Nissan Leaf costs/problems

I see more and more old people driving Priusususususes.  Kindof more of a "normal car"- put in gas, car goes, maintenance is pretty cheap.  From a cost/mile stand point if they don't drive much anymore I think that might make more sense.

Or, just go all Florida on them.  

I should have been more clear - we were making full-throttle runs for almost everything we were doing and a lot of them were 80-96 mph. (Couldn’t get any more out of them!)

The bummer for me was it was super cold and my window had to be down because it was shot out.  And because the battery life was so short, no heater :(.  Oh and short-sleeved shirt too :)

they lasted about 5-10 miles of driving like that   Some were better than others and we ran them down until they were flashing the single-digit range   A few times we literally coasted a dead car up to the charger  

so it isn't a completely fair, real-life assessment (cold, full throttle, high-speed) but it was my experience with them. 

TLDR: don’t use them as a bank robbery getaway car in Minnesota in December. 

jfryjfry said:

I should have been more clear - we were making full-throttle runs for almost everything we were doing and a lot of them were 80-96 mph. (Couldn’t get any more out of them!)

The bummer for me was it was super cold and my window had to be down because it was shot out.  And because the battery life was so short, no heater :(.  Oh and short-sleeved shirt too :)

they lasted about 5-10 miles of driving like that   Some were better than others and we ran them down until they were flashing the single-digit range   A few times we literally coasted a dead car up to the charger  

so it isn't a completely fair, real-life assessment (cold, full throttle, high-speed) but it was my experience with them. 

TLDR: don’t use them as a bank robbery getaway car in Minnesota in December. 

I'm assuming the theatrical version will include a cross-country Leaf chase while you fire hundreds of rounds from a pistol with a 10-rd magazine and swig from a never-emptying bottle of whisky?

Pete Gossett said:

Tom Suddard said:

And I’ve taken mine on quite a few long trips, too. Fast charging for the win! 

Care to share more details? My one main holdup with a Leaf is being able to GTFO when the next big storm blows in, and 60 miles may not be far enough inland. 

We really only had one incident of stopping to charge partway to some destination only to find someone else already using the charger. Quick chargers, IIRC (and Tom will have info not subject to my memory) were about 45 minutes to 80% charge from, say, 20% charge. The rate of charge slows as you get closer to full. (Fast charging infrastructure is an, uh, YMMV thing; Portland and Eugene are ~110 miles apart. Due to distance off I-5, I had to stop to charge twice, because the distance from Portland to charging station 1 to Eugene is more like 130 miles; The distance from Portland to charging station 1 to charging station 2 to Eugene is about 140 miles with 1.5 hrs charging... And that's how my normally 2-ish hour drive became 4 or so...)

What concerns me for your particular use case is that every Leaf in your area and using your departure route will all arrive at that charger at about the same time. On the upside, if it's a stop-and-go crush of traffic, you'll benefit from the longer range of that type of driving, unless you need to run the HVAC.

It's worth looking into your local distribution of quick chargers. If you don't have to pull off and charge when you still have 40% battery left because it's your last chance for too long, you'll benefit from much more bang for the buck in speed of charging. If there had been a QC near the interstate at about 60% of the distance from PDX to Eugene, it would have been a one-stop affair without too much trouble. Leave the house at 100%, spend a little extra time to get up to at least 90% at the charging station. Trouble is, both towns big enough to have chargers were too far from midway.

In my particular location, with my particular geography, and my particular travel needs, a Leaf is not a very good only car. It is an unassailably efficient and convenient around-town car. But it may cause unintended consequences, like buying 30-year-old BMWs as "road trip cars"...

In reply to Ransom :

We’re in Mississippi, I wonder if quick chargers even exist around here?

$2850 for a refurb battery sounds pretty reasonable. It really does put a floor under the "what if the battery fails" discussion. I imagine it will help the resale values of older and newer models alike.

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Only the kind used for non-electric cars.

jfryjfry said:

I should have been more clear - we were making full-throttle runs for almost everything we were doing and a lot of them were 80-96 mph. (Couldn’t get any more out of them!)

For non-EV people, it helps to imagine the Leaf as an econobox with a three gallon fuel tank:  Driven gently it's practical and well suited for commuting or running errands.  Driven hard it stops making any kind of sense.

The leafs are rev-limited to a top speed. As has been stated, it won't go long at that speed anyway, but even if the vehicle weighed 1/2 as much and had the aero of a teardrop, it still wouldn't crack 100 MPH.