bay area e-bicyclist gets first Nissan Leaf

"I want to drive it!" Chalouhi called back in his French accent. Before buying his Leaf, Chalouhi didn't own a car, though his wife has a Honda Fit. He's been using an electric bicycle for the 20-mile round-trip commute to his job as chief technical officer for Fanhattan, a startup he founded but isn't ready to discuss.

"The electric bike is nice, but a car is more convenient," Chalouhi admitted.

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hydro-one said:

Open the floodgates!!! 20k not too bad of a price either!!!

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torker said:

hydro-one said:

Open the floodgates!!! 20k not too bad of a price either!!!

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I'm tellin ya. I paid 8k for a well used Vibe. And I still have to do damn oil changes. I am excited about this. Hopefully in a year or two when I am ready they will be this price or less.

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Quick thoughts:

1. The car was a huge surprise in the fun-to-drive department. It has 207 lb-ft of torque, and 100% of it is available at any time. Also, the ground-up design allowed Nissan to centralize the battery mass within the wheelbase, so it handled great. Like, not "great for an electric car," just great in general. The only weak point was an overly intrusive stability-control system, which this car needed because of how easily it would smoke the tires coming out of turns.

2. Hybrids' days are numbered. Hybrids are at their best when used for short-distance urban commuting/errand-running, and the LEAF is just better for that in every way. Uses less fuel than a hybrid (obviously) and is even better on maintenance (until the batteries need to be replaced years ahead, all the car needs is brake maintenance). Is more fun to drive than a hybrid (faster, handles better, makes cooler sounds). And at $35k fully loaded with tons of tax breaks, I would rather have this than any hybrid.

The only downside is the range. It's 100 miles, and even using the (nearly useless) climate control will suck another 20 miles out of the battery. So, it's only for people whose commutes are relatively predictable.

You can plug it into any home outlet. That's the slowest way to charge it (21 hours for a 0%-to-100% charge), but it's totally doable, especially if you can plug it in at work.

You can also install a charging station in your home, which cuts charging time from 21h to around 7h. And if you live in CA you can visit a quick-charge station, swipe your credit card, and go from 0% to 80% charged in just 30 minutes.

The savings are real--based on a national average for electricity costs, keeping the LEAF 'fueled' for a year will cost right around $500. Even the most fuel-efficient hybrids will cost roughly twice as much to keep going.

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bigmoose said:

EPA is saying the "real" range is around 70ish miles.

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