Chelsea Sexton's Nissan Leaf Review

Nice article!
I have to admit that the user interface is as if someone sat down with me and designed with my sensibilities and grasp taken into account. Really, really useful and esthetic.

I'll be sitting out the first round of the EV Leaf, but I am beginning to look forward to the car being a solid choice when g2 rolls along. Good Luck Nissan!

 

Could always lease it if it's lacking some features you want - looks like a lot of people are leaning that way. The Chelsea Sexton review is great.

 

I found this review independently, it is by far the best
exposition/explanation of how seriously Nissan takes providing Leaf
drivers with the information on battery/power status that they need --
to overcome initial "range anxiety" -- and beyond that what they want to
get the most mileage out of the car.

My situation on getting a Leaf is like Evan's and many others';
Ballamer/Wash'tun is not on the list of cities for the initial release. It is
very frustrating to see ads for the car on TV here despite it not being
available anytime soon -- maybe 2012, 2013?

I've been on Nissan's Leaf mailing list since the beginning. Last week
they asked me to fill out an electronic survey. It was mostly about
potential warranty matters; years/miles on the batteries. In short, my
reply was that the Leaf warranty should be at least as long as the Prius
battery warranty if Nissan wanted to be seen as confident of their
product.

I also put a shot across their bow on their advertising the Leaf where it
isn't available. If I could get one, I'd buy/lease it NOW. By the time I
expect to see a leaf on a showroom floor, there is a good chance at
least one of the other EVs that interest me will also be available; Think
City, Ford Transit Connect BEV, and RAV4-EV. If so, I'll probably be
looking at the latter two.

Still, I very much enjoy seeing how high Nissan is setting the bar as it
will affect what the other manufacturers will have to counter in their
offerings.

 

Question about regen:

With the leaf, Chelsea says you can't suppress regen when coasting like you can in EV1 i.e. by a button.

So can you suppress regen in the leaf with the gas pedal like we do in the prius?

 

This car really does look cool and I think its price is quite reasonable.

 

efusco & tony,
I am in the same boat, being on the "wrong coast" (Boston), not availble until "fall/winter 2011".

This got me thinking I might just not even bother with the Leaf. My daily commuting comes in at 34 miles roundtrip... I am considering the PICC Lithium EV converison for the 2004-2010 Prius, they have modified the ECU's to allow up to 70MPH on all electric operation, and also have a mode that "favors" all electric, EV range is rumored to be in the 40-60 miles (with the 12.5KW replacement Lithium pack they install)

This might be the best compromise until the Gen2 Leaf in 2015, for now.

Here is the link's to the PICC kit, which I'm sure you may have already seen in person at "Green Drive Expo" in Madison earlier.

Press Release: Gold Peak Plugs into Plug-In Conversions

EV World blip: EV WORLDwire: California Company Develops 40-Mile Plug-in Prius

Checkout the video on the "ewert energy" website, these are the brothers that did the ECU/Software modifications: Ewert Energy Systems

P.S. this would make a good topic of discussion on "What Drives Us" (hint, hint)

 

Interesting but cost-prohibitive. A base Prius is about $22.5k. This makes it a $35k car. The leaf is $25k (after rebates). Even in fairly ideal circumstances you wouldn't break even for the cost upgrade on this for a decade or more.

 

So what? The Leaf is subpar with it's 3.3KW onboard charger, Nissan has now backed out of including the "DC fast charge port" as well.

I (and from the looks of it, you) already own the Prius, and 40-60 miles of pure EV driving is all I need, and is in fact better than the Chevy Volt, plus zero range anxiety when your pack is out of charge (unlike the Leaf)

Also, the 40-60 mile range is better than the 13 mile range coming with Toyotas PHEV Prius in 2012

Also, We don't yet know, the PICC conversions cost, and it may also qualify for some rebate as well

 

On its face it sounds better than the Volt, although would lack the completeness of a factory warranty.

There is a real problem I'm not sure they've addressed--if you're doing many miles without ICE what happens in the winter? Is there a heater they have included for coolant to allow the cabin to warm?

 

I'm fairly certain they would go through an ice warm up cycle and use the engines waste heat, it's there, and far less costly than using electric heat

It's still a Prius, so there is no need to NEVER use gasoline. It's just better to use a tank or 2 per
Year, than several tanks a month. Again, no EV conversion has any kind of reasonable payback, but that's not why you do it anyway.

I do think with a 40 mile EV range, most of my driving would be gas free, and that's the ultimate goal, even with a Leaf.

 

I have done a bit of research with the IRS and I found that plugin vehicles do qualify for a federal tax credit. $500 per Kilowatt hour. With the new PICC 12.5KW/hr kit, that should be $6,250. You may also qualify for a state tax credit as well. Depending on the state. For example, I think WV gives $2,000 back. VA give's $0.