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

[scmil95eg]

I bought a 2014 Leaf for $7k last week and so far I'm really liking it.

I've been looking for a cheap car to retire the Evo as a daily (again), and I've been debating on weather or not to get a base cruze or trax for one of those ridiculously low leases. But my primary objective was to minimalize the cost of my 60 mile daily commute. And replacing one car with terrible economy for one with a little better economy didn't make total sense. Used Volts are still too expensive. So I've been hesitating.

Perusing the interwebs the other day, I stumbled across this article:
http://jalopnik.com/here-is-why-you-...car-1790686267

And I started searching AutoTrader.

I found a clean 2015 leaf in GA for $6950 and thought I sealed the deal (on a Friday afternoon). But when I noticed they hadn't taken my money by Monday I called and heard they sold it to someone local. I got the impression they didn't want to deal with shipping it to me.

Went back on AutoTrader that Monday and found what turned out to be my 2014 Leaf in Ohio for $7000. Wednesday I drove down (~160 miles), signed the papers, and dollied it back to MI.



I've put about 400 miles on it since I've had it. I can make my daily 60 mile work commute with 25 - 30 miles of range to spare when I get home. On 110, it takes ~15 hours to charge so I think I'll be getting a 240v charger soon. It has 190 ft lbs of torque so it moves when you press the pedal. There are a few small small sacrifices (like speed, and hvac) but every time I notice myself thinking about them I remind myself I'm basically driving for free!

The PlugShare app has relieved my tiny bit of range anxiety and I really like the completely silent and smooth drive. So far, I'm really liking it.

So out of curiosity, anyone else here have an EV?

[8RZ]

Having no AC = instant death during FL summers lol. Congrats.

[funwheeldrive]

Why are these so cheap? Are people afraid of having to replace the battery?

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

Why are these so cheap? Are people afraid of having to replace the battery?

According to the article, it costs almost as much as the damn car.



I've considered one since my work has charging stations and I'm there for 12 hours at a time... but I'd rather just drive my regular car since it's a pretty short commute. It would be nice to have as backup when working on the car and leaving it out of commission for a couple days.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

Why are these so cheap? Are people afraid of having to replace the battery?

In Georgia one reason they may be cheap is because there is a huge number of them coming off what was basically a free 2 year lease. Between the Fed and the State tax credits in 2014 you could lease one for what netted to zero dollars.

[Re_Invention]

I recall those Leaf's being lease specials when new - lots of incentives were used to get the initial selling price down to an 'accepted' price level for consumer appeal to do volume sales. Same thing going on with the Fiat 500e currently, you can lease those suckers for under $100/month with $0 down! But I suppose that also comes down to where you live (state tax refund).

While not a true EV I picked up a new Volt as a company car a few months ago. It's cool, exceeded my quality expectation for a bow tie. Takes 8-12 hours to charge on 110, typically has a stated range of about 50 miles on electrons but I can usually coax it to nearly 70 with the aggressive re-gen brake paddle and relaxed driving. I find the touch screen cumbersome but maybe that's because I don't spend a lot of time dealing with it.

I wouldn't fault anyone for taking the Volt over a Prius.

Now, I wouldn't mind one of these. Disaster or not.

[scmil95eg]

I read up a little on what to look for and stay away from before I got it. I had the salesman send me a screenshot of the battery condition (96% charge capacity) before I committed. Still have 7 year left on the battery warranty so I just plan on keeping the battery "healthy" and not worrying about it. If all works well, I'll just flip this one for another used one in a couple years.

[Re_Invention]

Absolutely, at that price point and for the cheap costs to run - should you get 24-36 months out of it without sinking any money into it you'll be on par or up in the end vs any typical ICE commuter car (depreciation vs cost to run vs maintenance).

And should oil markets decide to play games, you may stand to make out like a bandit if irrational characters drive up used prices of fuel efficient vehicles like we saw happen several years ago.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

Why are these so cheap? Are people afraid of having to replace the battery?

Originally Posted by Andrew025

According to the article, it costs almost as much as the damn car.



I've considered one since my work has charging stations and I'm there for 12 hours at a time... but I'd rather just drive my regular car since it's a pretty short commute. It would be nice to have as backup when working on the car and leaving it out of commission for a couple days.

I had a customer at work who had a 500e that he bought new. Said the batteries had issues, but Fiat refused to replace it under warranty and said it would cost 40k to replace (which is pretty much the price of the car).

[Kaotic Lazagna]

OP...

[scmil95eg]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

OP...

I'm going to give it a little more time, but if this works out, wheels, tires, springs, and tint. Definitely.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by scmil95eg

I'm going to give it a little more time, but if this works out, wheels, tires, springs, and tint. Definitely.

I'd get the grippiest fuel economy tires you can get (yes, I know that's an oxymoron). I'd do some aero upgrades to try to reduce the Cd to squeeze out more range. I wonder if someone makes a wrap around spoiler for the Leaf, like what the Honda Fit EV has.



Also, is the belly of the Leaf flat?

[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.

[krayzie]

The thread should be renamed as "I can't believe it's not petrol".

But seriously I can't believe they actually have a Nismo Leaf.