Nissan Leaf Thoughts?

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So, we got a flyer from our electricity company, ComEd. It advertises a $10,000 rebate (off msrp) for a Nissan Leaf. That, plus a $7,500 tax incentive, makes for a pretty inexpensive new, all electric car. (Leaves start at $30k with the highest trim at $36K)

We don't strictly need a new car right now, but we plan to in the near future. My wife's car (09 Civic) was totaled in a garage fire last May and we've been living with one car (Element) and motorcycles (I typically commute on my bike 9 months out of the year and then take public transportation during the winter). Living in the city, I would say that 90% of our drives are less than 25 miles round trip. My wife's commute is about 5 miles round trip.

She gets about 15-18 mpg in the Element with all city driving. Our goal isn't to saving money since the ROI is pretty far off. Just that we'll need a 2nd car at some point since my 2007 Element isn't getting any newer (although my UOAs are very clean!).

Not sure what I'm soliciting for out of this post. Any Leaf owners? Opinions? (Maybe not many since the Leaf doesn't need oil changes)
 
I believe they had problems with battery life shortening quickly. Carmax has a ton they are trying to giveaway for under $10k, so doesn't sound like you found much of a deal.
 
Chevy Volt. Sure it has 50-60 miles of ev range to 80-100 but, when the battery drains down on the Volt the gas engine takes over, on a Leaf you need to call a tow truck. The Volts battery pack is actually far more durable. It's climate controled, leafs and even tesla just uses air to cool their battery's.
 
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I can't get Nissan.com to get me to a local dealer to check one out. Think I would stick to a used Prius and be able to go farther if one wants and battery packs can be had reasonable rebuilt.
 
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Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
I thought the tax incentive was sunsetted this year.

I might be wrong, but my quick searches showed that it was carmaker dependent, that the incentive decreases as the manufacturer sells X number of electric vehicles. I think there is still enough time for a Nissan.

Originally Posted By: dishdude
I believe they had problems with battery life shortening quickly. Carmax has a ton they are trying to giveaway for under $10k, so doesn't sound like you found much of a deal.

Thanks, that's not something I'd looked into. I know battery life can be a pretty big issue and large cost towards the later years of the vehicle. From what I read, Nissan extended the warranties on the older vehicles. I think the current one comes with an 8 year, 100,000mi warranty on the battery.
 
Originally Posted By: user52165
Leaf has a 19% IntelliChoice 5 year retained value - the lowest of any car.


Fascinating.

I guess some vehicle had to hold that position but I didn't know it was the Leaf.

From a purely marketing standpoint, I think the name "Leaf" was brilliant for an EV.
It gives me the same "feel good" as hugging a tree.
 
Originally Posted By: bioburner
I can't get Nissan.com to get me to a local dealer to check one out. Think I would stick to a used Prius and be able to go farther if one wants and battery packs can be had reasonable rebuilt.


Hah, I can't get their website to load for me right now either. Maybe Nissan isn't the way to go...

Ignoring the rebate and tax incentive, I think a plug-in hybrid would be ideal for us. My wife can go to work and back all on EV, but the car can still be used long distances.
 
That's why GM was smart with the Volt. They way over engineered the battery systems so the battery always keeps itself at an optimal temperature and it never uses the first and last 20% of the battery. Some people have 200,000 miles without any noticeable battery life degradation.
 
Would not buy new...but buy used and they are FANTASTIC! (if traveling in their range). Picked ours up used (2012) for just under $12K with almost no miles. One of the nicest "small cars" we have ever had.

We have one in our fleet (for a motor pool). No one ever really reserves it so it has become our default office vehicle. We drive it around town all day with a lot of frequent short trips (from 7am to 5pm )as a support and other things vehicle(about 50-60 miles per day) and still remain about 1/2 battery life. We plug it in to a 110V outlet each night (5pm-7am) hand have full range the next day (common electrical outlet). We put 18K miles and other than needing new tires, it is problem free.


So, for a 5 year old leaf (in our care for 2 years), I have about 81 miles each morning. We get better range than claimed.


BUY BUY BUY if you are doing less than 70 miles a day.
 
Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
Would not buy new...but buy used and they are FANTASTIC! (if traveling in their range). Picked ours up used (2012) for just under $12K with almost no miles. One of the nicest "small cars" we have ever had.

We have one in our fleet (for a motor pool). No one ever really reserves it so it has become our default office vehicle. We drive it around town all day with a lot of frequent short trips (from 7am to 5pm )as a support and other things vehicle(about 50-60 miles per day) and still remain about 1/2 battery life. We plug it in to a 110V outlet each night (5pm-7am) hand have full range the next day (common electrical outlet). We put 18K miles and other than needing new tires, it is problem free.


