can a leaf be our sole car in a family of four?

Hi, everyone. Currently my family of four drives a Mazda5. We get away with one vehicle because Im able to ride my bike to work and when my wife works i just stay at home with the kids. For the most part we have a pretty set schedule. We definitely dont drive more than 100 k in a day and we live in Vancouver BC. We do sometimes make the 200k drive to whistler or 350k to kelowna. Do you think selling my mazda to get a 2015 leaf is a good idea? I consider myself a minimalist with things like this and i hate paying for gas but i do worry that its just not enough car. I would really appreciate some advise. Thank you for your time.
Colin

You could do it with a 2018 40kwh Leaf, but I wouldn't suggest it with a 2015 unless you have excellent DC Fast Charging infrastructure and you get an SV or SL (for the heat pump) with QC port to use it. Keep in mind though that in frigid weather even the 2018's adequate range would drop by about 40%. What is your typical and frequent daily km total?

about 60k

cfunk said:

about 60k

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If 60km is typical and 100km is fairly common, then you'd find that a 2015 Leaf with 90% or so remaining capacity would work fine for the shorter trip days, and would take some effort to get 100km, especially with the climate control on. In frigid weather you'd have a range of roughly...100km. The 2016-2017 30kwh Leaf should have been a better bet, but there are software issues being resolved with those, and we still don't know for sure if the batteries in them will last well. Even a 2018 Leaf with no heat pump would be a better bet.

@cfunk I also live in Vancouver and we have a 2013 SV. Although we still have an old Hyundai Santa Fe, almost all of our family trips are in the LEAF. About the only exceptions are trips to the Okanagan. It's now possible to get to Kelowna with a 24 kWh LEAF during the summer, but you'd have to DCQC charge in Chilliwack, Hope, Britton Creek rest area (near old toll booth), Merritt, Loon Lake rest area, and again in Kelowna. Via Hwy 3, you can charge at Hope, Hope Slide (not open yet, but soon), Manning Park, Princeton, Keremeos, and Penticton. With only L2 charging, those longer trips will take forever.

Look for the yellow/orange stations here: https://www.plugshare.com/

I would highly recommend you purchase an SV with the quick charge package, as Vancouver has quite a lot of free DCQC stations now. For instance, when I go from Port Moody up to Whistler the charging options include:

• DCQC at the PNE (this one is not free though)
• DCQC on 1st Ave in NV (lower Lonsdale area, this one is free, provided by BC Hydro)
• DCQC at Horseshoe Bay (this one is free, provided by BC Hydro)
• DCQC in downtown Squamish, near the police station (this one is free, provided by BC Hydro)
• DCQC in Whistler, near the convention center (this one is free, provided by BC Hydro)

In summer, I think it's possible to make it to Squamish on a single charge from where I live in Port Moody. However, I stop at either the Lonsdale or Horseshoe Bay DCQC stations to be on the safe side and charge for 15 - 20 mins. I then drive to Squamish and charge while grabbing lunch. From Squamish, it's pretty easy to make it to Whistler. Then, I charge in Whistler while we're exploring the village. On the way back, you don't really need to charge in Squamish as Horseshoe Bay is reachable. I haven't tried that trip in winter, not my idea of fun as range in winter can get really poor when conditions are bad.

As much as you think you'll be able to plan for L2 charging, unexpected things often arise and that's when being able to pickup a DCQC charge in less than 1/2 an hour is so valuable.

Consider purchasing a LEAF in Seattle and import it yourself - that's what I did. I purchased my LEAF from this dealership, which specializes in EVs:

https://www.paramountmotorsnw.com

Here's an example of a 2015 SV:

https://www.paramountmotorsnw.com/inventory/details/46481271

So, about $17K Canadian - a similar LEAF from a Canadian dealer would be about $20K. So, you basically get a "free" upgrade from an S to an SV by importing a LEAF yourself. You will definitely appreciate the heat pump during the winter.

My costs for import fees (no duties apply, as the LEAF is US made EV), paperwork, WA temp registration, ICBC temp insurance, adding DRLs, etc was less than $1000. So, you'll save about $2000. When I purchased in January of 2017, I saved more than $4K, but unfortunately those days are gone.