Should I buy a Leaf?

[Leaf1]

Thanks for the insight and suggestions. I find this site and the experiences of you trailblazers invaluable. I guess the Lease is the best option at this time. I am a little frustrated that Nissan won't even give an empty commitment to Leaf owners to address future capacity loss. However, Nissan should be given some leeway and support for having the guts to offer such a vehicle in the first place - I never thought I would say such a thing about a car company so it must be progress.

 

[thankyouOB]

with regard to this discussion and the hamburger-route test, driving 70-75 mph and worrying about range is silly.
cut back to the legal speed and you will solve the problem.

 

[DaveEV]

When it is 15F outside

You do realize that this is San Diego, right? Very rarely goes under 50F except in in the night when the car will be snuggled up in the garage charging.

with regard to this discussion and the hamburger-route test, driving 70-75 mph and worrying about range is silly.
cut back to the legal speed and you will solve the problem.

Au contraire. Keeping with the flow of traffic and driving "normally" is a completely valid scenario. Not everyone wants to drive 60 mph in the far right lane (even 65 in many spots on this drive you are getting passed by nearly everyone) and have to constantly dodge traffic merging on and off the freeway. Besides - it completely showed that even driving with little regard to efficiency left plenty of range left - driving with efficiency in mind would be no problem until it gets cold out or is rainy.

 

[RegGuheert]

When it is 15F outside

You do realize that this is San Diego, right? Very rarely goes under 50F except in in the night when the car will be snuggled up in the garage charging.

Oops! Somehow I was imagining the OP being in Maryland! Thanks for correcting me!

 

[Ogi]

Thanks for the insight and suggestions. I find this site and the experiences of you trailblazers invaluable. I guess the Lease is the best option at this time. I am a little frustrated that Nissan won't even give an empty commitment to Leaf owners to address future capacity loss. However, Nissan should be given some leeway and support for having the guts to offer such a vehicle in the first place - I never thought I would say such a thing about a car company so it must be progress.

To be fair, Nissan has made the lease option for the set of customers who want no risk on that dimension. It's a nice option to have - it's not even available to Nissan customers in most countries.

 

[davewill]

:?:

... I am a little frustrated that Nissan won't even give an empty commitment to Leaf owners to address future capacity loss. ...

Personally, I'd prefer no commitment to an empty one.

 

[ematzen]

Thanks everyone. Very helpful (especially the trial run on my route). However, on Sunday, I decided that there is no way I could make a leaf make sense for my commute, my risk tolerance, and my investment requirements. I ended up buying 2012 Prius instead, so now we're a two Prius family. I think this is a better purchase for me. But I did get to test the Leaf, and was VERY close to leasing it. VERY close. What a great car.

Thanks again.

 

[taztaz]

Hello! I'm thinking of buying (leasing as company car) a Nissan Leaf in next month.. But i want to check for your opinion first..

The car will be used as 1st car of 2 cars in our family.

The LEAF will take us to work every day. Will the LEAF range be enough during winter?
I also noticed that there is a Chademo charger built only 500m from my work.. So i could go there to charge up a little before leaving work. But i want to avoid it if possible.. Not possible to charge the car at work. So it will be outside for 8 - 10 hours.

I collected some information that might help..

Distance to work and BACK: 100km (60 miles)
Average speed traveling to work: 66km/h (41mph) Driving motorway (110km/h / 70mph) for around 20km (12.5 miles). The rest of the distance is 50/60/70/80 and 90 roads.. Mostly 90 (55mph).
Travel time one way: 42 minutes

I live in south west parts of Sweden (Average year temperature is 9C (48F). During winter we stay around -5 to -10C (23-14F) and coldest usually around -20C (-4F) for a couple of days..

There you go.. a lot of data and a lot of conversions C/F KM/MI ...

I'm very "technical" interested.. I currently own a CNG car and want to move on to electric! Also. Changing to a Nissan Leaf will save me 8600$/year for 3 years (25800$) in leasing fee and fuel! .. My current car has traveled 25000 miles in 3 years and i calculate the Leaf will do around 18600 miles for 3 years...

The leasing fee for the Leaf will cost me 99$/month in total ownership cost! I do not have to pay anything else except the electricity of course... My old car cost me 371$/month (exluding fuel).

 

[Herm]

Seems a bit marginal unless you can guarantee a quick charge somewhere near work, what happens if the charger is broken?.. are the roads always kept free of snow?

