Looking to buy Leaf for commute

Absolutely not. Don't forget batteries lose capacity with age. Assuming you can replace the 45 miles while at work, 70 miles is some 90% of the Leaf's maximum range. Add in the fact that Nissan doesn't recommend charging completely to 100% because it is detrimental to battery life and you'll be fine for year 1 & 2. But year 3 and beyond you'll come up short as battery capacity may decrease 20%.

 

There are EV's that would work very well. Tesla S is one. The Leaf does not appear to fit you. You could also consider a Volt

 

pip. 10-15 miles ev after each plug in, then, 65-75 mpg after that. best of both worlds! as an added benefit, let's you do all those local around town errands in pure ev.

 

Pip is a EV-10
Volt is a EV-40

Volt will get you about 38 miles of EV driving and the PIP about 10.

After that the PIP hybrid kicks in with about 50 MPG, the Volt Hybrid MPG I'm not sure but 35 rings a bell.

The basic Pip is a great price and the gov is rewarding with some tax breaks.

You should test drive both cars.

 

Let us know what you decide.

 

Agree that this is a very bad idea unless one can fully L2 charge at work. Even then, it'll get dicey as the battery degrades and even before it during the winter. Leaf's range is too short.

As for the latter part, that's not true. They just don't recommend leaving it at 100% for too long. No way the degradation will be 20% by the 3rd year unless the OP lives in hot climates like like Phoenix or TX.

 

I'm assuming Mobile, AL has a very hot climate.

 

Not as bad a Phoenix.

See Average Weather for Phoenix, AZ - Temperature and Precipitation vs Average Weather for Mobile, AL - Temperature and Precipitation.

Take a look at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Early Capacity Losses-Was(Lost a bar...down to 11). Actually, the person I'm referring to is a Priuschatter. Hope he doesn't mind.

 

If you had L2 charging at work you could just about do it, but it would mean regular 100% charging and that would increase degradation of the battery. Also, with such a long commute I expect you'd be doing a lot of highway miles and high speeds would cut range.

I'd say that you'd need a longer-range BEV like a Tesla Model Sor a RAV4 EV.

Or, more practically, I'd suggest a Volt which would still give you a high percentage of EV and better-than-normal mpg on the gas. (2013 Volt has Hold mode to force gas use, which you could use on the highway so you should get a good average.. Or relocate and cut your miles.

 

I have a similar commute and drive a Volt. You might find the 7-11 Switcheroo thread useful if you haven't seen it already.

PiP/Volt January 7-11 Switcheroo | PriusChat

 

Problem is that a Rav4 EV is a CA compliance car. You'd need to buy one from a CA dealer and it remains in a grey area, at best for service of the Tesla bits.

There have been a few threads on MNL about this but My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - purchasing a Rav4 EV outside of CA is a current one.

 

can you charge at school? and l1 or l2 and for how long? L1 charging yields approx 4 miles per hour of charging and l2 approx 10 miles. The new leaf has a 6.6kw option that would yield 20 miles per hour on l2 charging.

I can easily recommend the Volt for this application but if you can charge at the school for an hour or two the leaf could be a good fit as well, especially with the 6.6kw charger. the issue with degredation with a 100% charge is more of an issue if the car is sitting with a 100% charge and getting overheated. it looks like taking a 100% charge and immediatly driving/draining the battery in moderate climates is not a problem.

 

When you look at the Volt be sure and look at the lease deals out there. I leased at $350/month, 0 down, 36 months, 15k miles/yr. That was last summer and deals got a bit better later in the year.

don't let the lower mpg on the gas motor scare you away. a volt should use less gasoline than a prius or a pip if your driving 120 miles (45+71) between charges and considerable less if your charging at work as well.

it's a shame your 71 mile trip is so close to the leaf's "comfortable" range limit, but if you can swap cars with the wife some days you might find it still works. the leaf will probably make the 71 miles 90% of the time, when weather cooperates. on colder days you could swap with the wife's car (prius) depending on her commute distances and charging opportunities.

 

I know this sometimes invites controversy but here it goes.

Leasing is perhaps the safest bet with a Volt or Leaf or PIP or Tesla. When EV used cars have perceived lower value on the used car lot the Lease can save you from plenty of financial hardship since the resale risk is on the leasee.

 

Money it's a gas, grab that cash with both hands and make a stash, new car caviar, four star daydream - Pink Floyd Lyrics

 

There you go perfect example. Leaf improved the car and dropped the price. With battery technology improving and the cars reaching critical mass cost of production will decrease price to the consumer. Leaf is a perfect example.