LEAF leads increased sensitivity to hydrocarbon exhaust?

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JimSouCal

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Messages
860
Hi, I have been wondering about this for a while so checking to see if others have noticed as well....

After years of driving a 2011 LEAF, I seem to be much more sensitive to the smells of car exhaust... It used to be just older cars without catalytic converters, and 2 cycle motorcycles, but now I seem to be more aware of being bothered by exhaust when stuck in traffic in still air...

And I am left to wonder, if it's beyond being aversive... Partially combusted hydrocarbons from gasoline and diesel must be much more chemically and organically reactive, and the UFPs (ultra fine particles) surely can't be good for us in concentrate form...

So if anyone wants to comment... After driving the leaf do ICE cars just stink more? And just how bad is this car exhaust for us in typical city conditions....?
 
I developed this sensitivity to fumes before I got my Leaf, but after driving it for 4 years I now don't even want to drive a Prius, and I use the Recirculate control constantly. I'm also having another "Fresh Breeze" cabin filter installed. Oh, and my motorcycle is now electric, although that preference predates the Leaf.
 
Driving the Leaf, I've become more aware of that as well. I think that personally experiencing a better solution increases the annoyance factor when one encounters those fumes.
 
+1 on exhaust smells, and engine and tailpipe noises!

P.s. Was just in a local neighborhood Memorial Day Parade with a good number of EV conversions and OEM EVs (say 10-15). We were quiet and exhaustless! Then followed by old cars and fire trucks of the past. I am sure the folks along the sidewalks, especially the Moms with little kids noticed the difference!

P.s.s. It was with EVAoSD group and the local EV conversion group called EV Riders (formally known as "Kick Gas Club"). Had a blast!
 
I think it's less that we have an increased sensitivity, and more that we realize it.

While mowing my lawn, I noticed I always finished with a massive headache. I chalked it up to being dehydrated after mowing. Then, I switched to an electric lawn mower. No more headaches.

Another aside: My wife is from the Philippines. When I went there, I noticed the pungent diesel smell everywhere from their non-emission controlled vehicles. My wife said she noticed nothing while she was living there. Last year, we returned and she was overwhelmed by the diesel smell. She wasn't used to that smell anymore.
 
I definitely found this happened. It's much like what happened with cigarette smoke. Both my wife and I grew up with fathers who smoked (but neither of us ever did). Back then we were really accustomed to the smell. A decade or two later, I can tell if someone is smoking in their car when I have my car windows open and I'm stopped next to them at a traffic light.
 
I noticed it about 3 months into driving my Leaf regularly. Now I always have the Leaf on recirculate, and despise driving any gasoline vehicle. I also liken it to being a smoker or near smokers then no longer having exposure, afterwards whenever you're exposed, you're sensitive to it. There will be a reduction in cardiovascular disease when ICE vehicles are finally completely off of the roads, especially diesels. I can't wait for the banning of sales of new ICE vehicles.
 
Cold startups and hill climbing bother me. When it's below zero you can smell all the brand new "low emissions" cars spewing out unburned hydrocarbons into the air as their frozen catalytic converters do absolutely nothing and the engine has to run rich in order to run at all.

Then going up mountain passes with anyone in front in any brand new "low emissions" car and you smell that terrible rotten egg smell since all gasoline engines have to run rich to avoid detonation when under high engine loads.
 
Ok...thanks, it's not just me... Pretty oddly sad that the ICE was largely an accidental use of an explosive lamp oil refining byproduct, aka gasoline, along with denser stuff that has now has become plastics...

My guess is all of the oil and coal should have stayed in the ground and we'd have somehow coalesced around renewable energy rather than poison the atmosphere with altering chemicals, etc.

Everywhere I travel, the oil and coal industry, once done, seems to also leave a big mess...

This might not end well.... Okay, thanks again... I think I need to move to Seattle for the sea breeze... :)
 
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