Winter Update

Yikes!  We've really slacked off on the blog here  The last entry was over a month ago.  Some of the blame can be placed with season four of Downton Abbey and season two of House of Cards but it's also because there hasn't been anything especially interesting to report.  The LEAF has pretty much just become a car.  Getting us from place to place like any other car.  But anyway why not an update!  Read on.

Get it While the Getting's Good

Being an EV early adopter has its perks. Not only does Nissan really, really, REALLY want you to have a great experience, the lack of a crowd can be nice in other ways, too. This weekend a friend invited me to coffee in Cambridge. I figured that without traffic, range would be no problem, even though it was highway the whole way. However, it was snowing. A wet, slushy snow and I knew my friend would be walking from Boston to Cambridge. I wanted to be able to offer her a ride home without risking range.

You Don't Take an Electric Car to a "Gas" Station

And I'm not talking about the awkward times I've actually driven the LEAF to a gas station to get an inspection sticker or fill up the gas can for my snow blower.  I'm talking about the paradigm shift in how you think of when and where you refuel an electric car.

It's My Way or The Highway

Today it was the highway.  To work and back on the Mass Pike and 128 (95 to non-natives).  No back roads.  I tend to commute off hours and so can travel at actual highway speeds.

We're out of the Polar Vortex so there wasn't much pressure on the climate control so I figured today was going to be a good time to get over what I think is my last bit of range anxiety. The full highway commute adds about 10 miles and a lot of mph but cuts of a good bit of time.

Wow! Check Out the Range on the 2014!

84 miles!  9 more than the 2013!  Well, not exactly.

"The Weather Outside is Frightful..."

...But the LEAF is quite delightful...

A Facebook friend cracked that after the snowstorm and exceptionally cold weather before Christmas that our purchase of the LEAF had apparently singlehandedly reversed global warming and that maybe we should go back to gasoline.

Life Without a High Speed Charger

Now that the holiday craziness is over it's time to get back to posting.  Looks like this one should have been posted a while back before we actually got the 240V charger but here it is anyway.

Harkening back to an earlier post in which we may have come to the conclusion that we were a little premature in actually bringing the car home, we learned to live with the trickle charger, but it wasn't easy.

Shrinkage (Range That Is)

The forecast is for cold.  REALLY, REALLY cold.  Tomorrow morning's low is forecast to be 13°F with a high of 20°F.  But that's nothing.  Both this coming Saturday and Tuesday morning lows are forecast at 3°F!  That's cold for here even in January.  Saturday is no big deal because we won't be going anywhere, or at least anywhere far.  Tuesday I'll need to make it to the office and back.

EV of the Day

I really hope It gets to the point where I can no longer play this game. The game where my daily goal is unfulfilled until I spot an electric car. I win the game most days by spotting Tesla Model S's, Mitsubishi iMEVs, Nissan LEAFs or Chevy Volts. If I excluded the Volts I'd have a much lower win-loss ratio but I include them because they run all-electric for 30 miles or so. Those are my rules. Your game can have its own rules.

When This Van's a Rockin'...

Just the Stats, Ma'am

It's All Relative

A Facebook friend asked me a very good question about range.  What about the other uses of electricity in the Nissan LEAF such as lights, wipers, heater, heated seats, power windows and charging iDevices?  He figured that we'd have to give up most of those amenities in order to save electrons for moving.  He specifically cited the example of running the wipers in a snow storm.  But, it's all relative. Sure, you might be able to run down a regular car battery pretty quickly doing that, but you have to compare moving a few ounces of snow every few seconds to driving a 3,300+ lbs car up a hill at 40mph.  Once you think about that you realize that everything else is pretty small stuff.

A Disappointing Day

Where to begin.  First, I couldn't get the SiriusXM app on my iPhone to stream to the car on my commute into work.  No ad-free Howard.  Then work was an unproductive stream of meetings and interruptions.  Nothing special there.  Pretty much everyone experiences the same thing every day. Then the electrician didn't show up to give us an estimate for the car charger installation.

High Score!

Kerry may be after green dots. I'm after pine trees.

Collecting Green Dots

I once heard that Jerry Seinfeld had a simple but strangely effective technique for motivating yourself to stick with some daily goal. He had a dedicated calendar for that goal and would mark the day with a red "X" each time he did his task. Then, as he explained, “after a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

Range Anxiety Analysis

I posted the other day that I actually made it to work and back and that I'd share some analysis of the range. So here it is.

There are some different options for getting to work and back. There's a 25 mile one way route on back roads and a 30 mile highway route on the Mass Pike and 128. I tend to leave between 5:15 and 5:45am so there's no traffic on either. The highway will take me about a half hour and the back roads 45 minutes or so.

Running on Empty

Our family has lots of lessons. Currently the kids have (combined) the following activities: Kumon reading, Karate, a Bo weapons class, Russian Math for algebra and geometry, piano lessons for each, drum lessons, drama class, science club, and the town theatrical production. This translates to a lot of running around town.

Passing with Flying Colors

Yesterday was the big test. Can I get to work and back? If not we basically have a $405/month eco friendly doorstop...or giant Mophie Juice Pack for my iPhone...and I'd be investing in a high intensity headlight for my bike.

Bun Warmers

Sunday was cold.  Really cold. Like, Antarctica cold.  And on top of that it was windy as hell.  On the plus side, Wachusset should have pumped out boatloads of snow for a base we can enjoy later this year.

Anyway, we decided to bail on running outside and instead piled the family in the car and headed to the gym at the Y.  An excellent opportunity to test out the climate control on the LEAF.

Can We Get There From Here?...And Back Again?

Range anxiety. The giant roadblock for the current generation of electric vehicles. Unless of course you have a hundred grand lying around for a Tesla.

The EPA average for the Nissan LEAF is 75 miles on a full charge. But an average of what? The average of 65 and 85 is 75. 65 will get us both to work and back (a little more comfortably for me). But 75 is also the average of 45 and 105 and 45 will leave me somewhere in Sudbury on my way home.