"and assumes you drive 12,000 miles a year." If I did, I bet a Leaf would work for me, I did 30,000 miles last year. I bet very few Prius owners only do 12,000 miles a year. If you work 5 days a week for 48 weeks, 12,000 is 50 miles a day, 30,000 is 125 miles a day.
Don't think so, my 2004 Prius that was bought on 10/30/2003, and traded in 1/22/2010 only had 79500 miles on it (2276 days, ~76 month) average was 1046 miles/month, or 12552 miles per year
"The Next Big Thing: Why Electric Vehicles Are Here to Stay", these are the people who will be doing the home assesments, sales and installations of the Nissan Leafs home chargers. http://www.avinc.com/downloads/EVs_The_Next_Big_Thing_V2.pdf
Not if you buy clean electricity - although the current market seems to be rigged for the selling of "certificates" rather than the actual clean electricity...
The "certificates" ARE clean energy. It is clean energy produced by PV or Wind, the certificates are proof that the generation was from a "green" source. If you put a PV system on your home, you are allowed to "sell" these certificates, and typically, your local electric company in your area will be the buyer. So, you are getting paid 2 ways, first, you are not "buying" those kilowats generated by your PV system from your electric company, and 2nd, they are usually paying about twice what that is worth per KW for the certificate. This also has the effect of lowering your PV system cost, which is an added benefit. For more information, click on this link: SRECTrade - Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) Auction In my area, my power runs about .14-.15 per KW, the SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Credits), from a system I could install are bought at typically .285 per KW, or about twice what the power costs. For every KW I could generate, I could net .14 + .285, or almost .42 per KW of power produced net.
Not always, you can, and many do have PV (Photovoltaic) systems on their homes, and much of their EV power is "green". Also many states have cleaner power, California has a fairly green grid. Keep in mind, it is easier/cheaper to clean (scrub) a large electric plant, than thousands of tailpipes. everyone seems to forget that.
Nope, we have a huge nuclear plant hear in Arizona and a good amount of hydro. Do you want a nuke generator in your neck of the woods or do prefer the belching coal plant?
That's the part that seems like a scam - I pay someone for a certificate, also pay for dirty power from the grid, and the certificate seller gets paid again by the power company. And carbon offsets seem like the same thing.
The payment is for ACTUAL production of green power, and to encourage the adoption of more clean power. It is cheaper for the utility to pay for the SRECs than to build out all of that capacity themselves. Our local utility realizes how much money they will be paying out, because the percentage of "green" power keeps going up (mandated) each year. They are in the process of building several large PV farms on property they have that is "polluted" from the production of natural gas... so they will be building out SOME of the required capacity. National Grid - News
Just this week the news reported (with respect to the W.VA mine disaster) that in the US, power generating companies are fueled by coal is a vast majority of instances ... seems like it was 80%??
People keep talking about the Tax Credit, that what it is a credit, if after you do all your deductions, including the Tax Credit you still have to a bottom line of over zero. You do not get a refund if you only owe a few hundred dollars in taxes and try to take of the Tax Credit of $1500 unless they change the rule for getting a Tax Credit from what it is today. States may have other rules and conditions depending where you livel My advice it check with your accountant or tax preparer before you buy.
I definitely would not want the Leaf until it has a proven track record on the road. I bet that 100 miles is very optimistic. Run the AC and headlights (night driving in a warm climate) and let's see how far you can go. They really need to increase the range for it to make any sense. For now, my Prius suits me just fine!
45% according to U.S. government. [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation"]Electricity generation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_power_in_the_United_States"]Coal power in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Mechanics doesn't fix the radio. They just rip one out and claim a new one under warranty. They don't rebuild radios. As for brakes there are no fixes either. They will again just rip brakes out and replace with a new one. However, with all these replacements doesn't solve the problem because the new parts have the same problem. But I guess you lack of knowledge of how they work shows up on your comment. But hey since you love the Prius so much and think they have no faults we should see no complaints or breakdown issues from you in the future. Weren't you the one who was PMing me about rattling issues you've had and kinda hmm solved? Oh by the way just incase you don't know my Bro changed my two REAR LIGHT system for me. Do you know why? Because he saw both of them have heavy condensation during the winter and it can be claimed under warranty. But hey don't get yours changed because while everyone has that problem (because there are no rubber rings on two of the bulb holders) and get theirs changed you can just stick with yours and wait till yours turn yellow and muldy. Then again what do I care? Its your car and your money you've spent on.
Yea, my rear hatch plastic panels were rattling. I guess more and more over time (now 121k miles). I couldn't stand it anymore especially with the stiffer Tanabe springs and lower ride. I stuffed up pieces of foams that I used to block the grill. It cut down 90% of the rattling! I was just sharing that with you for your benefit. Replacing parts can cause rattle as well. Taking parts out and putting back into its place is sometimes never the same.
I don't mind sharing things with everyone and I was happy that you shared. However, indicating that I am a lier is another issue all together. Why would I want to lie about my brother being a mechanic? I don't really get it. But yes I do agree that replacing parts can cause rattle. Just this weekend changing the rear lights due to a bolt fallen I had to remove the spare wheel. Guess what now that rattles but I think I just have to retighten it to make it go away. Luckily rear rattle doesn't bother me much. Having a bro as a mechanic only benefits me and no one else but no he can't fixed the radio and nor does he know what the problem is. Well we know what the problem is but it is not something we can solve. As for the problem with the brake squeaking my bro has offered me to thin down the disc but we just havn't had time to get to it yet because of fixing ohter issues first. For the rattling he has already put down 4 packs of what they called Anti rattle foam kit and my centre console is full of foam. Side colum is full of foam so much so that it doesn't really flush fit when put it back. But yet it still rattles and we will get it fixed. Good luck with your endevours.
I asked if your brother was a mechanic at the dealership because I wasn't sure if he was a salesman or a manager. I did not mean to imply you were lying. I can trust you that you will share some useful tips with us right? To get back on topic, Leaf is not an option for me unless they let me charge it at work. I have 85 miles round trip. Although it is within 100 miles that doesn't leave comfortable range for raining, snowing or very hot summer days.
I just have to jump back in to point out that this just isn't happening. At least it isn't perpetual motion... but this still isn't happening. Why we aren't spending more time on aerodynamics and LRR tires is beyond me. That's where you get your bang-for-the-buck range extension.