Looking for owners in JUNEAU, AK

[AlaskaLEAF]

We are about to buy a LEAF, probably. There isn't a dealer in Alaska, so we're buying it in Washington. My problem is that I would love to see one in person. We've read all there is to read and looked at a lot of pictures, but I just want to SIT in one.
So I was wondering if there is anyway to locate an owner in Juneau, Alaska? (I know there at least two here because I've seen two different colors, but now that we are serious about buying one, I haven't seen them, or I'd leave a note!)

Any ideas?

 

[FairwoodRed]

You could take the ferry to Bellingham…

Sorry, I couldn’t resist Last February I was THIS CLOSE to taking my LEAF to Juneau on the ferry, but the boss said he couldn’t wait for me to come back on the ferry and I had to fly.

You could try talking to a cab driver or two. They spend all day on the road and for a small fee might be willing to put a business card or small note on a windshield.

If you need anything while in Washington, let me know and I’ll see if I can help.

 

[Glenn]

We are about to buy a LEAF, probably... So I was wondering if there is anyway to locate an owner in Juneau, Alaska?

Juneau has got to be THE quintessential place to own a LEAF; you'd be hard pressed to drive more than 20 miles any any one direction, the year round climate is perfect for battery health, and a full charge prior to boarding the ferry allows a visit to just about anywhere else in the state for a "day out" without even worrying about a charge. Just Do It™ !!

There are only about 32,000 residents of the whole town, so it can't be that hard to locate one of the two local owner, can it?

Glenn

 

[KillaWhat]

Leaf owners are unusually friendly people, and in Alaska, I bet they are even more so.
Stick a note on one of those windshield's, and I bet you will be driving somebodies Leaf pretty quickly.
I'm sure that those 2 owners would LOVE to welcome somebody else into their club.
Hell, you could raise the % ownership of EV's by 33% overnight.

Plugshare possibilities are mind blowing

Sounds like a perfect situation.
Kinda Jealous :mrgreen:

 

[AlaskaLEAF]

Well our new LEAF should be here in less than a week! So exciting!

A friend left a note on a LEAF she saw and the owner called us! People do love to talk about their cars! We'll try to get a LEAF club going here.

This IS a great place for an electric vehicle: there isn't much of anywhere to drive, gas is expensive, the electricity is hydro so it's clean and relatively cheap (if you charge during off-peak hours with a dedicated meter, it's 6 cents a kilowatt hour!)...my only worry is how will it do in the snow and ice? We'll know in a few months!

 

[mwalsh]

Rather timely Autoblog Green article on Juneau wanting to become America's EV Capital:

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/07/22/juneau-wants-to-become-ev-capital/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[RonDawg]

Well our new LEAF should be here in less than a week! So exciting!

A friend left a note on a LEAF she saw and the owner called us! People do love to talk about their cars! We'll try to get a LEAF club going here.

This IS a great place for an electric vehicle: there isn't much of anywhere to drive, gas is expensive, the electricity is hydro so it's clean and relatively cheap (if you charge during off-peak hours with a dedicated meter, it's 6 cents a kilowatt hour!)...my only worry is how will it do in the snow and ice? We'll know in a few months!

Congrats. Where did you end up getting it from? I noticed that neither of the two Nissan dealers in the entire state are Leaf-certified, so once a year, you'll need to ferry the car back to a Leaf-certified Nissan dealer in the Lower 48 to have them do the warranty-required annual battery check, as well as for any warranty work on the EV system.

Lots of people in the snow-bound parts of the Lower 48 have Leafs, so besides swapping out the eco-tires for real winter tires, you should do OK. Winter is killer on the range (due to increased rolling resistance from snow/ice/standing water, decreased battery capacity when cold, and increased heater usage) but as compact as Juneau is, and the lack of anywhere to drive that doesn't involve putting the car on a boat, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

[dhanson865]

Is gas really that expensive there? Last time I was there for two weeks I filled up a tank and didn't think twice about the price of gas compared to the cost of other things I did in Juneau.

I think it was summer 2010 when I was there last.

 

[RonDawg]

I was there in the Summer 2010 as well and noticed that across Alaska, gasoline was quite expensive, ironic given how Alaska is an oil-producing region. For that matter, everything in Alaska was quite expensive, in some cases even more so than Hawaii.

I just checked Gas Buddy and the cheapest prices for regular are between $4.27 and $4.37/gallon in the Juneau area. Compare that to LA (not exactly the cheapest gas either) at around $3.85 for the lowest price for regular.

The most I paid for gas in Alaska was $4.75/gal at the truck stop on the Dalton Highway at the Yukon River crossing. This was when gas was about a buck/gallon cheaper on the Kenai Peninsula and probably $1.25-$1.50/gallon or so less in LA.

 

[GRA]

Rather timely Autoblog Green article on Juneau wanting to become America's EV Capital:

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/07/22/juneau-wants-to-become-ev-capital/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's the link to the more detailed PluginCars.com article which ABG cribbed from:

http://www.plugincars.com/alaskan-capital-pushes-become-leader-evs-127748.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Advent]

We'll try to get a LEAF club going here.

Let me know when/if you do! I fly down to SeaTac to pick ours up in less than 3 weeks