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I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#351

Post by fragmede »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #319
fragmede wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a Japanese water boiler. They keep the water at boiling in a reservoir, so it's already hot when you want it, no waiting.

Chinese offer this also. My wife just got one a few months ago, I think these are new things. 220V has a real advantage in boiling water fast in traditional kettles though (I used to live in china and they were twice as fast as the ones in America). It is almost worth getting a 220V outlet in a kitchen just to support fast water kettles.

Japanese water boilers have been around for decades by this point. As far as 220 V being faster, absolutely, but a Zojirushi is like $150 and an electrician far more.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#352

Post by mort96 »

tonymet wrote: post #328
mort96 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People tolerate other EVs in two ways: 1. You charge at home and typically drive relatively short distances, meaning you almost never have to interact with a commercial charger; or 2. If you need to rely on commercial chargers, you live in a part of the world where Tesla was never allowed to build a charging network monopoly (i.e anywhere outside the US), or in a part of the US where there's decent fast charging infr…

do you live in some communist country where businesses need to get approval ?

I live in some communist country where there are rules companies need to follow, one of those rules is "EVs must use the standard charging mechanism"

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#353

Post by mort96 »

tonymet wrote: post #318
mort96 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People tolerate other EVs in two ways: 1. You charge at home and typically drive relatively short distances, meaning you almost never have to interact with a commercial charger; or 2. If you need to rely on commercial chargers, you live in a part of the world where Tesla was never allowed to build a charging network monopoly (i.e anywhere outside the US), or in a part of the US where there's decent fast charging infr…

He has home Level 2 (11kw) charging. But his EV is his primary road trip car. It's not a "part of the world" it's Portland Metro area where millions live.

Is the Portland Metro area not a part of the world?

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#354

Post by BizarroLand »

pkulak wrote: post #320
chelmzy wrote: post #251

Crazy he wouldn't go for a Bolt. I just bought a 2019 Chevy Bolt w/ 11k miles for $14.5k (so a bit over 10k after federal rebate). It has a brand new battery because all the Bolts were recalled for battery issues. Has around 250m range. Feel like I won the lottery. Still plenty of them available https://www.donohooauto.com/searchused.aspx?Make=Chevrolet&M...

Well, that's certainly not the cheapest. You can find old Leafs for 5k. People love Bolts, for good reason, and bit them up.

I've seen Leafs for $3k or less. The problem is their battery life is ~10 years max, and replacing the battery costs $5k-$15k. That old leaf may have a 30-50 mile max range.

Don't get me wrong, that would still cover 80% of my daily driving needs, but when I need to drive to the big town for work on a moments notice I may not have time to drive home and swap out for my ICE vehicle.

I have a pre-order in for the Slate, having 150 miles range would cover 99% of my driving needs, so I am not against EVs, just sharing the awareness that battery degradation is a thing to be concerned about.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#355

Post by HPsquared »

jonfw wrote: post #236
HPsquared wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tend to handle better than ICE cars due to the low centre of mass (also the fact the big mass - the battery - is firmly bolted to the frame and not wobbling around on rubber mounts like an engine does). These are both big advantages in terms of dynamics. Couple that with the much faster powertrain response and many options to do torque vectoring to each wheel (individual motors on sports models) and it's an easy…

People way overstate the "dynamics" advantages of EVs Yes EVs can keep their weight low, but it's a lot more weight to deal with. Yes EVs have excellent 0-60, but that's just because they have a great launch. Even doing a 5-60 pull removes the EV advantage. Starting from highway speeds? EVs start to look real slow. There are some good traits to EVs but, outside of launching hard in street car trim, performance is not…

I find highway acceleration is their main strength actually. Going from "just cruising" to max acceleration is basically instant, unlike a gearbox having to go down 2-3 gears (depending on how hard you press the pedal) and hope it chose the right gear, or manually downshifting (block shifts work with a proper manual gearbox but that's a pain the rest of the time; going down 3 gears sequentially on an automatic is usually not a good time).

