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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

#571

Post by Fourier864 »

Bairfhionn wrote: post #24

My Problem was always the Range Anxiety. Until I got an EV and realized it's not really an issue. There is always an App for that (and even on my car the software gets improved in that regard). Infrastructure is getting better, even companies starting to see it as a benefit to have cheap/free chargers at their offices to get people back. I see more and more electric trucks on the roads. It feels good.

When I bought my Leaf last year, I actually didn't have range anxiety because I assumed the infrastructure was better than it actually was. But I'm shocked that at most places I drive to don't even have a charging station, and if they do it's like 2 spots that are both full.

And I definitely didn't factor in skiing, my favorite mountain has 4 charging stations in one of the hotel's parking lots.

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

#572

Post by eloisant »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #340
plopz wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is your excise tax really 375? my 2014 honda civic is only $50

Registration is usually far higher with EVs because they aren’t paying into gas taxes that go towards road work.

I wonder how road work is going to be financed once most cars are EVs

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

#573

Post by eloisant »

nottorp wrote: post #127
marcusb wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've driven an EV on 500 mile trips. Getting out and stretching your legs for 20-25 minutes once every three hours isn't "super annoying." If all I did was drive around all day, every day for 500 miles at a stretch, it might be, but not nearly as annoying as routinely driving for 500 miles. For most people, the vast majority of their driving takes place well within the range of the typical BEV and range anxiety is a…

This is tiring. Not everyone lives in the suburbs with a plug at ground level and getting out and stretching your legs is great when you choose where you do it but not when you do it in the queue for charging...

Of course if you don't have a plug at home, and have to do all your charging at a station, buying an EV now is not a great idea.

If you do have a plug for charging, which you could have even if you live in an appartment (personal parking spot with a plug at your residence), then you're trading a small inconvenience for another.

Yes during your occasional long trip you'll have to spend 20 minutes charging instead of 5 minutes filling your tank, but when you're around your home doing short trips (most of the time for most people), you no longer have to do the occasional visits to the gas station. You just plug your car at home and be done with it.

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

#574

Post by eloisant »

62951413 wrote: post #206
blitzar wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> recharge after roughly 170 miles ... these cars won't be dead weight or dirt cheap The average car journey is 8 miles. Being an average with a finite lower limit of 0 it is skewed higher by the people who for various reasons drive long distances. You don't need a 1,000 mile range to get to the shops at the end of the street. It helps, but not that much.

A typical Bay Area commute (e.g. to SJ or San Mateo/Redwood City) is 40+ miles one way. A typical weekend drive (e.g. to Half Moon Bay or Sonoma) is a 100-mile roundtrip.

Still less than 170 miles.

Remember that you would usually charge at home so you start every day with a full battery.

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

#575

Post by andrepd »

j1elo wrote: post #567
epolanski wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more of an incentive to walk, take public transport, and free cities as much as possible of cars.

Isn't it also a way to keep outsiders out? If 30 mins by car becomes 1h30 by train+bus combinations, lots of people are effectively pushed out of even wanting to go to the city centre for meeting friends or having a family walk around.

There's no way "30 min by car" is a thing unless you bulldoze the entirety of Central London and replace it with freeways and parking lots. It's always a red herring.

Cars are simply not viable past a certain density. It's silly (misleading at worst) to take a distance (say 40km) and a speed (say 80kph) and just claim the journey by car takes 30mins, ignoring everything else!

Trains + metro + bikes are the only way to make the journey you describe viable (and comfortable and fast).

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

#576

Post by andrepd »

philjohn wrote: post #497
rsolva wrote: post #312

Small, cheap electric cars are the best! Fun to drive, easy to maintain. I own an VW eUP 2015 model which costed me €4000 used. I do not know if they where for sale outside of Norway (I only see them here!), but it is the perfect car for 95% of our mobility needs. I drive it to work every day (where I can charge it for free). I drive it to Oslo and can park/charge almost anywhere around town for really cheap, about €…

I got my son a 2022 e-UP! as his first car when he passed his test - it's a RIDICULOUSLY fun car to drive, feels much faster than it is and is very direct handling wise. It's a fantastic city car, and he's even done some longer trips in it. I've also got an EV6 AWD which is obviously more powerful, and bigger, but nowhere near as fun to drive.

