Charging Etiquette

Given that electric vehicle ownership is not yet mainstream, it may come as no surprise to the gas-burners among you that charging stations are not easy to find in the Metro Detroit area.

Finding a charging station that will actually allow you to use it is a multifactorial problem. First, you must find a station, which is made more difficult by the fact that almost none are well-marked, and are often nowhere near their indicated locations on the vehicle's onboard GPS.

(Sploosh)

But truly, the most persistently irritating thing about charging an electric car is the poor etiquette of other EV drivers. All too often, you will run across someone whose car finished charging hours or days ago, and there it is, still sitting in the only available charging spot. One particular Ann Arbor location always has the same two Chevy Volts plugged in with their batteries full, using the place like their own (free) home charging station.

With all that in mind, let's lay down some ground rules to help us become more mindful EV drivers.

1) If you don't drive an EV, don't park in the charging spot. Seriously, if you keep this up I'm gonna start parking in gas stations. It's a frustrating and common occurrence, but I just chalk it up to most people not giving a shit about my charging problem. I understand not giving a shit about other peoples' problems, and frequently the spot next to them is open, so I simply drape the cord across their car to make it reach mine. Problem solved.

2) Don't charge if you don't need to. Why are you taking up the only spot for miles around to get an extra 20% of battery power?

3) Move the car when you're full. If your battery has gotten topped off, move it. Most electric cars can send you a text message when the battery is full so you'll know. Leaving it there for hours afterwards, plugged in, is asinine. If you can't move it when you're done, try to make it so others can unplug your car and still plug their own in. Leave a card with your phone number on the windshield.

4) Feel free to unplug a FULLY CHARGED car. If there is a car plugged in and it's obvious the battery is full, you should feel no qualms about unplugging it to charge your own. Note that Chevy Volts seem to like to sound their car alarms when you do this, but whatever. Leave a note if you want.

How to tell if it's charged fully: On a Volt, it's charged if the dashboard green light is flashing. On a fully charged Leaf, all three lights on the dash are either all on, or all off. And on a charged-up Ford, the blue ring around the charge door will not be lit.

Finally, having found an open spot in front of a charging station, your excitement may well be tempered by finding that said station is actually broken, possibly forever. I'm looking at you, Ferndale!

Tesla

Recently, the Oatmeal showed what it's like to own and drive a Tesla Model S. I highly recommend you check out the comic.

After reading of its glory, your author clicked as quickly as possible on the Tesla website and prepared to order a Model S directly from Elong Musque, as this is how Tesla does things. Our ancient computer let out a sad trombone noise when its dial-up modem finally displayed the minimum purchase price of $69,995. That's 2 to 4 times as much as the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, and Mitsubishi Car-Shaped-Object, the only other fully electric cars on the market.

Makes you wonder exactly how much money web-comic writers manage to pull in. It's certainly much more than yours truly manages to make, between Mechanically Turking until the wee morning hours and writing excellent blog posts.

By the time we can afford a model S, the sun will be fusing helium into carbon and oxygen.

If you don't already know, the Model S is a wonder. Its range is 200 to 260 miles. It does 0-60 faster than any sedan has a right to, and handles like a sports car. The interior space is cavernous, and it seats up to 7, thanks to the trick folding rear-facing jump seats in the hatch area.

Watch out for Racer-X!

Tesla represents the future of electric cars, and those select few who can afford to pay the premium can be driving the future, today. In the next decade, battery costs should come down to the point that a 200+ mile range will be quite affordable. Fast chargers should be available in more areas, so the range will not limit drivers to short distances.

In the near-term, Tesla itself is preparing a mid-priced family car to compete with the Leaf, and Nissan is almost certainly not going to launch a second generation Leaf without improving the range.

Charging @ Home

Charging is a confused and confusing part of electric car ownership. After a week or so it becomes second nature, and you never even think about it - so when I am asked by people about how long it takes, or what kind of outlet you need, I'm sometimes at a loss to explain.

