I bought a Nissan Leaf a year ago, and I thought that National Plug-in day was a great time to reflect on the good, bad, and ugly of my first year. So here is why I did it, and what I learned.
I took ownership of my strange-looking grey Leaf 9/23/2011 from a dealership in Northern Marin. I had wanted an electric for 2 years, and I had totalled my Isuzu Trooper, a clear sign from God that I needed to get off my keister.
Why electric?
For one, I am a geek, and I loved the potential in moving from mechanical to software innovation in cars, so I was already a soft target.
But the real reason was that I hated the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and I felt that the only way I could make a difference was to stop buying oil directly. It was not even a climate change issue - I just hated the idea that I was sending money to a region that was using it to buy weapons and decrease stability, requiring me to send more money to fund military operations. Buying both sides' bullets seemed a bad idea.
So was it a good decision? More after the squiggle...
In one year, I have put 12,000 miles on my Leaf, and probably an equivalent distance in terms of my opinion of electric cars. So here it is:
The good:
1. The Leaf is really fun to drive. When you press the pedal, it responds. It is quick and responsive, and just a hoot. It is not quite a Porsche, but for the price, it delivers the fun.
2. I can make phone calls. Surprised you with that one, eh? When you do bluetooth speakerphone in the Leaf, the other caller can actually hear you! Why? Because unlike an ICE, the Leaf is not trying to contain 10s of thousands of explosions every second. No engine noise, no rumble, no vibration = quiet calls = effective use of commuting time.
3. No gas is no gas. No matter how you slice it, I am not subsidizing oil purchases from the middle east, and my money is not paying for bullets that shoot US soldiers. I buy energy from a local power company that is 100% green (yeah, I know nothing is) - no natural gas, no nuke, no oil.
4. No gas is no gas station. OK, occasionally I go to the gas station for a soda. But my experience is that gas stations are basically retailers with atrocious toilets and property that smells of petroleum.
5. NO OIL CHANGES - The only service items are wiper blades/washer and rotated tires. Seriously
The bad:
1. 100 miles is not enough range to really be a car. This is not an item of debate - real people with kids cannot replace their car with a Leaf. 200 miles would probably do it. Nissan, deal with this or you are dead - and yes I will pay for a new battery pack.
2. The interior of the Leaf would be a funny joke if it weren't so incredibly bad. My upholstery has three tears and 2 uncleanable stains. Yes, I have kids, but in 28 years of driving I have never torn a seat. I think it is made of some high-strength tissue paper. And don't get me started about the flooring. Hint, there is no rug, just something that looks like a bad moving blanket made of polyester lint.
3. Electronics. Nissan, hire some real software engineers for your dashboard control software. I can't turn the car off with the plug in. Off? There are two clocks on the dash - and you set them separately. The map interface is an embarrassment.
4. Support. This is not a car, it is a smartphone with wheels and brakes. Yet I still have to drive 45 miles to my nearest dealership to update the firmware. Even though there is a perfectly functioning 3G receiver in the car (for sending metrics to Nissan). How about the car just asks me whether I want a firmware update and gets it wireless? Even my home stereo can pull that one off.
The ugly:
I am going to stick to one item here - charging infrastructure. It sucks. Level II chargers that take 4 hours for 1/2 charge are pitiful. And that is really all there is. There is 1 Level III high-speed charger in the San Francisco Peninsula area. One. And it is owned by Volkswagen!
Companies like Blink and Chargepoint are installing tons of home chargers, which are nice, but we need probably 100 high speed chargers in the bay area. The Obama administration should revise funding guidelines to give only partial reimbursement for Level II chargers in the future.
I will give you an example. When I drive from my home in Marin, I can easily make it to Palo Alto, CA in about 60 miles of expected range. There are two charging locations, downtown PA, and the Stanford Shopping Center. Each has two chargers. People pull into the garage, plug in, then occupy the spot all day. So a charger gets one, maybe two uses per day, and is idle once the car is charged!
Level III chargers take about 20 minutes, so you can conceivably wait. Or an attendent could valet the e-cars, charging 5-10 times in a workday.
Nissan and Ford, how about you install fast-chargers at all your dealers? That would be a boon to your customers, and would bring them back to the dealerships for ongoing relationships. Think about it.
The bad part of ending with "The Ugly" is that it makes things sound bad, so I will finish with a bit of "why folks who instinctively hate e-cars are just wrong":
1. "They are toys" - One response: Torque - Trains are run on electric motors for a reason: even the simplest electric motors have more torque from 0RPM than the most advanced combustion. And this is a structural advantage. Want a fun car? Torque is a big part.
2. "But you are still burning fuel" - That is just stupid. Almost all of our imported oil goes to fuel for transportation (some for home heating). Fewer gas cars = less oil imports, period. And even if you have the dirtiest energy producing your power, an electric car will benefit from any improvement from regulation or power company investment for years. A gas car will only pollute more the older it gets.
3. "The range is too low" - Yup, 100mi is too low. And you cannot go Thelma and Louise 'cross the country. But unless you are a long-haul trucker, or you have unique needs, you don't need virtually infinite range. By my experience, if I had 200-250 mile range, I would not have any issues. And if you need extended range, the Volt is a great car with very happy owners!
4. "Hydrogen/Natural Gas/Air Power is better" - I don't argue that there should be more options. Don't lose track of the fact that gas, oil, hydrogen, air, and lithium are batteries, not fuel. Evaluate them based on their efficiency, but also on how easy they are to recharge...
Whatever you drive, enjoy it, drive safely, and I hope all of you get a chance sometime soon to drive a cool, electric car. It does work!