USAF

Anybody have a Leaf.
My neighbor got one and it's kind of interesting as an around town car.
The single pedal sort of freaks me out.

USAF

gowenfast

As a dealer, I've had a couple of Leaf's..They are a great "around town" type car. Making no noise is pretty creepy, even for me. They do have decent range, and with the "fast charge" option, they will charge up pretty quickly. A power/charge station is cheap to put in at your house..David

USAF

That's the use I'm considering

USAF

lionsfan5454

2013 owner here. It's our 3rd car and we love it for that use. 14 mile round trip commute every day and it aces that. I bought it used in 2016 for $10,500 and this one had good options (LED lights (a must), nav, etc). I know everyone says this, but I swear the car has been perfect since the day we got it. ZERO issues. I've lost track of how much we've saved on fuel costs, but it's easily in the mid $4,000 range. Your local utility may very well have lower rates you can take advantage of and rebates on a home charger.

When we want to take a road trip, we take the gas powered cars, but 5 days of the week, the only car that leaves the garage is the EV.

Be sure you get a 2013+ They made battery changes in 2013 that made degradation MUCH less of an issue. And, honestly, it's kind of fun to drive for a few reasons

1. The low down torque makes 0-30 feel a LOT faster than what it really is. Excellent for "point and shoot" city driving
2. The regen braking in "B" mode makes the brake pedal less involved and you can really drive it with one foot most of the time (bonus, your brakes last forever, my fronts look new at 51,000 miles)
3. Drive it like you stole it. Who cares about fuel economy when you're using stupid cheap EV to top off every night. I beat the crap out of it :-)

For an urban only vehicle I'd just shop a 1st gen car and pick one up for $6,500

919cw313

Your other vehicle must be a gas pig!

lionsfan5454

We've put 40,000 miles on the Leaf. Old car got 24 mpg city (we never took it on road trips). Figure $2.40/gal avg? $3,999.99 not spent on gas

fyreline

My middle son lives in suburban D.C. and works in the city. He uses his new Leaf as a commuter car for the 25-mile drive every working day. He did install the charging station n his garage, and his workplace has free charging spots in their underground garage. It works for him.

gowenfast

Free charging? That's a plus...Does electricity grow on trees, or is it made from those nasty fossil fuels?..Electric cars are not carbon footprint free. Not even close, as some think they are.

fyreline

Some may indeed think that electric cars are "carbon footprint free" . . . but I don't. I frequently kid him about his "filthy coal-burning electric car", especially when he kids me about the Corvette.

919cw313

Ah, okay. I saw 14 mile round trip before and it didn't compute.

gowenfast

And, what was the cost of the electricity that was generated to run the Leaf? What is the carbon footprint of that generation of electricity?

pewter99

less than gas and untill someone can tell me excatly how they determine what a carbon footprint is and how it affect me in the real world I say its all crap.....EV has its place, I equate it to a golf cart that is street legal and I would have one as a commuter if it was cheap to buy and wanted one....overall they are butt *** ugly which is why many dont buy them....I wouldn't buy it to support the myth of global warming or to save the planet

gowenfast

I agree with the faux goal warming myth, but do wonder what is the difference in "effect" on the environment between an electric vehicle, and a similar gas powered vehicle. I might venture to suggest that a gas powered vehicle emits C02, which is beneficial to the plants, trees, etc. What "benefit" does an electric vehicle have? Anyone? Treehuggers? CC experts?

lionsfan5454

I don't have the exact number and it would be hard to calculate exactly as we often plug in while shopping or at a movie/dinner. But... overnight rates at our house it costs about $1.10 in electricity to "fill up" and that gets us about 70-80 miles of range. So 75 miles/24 MPG = 3 gallons of fuel at about $2.50/gal. So ballpark that I've cut my fueling costs by about 80%.

As for the footprint, not really my problem and not much I can do about it. We do have a few nuke plants near here and our coal plants are going away every year. But I bought it to save money more than anything else. I own a f'ing V-12 so not some tree hugger here.