The jargon-factor is thick, and it's not like you should casually start conversations with "so I had a new EVSE installed, it's hooked up at 30 amps and 220v. Should be a pretty sweet L2, though it's no CHAdeMO if you know what I mean." Though I have found from experiences online, nothing prompts a quicker response from the Nerd Patrol than calling an EVSE a "charger."

Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment - what you get when engineers are allowed to name things.
Ahnold says "It's not a chargah!"

For simplicity's sake, let's divide charging into "Levels." For now, electric cars support mostly level 1 and level 2, with a few supporting level 3 charging.

Level 1

Level 1 - The most basic, slowest, and widely available form of charging. It's also the slowest - Nissan calls the mode "trickle-charging." A well-discharged battery on the Nissan Leaf can take more than 15 hours to recharge fully, for example. Unfortunately, the connector on the vehicle is not a simple extension cord receptacle. Fortunately, they seem to be supplied with every electric car as standard equipment, so you can plug in wherever there's an outlet that you have express permission to use. This includes the Detroit Zoo, for example. Or Mom and Dad's.

Level 2 - When people talk about "charging stations," this is what they usually mean - they use a 240 volt line similar to those used by an electric dryer or range in your house. These charge at much faster rates than a level 1, usually in about 25% of the time - 3 to 4 hours from very low to very full on my Leaf. Many electric car owners have one installed at their home for quicker charges, as even half an hour on the Level 2 can give a good amount of range back for doing after-work errands. DTE was providing the first few thousand local customers a free installed Level 2 device, but that offer has since passed. With installation, these devices can cost anywhere from $1000 to $3000 depending on your home and wiring.

A Bosch Level 2 Charger - AYHSMB

Personally, I think having a Level 2 station at home is essential. DTE also offers extremely discounted electricity rates for those who charge at off-peak hours using a dedicated Level 2 station. Thankfully these are becoming more commonplace in the community for on-the-go charging as well, and can be convenient for visiting places like Great Lakes Crossing, the DIA, and Ann Arbor. So far, all major car companies have embraced the same standard connection for these chargers.



Level 3 - These are beasts of a different color. Level 3 chargers do not come standard on many vehicles - the Tesla, Mitsubishi Car-Shaped-Object, and a few models of the Leaf have the equipment necessary. It uses a high-voltage direct current that will charge a dead battery to 80% in about 30 minutes. There are only 2 such stations I know of in Michigan, though they are more common out west where electric cars are a little more common.

Unfortunately there are a few competing proprietary standards for Level 3 charging. This means a station that will charge your Leaf will not work to charge a Tesla, unless of course you have the optional PIKacHU conversion device:

The 99% Solution

There is something less than satisfying about doing a job with the wrong tools.

I use mine for edging the driveway!

Life has lots of little frustrations, and yet we see everywhere people making choices that add to their burdens. There are lots of reasons for consciously picking the wrong tool for the driving job. Perhaps the wrong car was marketed well. Maybe there's a stigma attached to using the right car. But most of the time, folks simply think they need a big honkin' swiss army knife on wheels.

This perception problem that stands in the way of the electric vehicle is what I call the 1% problem. People today buy cars (or more likely trucks) that fill every perceived need they could possibly encounter. To give an example, here's my own diverse list of things I need to consider when buying a car:

I have a wife, a kid, and a dog, and I take them all on road trips about 5 hours each way in the summer. We live in Michigan, and the snow has been terrible lately. And I do lots of home improvement projects that involve hauling lumber and stuff. I drive about 30 miles round trip to work, our folks are about 25 miles away, and we have friends that we see regularly that live a good hour away by freeway. 

Add it all up and you might expect to find me in this:

2013 Ram BFT edition

While the BFT is freaking incredible for the 1% of the time we're hauling lumber 350 miles, driving through a 20 inch blizzard, or vacationing with all our worldly possessions and extended family, it's probably about the worst tool for the daily commute. It sucks trying to park in city lots, it's expensive, and it would cost me about $20 in gas just to go see the in-laws.

