lencap
Member
In an earlier post I noted that my two month old Leaf was totaled in a flood. I'm awaiting the insurance settlement, which seemed fair, but have decided against getting another Leaf.
My reasons are many. To begin, I've owned two Prius cars each of which gave me good problem free service. The latest of those cars (2011 model) I traded when I leased the Leaf. The car had 26K miles, no problems at all. Although it was a "modest" priced car I accepted the compromises in materials quality for the experience of having a "green" car that would allow me to ride anywhere without restriction.
The Leaf was my experiment to see if the EV was for me. I live in a EV friendly city - lots of public charging stations as well as many free private locations. My daily commute is ideal - 20 miles round trip, with an added 10 miles or so for a lunch break. No problem with range, nor charging. I opted to not get a home charger until fall, expecting that I'd have little problems in the summer with the warmer weather, and would likely want the home charging option as the weather turned colder.
The lease terms were exceptionally reasonable given the sticker price of the car (thank you Federal Tax credit) so the experiment was limited risk. Frankly there isn't anything I could drive for the price of the Leaf lease. It's an amazing deal. So I signed up for the two year lease, put my money down, and began to enjoy the car.
My honey moon was rather brief. Although I loved the EV concept, the reality was something less. The lack of range while commuting during the week became a bigger issue on the weekends. I typically fall under the 80 mile a day range limit, but when charging to 80% the real range was closer to 65 miles. I found that 80% charging wasn't practical for weekend use. Even with a "full" charge, my range rarely exceeded 85 miles including the A/C on and some 60 MPH driving. That was a challenge, especially when I had a 70 mile round trip to make. Would I have enough range, where is the charging station, etc. None of that matters during the week, but it's an issue for me when my wife is driving our other car on weekends. Even with a 85 mile range I found I couldn't comfortably take the car everywhere I wanted. On the day the car flooded I had just charged to 100% with a stated 96 mile range. With the A/C on low (79 degrees, fan lowest setting), driving at 60 MPH on a 70 MPH highway, the range immediately fell to 82, and within 10 miles of driving it was down to 64. My round trip was planned for 72 miles and I began to wonder if I'd make it - even with the GOM at 96 to start and slower driving to keep the range as high as possible. There are many weekend destinations that are 75+ miles round trip - not all of them (in fact most of them) do not have standard charges available at my destination. Worse, I found that on weekends many private charging stations aren't open since the associated businesses are close. That further restricted my weekend trips.
The other irritant is that the car is relatively small (at least compared to the Prius) and riding with a front seat passenger was a bit tighter than I expected. That's particularly true if you are a bit shorter and need to be more forward in the driving position, or at least it was for me. Beyond that what began to bother me more was the material and build quality. Within the two months of ownership the battery died (12 volt, could have been my fault - see earlier post), the driver's seat mechanism broke making it impossible to lower the driver's seat after I had raised it. The parts were not in stock, and would take some time to replace. The radio seemed to have some problems locking on stations, and similar things. Nothing major, but enough to be annoying.
The other things were personal items - I found the dash display to be too "busy"; too many colors/designs/etc. I realize the seat material was designed to be "green", which I appreciate, but it was also very hot in the sun, felt tacky (actually sticky tacky during a day parked outside but not in the sun), and wasn't very comfortable or supportive. I could go on, but these aren't design flaws, they are personal choices. It became very clear that the donor car for the Leaf is a Versa - I'm not disparaging that model, but it's to me it's a pretty big compromise in quality and materials. Yes, I appreciate the cost factor, but that just makes clear how much money is in batteries and technology, not the car itself.
What surprised me was when the car was inspected following the 12 volt battery failure, there was already degradation in the main battery. The Gids were below the delivery charge state by over 5%. I never got the exact reading, but the car was only a month old at that point and we hadn't even started the very hot summer weather. The car is parked in company garage out of the sun during the day, charging typically to 80-90%, but without a home charger that's the best I could do.
In summary, I applaud Nissan for the Leaf - a very fine effort. The price is reasonable, considering what's under the hood, and the dealer network tries very hard to please. But the car itself if a compromise that made me aware every day that I was driving an "econobox" with a EV drivetrain. I realize that the Tesla costs 2-3 times what the Leaf costs, but frankly I'm beginning to think that on a relative value basis it may be the better deal. Yes, it's out of the price range that most people can/want to pay (me included), and it's a totally new car from a new manufacturer, but it is a substantial upgrade from the Leaf.
The deciding factor though was the weekend limitations of range and battery decay. I've seen charts suggesting that in my climate the car will lose 30% of its initial range in 8-9 years. Given my very limited experience I'd say the decay rate would be greater than that estimate. Add to it the "hidden" range penalty of 80% charging and the car really is more limited than I thought - at least for my needs.
I'm not trying to steer anyone away from the Leaf. It is the least expensive car you can buy new today from anyone, after rebate or through leasing. It is a true EV and does what it says it does. I'm just trying to let prospective owners know that like everything else, the car isn't perfect, and if you do decide to get a Leaf at least be aware of some of the issues I experienced and see if they matter to you.
Finally, I was very surprised to see the very low resale levels for the Leaf in dealer auctions. Since I bought my car two months ago Nissan has reduced the residual value by over 5% - likely recognizing the diminished resale values and ongoing concern about replacement battery costs. When the dealer called me about a new lease the monthly payment was about 15% higher than the initial lease. Part was a higher money factor, but by far the largest part of the increase was depreciation from a lower residual value. None of this should matter dramatically, just be aware of it.
My Nissan grade is an "A" for conceiving of an EV car for the masses at a reasonable price. My ownership grade is a "B", more a personal shortfall of what I expected than a manufacturer fault. I knew what I was buying, just found out that I was more disappointed about the car's quality and range limits (80% charge versus 100% advertised range) than I expected.
