Continuing the saga for our now 10-year-old Nissan Leaf that we bought new in 2014, you may see from this and older posts that I nerd out on this a bit. Being an earlier EV, it has a smaller battery with about 1/3 the range of modern electric cars (24kWh - EPA rated 84 miles per charge). We've put about 60,000 miles on the car so far and have found the quality of the non-EV parts of the car to be comparable to other cars we've owned. Here's what people often want to know:
- It is all electric, not hybrid, no gas.
- We got it because it was one of the least expensive new cars we could get at the time, given the federal tax credit. There are still good quality EVs that are relatively affordable compared to comparable gas-powered cars.
- We had more "range anxiety" when we first got the car, when we didn't know its limits, and when there were far fewer chargers available.
- I wouldn't anticipate having range anxiety with a modern EV with more range and with more charging stations available now.
- We do still have a gas-powered car as well.
- Gas-powered vehicles are still way more convenient for long road trips - they have 100 years of well-labeled, readily available convenience store / gas station infrastructure already built... and they only take 5 minutes to fill up.
- A Level 3 (DC) charger gives us about 80 miles in 45 minutes (newer cars can now get a couple of hundred miles off of under an hour of charge). A Level 2 (240v) gives us about 25 miles per hour of charging. A Level 1 (110v standard plug-in) gives us about 5 miles per hour of charging.
- If you're going to own an EV, you're going to want reliable access to a Level 2 charger. Ours was about $600 plus the cost of installing a dedicated 240v line.
- Different car makers use different Level 3 plugs, but most of them use the same Level 2 plug.
- THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO MAINTENANCE. We've had two brake fluid flushes and are due for our second transmission (equivalent) fluid flush. We did have a $240 repair for a failing tailgate lift strut.
- Tires wear out faster.
- Breaks wear out slower.
- EVs have great torque and are fast off of the line, most are now pretty quick up to 60 mph.
- It takes some getting used to driving an electric car because it is so quiet and smooth, and because the accelerator lacks the mechanical resistance that you get from a gas-powered engine. (Most electric cars have an economy or braking mode that uses electromagnetic resistance to slow the car down and charge the battery when you let off of the accelerator.)
- The battery has started to degrade (as is expected) and probably has around 85% of its original capacity. It can still handle about 80-90% of our daily driving needs.
- The biggest drains on the battery (which become more pronounced with battery age) are: using the heater, driving in cold weather, driving at higher speed (e.g., 75 mph), driving uphill (especially at high speed with the heater going in cold weather). The air conditioner also reduces range, but less so.
- Modern EVs have newer technologies that manage these things much better.
- At some point, the battery will become old enough that it doesn't provide us enough range for the car to be useful. Our small, old battery model would cost about $6k and we'd anticipate it would be needed after about 15 years or 100,000 miles. Newer, larger batteries could cost $10-25k to replace. I'd expect they'd have more longevity due to less frequent charging cycles, but don't have any evidence to back that up.
- Without factoring in the battery, the cost per mile to run the car on electricity is much less than it is to run a car on gasoline. When you factor in the cost of a replacement battery, the costs per mile are a lot more comparable.
- Charging at home does impact the electric bill, but it's not huge with what amounts to a compact car. The impact would likely be much more noticeable with a less efficient EV (like a large pickup). We had solar panels at our last house, so charged essentially for free.
- Overall, though, it looks like total cost of ownership would generally cost less to keep indefinitely than a comparable gas-powered car
- We haven't hit any, but sometimes squirrels and pedestrians can't hear you coming.
- We still respect the fact that gas-powered vehicles work better for many people.
- We also believe that the lower overall environmental impact that EVs have compared to gas vehicles is a good thing.
I've been the car's primary driver in our household and have enjoyed the experience enough that it would be tough for me to go back to a gas-powered car for my daily use. Our teenager prefers it to our gas car, and my wife, Jill, who initially didn't like driving the car because it was too fast off of the line, is now interested in looking at an EV for our next car. At this time, though, we have no plans to get rid of the 10-year-old Leaf. It still runs just like it did on day one, costs virtually nothing in maintenance, and has proven to be reliable.