The best truck is a borrowed one.

So often, people get trapped in these monstrosities because they think they need a vehicle (or two!) that will fulfill the most extreme 1% of their use, so 99% of the time we're driving something that's ungainly, and bleeding our bank accounts dry. A mid-sized electric car, while it can't possibly fulfill every need of the suburban commuter, is perfect for 99% of trips.

But this is real life, not a mental exercise. What do you do when you encounter that 1% problem? In our case, we have a second car, a Honda Fit. 

It's no bigger than my Nissan Leaf, but it does have a gas engine in case we need to go further. Add a rooftop cargo box and you can even fit all the family's stuff for a weekend trip. Remember, people have been taking road trips in things much smaller and less comfortable for decades. It's only recently that our lardy American asses demanded something that sat 8, with TV screens and cupholders galore.

Cute, but even I will agree this looks like a bad idea.

But!  Your spouse isn't adventurous, or packs, well, everything. Hell, you need to pick up some lumber this weekend! There's a simple answer for that too, and it's only going to cost you about $30 a day. 

Borrow or rent a truck for the 1% of the time you need it. It's cheaper and more satisfying than owning one 100% of the time. 

Resale Value and the Electric Car: It's complicated.

Recently, we have read a lot about the electric car and its problem with residual value.

The North American Auto Dealers Association (NADA) just released their figures concerning the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, and found the resale value of both cars was about 40% of their original values after 3 years of ownership. To compare, the Toyota Prius retained almost 55% of its value in the same timeframe.

(the Mitsubishi Car-Shaped Object - oddly absent from residual value reports)

These value figures are misleading. It's hard to ignore the effect that a federal tax credit of $7500 off a new purchase does to the used value of a car, yet the NADA guide does not factor this into their equations. Also, both Leaf and Volt have seen their base prices slashed by $5000 or more since being introduced in 2011.

Calculations...

The base price of a 2011 Nissan Leaf was $32,780. If it retains 39% of that value after 3 years, the residual value of a used example today should be about $12,780. In my research, that number is a little low, but it's in the ballpark.

But what if you subtract the $7500 tax break towards purchase? You're left with an MSRP of $25,280. That's about 50% residual value. What if we factor in today's reduced prices? In that calculation, the 2011 Leaf has a relative value of more than 57% of the new 2014 model.

Conclusions

57% residual value over 3 years is good enough for second place in the Hybrid car category, ahead of the Toyota Prius and just behind the Lexus CT200h. That's not just respectable, it's impressive, considering the size and nature of the EV market.

That said, I still believe that purchasing an electric car, rather than leasing, is the wrong move. Lease deals are very good right now. We also still do not know the long term reliability of these cars, though it should be quite good. Finally, in the few years since their release, electric cars have gotten markedly better in each calendar year, at the same time that their prices have dropped, a trend that should continue.

Leasing the car protects the lessee from unknown long term reliability, while allowing us to reap the benefits of improved technology a few years down the road. It's also cost-effective, with the current deals available.

(haters gonna hate)

Detroit's Dirty Grid

For electricity, most of metro Detroit is served by DTE, the old Detroit Edison utility. Being in the midwest, you can probably imagine what our energy source of choice is, but most people I've asked (n=1) don't really have a clue how much of our electricity comes from coal-powered generators versus methane harvested from cow shit.

That's probably a DTE coal plant in the background. 

For numbers, I used the EPA website Energy and You, which features a handy breakdown of how dirty any particular source of energy is, and the Power Profiler application, which compares your local utility's sources of energy generation to the national average. Let's plug in DTE and see where we stand.

Fun Fact: "Renewables" is mostly burning gas from cow shit and trash. Seriously.

As you can see, we use a disproportionately coal-heavy mix in this area when it comes to power generation. And that's not clean-coal, either. More than a third of all our coal plants were built over 50 years ago, and 87% of our coal burning capacity exceeds the typical 30-year design of a coal powerplant. Further, Michigan has no reserves of its own, so all that coal must be shipped in from elsewhere at great cost. Gas and Nuclear account for a smaller portion of our mix, and renewable energy sources account for very little of the whole. You might be able to imagine what that means for pollution, but let's get a visual anyways.

