I *can't believe I* bought an EV!

[scmil95eg]

Originally Posted by GirlRepellent

Sup bro. I have a Leaf and love it! Its an amazing daily and keeps miles off my Evo X and FRS. Its also almost maintenance free. Solid car and surprisingly fun to drive. Good score.

Evo + Leaf Here's to owning polar opposites of the automotive spectrum. :beer:

Only regret so far is waiting this long to buy one.

[GirlRepellent]

Originally Posted by scmil95eg

Only regret so far is waiting this long to buy one.

Yeah same here, its such a good car.

[justinco]

So, you are charging daily or every other day @ maybe 10-14 hours a day? How does this affect your electrical bill? I wouldn't exactly call this driving for free...Christmas lights in December has a noticeable impact on electrical costs for me.

On another note, I drove a Tesla Model S 90D last week. Talk about an amazing car!

[scmil95eg]

Daily, 12 to 15 hours. On 110, 12 amps is about the same as a space heater. We're looking into the dte ev discount, but I haven't had it long enough to know how much it actually affects our bill. But I'm confident it will be less than the $400/mo I've been spending on gas.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by justinco

So, you are charging daily or every other day @ maybe 10-14 hours a day? How does this affect your electrical bill? I wouldn't exactly call this driving for free...Christmas lights in December has a noticeable impact on electrical costs for me.

On another note, I drove a Tesla Model S 90D last week. Talk about an amazing car!

Originally Posted by scmil95eg

Daily, 12 to 15 hours. On 110, 12 amps is about the same as a space heater. We're looking into the dte ev discount, but I haven't had it long enough to know how much it actually affects our bill. But I'm confident it will be less than the $400/mo I've been spending on gas.

As long as it's off peak hours, it should be a few bucks to do a full charge. Peak hours, however, can end up costing more than gas.

Does the Leaf have a timer (that way you can plug in early and have it start charging at off peak hours)? Keep the climate temp at 70. I think anything cooler or warmer will make you lose some range.

[Dadhawk]

Not sure about a Leaf, but there is a relatively new episode of Wheeler Dealers where they take a '85 Maserati Biturbo and convert it to a 130 mile range electric. Now that would make a nice DD.

[Allch Chcar]

It's pretty neat. I grew up hearing and reading about EVs from battery electric to hybrid electric. But it's been something else to see them hit the mainstream market.

[GirlRepellent]

My Leaf has the larger battery pack, I get away with charging every other day. I can charge at a nearby Nissan dealership for free. They've got two Level 2 Chargers and one Level 3 Charger. The Level 3 Charger will charge my battery from 0% to 80% in 30 minutes.

Also, I alerted the Electric Company that I have an EV(You know, so they don't think I'm running a grow house) and they gave me a bill credit for $50.

I recently moved into a new house and while I'm not 100% sure what the electricity bill was without the Leaf, my monthly bill hasn't been over $100. I drive around 800 miles a month.

[scmil95eg]

Today makes 1 week of ownership. 480 miles. I haven't really done any "joyriding" with the exception of a couple short test drives for colleagues at work and showing it to my parents. But this includes going out to eat a few times and daily errands, etc.

At its best, the evo gets ~19 mpg. At its worst, ~12 mpg. So if I average 15 mpg, which is pretty accurate:
480/15=32 gallons
32 x $3.20/gal = $102.40 saved in gas

Which means (if this stays consistent) every 2 weeks, my gas savings covers the car pmt and insurance, and change left over for electric bill. Weeks 3 and 4 of every month is an extra $100/week in my pocket.

Win.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by scmil95eg

...Win.

Yea, but you are still driving a Nissan Leaf....

so that's a tainted win.

(kidding, sorta)

[Captain Snooze]

Slightly off topic.
Apparently a unforeseen consequence of EVs is noise. Or lack there of. So idiot is crossing the road eyes glued to their smart phone and instead of the possibly of engine noise alerting them that there might a vehicle coming there is the sound of.... nothing. I have read an article that suggested future EVs might have to have an external noise maker to let people hear them.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

Slightly off topic.
Apparently a unforeseen consequence of EVs is noise. Or lack there of. So idiot is crossing the road eyes glued to their smart phone and instead of the possibly of engine noise alerting them that there might a vehicle coming there is the sound of.... nothing. I have read an article that suggested future EVs might have to have an external noise maker to let people hear them.

This is a big issue in plants with electric forklifts. They are quiet as hell and can sneak up on you. There has to be some onus placed on the drivers of electric vehicles to be extra vigilant and to warn people that they are nearby. That is why there are horns (not to make the guy in front of you at the light move .0002 seconds faster).

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This is a big issue in plants with electric forklifts. They are quiet as hell and can sneak up on you. There has to be some onus placed on the drivers of electric vehicles to be extra vigilant and to warn people that they are nearby. That is why there are horns (not to make the guy in front of you at the light move .0002 seconds faster).

I drove an electric forklift in a factory environment. When the horn was out we locked out the vehicle. That horn was used for every turn, doorway, when backing up, and especially to scare the carp out of people for not hearing the soundless vehicle of death.

[JD001]

In the UK we used to have lots and lots of EVs with a very smart safety device featuring clanking bottles of milk..