 

[lne937s]

Hello! I'm thinking of buying (leasing as company car) a Nissan Leaf in next month.. But i want to check for your opinion first..

The car will be used as 1st car of 2 cars in our family.

The LEAF will take us to work every day. Will the LEAF range be enough during winter?
I also noticed that there is a Chademo charger built only 500m from my work.. So i could go there to charge up a little before leaving work. But i want to avoid it if possible.. Not possible to charge the car at work. So it will be outside for 8 - 10 hours.

I collected some information that might help..

Distance to work and BACK: 100km (60 miles)
Average speed traveling to work: 66km/h (41mph) Driving motorway (110km/h / 70mph) for around 20km (12.5 miles). The rest of the distance is 50/60/70/80 and 90 roads.. Mostly 90 (55mph).
Travel time one way: 42 minutes

I live in south west parts of Sweden (Average year temperature is 9C (48F). During winter we stay around -5 to -10C (23-14F) and coldest usually around -20C (-4F) for a couple of days..

There you go.. a lot of data and a lot of conversions C/F KM/MI ...

I'm very "technical" interested.. I currently own a CNG car and want to move on to electric! Also. Changing to a Nissan Leaf will save me 8600$/year for 3 years (25800$) in leasing fee and fuel! .. My current car has traveled 25000 miles in 3 years and i calculate the Leaf will do around 18600 miles for 3 years...

The leasing fee for the Leaf will cost me 99$/month in total ownership cost! I do not have to pay anything else except the electricity of course... My old car cost me 371$/month (exluding fuel).

Does Sweden usually have plugs available at parking spaces for block/fuel line heaters? I know many northern countries do, especially if diesel cars are prevalent. You could always use one of those plugs to charge/preheat the car at work, if they are available.

 

[taztaz]

Does Sweden usually have plugs available at parking spaces for block/fuel line heaters? I know many northern countries do, especially if diesel cars are prevalent. You could always use one of those plugs to charge/preheat the car at work, if they are available.

Many parking spaces have heater outlets, yes. Mostly in the northern parts though, but even where i live. But my girlfriends employer does not (where the car will be parked during day).

But it should be possible to have access to a outlet from the employer if we talk to them i guess.. It's a big supermarket...

 

[taztaz]

Seems a bit marginal unless you can guarantee a quick charge somewhere near work, what happens if the charger is broken?.. are the roads always kept free of snow?

If the charger is broken we will have a problem.. Thats the only quick charger i know of at the moment in our travel path.. But there is probably a milion regular outlets on our way home So there is always somewhere to get power.. I guess the best way would be to ask the employer for an outlet where the car is parked to be on the safe side... I will also try to borrow a car to test drive..

I guess if i go 55mph on the motorway instead of 70mph i will save a lot of power?

Define "free of snow" I have been driving in 1ft of snow (30cm) i barely made it.. Almost got stuck.. Since the chassis of the car starting to "surf" on the snow.... But that was extreme.. Usually we will have no more than 10cm snow on the road when it is snowing... But the plow trucks are quite fast out there, removing it again

 

[Herm]

I guess if i go 55mph on the motorway instead of 70mph i will save a lot of power?

Yes, to go from 55 to 70mph requires almost 70% more power, at 75mph it requires double the power. Note that it does not halve your range since you are traveling faster.. drag from cold tires, dense cold air, wet/snowy roads is probably even a worse factor.

 

[taztaz]

I guess if i go 55mph on the motorway instead of 70mph i will save a lot of power?

Yes, to go from 55 to 70mph requires almost 70% more power, at 75mph it requires double the power. Note that it does not halve your range since you are traveling faster.. drag from cold tires, dense cold air, wet/snowy roads is probably even a worse factor.

Ok, thanks. I will try to rent a Leaf to test it out. But i think i will probably make the travel anyway. If its cold out i can try to travel slower to save some energy to make sure i make it. Problem is that where i live its not possible to rent a Leaf.. It is only available to rent in 1 place in sweden so far. But i guess it will be available in my city soon since my city is the second biggest in Sweden..

 

[Herm]

Nothing wrong with slowing down a bit, the extra 10 minutes your trip will take wont mean anything.. enjoy some tunes on the radio. Watch out for headwinds also.

Is the Zoe available overthere?

 

[taztaz]

Nothing wrong with slowing down a bit, the extra 10 minutes your trip will take wont mean anything.. enjoy some tunes on the radio. Watch out for headwinds also.

Is the Zoe available overthere?

true true .. Zoe will be available in autumn this year.. I have not seen any more exact date..