Other Leafs in Iowa?

I've owned both a 2012 Leaf and my current 2013, and I can vouch that the heating system (and resulting range) is much improved in the 2013 in the winter. Not sure if you were aware of that when you were researching Leafs, but its frozen water under the bridge now.

Rauv said:

I've owned both a 2012 Leaf and my current 2013, and I can vouch that the heating system (and resulting range) is much improved in the 2013 in the winter. Not sure if you were aware of that when you were researching Leafs, but its frozen water under the bridge now.

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Yes I'm aware that the 2013 + models have the better heater, but still not good enough for me. I'm not interested in another EV till they get 200 + miles per charge at highway speeds and running climate control, and have liquid heating and cooling on the battery. I will not lease/buy another model from any manufacturer that doesn't meet both these requirements no matter what anyone says. IT HAS to meet both of those requirements or it's ABSOLUTELY a no go.

CRLeafSL said:

Well my Leaf is gone. Turned her back into the dealer. It was a learning curve but now I know what an electric car has to have for me to buy. The Leaf isn't even close to meeting my criteria so no more for me until they make big drastic changes to it.

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One thing I learned from driving my Prius over the years was that no vehicle works as well in a cold climate as a warm one. The car was far less efficient in the winter months as the demand for energy for cabin and engine heat increased as well as the effect of cold tires, dense air etc. In summer I could easily get 48-50 mpg in the car, in the winter as low as 35-38 as my driving style often involves many short trips.

CRLeafSL said:

I'm going back to a '99 Dodge Ram 4x4 pickup with a 5.9L in it and am actually looking forward to it.

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Understandable. The thing about gasoline is its a great fuel that produces an enormous amount of energy for its volume and when employed in a vehicle like that the changing temperatures and other outside conditions are hardly noticeable on its efficiency (but still true nevertheless). Cold climates require "energy to burn" (pun intended) and that is just never (not in my lifetime) going to be the case for a BEV or frankly even a hybrid. I applaud you for trying one where you live, but if I lived in Wisconsin or Minnesota full time I wouldn't buy a BEV or hybrid. Iowa is not much better. But the fact that Nissan made dealers there take some Leafs sure help me get one on the cheap

I do know that Gasoline cars also loose fuel economy in the winter. I've been around cars long enough to pretty much fully understand most of the workings of them thanks to not being rich so when something breaks, I fix it. I still believe though that if Nissan would warm the battery, the range loss wouldn't be as significant. Gas engines start cold, but warm up as they run. So should batteries. Nissan can't tell me to add the battery into the liquid cooling loop that already exists on the car for the electric motor, charger, and inverter would cost that much more. Then just heat that liquid in cold weather and there you go, you have a heated battery. Now I know that you would have to redesign the battery to be liquid cooled, but in my opinion that's where Nissan screwed up from day 1. This thing should have been liquid heated/cooled from the beginning if they want it to work in all climates. Until Nissan pulls their head out of their as***, I won't ever look at another Nisaan EV. EVER.

It's been awhile since I've posted here but the wife and I got a Tesla last November and have been having quite a bit of fun with it. I was beginning to agree with you CRLeafSL but electric cars will get better and I guarantee that this 60-70 miles of "rated" range will be a thing of the past very soon. I still like my leaf and drive it daily while my wife drives the Tesla. It works perfect for me 40 highway miles round trip to work and back M-F. If you want a electric car that you can drive just about anywhere Tesla with a 85kwh battery is well worth it and used prices have come down quite a bit since the D was released.