Side note: "City car" should be an oxymoron from the get go, but here we are.

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

#577

Post by eloisant »

ivanche wrote: post #361
MandieD wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big difference between public EV chargers and gas stations: you can put an EV charger anywhere you have electricity, and with far lower space requirements. My city is slowly converting a few street parking spots in busy areas to EV charging, and it takes very little room - I have no complaints as someone who mostly uses sidewalks and bike lanes. Where did you think people were parking their cars in cities before?…

You forgot just one teeny tiny thingy - it's illegal to park ICE car on EV charging spot on the streets, in garages etc. So if the number of EVs grow the number of EV spots would grow which would take more space, not less.

If the number of EVs grows, ICE will shrink by as much so we can just convert regular parking spots to EV charging spots.

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

#578

Post by vel0city »

nottorp wrote: post #127
marcusb wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've driven an EV on 500 mile trips. Getting out and stretching your legs for 20-25 minutes once every three hours isn't "super annoying." If all I did was drive around all day, every day for 500 miles at a stretch, it might be, but not nearly as annoying as routinely driving for 500 miles. For most people, the vast majority of their driving takes place well within the range of the typical BEV and range anxiety is a…

This is tiring. Not everyone lives in the suburbs with a plug at ground level and getting out and stretching your legs is great when you choose where you do it but not when you do it in the queue for charging...

I've been doing EV road trips for four years now and I've never had to queue for a charger.

A recent road trip I went on about a month ago, I pulled up to the place I was planning to charge (an EA station attached to a Walmart, was going to go to the deli for a snack while it charged). It was completely full and seemed like there were a few people waiting. I just drove to another charging location about 2mi away (a 7/11 station I think?) and charged there and had a snack. No big deal.

That's about the closest I've had to queue in the past few years. Other than that, there have usually been multiple open chargers available. And once again that's only when I've road tripped. I've had to waste far more of my life pumping gas in my non-EV than I've spent waiting on charging despite my ICE getting far fewer miles.

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

#579

Post by eloisant »

decimalenough wrote: post #152
fusslo wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is there a term like 'charge anxiety'? I was debating an electric vehicle in 2023. There are maybe 10 people (out of about 200) at work that have electric cars. My teammate is one of the ten. He wakes up early to get a charger. He tracks down the other owners to ask them to use the charger after lunch. They started a group chat about the chargers. My local grocery store has a bank of superchargers right in the middle…

EV charging is hassle-free if and only if you have a home charger, which typically means you have to own a house as well. Workplace charging gets extra competitive because it's often free, meaning all sorts of bad behavior is incentivized. It's weird how wound up people with $50,000 cars can get about $5 in free electricity.

If you have a personal parking spot in your residence, you can install a charger there. It will be you own charger.

In France there is a "right to charge", meaning even if you're a tenant the landlord/building manager can't refuse you the installation of a plug. (But you might have to pay for it)

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

#580

Post by rsolva »

sandworm101 wrote: post #545
rsolva wrote: post #312

Small, cheap electric cars are the best! Fun to drive, easy to maintain. I own an VW eUP 2015 model which costed me €4000 used. I do not know if they where for sale outside of Norway (I only see them here!), but it is the perfect car for 95% of our mobility needs. I drive it to work every day (where I can charge it for free). I drive it to Oslo and can park/charge almost anywhere around town for really cheap, about €…

> which is nothing compared to regular parking Such advantages will disappear as EVs become more common. Lots of stuff, like super-fast home charging stations or EV using HOV lanes, cannot scale as EVs become a majority. Enjoy the special treatment while it lasts.

Electric vehicles are the norm in Norway, and has been for many years. And you are right, advantages like driving in the bus/taxi lane is abolished during rush ours. The charging and parking provided by the municipality is only getting better however, and prices stay low.
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