Clicking embiggens.

Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide emissions are meaningfully higher than the national average, and Sulfur Dioxide is more than twice the national average. While it's not a potent greenhouse gas, SO2 is known to be particularly harmful to the respiratory system, and contributes to acid rain. As an aside, "Sulpher?" Seriously, EPA?

What does this mean to the Electric Car driver? There's a lot to parse out here. Let's start with that lovable greenhouse gas, CO2. Compared to the conventionally-engined Nissan Versa, the Leaf would still only generate a little more than half the CO2 over the course of a year - 4.1 tons versus about 2.4 tons for the Leaf. Obviously, a cleaner energy mix would improve that figure even more. 

Sulphurfurpher dioxide isn't really an issue for gas-powered cars, except for those powered by diesel. I can't really find any published data on the tailpipe emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in passenger cars, so we can't directly compare. Sorry, asthmatics. 

Finally, what about making that large battery pack? Isn't that pollution-intensive, and shouldn't we count that in the final tally? Recently, the Nissan Leaf was named lowest total carbon footprint by the Automotive Science Group, and the data they ran included looking at the production of the car and battery itself. 

In the end, the data means two things to me. 

1) DTE energy can and should do a better job of diversifying its energy source mix, looking towards renewables like wind and solar to keep emissions down. It's not as if Michigan isn't a good state for alternative energy generation. 

2) Even with Old Smoky DTE supplying the juice, the electric car is still a cleaner mode of transportation than burning gasoline. 

Running on Fumes: 5 reasons the internal combustion engine isn't ready for prime time.

We've heard it more than a few times by now. "Electric cars aren't ready for the prime time." "10 reasons electric cars still suck." "America hates electric cars." In the echo chamber of the internet, there are hacks aplenty to pick apart any vulnerable new idea in order to drive page views. This is particularly true in regards to the world of cars.

See, in the field of automotive journalism, entire careers are made by picking out the soft targets and thrashing them mercilessly. These public pistol-whippings are meant to lend credibility to the reviewer, so readers will overlook the fact that 99% of their other articles are simple industry puff pieces. Funny how the Nissan Leaf gets such hate, while a miserable turd like the 2007 Chevy Aveo has an "eye-catching shell" and a "pleasant nimbleness." I guess you don't bite the hand that feeds you.



It makes sense that most portrayals of the electric car are negative in media, automotive or otherwise. Manufacturers don't like making the cars. They're different than conventional cars in very tangible ways, and they don't sell well. Many EV startups go bankrupt. Until recently, the electric car was no more than a glorified golf cart. Someone looking for a soft target to trash wouldn't have to think twice about ripping into a Th!nk EV.

dignity not included.

But the truth is that electric cars are already hitting prime time. The Tesla Model S is fantastic, even when compared against its similarly-priced rivals. The Nissan Leaf is a better car than just about anything else in its price range except for one detail - long distance range. Most households can easily get by with only one long-distance car, so an EV as the short-distance car makes the most sense, but good luck finding that story in Road Trend or Car & Track.

So, like nobody has ever really said, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

5 Reasons the Combustion Engine isn't ready for Neon Deion. 

5) They're stinky, dirty, and loud.  

After driving the Leaf for a while, borrowing a gas-powered car is almost sensory overload. VROOOOOOOM! The exhaust smells absolutely awful and leaves a fine soot, REEEEEEEEE!!!! and you're surprised how you didn't notice the smell until you didn't have to deal with it for 6 months. BWAAAAAH!  Don't get me started on changing oil. Oh, and there's the noisy chorus of the drivetrain. Electric drive is silent, clean, and free of fumes.

4) They're prohibitively expensive to operate.

