The Leaf at 10,000 miles

I am now at the 10,000 mile mark with my Leaf that I purchased December 23, 2011.  This may not be the car for everyone, but it has worked very well for me and my family.  My family consists of my wife, and our two children ages 2 and 5.  The first thing I did when I test drove the Leaf was to ensure that the kid’s car seats would fit with ample room, and they do.  One of the reasons that I bought the Leaf is to show my kids a better way.  They don’t need to use gas, they don’t need to inhale the exhaust, and they don’t need to hear the noise that a gas powered car makes.

Most of my driving consists of commuting to work, and in and around my local area.  The Leaf does an excellent job at this.  I do have a very short commute (about 5 miles each way).  On average I put about 35 miles per day on my Leaf.  If a fuel efficient car gets 35 MPG, I save a gallon of gas a day.  In monetary terms, with gas the past year averaging about $3.50, that is $1050 that I have not spent on gasoline.  In reality, it is $1050 I didn’t use to burn gasoline. 

This will bring up the point of how much did I spend on electric?  I compared my electric bills between the past two years. My bill for 2012 is actually lower then it was in 2011.  I attribute this to the warmer winter we had in 2012.  In comparing temperate months (March-May) it seems I have used about 10 kwh more per month then 2011.  The cost of electric was less in 2012, so there really hasn’t been a cost increase.  This is about equivalent to doing an extra load of laundry.

I do have a personalized license plate, “NO OIL”.  This is to tell others that this car doesn’t use the stuff.  I have had a lot of compliments from complete strangers that they like the idea.  Having people recognize that this is the way cars are going is the first step.  My hope is that more people will adopt this way of thinking.  It seems like more and more car companies are introducing new models with one of their variants having a plug-in option.  I’ve seen models from Ford, Toyota, and even Cadillac that will be offering the plug-in option.

The 2012 Leaf that I have is the version 1.0 of the electric car.  My Leaf has a MPG equivalency rating of 75 MPGe.  The 2013 model has a 90 MPGe rating.  This was made possible main to more efficient systems within the car.  The Ford C-Max has a rating of 100 MPGe.  These newer models can be thought of as version 1.1.  Around the 2015-2016 model years there will be new battery technology that will allow for over 200 miles per charge.  In addition to the increase in charge capacity, other technology advances will begin to be added to electric cars.  These include the ability to car itself and pick you up.

I’ll continue to give updates as time goes on.  I hope things keep working well and more people buy electric vehicles.