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I used 462 KWH last month and my bill was $82.08. If I turn on the AC it goes up real fast. Same if I was charging an EV.
http://www.austinenergy.com/about%20us/rates/rateSummary.pdf
But you need to factor in the maintenance and repair costs on the internal combustion engine in the Prius for a true cost per mile comparison. The LEAF has no ICE, so saying .089 cents vs .079 cents isn't really a fair comparison.
And "ouch" on the 34 cents per KWH. In Houston our rate is around 9 cents/KWH.
You got that right, ouch. I just suffer in the heat during the summer rather than run up my electric. SDG&E will give you a 5% discount if you let them hook up a device that locks out your AC during peak loads.
Bottom line is CA talks a lot about going green and cutting fossil fuel use. They just do nothing to make it feasible.
But the components that mostly fail in any car have nothing to do with the ICU...electrical components, sensors, power steering pumps, AC units, transmissions, interior components, etc.... The prius is rated by JD Powers as it's "most reliable" used compact car, but we don't yet know anything about long-term reliability for the Leaf, so we have to base it on other Nissan vehicles. A vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, clothes dryer, etc...all run just on an electric motor and folks have repair issues with those too. No ICU doesn't equal no mechanical problems.
What about maintenance items associated with an ICE? They add up over the life of the car and need to be taken into account. It doesn't matter how reliable the Prius is, there are additional costs associated with maintaining an ICE. Specifically, things like:
Oil changes
Engine air filter
Coolant flush
Coolant hoses
Coolant thermostat
Fuel Filter
Fuel injector & throttle body cleaning
PCV Valve
Spark Plugs
Engine drive belts
Timing belts
Not sure about transmission, does the LEAF have some sort of fluid-filled transmission that requires servicing as well?
http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2011/04/18/nissan-to-fix-5300-leaf-electric-ca- rs/
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/videos/videoreviews/268234/nissan_leaf_euro_ncap_cr- ash_test_video.html?CMP=NLC-Newsletters&uid=e36ec80f4ff6ec69d41497bb91561dfc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sujv90PLLY&feature=player_embedded
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Ask them what range they have been able to use and if they've had to have a tow.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Quick Charge Port
Allows for charging to 80% in 30 minutes at 440V charging stations (This option cannot be added after sale)
It is a $700 option that you would have to have if you expected to charge your vehicle at any of the Quick Charge stations being built. It is not even available on the SV model. hmmmmm
I think they are about what they should be. Early adopters with cash to spend in a bad economy.
How fast would the Leaf have sold in 2004-2005, when the economy was booming and people had money to spend?
I noticed something interesting on the Nissan Leaf site. San Diego already has 61 high voltage DC charging stations. Los Angeles has none. San Fran has a few as does Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Houston, Nashville & Chicago. Buying the base without the 440V charging capability would be a big mistake. I will research where those are here and the charges to charge. Who knows if it is free I may buy one and take it to be charged for free. Beating Sam at his games is always a pleasure.
I think the slow roll-out is why the first 20,000 have not been delivered yet. Or maybe a supply disruption caused by the tsunami has affected the deliveries.
But the 20,000 reservations? 100% factual.
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/09/23/report-nissan-reaches-20-000-leaf-pre-order- s-will-stop-taking/
http://www.allcarselectric.com/news/1049692_nissan-celebrates-20000-reservations- -for-2011-leaf-with-u-s-tour
http://www.leftlanenews.com/nissan-takes-20000th-leaf-reservation.html
http://www.kbb.com/car-news/all-the-latest/2011-nissan-leaf-hits-20000_vehicle-r- eservation-milestone/
Now - is or was there any guarantee that ALL those 20,000 reservers will *ACTUALLY BUY* a Leaf? Of course not.
But I'd like to think more than 10% of them have.
Those would be great if they could put one every 100 miles on every major Interstate freeway in the USA.
That would allow the Leaf to be used for multiple-day long trips. Albeit S-L-O-W-L-Y.
*Researched by Nissan North America based on program announcements, press releases, news stories and public testimony. The charging infrastructure data presented is indicative of the volume of chargers that public and private entities are planning to install in the next several years. Planned volume may not equate to actual installed volume.