Maintenance adds up quickly. Gas adds up even quicker. Imagine filling up your gas tank for 6 bucks - That's how much it costs to drive the same distance in an electric car. The difference can add up to a car payment each month. To put it another way, the cost of driving the average family sedan is $9000 this year, by AAA's numbers. The Leaf is less than half that.

3) They lead to Funyun breath. 

Sure, you can drive 300 miles, refuel, and drive 300 more. But refueling sucks - you get gas-hands, stand outside while inhaling the fumes of the other cars idling around you, and get suckered into buying things you don't need, like Funyuns and lotto tickets. With an electric car, it's much easier to drive home, turn off your car, and plug it in. It takes a total of maybe 10 seconds, and no Funyuns.

2) They encourage poor driving habits.

When you've got fossil fuel to spare in the tank, there's no real impetus to drive sanely. Instead, drivers  speed, doing 80 mph on the freeway, and accelerate from red light to red light in the city. You end up driving like a madman, burning rubber just to slam on the brakes 90 feet ahead. The driver of an electric car watches range available like a hawk, and adopts efficient driving habits almost subconsciously. When you have an EV available, you also choose the most responsible mode of transportation available for short trips, and leave the gas-burner for longer trips.

1) They make you sick.

 Okay, electricity comes largely from coal, which is itself a dirty fuel, but most people don't live in the same proximity to coal plants that they do to a million car tailpipes. Infernal-combustion engines emit many toxins right in our faces. There are Nitrogen Oxides, which can substantially worsen lung conditions like COPD and asthma. The exhaust helps form the major ingredients in smog. Exposure to the benzenes and particulate matter in exhaust has been shown to cause cancer over time.

But hey, at least they can go 300 miles on a tank, right?

The C-Word: Compliance

A person interested in electric cars, as all you loyal readers doubtless are, might be shocked to find that selection is somewhat limited. Yes, though they offer many distinct advantages over their gas-powered counterparts, the electric car continues to be sabotaged by nearly every auto manufacturer. The piss-poor array of electric-powered choices is even piss-poorer when you live in Michigan, believe it or not.

All electric, and none sold in Michigan. 

The reason for this, and some wrongly say the reason the electric car exists at all, is to comply with California's requirement that automakers build a certain number of Zero-Emission (predominantly electric) cars to meet increasingly strict air quality standards. While a select few manufacturers make these cars available to purchase country-wide, most choose to make a very small number of EVs available to purchase or lease in California in order to meet the bare minimum legal requirements. These "compliance cars" are available only to a few people, in a couple states. And Michigan's not one of them.

In our home state, only the Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, and Mitsubishi Car-Shaped-Object are available. The Focus EV is available in such limited quantities (about 100 a month), and Ford hates it so much, that it's not really worth talking about. The Tesla costs more than the average Detroit-area house. Which leaves...

Anything but the Mitsubishi Car-Shaped-Object!

Obviously, the Nissan Leaf is the only real option if you want to drive the streets of Motown without stopping for gas. Happily, it looks like the BMW i3 will be available locally soon, and though it will be smaller and pricier than the Nissan, we should all rejoice in the doubling of real available options.

Note BMW i3's standard 19" pothole-prone wheel size.

It's too bad manufacturers don't embrace the compliance cars they make and offer them up to the rest of the US. Some, like Fiat's 500e and Honda's Fit EV, are universally praised in the press, and seem to be in many ways better executed than the Nissan Leaf. When actually available for purchase, these cars fly off the dealer lots.

My view should be obvious by now, but as soon as you say the word "conspiracy" you're tracked by the goons of the Old World Order. Nevertheless, I shall continue to be the voice of light in the darkness of gasoline-fueled smog.

and the Apocaplops rages on...

AAA study reflects cold reality for batteries

As I've pointed out in the past, electric cars are very susceptible to weather extremes. When the mercury rises or falls, we have all had the experience of household batteries performing poorly in the real world, and the batteries in cars like the Tesla and Leaf are no different. It should come as no surprise, then, to see the results of AAA's latest test of electric cars in extreme temperature conditions.