My reasons are many. To begin, I've owned two Prius cars each of which gave me good problem free service. The latest of those cars (2011 model) I traded when I leased the Leaf. The car had 26K miles, no problems at all. Although it was a "modest" priced car I accepted the compromises in materials quality for the experience of having a "green" car that would allow me to ride anywhere without restriction.
The Leaf was my experiment to see if the EV was for me. I live in a EV friendly city - lots of public charging stations as well as many free private locations. My daily commute is ideal - 20 miles round trip, with an added 10 miles or so for a lunch break. No problem with range, nor charging. I opted to not get a home charger until fall, expecting that I'd have little problems in the summer with the warmer weather, and would likely want the home charging option as the weather turned colder.
The lease terms were exceptionally reasonable given the sticker price of the car (thank you Federal Tax credit) so the experiment was limited risk. Frankly there isn't anything I could drive for the price of the Leaf lease. It's an amazing deal. So I signed up for the two year lease, put my money down, and began to enjoy the car.
My honey moon was rather brief. Although I loved the EV concept, the reality was something less. The lack of range while commuting during the week became a bigger issue on the weekends. I typically fall under the 80 mile a day range limit, but when charging to 80% the real range was closer to 65 miles. I found that 80% charging wasn't practical for weekend use. Even with a "full" charge, my range rarely exceeded 85 miles including the A/C on and some 60 MPH driving. That was a challenge, especially when I had a 70 mile round trip to make. Would I have enough range, where is the charging station, etc. None of that matters during the week, but it's an issue for me when my wife is driving our other car on weekends. Even with a 85 mile range I found I couldn't comfortably take the car everywhere I wanted. On the day the car flooded I had just charged to 100% with a stated 96 mile range. With the A/C on low (79 degrees, fan lowest setting), driving at 60 MPH on a 70 MPH highway, the range immediately fell to 82, and within 10 miles of driving it was down to 64. My round trip was planned for 72 miles and I began to wonder if I'd make it - even with the GOM at 96 to start and slower driving to keep the range as high as possible. There are many weekend destinations that are 75+ miles round trip - not all of them (in fact most of them) do not have standard charges available at my destination. Worse, I found that on weekends many private charging stations aren't open since the associated businesses are close. That further restricted my weekend trips.
The other irritant is that the car is relatively small (at least compared to the Prius) and riding with a front seat passenger was a bit tighter than I expected. That's particularly true if you are a bit shorter and need to be more forward in the driving position, or at least it was for me. Beyond that what began to bother me more was the material and build quality. Within the two months of ownership the battery died (12 volt, could have been my fault - see earlier post), the driver's seat mechanism broke making it impossible to lower the driver's seat after I had raised it. The parts were not in stock, and would take some time to replace. The radio seemed to have some problems locking on stations, and similar things. Nothing major, but enough to be annoying.
The other things were personal items - I found the dash display to be too "busy"; too many colors/designs/etc. I realize the seat material was designed to be "green", which I appreciate, but it was also very hot in the sun, felt tacky (actually sticky tacky during a day parked outside but not in the sun), and wasn't very comfortable or supportive. I could go on, but these aren't design flaws, they are personal choices. It became very clear that the donor car for the Leaf is a Versa - I'm not disparaging that model, but it's to me it's a pretty big compromise in quality and materials. Yes, I appreciate the cost factor, but that just makes clear how much money is in batteries and technology, not the car itself.
What surprised me was when the car was inspected following the 12 volt battery failure, there was already degradation in the main battery. The Gids were below the delivery charge state by over 5%. I never got the exact reading, but the car was only a month old at that point and we hadn't even started the very hot summer weather. The car is parked in company garage out of the sun during the day, charging typically to 80-90%, but without a home charger that's the best I could do.
In summary, I applaud Nissan for the Leaf - a very fine effort. The price is reasonable, considering what's under the hood, and the dealer network tries very hard to please. But the car itself if a compromise that made me aware every day that I was driving an "econobox" with a EV drivetrain. I realize that the Tesla costs 2-3 times what the Leaf costs, but frankly I'm beginning to think that on a relative value basis it may be the better deal. Yes, it's out of the price range that most people can/want to pay (me included), and it's a totally new car from a new manufacturer, but it is a substantial upgrade from the Leaf.
The deciding factor though was the weekend limitations of range and battery decay. I've seen charts suggesting that in my climate the car will lose 30% of its initial range in 8-9 years. Given my very limited experience I'd say the decay rate would be greater than that estimate. Add to it the "hidden" range penalty of 80% charging and the car really is more limited than I thought - at least for my needs.
I'm not trying to steer anyone away from the Leaf. It is the least expensive car you can buy new today from anyone, after rebate or through leasing. It is a true EV and does what it says it does. I'm just trying to let prospective owners know that like everything else, the car isn't perfect, and if you do decide to get a Leaf at least be aware of some of the issues I experienced and see if they matter to you.
Finally, I was very surprised to see the very low resale levels for the Leaf in dealer auctions. Since I bought my car two months ago Nissan has reduced the residual value by over 5% - likely recognizing the diminished resale values and ongoing concern about replacement battery costs. When the dealer called me about a new lease the monthly payment was about 15% higher than the initial lease. Part was a higher money factor, but by far the largest part of the increase was depreciation from a lower residual value. None of this should matter dramatically, just be aware of it.
My Nissan grade is an "A" for conceiving of an EV car for the masses at a reasonable price. My ownership grade is a "B", more a personal shortfall of what I expected than a manufacturer fault. I knew what I was buying, just found out that I was more disappointed about the car's quality and range limits (80% charge versus 100% advertised range) than I expected.