So, for a 5 year old leaf (in our care for 2 years), I have about 81 miles each morning. We get better range than claimed.


BUY BUY BUY if you are doing less than 70 miles a day.

How was it in the winter time?
(a friend is on his second leased Leaf)
 
We had a 2014 lease that we just turned back in last month. It was a great car with a surprising amount of power, 100% of torque from 0mph is like a drug! The car was 100% trouble free the time we had it and had lots of room despite its size. We have small kids and 2 carseats fit in the back with plenty of room left for everyone. You will lose some range in the summer heat and when it gets really cold in the winter. As far as the car itself goes I would recommend one to anyone. You get over the range anxiety pretty quick too.

The $7500 federal tax credit only applies if you have $7500 or more in federal taxes for the year. If your tax liability is for example $4000 then you only get to claim $4000 of the credit. You can't claim more of a credit than you owe in federal taxes for the year.
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
Would not buy new...but buy used and they are FANTASTIC! (if traveling in their range). Picked ours up used (2012) for just under $12K with almost no miles. One of the nicest "small cars" we have ever had.

We have one in our fleet (for a motor pool). No one ever really reserves it so it has become our default office vehicle. We drive it around town all day with a lot of frequent short trips (from 7am to 5pm )as a support and other things vehicle(about 50-60 miles per day) and still remain about 1/2 battery life. We plug it in to a 110V outlet each night (5pm-7am) hand have full range the next day (common electrical outlet). We put 18K miles and other than needing new tires, it is problem free.


So, for a 5 year old leaf (in our care for 2 years), I have about 81 miles each morning. We get better range than claimed.


BUY BUY BUY if you are doing less than 70 miles a day.

How was it in the winter time?
(a friend is on his second leased Leaf)


So WNC is a "mix" of microclimates with the mountain. We have areas like Canada, others like norther Georgia. Windy, but a different wind compared to those on the plains (my brother is was a Morris MN resident for a while, so we talked about "winter" between the southern mountains and the plains. We both agree than Montana must stink
wink.gif


Winter driving is good. A good set of snow tires and you will be fine if that is your concern. We have some BFG all-seasons and it handles it well. Handles like any other FWD car. My job defaults to 4WD when the weather gets really bad (I am a no-snowday, assigned to drive in it employee)

As for heating and range. We find it to be good. Our black interior does enough solar heating and we keep it garaged (temp control) over night. We do not run the heater all that much... plus we short trip enough that we keeps coats/gloves etc on.

Summer AC does the most damage for the range if you crank it to cold. Not bad if you keep that in mind, but one of our motor-pool users complained about the range ~30 miles for them... because they PARKED the car "running" with the AC on MAX for quite some time. Can't fault the car on that one. Still, the WNC summers max out in the low 90s for the most part. It was 84 today (now 72 due to storms) I can see those further south GA, TX, AZ having more AC drain issues.
 
Buy. Good price. Sure its ugly and doesn't handle as well as my Ford Focus Electric, but an electric car in the role of errand-runner and commuter is perfect.
A great reliable car there. No oil to change. Very little maintenance at all.
High torque off the line makes it fun to drive; very peppy.

You can live off just plain old 120v outlets. You get 4 miles per hour of charging on 120v, 10 amps. Doing the math, you get 48 miles in 12 hours of overnight charging. Most days you might do less, and or have more than 12 hours of recharge time, meaning your morning time amount might be more.

It costs about $1,000 to have a 240v charger installed, which gives 10 to 20 (depending on amps) miles per hour of charging, if you regularly drive more than 50 miles per day.
 
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The Japan made units early gen beta were nicer inside than the later - at least from photos.

For Winter operation can you get heat whilst charging so then car is toasty warm when you drive off?
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What kind of oil does it use? You may have to bow out of the forum
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I think Smart fortwo has a zippy all electric also. Should be low bucks. I would buy 20 of each for an investment and sell em off at a tidy profit when gas goes to 3.799/Gal next Summer
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Hmm, a lot to consider. The rebate and incentive does make it pretty attractive. I think it would work just fine for our intended use - local errands and commuting.

Not that I'm a battery expert, but my guess is that the battery degradation is tied heavily to users that use close to 100% of the battery every time. Our usage would probably use less than 20% at a time so I think the battery health would be on the better end. Plus, the condo only has 110V/15A in the garage, so we'd be stuck to slow charge speeds.

I'll definitely need to find things to maintain though, at least, I think it still uses brake fluid and coolant!
 
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