The bad news for EV drivers is that this test confirms and quantifies what we already know. In 20 degree temperatures, range was found to be only 43 miles. In 95 degree heat, the range dropped to about 69 miles. Those compare to 105 miles at 75 degrees.

The test did not include using climate control for the vehicle or poor weather conditions, both of which would make range drop even lower.

-11 degrees, to be exact.

The good news is that even in the worst case scenario, the range would still be more than enough for most urban drivers.

While no test is perfect, I have to express a little skepticism here. In my own experience, in temperatures much colder than 20 degrees, I was able to go a bit further than 43 miles on a charge, even when using the heater nonstop. I really don't see how they discharged the battery in such a short distance without using climate control. Also, it looks as though they only tested one example of each vehicle, and just once for each temperature, which would provide a pretty big margin of error.

The very good news, buried in the report, is that AAA is working on a mobile recharging station to help stranded EV drivers.

Grading the charging infrastructure: Ferndale

Ferndale, just outside Detroit's city limit, has been one of the communities to install public charging stations for EV use. This is nice, since Ferndale is frequently a destination for drunken revelers and people watchers, amongst other activities. It also has the reputation of being environmentally conscious, with its recently installed bike lanes and the yearly Green Cruise. It would be no surprise then, if Ferndale had embraced the electric car.

Conveniently hidden in a large city lot.

Unfortunately, the embrace is more of a cool nod in the EV's general direction. Ferndale's charging stations are limited to two single-plug units, one on each side of Woodward ave, near 9 mile road. Both are Blink units located within city lots that require you to pay while parked, but at least the spaces are marked for EV use only.

One station near the Library, card required.

A simple task like catching a record release at the Loving Touch, or buying some cookies from that ornery chef at Pinwheel Bakery, turns into an epic charging misadventure. First you must find the Blink card, by visiting City Hall during business hours - the card costs $5. Card in hand, you start the scavenger hunt for the poorly marked charging station, hoping the single spot allocated isn't taken by someone going to an all day event at Affirmations. And even after all this, the charger may not work since your card is not activated, as has happened to me.

I have yet to pursue getting the card activated, because finding it in the first place was enough frustration for one day.

Grade: C -

Got my Leaf back

After a painful week driving around in a loaned beat-down Ford Focus, I've returned to the glorious world of the Nissan Leaf. The new Focus is, by all accounts, a pretty good car, but very few cars work as they should once subjected to about 40,000 miles of rental abuse, and the silence and convenience of the Leaf only served to magnify its faults. I was quite happy to be rid of it, especially after filling it up in the midst of a winter maelstrom.

Hate is not a strong enough word for winter fill-ups.

The Leaf was out of commission, getting its heater replaced at the dealership. I'm not happy that such a large part failed so quickly, but the experience was about as positive as I could expect, given the circumstances. The repair took a total of one week, and most of that time was spent waiting on the parts to arrive.

Per the service writer, the repair involved replacing the HVAC blower assembly, which meant disassembling the dashboard and control panel. One of the premises of EV ownership is that the cars will be less prone to maintenance and breakdowns because they have fewer mechanical moving parts, but I'd hate to see what the bill would be for a repair like this out of warranty.

Not the warning light you want to see with a broken heater. 

Nissan has a dedicated consumer affairs hotline set up for Leaf owners, and I contacted them in the hopes it would speed the process along. I can't say whether the repair was done quicker, or parts arrived sooner than they would have otherwise, but I felt well-informed throughout the process, and have been called a few times already to follow up. Nissan even picked up the tab for gasoline while I was in the rental.

Economy and the Electric Car: New Math

According to major news outlets, I'm an idiot who throws away money.

What did I ever do to you, New York Times?

You see, something that has been written about repeatedly is the idea that an electric car, as compared to a gasoline-powered car, simply doesn’t make any economic sense to the individual buyer.  

TIME magazine compared the electric Honda Fit with its gas-powered twin, and found that it would take 11 years before the break even point. Around the same time, the New York Times ran an article in which the Nissan Leaf was said to take 9 years to start saving money over choosing an equivalent gas-powered car, and everybody knows that the average American only drives their car about as long as it takes to go through a toilet paper roll.