On the Volt website an owner writes:
For curiosity sake I've been scouring the net trying to find J1772 (Volt and Leaf) compatible public charging stations in San Diego. It appears that not a single one exists in all of the county. There are probably 10-20 sites for the old paddle inductive type (many of which are down). It's a bit disappointing. Anyone know what lies in the future for EV infrastructure?
He got this response:
I know you are inquiring about Public charging stations, but San Diego Area Nissan dealers have L2 charging stations available for Leaf owners. The Chevrolet dealer on Balboa in Kearny Mesa is supposed to get a L2 charger for customers in a few months after their remodel. I also heard that Quality Chevrolet in Escondido would be getting one.
For public charging stations, there really aren't any here yet. There aren't any in the ChargePoint network in San Diego. However, I understand that once the EV Project gets rolling by mid-year there are supposed to be over a 1000 L2 and some L3 charging stations in the San Diego area. See http://www.theevproject.com/overview.php
My suggestion to any prospective EV buyer. Make sure there is infrastructure in place and what it will cost. Same goes for utility costs for an EV.
http://ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3521
As part of the Green Highway project where California, Oregon and Washington are partnering to turn Interstate 5 into the first alternative-fuel-friendly freeway in the U.S., AeroVironment is installing Level 3 EV quick chargers along the route in Southern Oregon.
For this first phase of the project, from the California state line to the Willamette Valley, 150 miles of the highway will have convenient access to EV chargers that can fully charge a battery in 30 minutes. Eight interchanges will be picked based on common destinations, vehicle range and driving distances. The chargers will be installed by the end of the fall.
The Green Highway will ultimately run from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C. and will feature not only EV charging and battery swap stations, but alternative fuel filling stations for biodiesel, compressed natural gas and hydrogen. The project is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
via Engadget
Too many of the high dollar projects I saw put into Alaska ended up worthless. The money to build is granted and the project is completed. Then when it breaks no one to maintain it. I am sure with the Feds involved it will be just such a boondoggle.
If you buy a Leaf get the expensive one with the 440V charging ability. It cannot be added later.
I'd guess it's not difficult. Does it require 120V or 220V in the house?
You can just use the basic 110V built-in charger and plug it into the wall. It just takes 24 hours to charge that way.
I am wondering if the charging stations being put in around the USA will be universal. The goofy ones they put in for the EV-1 were just for the EV-1 and are now all gone. Our tax dollars wasted.
It looks like the end of a long and winding road for Think, the pioneering Norwegian electric carmaker.
On Wednesday, the Oslo-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in Norway and a court-appointed trustee assumed control of Think’s business, according to Debra Salem, a spokeswoman for its U.S. subsidiary.
This is the third – and likely the last – trip to bankruptcy court for Think since its founding in the early 1990s. (Battery maker Ener1, Think’s largest shareholder, stated in a regulatory filing that it expected to take a $35.4 million charge.)
Think was a company ahead of its time in the late ‘90s when it made a plastic-bodied, battery-powered urban runabout called the City that it sold in Europe and leased in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Among its customers was a Stanford graduate student named Sergey Brin.) Ford had acquired a majority stake in Think and pumped $100 million into the development of the City to help it meet California’s zero-emission regulations. But anyone who has seen “Who Killed the Electric Car?” knows what came next when California abandoned its electric vehicle mandate.
Think this year opened an assembly plant in Indiana and City’s began rolling off the assembly line. In May, the company won a contract to supply the car to federal agencies.
But Think found itself in the slow lane as the Volt and Leaf began to hit the highway. Last year I drove the latest version of the City in San Francisco. It was a zippy and fun drive, and though much improved over the prototype I first drove in Norway in 2007, it could not match the flawless Japanese quality of the Nissan Leaf.
While Think never nailed down a retail price for the City, it hinted that it would be around $40,000 – sure to cause sticker shock for buyers who could buy a five-seater, fully equipped Leaf for $10,000 less before state and federal incentives.
http://blogs.forbes.com/toddwoody/2011/06/24/electric-carmaker-think-files-for-b- ankruptcy-again/
Before Nissan sold a single Leaf electric car, it had 20,000 pre-orders in North America alone. Yet some people on this reservation list are mysteriously being dropped, and it could be because they haven't installed a home charging station.
According to a report by Bloomberg, some of the 20,000 pre-order customers have found themselves dropped from the waiting list with no warning, and then asked to reapply if they could not prove they had a home charging station installed.
