EV Car Meets - Making it easier to Explain...

[GetOffYourGas]

One of my favorite parts of owning a Leaf is that I wake up every morning to a full battery, ready to take me wherever I need to go for the day. I don't know how to express that, especially to those who are used to stopping at the gas station once a week.

Indeed.. This is a benefit that is often overlooked. For example, one time I was a long way from home and I had to stop and find a place to charge. Somebody asked me if I found that inconvenient. My response was "Yes, I do find the car to be occasionally inconvenient. However, on my day-to-day driving it is far more convenient than a gasoline car, and so it easily evens out."

Next time ask them if they find going out of their way once a week to stand around pumping smelly gasoline inconvenient.

You bring up a point that is often missed when discussing long-distance travel in an EV. For the lucky ones in the NW, for example, they can drive long distances in a Leaf if they are willing to stop for 20 miles to QC after an hour of driving. (During which time, you can use a restroom or grab a snack - you don't have to stand next to your car holding a nozzle). Is that inconvenient compared to pumping gas every 300 miles? Sure! But in the grand scheme of things, those trips are infrequent and it can easily average in favor of the EV over a typical year.

Put another way, I would rather deal with a slight inconvenience 3-4 times a year than with a slightly milder inconvenience 52 times a year!

[UBUYGAS]

I agree with you but in NJ we sit in our air conditioned cars while the attendant pumps the gas.

But I'm not included in the "we" since I drive a LEAF! LOL


Here's a little tid-bid that I need to include as well:

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Less than 30% of the energy in a gallon of gasoline reaches the wheels of a typical Gas car; most of the remaining energy is lost as heat.

So 70% of the Gas is wasted!!!! LOL

Next time ask them if they find going out of their way once a week to stand around pumping smelly gasoline inconvenient.

You bring up a point that is often missed when discussing long-distance travel in an EV. For the lucky ones in the NW, for example, they can drive long distances in a Leaf if they are willing to stop for 20 miles to QC after an hour of driving. (During which time, you can use a restroom or grab a snack - you don't have to stand next to your car holding a nozzle). Is that inconvenient compared to pumping gas every 300 miles? Sure! But in the grand scheme of things, those trips are infrequent and it can easily average in favor of the EV over a typical year.

Put another way, I would rather deal with a slight inconvenience 3-4 times a year than with a slightly milder inconvenience 52 times a year!

[ksnogas2112]

And those of us with long winters use a lot of windshield wiper fluid getting the slush kicked up by the cars off our windows. In two years I've easily gone through a couple gallons of the blue stuff. Plus lack of mud flaps kicks it up on the back window and dust in the summer camping keeps the fluid flowing across the back as well as the front.

[GetOffYourGas]

Speaking of wasting energy, it takes electricity to get from petroleum in the ground to gasoline in the tank. The most common estimate I have seen is about 6kWh of electricity per gallon of gasoline! On that 6kWh, one could skip refining the gasoline and directly drive a Leaf 20+ miles!

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I guess this type of detail depends on the audience you encounter at the car meet. If the inquirer cares about energy efficiency, these are great points to bring up. If they don't care about something unless it directly affects them, talk about cost of ownership or convenience.

[UBUYGAS]

I have Mud flaps on my 13 SL.

Pretty sure all that dust and dirt on the back of the LEAF is because of the aerodynamic shape of the leaf. Everything gets to back of the leaf and that's where it settles.

Plus lack of mud flaps kicks it up on the back window and dust in the summer camping keeps the fluid flowing across the back as well as the front.

[TimLee]

I like it all except the battery has an 8 year 100K mile warranty and you get 85 miles range per charge. I feel that is misleading people a little bit to think that the warranty covers the range of 85 miles. After 8 years / 100K miles you will most certainly not be getting 85 miles of range.

+1
At least explain the much more rapid capacity degradation. That a three to four year old LEAF is nominally a 40 to 60 mile range vehicle, and a 30 to 35 mile range vehicle in really cold weather if you like heat. And how disingenuous Nissan has been and continues to be.
Explain that a large % of LEAF will be disposable at 60,000 to 80,000 miles, six to eight years.

Leave the incomplete only the rosey side of the LEAF information to Nissan.
Tell the complete story.
To tell only the positives to people at car shows is bad behaviour.
I certainly regret how little of the LEAF negatives some of the people I talked to in the first year of ownership heard.
But even then I explained the realistic range issues and uncertainties about capacity degradation. They now get a more complete story, a large % of which is missing from your signs.

[LeftieBiker]

And those of us with long winters use a lot of windshield wiper fluid getting the slush kicked up by the cars off our windows. In two years I've easily gone through a couple gallons of the blue stuff. Plus lack of mud flaps kicks it up on the back window and dust in the summer camping keeps the fluid flowing across the back as well as the front.

This must be a freeway speed thing, because I haven't noticed it at all driving 50-60MPH. I use no more washer fluid than anyone else, or than I used to use in an ICE car. Also, I think the rear window issue is the aerodynamics, not the rear mud flaps being inadequate.