Cradle to Grave Emissions

A recurring argument against electric cars (made unsurprisingly by those with a certain political agenda) is that they're not actually cleaner than the status quo. People will talk about theories of "long tailpipe" emissions from coal power plants, and the impact of building and shipping the huge batteries required. Of course, these arguments are mostly theoretical when used about electric cars, with no data to support them.

The long tailpipe of a Nissan Leaf

So what of this argument? Is a Nissan Leaf really worse for climate change than a Honda Civic? Thankfully, some nerds over at the Union of Concerned Scientists got together and studied the issue. They published a report late last year on their findings, and the outcome is really quite interesting.

To make a long story short, an Electric Vehicle emits fewer greenhouse gases, from cradle to grave, than the equivalent gas-powered car. And how much better is mostly dependent on where you live.

(Really, Fucking Coal, Michigan?)

The chart above shows the equivalent average MPG necessary to equal an EV's greenhouse gas emissions for each region in the US. Even the dirtiest coal-reliant areas are about on par with a gas-powered Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Cat-loving region MROW and the phallic ERCT region of Texas are midpack. The cleanest areas like NYUP emit the same amount of greenhouse gas as a theoretical 135mpg car. Michigan, which produces no coal itself yet relies heavily on coal plants for power generation, unsurprisingly brings up the rear. 

(Smug emissions not shown)

As the graphic above shows in blue, the impact of battery manufacturing on greenhouse gas emissions is so small as to be inconsequential in comparison to the lifetime emissions of the vehicle itself. 

The great news for EV drivers is that their existing car gets cleaner each year, as the grid improves and the slow move towards renewable energy continues. As the table above shows, from 2009 to 2012 our nation decreased its use of coal - the dirtiest of all fuels - from 45% of all electricity generation to about 37%, a trend that is likely to continue. 

Of course, greenhouse gas emissions are only one measure of how clean a vehicle is, and defining the impact of EVs on particulates, NOx, and the physical impact on the environment was not within the scope of this report. 

Still, feel free to ignore that part, and use the above facts to bludgeon your opponents while arguing over the internet. It's the American way!

I've Made a Huge Mistake

You probably don’t recall – I certainly don’t – that at one point I proclaimed, on this very space, that buying an electric car was an actof stupidity. Leasing rather than buying an EV is vastly preferable in many ways:

• Less exposure to questionable resale values
•  Less exposure to questionable long-term reliability
• Subsidized lower monthly payments
•  Keeps you in the newest battery technology

I was holding out for Mitsubishi's new Wedge-Shaped-Object

Only a very stupid person would buy an electric car. I just so happen to be a very stupid person, and so it should surprise nobody that I recently found myself at a dealership, purchasing an electric car.

Specifically, I bought the Leaf I had already been driving for 30 months, which had about 6 months left on the lease. Why? Because math.

You can't argue with the truth.

NMAC (Nissan Monkey Accounting Cooperative) called me up as my lease was nearing completion. I was offered a large sum of money - $7500 – off the residual of the lease if I would please, pretty please, buy it instead of turning it in. My payoff amount, just $14,800 including the six remaining payments on the lease, meant I could walk out of the dealership with a 2 year old car, with under 25,000 miles, for just over $7,000. That's a deal even Bixby Snyder could get behind. 

The primates also threw in a free shirt.

For me, this was a great deal, but does it make sense for Nissan?  By offering so much off the lease buyout, Nissan might be trying to stem the flow of used Leafs (Leaves?) entering the market to shore up their already terrible resale value. On the flip side, Nissan might be shooting themselves in the foot by selling a very inexpensive used Leaf to those ending their leases, instead of trying to get them into a new Leaf.

2017 Nissan Leaf (artist's rendering)

Whatever the thinking, I found it hard to pass up the bargain, so I took it. The sum total of down payment, dealer fees, lease payments, monkey t-shirt swag, and residual ends up being just under $15,000. Not a bad price to pay for a brand new 2013 Nissan Leaf SV - less than half the original MSRP. Enough savings to splurge for a new vinyl wrap.

My daughter preferred Twilight Sparkle, but it's my car dammit, so I went with Fluttershy. 

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Sweet Jesu, I’m back.

After a series of setbacks, a physician has finally cleared your dear blogger to resume scrivening. What has happened to me, you may ask justifiably. Read on for a tale of woe, and I will share what I know.

Nearly 2 years ago I undertook a project, attempting to mate the drivetrain of a Nissan Leaf with the remarkable shell of the Mitsubishi Bean-Shaped-Car (or was it Car-Shaped-Bean?). 

(Mitsubishi Mi-EV)

 

Understandably, these plans went nowhere, due a complete and total lack of understanding on my part of the finer points of engineering, product design, and reality in general. I ended up out of the energy to keep up even this meager blog, much like a Nissan Leaf being slowly overtaken by a yellow turtle within a deflector shield.

 

My Leaf-Related Experiences

If you trudged through the drivel above, I now present to you an accounting of mechanical problems I have actually encountered in 30 months of Nissan Leaf stewardship.  

1. For the second time, in sub-zero weather (that’s Fahrenheit, you socialist Canadians), the heater gave up the ghost. Once again it required a week of dealer care to fix, and I’d be wary of how much it would cost to replace when out of warranty. I would guess, based on pure speculation, that the replacement of the heater would run around $3000 USD.
2. Around the same time, a front control arm assembly became obnoxiously squeaky, and required replacement, and less than a year later, ominous clunks and squeaks are once again emanating from the recesses of whatever linkages of struts, springs, and devil’s machination with which the Leaf suspends itself. 
3. Annoyingly, the driver’s side door is off-kilter, and doesn’t seem to seat properly. 
4. And hanging over the whole experience is an eerie whirring and whistling sound from the electric drive, which the mechanic assures me they can’t duplicate, and is totally normal anyway, and WILL I PLEASE SHUT UP!

So with all these problems, and the previous post about the idiocy of buying an EV when lease rates are the far better deal, I must be looking for a new lease deal right? In an upcoming post, we’ll discuss the EV options that have become available, and some that hang on the horizon.