By TIME's math, it would take $8 per gallon gasoline before an electric car made sense at current MSRP.

Fortunately, electric cars have dropped thousands of dollars in price since those articles were written in 2012. Nissan dropped the MSRP of the Leaf by $6000. The Chevy Volt soon followed with a $5000 price cut. Honda dropped the price of its Fit EV lease by over $5000 over the course of three years, and threw in a free home charging station.

And when I flip the calculator upside down, it spells...

Like any good geek, I did a lot of number-crunching prior to leasing the Leaf, and I was shocked by the results, given the conclusions reached by the good journalists at the New York Times and TIME magazine. Even in comparisons between my then-current used car and the Leaf, the numbers worked out in favor of the new electric car, and we’re talking on a monthly basis, not just over the course of a decade. Let's do a quick comparison to show what I mean.

Let's see the charts!

2013 Nissan Leaf SV. I chose this mid-grade model because it has the necessary features and options, like the navigation, and upgraded charger and heater. It also forgoes unnecessary luxuries like a high-end stereo, blingy wheels, and leather seating.

Fight!

2014 Nissan Versa Note SV, SL tech package. This car is quite similar as a package to the Leaf SV, and the size is similar enough inside that most drivers and passengers would not notice a difference.

I took current gas prices and local electric rates, and using the average economy of both cars, computed what the lessee could expect to pay over 3 years and 36,000 miles for "fuel." The Leaf has no real maintenance, but the Versa owner must pay for oil changes even while the car is under warrantee. Then I factored in the total cost of the current advertised lease deals.

Look who's (not much) more economical!

Bar Graphs don't lie.

Another interesting thing to note is which of these numbers are "squishy" and which are solid. Few people think our current low fuel prices will stick around, so you could assume the price of fuel on the Versa will go up over time. Also, I know personally that deals are to be had on the Leaf lease - a well-informed consumer can save thousands over the advertised lease specials. I doubt the Versa lease specials are nearly as negotiable. Also, comparing against other cars is usually even more favorable. I should do a Leaf versus SUV graph just for fun.

And that's a base model, front wheel drive, 4 cylinder SUV.

Graphs, charts, and numbers aside, I believe someone interested in leasing an electric car should simply forgo comparing cost of ownership with a similar vehicle, as the differences will be negligible. Driving the Leaf is a revelation - it is silent, smooth, and it's loaded with useful features you cannot find in other cars of this price point. If the range works for your lifestyle, then it deserves a test drive and serious consideration.

Shut up and take my money, but only after I consider every possible variable!

Lease? But Dave Ramsey...

I personally don't yet believe in purchasing an electric vehicle. Theoretically, they should be less expensive over the long term to maintain, as they don't have a need for exhaust, emissions, coolant, oil, and many other gasoline-specific parts. In reality, we don't really know that yet, and I'm not willing to make the bet. Also, resale value is a huge question mark. Currently the Leaf has awful resale value, but again we don't have a lot of long-term data to say exactly why or whether that will continue. Finally, technology on these cars has been improving at such a rate, and prices have been falling so fast, that whatever EV hits the market in 3 years should be a much better car, for a similar or lower price. Tesla is readying a mid-priced model in that time frame, for example.

Well, that was quick.

As of this writing, I am no longer driving an electric car.

At least for the time being, anyways. What happened, was on one of the coldest days, I preheated the Leaf before going out grocery shopping, and was surprised to find the car stone cold when I got in. Maybe I jinxed it, raving about how great the car has been in tackling the bitter cold.

*until it breaks and you have a rental car

Anyway, the fan blows just fine - the only problem is that it's forcing frigid arctic air about the cabin, icing up the interior windows. The heated seats and wheel work, but whatever heating element powers the central climate control has gone kaput. Right now, the Leaf is at the local dealer awaiting parts - and I don't yet know how long those parts will take to arrive. 

