rebuilt more than I can remember. I can tell you that a 1964 Chevy can go a long way in a pond with WD40 sprayed on the distributor.

Laughing out loud Tony - I love you for your passion.

Your message is still a bit hard to discern from the above though.

I do too? (just remove "do too" entrely) reccomend buying the Nissan Leaf for those who have a short daily use, and are not worried about the resale value? Is that what you were going for?

Calling the Leaf an eventual junk yard piece is hardly a glowing reccomendation, so it is a mixed message if you intended to be pro - Leaf with this post, you missed the mark. You also say that you believe BEV's will be around for the long term, yet you feel the battery alone will place the Leaf in the Junk Yard? Very mixed message. You are already figuring out a way to put an extra battery into this car, that can be charged independant of what Nissan put in. That sceams long term viabilty to me, and again, I thank you for that.

How do you get a 1964 chevy in a pond to start with? Never mind, don't want to know...

 

[TonyWilliams]

Virtually ALL cars become junk yard scrap metal. My point was like issues with some other perfectly good cars, LEAF's will find themselves scrapped instead of replacing the expensive batteries. Batteries that may have had their lives shortened in the brutal heat.

Yes, battery cars will do fine long term.

 

[cwerdna]

Ah, so. From near Almaden Research it might not be too tough a ride down to Capitol in the morning, but I wouldn't want to face that ten mile slog back uphill to get home every night.

Ray

Yeah, e-bike or Scooter is great for 10 miles one way. IIRR Max. speed is normally limited to 28 mph. But cwerdna is definitely at the edge of practical, given where he needs to go; moving would probably be his best option .

I haven't plotted the elevation changes but looking at the Google Maps suggested route to the closest Caltrain station (Tamien), the suggested car route would be quite bad and not very safe on a bike or e-bike. Almost all of it is on Almaden Expressway w/speed limits of 45-50 mph. A fair part of it only has a shoulder or little room for bike riding.

The suggested bike path also is mostly on that expressway and has an estimated distance of 10.8 miles and 54 mins time. No thanks.

Whoops, Capitol and Tamien are about equidistant by car. Capitol car route is mostly almost all Almaden Expressway then Capitol Expressway. Bike route to Capitol has a lot more away from high speed expressways, but it's 9.2 miles and 47 mins. No thanks again.