By asking people to reapply for purchasing a Leaf if they can't prove they don't have a charging station for a car they don't own yet, Nissan is setting a pretty screwy precedent, even as they struggle to get cars to customers in a timely fashion.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/idUS380882598920110615
Wonder if you only want the more battery friendly 110Volt charger built-in to the car? I would just leave it plugged into a 110v outlet to trickle charge. They claim the high speed charging shortens the life of the battery.
The comments in the article point out that no one in any of the Leaf forums has reported this happening to them.
Story sounds like it was written by someone else with an aversion to EVs.
What did you expect from a pinko commie like Bloomberg? :P
They said Nissan unexpectedly dropped some from the waiting list temporarily, asking that they reapply if they couldn’t prove they had arranged installation of home-charging units that can cost more than $2,000.
“My delivery date kept jumping around, from April to ‘pending’ to May to June to July,’’ said Marc Fishman, 42, a movie sound editor from Burbank, Calif.
Another liberal Hollywood type lying.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-14/business/29657554_1_nissan-leaf-electric-c- ar-delivery-date
I just cannot decide if I want one at this point. :confuse:
Overall, Nissan did an excellent job. I could complain about a number of things but I'll focus on the essentials instead.
1. Plugging in at night is no problem. It takes about 15 seconds - and another 15 in the morning.
2. Acceleration is great. The specs are above. But, from observing the Leaf's kilowatt meter, it appears Nissan restricted the acceleartion (probably for safety). Instead of immediately pegging at 80kw (the top of the meter), it gradually increases power over about 3 or 4 seconds. If you are already going about 10-20 mph, then it does give you the full 80kw, which you can really feel and observe as you shoot past other vehicles!
3. Range is reasonable. I'd like to see better, but for greater-city area driving, it's really hard to use up the range in one day. Realistically, I'm getting between 70 and 80 miles per charge. Another meter shows about 3.7 or so miles per kw, or about 250w per mile. It's better on roads without stop-and-go, even with regen. I haven't had to use the heat or A/C much yet, so I expect the range to drop maybe 10% in winter when I need both (defrost).
4. Comfort is reasonable. My own personal taste is that I find the front seats to have poor lumbar support. Also, the head rest protrudes too far forward, putting me into a hunched position. I solved the latter by turning the head rest around. Front leg room is great and the seat can be positioned comfortably high.
5. Visibility is poor. This might be typical with other Nissan vehicles. The front pillars are really wide and, when turning, you really need to move your head to look around them. The back window is small, so the rear view mirror is practically useless. The mirror is also annoying low, blocking vision to the upper-right. The side mirrors are small to, so I change lanes carefully.
6. The GPS map software works ok, but is lame compared to Google maps. Nissan should have licensed Google's software and chucked theirs. I usually use my android phone instead of the car's navigation - sorry tradeoff considering the car has a very nice screen.
That's enough for now. I'd like to do some serious measurements and report back on kw for hill climbing at various inclines and speeds.
PH
link title
for more article : Speed Encounter
Warm Regards,
Pideksa99
I am waiting on the Leaf to hear the good bad and ugly in maintenance, such as battery replacements or other horrible expensive computer modules having to be replaced. Those items that they force even people like me with experience to have to return to dirty dealer for service. If the Leaf can turn out 200K miles without such expenses, then it may be justifiable in long run. I shudder to hear what they want to replace the batteries, controller or whatever else. It would not surprise me either if the circuit boards are potted making it impossible to repair. Yup, I even have electronics under the belt.
Keep the info coming, I just put this car forum on my watch list. Getting older and the trips are getting shorter. So the gas Yaris's will soon be open road units and the Leaf around town when purchased.
May I suggest a wide angle mirror from JC Whitney for rear blind spots? I bought the smaller ones for the Yaris's which have terrible blind spots in rear and pulled the headrests out to improve view. They clamp over the OEM mirror, but have no night time feature. The mirror works fine as long as no one is in the back seat. 99% of the time that is the case anyway. If someone hits the brights in the back, I aim the mirror down.
Girlcarbuilder
He thought about waiting until they get more range. But did not want to lose out on the $7500 from the Feds and the $5000 from CA. With tax and license out the door it cost him right at $24k.