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#356

Post by loeg »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #175

> I want an EV that looks like a Camry. Just blend in and don't stand out. The Camry has a drag coefficient of about 0.36. The Leaf is about 0.28. https://ecomodder.com/wiki/Vehicle_Coefficient_of_Drag_List Drag coefficient matters a lot for EVs. Air resistance reduces the range of all cars, but you notice the decrease in an EV. (When I plan a long trip, I use windy.com to see if I'll have a headwind or a tailwind an…

The coefficient isn't what matters; it's CdA (coefficient of drag times frontal area). (And what it matters for is efficiency at highway speeds.) Like, my Kia EV9 has a Cd of 0.28, but the frontal area of a schoolbus. My mi/kWh at highway speeds is much worse than what an electrified Camry with a 0.36 Cd would get.

Something the size of a Camry would be totally fine as an EV. Lucid Air is approximately this shape and is a great EV.

(And at lower speeds, drivetrain and tire friction become bigger factors.)

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#357

Post by sitharus »

illegalsmile wrote: post #192
sitharus wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the neutral issue? It sounds annoying to switch in to, but when do you even need neutral in an EV? The reasons I’ve needed it while driving ICE cars aren’t there in an EV, because it’s the same as the car being off. Come to think of it, I have no idea how to get my car in to neutral.

I don't know about the neutral issue... The only time I use the neutral is to go through an automatic car wash. Hold the brake and push the selector to the left/neutral for ~3 seconds.

Huh, today I learnt about continuous automatic car washes. Never seen one of those, the ones over here you park in and it moves around you, they’ve been that way since the 90s at least.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#358

Post by BizarroLand »

asdff wrote: post #263
nkingsy wrote: post #243

I briefly owned a gen 1 leaf. It went from 70 miles of “range” (more like 25) at 100% to 50 in a couple of years of very light driving. Poor guy who bought it from me had all kinds of trouble trying to get it home.

Ebike would be nicer at that point. Battery takes far less time to charge over 110v. You can simply hot swap a charged battery. No insurance or registration requirements. Far lower base cost. Far lower maintenance costs. About the same range. Probably similar cargo volume compared to a cargo ebike. Just need a rain coat and rain pants and you are probably set for most conditions. Call an uber when you actually need t…

I have an ebike, it's very nice, and I live ~9 miles from my job, so it's well within range.

But I would not want to be caught in the ever changing weather here on an ebike. Maybe if it had a shell to protect the rider, but then we're getting into it being too pricey for an ebike range.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#359

Post by alchemist1e9 »

vannevar wrote: post #173
dzhiurgis wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could've bought Model 3 for this and spend $300 for third party buttons. It has software thats actually somewhat hackable and car is far more capable. But I understand it's hard to recommend Tesla these days lol.

Could also have bought a used Chevy Bolt in this price range, with CCS, ~250mi range, and CarPlay.

For some reason when I charge at public chargers a very common vehicle next to me are those Chevy Bolts. If you’ve never compared them side by side you will be surprised, the Leaf is a MUCH nicer car, the Bolts just look way cheaper and lower quality vehicles.

I also don’t get this CCS drama, I have yet to come across an actual fast charger station that doesn’t have CHAdeMO in addition to the CCS connection. Maybe in my area of midwest all the charger stations were installed during the dual standard being the standard.

Re: I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf

#360

Post by nebula8804 »

m463 wrote: post #261

that's not cheap. Cheap is the older leafs, which go for $3k. https://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/cta?auto_make_model=niss... I bought a 2012 for $7500 in 2016 and drove it for several years. 1. chargers suck. there was evgo, blink, chargepoint. Most locations had 1 or most 2 DC fast chargers, but frequently they didn't work or were busy. Not reliable. 2. range was less that expected, even if you update expectations.…

The charging situation is a fast moving target. Massive expansions since 2016.

Meanwhile Tesla build quality is still mixed bag in 2025. The used ones suffer from previous lapses in QA which is a darn shame. These are cars that could be usable for years but because their mentality of pushing junk out to meet end of quarter numbers, many of these cars won't be able to fulfill their true potential. They are disposable junk even if they drive well.

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