What this means is that, for the immediate future, I am scooting around town in a clapped-out rental Ford Focus. By giving up niceties like heated seats, navigation, and remote start, I'm able to get entertaining features such as a slipping torque converter, blown out speakers, and questionable sanitary standards.

Rental Car Winter Olympics

Fortunately, the dealership has been good so far, and at least I have transportation. I have also been in touch with Nissan's Leaf team, who say they're trying to expedite things. They also hinted they would try to reimburse me for gas - which would be great.

To be clear, these things happen and I'm not upset with Nissan for it. A friend's Chrysler 300 had the same thing happen when new. It will be interesting to see how well the dealership and Nissan handle repair of such a specialized and low-volume car. 

Nissan Leaf vs Polar Vortex 2014

The Leaf is both the best and the worst winter car I have ever driven. It has made commuting during a terrible winter not only bearable, but enjoyable at times for various reasons. But batteries don't like the cold, do they?

Electricity and Snow: They Mix!

First, the good. You see, when ordering a Leaf, you automatically get upmarket bits you wouldn't expect on a car like this, like heated seats front and rear, heated mirrors, and even a heated leather steering wheel. Another great benefit - the climate control works nearly instantaneously even in frigid weather, because there is no lag time where you are waiting for the car's engine to warm up. 

Gas and diesel engines also don't like to crank over in sub-zero weather. With the Leaf, you just push a button and away you go, with no drama every single time. You also never freeze your ass off pumping gas, and that's a convenience that cannot be overstated. 

Thanks, but no thanks.

Even better - you can turn on the heated seats, wheel, and climate control remotely from anywhere with an internet connection, and there are many smartphone apps available to do just that. There is even a climate control timer function for those who have a regular schedule. The heated steering wheel, which I at first considered a throwaway feature, has over the winter become as essential to my morning routine as a cup of coffee.

Driving the Leaf on snow-covered roads is acceptable, just like every front-wheel-drive vehicle sold today. Even in a year like this, with record snowfall, getting stuck is not a worry. If you feel you need SUV ground clearance and all-wheel drive for a couple inches of snow, best look elsewhere.

Yes, but does it have a heated steering wheel?

Range Matters, or Not.

Of course, all this glorious comfort doesn't come without its price. In winter, the worry of an reduced range is a real issue. To give an example, earlier in the week I drove in 15 degree temps, 30 miles round trip, mostly on I-75. That used up 75% of an estimated charge, so I could realistically go another 10 miles before needing to recharge. That's a total range of 40 miles, for those like me that can't do maths. Driving slower, taking surface streets, and turning off the heater at times might get me a total range of about 65 miles in this weather.

And if this blog isn't geeky enough, let's plot some graphs.

October Average Economy

This graph shows my daily average economy in the line graph. Over on the left, you can see the average economy is 4.8 miles/kWh. 

January Average Economy

This time, you can see the average economy is 3.0 miles/kWh, a nearly 40% decrease from October. The route was the same, so the only real differences were temperature, climate control usage, and snow cover. The average temperature during this time period was 16.4 degrees. In October, the mean temperature was 53.3 degrees.

So the winter range is pretty paltry, about half of summer's maximum distance. For many in this area, that's all you need to hear to know the Leaf wouldn't work for you. I will talk about Detroit's charging infrastructure some other time, but if you can't plug in at the office, 45 miles round trip is probably the maximum I would consider safe.

That said, even on the worst days, with blowing snow and wind chills of 40 below, the Leaf completed the 30 mile round trip commute with energy to spare, and I haven't felt the need to skimp on climate control preheating 15 minutes before leaving work.

One Last Thing.

I even hesitate to mention it - I really don't want to jinx myself. The thing that worries me most about the Leaf in winter in Detroit? No spare tire, and the tires themselves aren't run-flats either. Detroit is home to some brutal potholes, and a few sinkholes too. They pop up when you least expect them, and multiply overnight. I dread using the included (no joke) can of fix-a-flat and portable compressor on one of these sub-zero nights.