adric22
Well-known member
Well, I got impatient waiting for my Leaf to become available, so in the meantime I bought a used 2008 Prius and a Plug-in kit. The kit won't arrive for a few weeks but I already installed the "EV" button on my Prius so I can drive it around as an EV for about half of a mile (air conditioning and everything) All it needs now is a larger battery capacity.
True this is nowhere near as functional of an EV as a Leaf, but it is sort of a compromise because kit and all, this only costed me $15,000. Had I not had such high standards, I could have done it closer to $11,000 but I wanted a Prius in perfect condition. (I looked at several used Prius in the $8,000 range, but they were not in great shape) Still, lets think about it. I'll probably be using close to zero gasoline on my daily commute to work and back (I work 4 miles from home) and on longer trips I'll be using the blended 100 mpg mode of the plug-in kit. So my gasoline consumption will be a tiny fraction of the average person. Just think, not everybody can afford a Leaf or a Volt, but converting a cheap, used hybrid into a plug-in is a very real option available to a lot of people.
I still plan to buy the Leaf, but for my area it could be 7 to 10 months. So this will give me something to play with and learn about in the mean time.
True this is nowhere near as functional of an EV as a Leaf, but it is sort of a compromise because kit and all, this only costed me $15,000. Had I not had such high standards, I could have done it closer to $11,000 but I wanted a Prius in perfect condition. (I looked at several used Prius in the $8,000 range, but they were not in great shape) Still, lets think about it. I'll probably be using close to zero gasoline on my daily commute to work and back (I work 4 miles from home) and on longer trips I'll be using the blended 100 mpg mode of the plug-in kit. So my gasoline consumption will be a tiny fraction of the average person. Just think, not everybody can afford a Leaf or a Volt, but converting a cheap, used hybrid into a plug-in is a very real option available to a lot of people.
I still plan to buy the Leaf, but for my area it could be 7 to 10 months. So this will give me something to play with and learn about in the mean time.