Posted on 01/09/2015 10:03:38 AM PST by LogicDesigner
That’s darn cheap. Thanks!
Living and working in a state like MA or RI might make sense.
Living in a state like Texas not much sense.
Actually our electric rate went up something like 39% this year in MA with a projected 50% more when the free electricity wind turbines go up off of Cape Cod so probably DON’T make sense here either....
Ahem.... No, they don’t drive more because they drive a Leaf. They drive more because they need to for whatever reason. They then bought the Leaf under the assumption that it would save them money. Whether it actually does or not is not in evidence.
A lot would depend on your drive cycle.
If you spend the day as a visiting nurse, on-site tech guy, real estate appraiser, etc, in Dallas or Houston it might be a good rig.
At some point this winter (maybe during the current cold snap) I’ll run my LEAF as hard as possible (freezing temps, heater & AC on, lights, 80MPH, etc) and see how the mileage drops. Running worst case, I expect no less than equivalent of 50 miles for a full charge.
My estimated full range frequently nears 100 miles. Question is whether you drive for performance or distance.
How would one ‘collect’ the credit? Is it something you have to run through the IRS to realize, as in ‘if your taxes are high this is a deduction’?
“That’s because an EV’s operating range on a charge can be diminished by an average of 57 percent based solely on the ambient temperature, according to the results of a study conducted by the AAA Automotive Research Center in Southern California. That could leave, for example, the owner of a Nissan Leaf with an EPA-certified range of 84 miles with a depleted battery after driving a mere 36 miles in cold weather.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2014/03/24/the-cold-truth-icy-temps-can-slash-an-electric-cars-range-by-more-than-half/
Check the date.
That article was written 4 years ago. The LEAF has significantly improved since then.
The sheer number of LEAFs on the road around Atlanta (probably the most popular single model of vehicle on the road, save perhaps Ford F150) show it is not “a useless toy”.
Per this:
It’s a $5000 state tax credit and you get 5 years to “use it up”
Ga appears to have a pretty high state income tax rate (6% on income over $7000) so if you make 50 grand, you might reclaim it in two tax years.
(disclaimer: I’m in Indiana and just ballparking this off internet data)
Like I keep saying: it’s not for all scenarios. Doesn’t mean it’s sh!t. Much of the country doesn’t have norms outside its comfortable operating ranges.
20 degrees and snowing? Drive sensibly and you’ll be fine. He did a number of things wrong contributing to his problems (not the least of which driving a 2011 LEAF instead of a 2014 or later). Helps that you can program it to heat/cool while it’s plugged in before your normal departure time, so it’s already warm when you start the drive, and the battery just has to “top off” the warmth instead of raising the temp 50 degrees outright.
“No thanks” is fine, just stop being rude about it. Works great for a lot of people, but certainly not all.
“Leaf v. Mustang, Cobra, Stingray, Barracuda, Maverick, Bronco, Firebird, Ram, Cougar. How we’ve fallen.”
FWIW, I’m one of 5 LEAF drivers in our 30 person office.
One uses it in lieu of his maxed-out Camero.
One sold his luxury Genesis for it.
Two could have bought pretty much anything they wanted.
Conservative “tea party” types are all for tax reductions, right? Take ‘em where you can!
(If you’re a net contributor to society, including taxes, I’ve no issue with tax deductions to lower your taxes however possible. It’s those who typically pay negative taxes, receiving actual refunds for what they haven’t paid, that I’ve a problem with.)
$7/gal gas vs $0.50/gal gas equivalent. The car might cost more up front, but the savings are significant.
Admittedly, EVs have a practical lifespan of about 6-8 years. While the rest of the car may be in good shape (really not that much to go wrong on an EV), when the $10,000 battery dies outright you’ll probably want a new car.
I'm glad you brought that article up. It is based on a AAA study that was done on three electric cars: “The average EV battery range in AAA’s test was 105 miles at 75°F, but dropped 57 percent to 43 miles when the temperature was held steady at 20°F.”
In order to come up with his “36 miles” for the Leaf in cold weather, the author of the Forbes article made the mistake of applying the 57% range drop to the more “average” EPA range, rather than the more ideal 105 mile range at 75°F, like AAA did. In other words, the EPA range already takes into account some of the temperature drop, while the AAA study was comparing the high-end range to the low-end range.
Many Leaf owners, including ctdonath2 in post 47, frequently get that 100+ mile range. That is the starting point for the 57% reduction, not 75 miles (or 84 for newer Leafs).
More math time:
100% - 25% = 75%
75% > one-third
I'm still waiting for you to support your fact-free assertion that in cold weather the Leaf will get “25 miles or so and it will be stone dead, if it even makes it that far.”
<taps foot impatiently>
Most of Europe is powered by nuclear energy, which has a very low environmental impact -- except in the minds of lefty extremists.
It shows the toy car going from a 60 mile range down to a 20 mile range, and that is at 25 deg F, not -5 F that it has been here for the past week!
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