One of those practical steps is that I drive a 2012 Nissan Leaf- a fully electric car that not only saves me money on gas, but is a ton of fun to drive and as well as easy on the environment. Recently, I've had several people who are considering purchasing a Leaf ask me for advice/opinions/etc. The following was how I replied to one friend who is considering purchasing a Leaf and wanted my honest thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks of driving electric. I wrote this email to her, but since then several other people have asked me similar questions, so I thought I would take these thoughts and make them public. This is my best attempt, as an unapologetic EV-cheerleader, to be balanced and fair in my assessment and recommendation of the Leaf. I hope it helps you.
BENEFITS
I think the biggest benefit of the Nissan Leaf is the low monthly cost to operate. When considered side by side against any new gas car, you simply cannot own a new car for cheaper. The cheapest deal on any other new car you could find might be a $100-$150 monthly payment... but then you'll be spending another $100-$150+ on gas, plus maintenance, oil changes, etc. The Nissan Leaf is available for as low as $199/month lease... and that's basically the only cost. My Leaf adds about $20-30 onto my electric bill every month. And that's it. There's no gas, no oil changes, no transmission, no maintenance costs at all except tires. Even the brakes last way longer than a "normal" car, because it uses regenerative braking, which makes the brake pads last a lot longer. In the 2 years I've had my car, the only maintenance cost I've had was to replace the tires because I ran over a bolt. I figure I've saved $500 in maintenance costs alone over the last two years-- not to mention that I used to spend $300+ on gas each month, and now spend $30 on electricity.
Here's a little math to help you see how much cheaper an electric car is per mile. Let's say, just to have some nice easy round numbers, that a normal car would get 30 mpg and gas costs $3.00/gallon (I know it's a little cheaper than that now, but it's usually more expensive). 30 mpg and $3.00 per gallon means that fuel for a gas car costs $0.10 per mile-- not including all the oil changes and other maintenance.
Compare that to the Leaf: it goes about 4 miles per kWh, and a kWh costs about $0.12 from BGE. That means the cost per mile of a Leaf is $0.03-- less than a third of a gas car-- and there's no other maintenance to factor in. If you use free public charging or can get your electricity cheaper (mine only costs $0.06 per kWh!), it's even cheaper. When I add in maintenance costs and those other potential savings, I've found that the operating cost of my Leaf is about 1/10 the cost of a gas car- $0.01 per mile.
With my car, I've found that the gas savings literally pays for itself. My car payment is $249/month-- which is considerably less than I used to pay in gas every month. For me, trading in my old car for a brand new electric one meant instant monthly savings. Your savings could be more or less-- depending on how much you drive (see below for some practical considerations in that department).
The last two benefits to driving an electric car are not as important, but they're still big. First, electric cars are just way more fun to drive. They're silent, smooth, quick accelaration, instant response, 100% torque, low center of gravity, etc. Every time I get in my wife's Camry I remember how much I hate internal combustion engines. I didn't realize how frustrating the response and lag time and shifting gears and constant rumble of gas engines was until I got away from it. Now, I would never ever go back.
The third benefit may or may not be important to you: electric cars are way more environmentally friendly. No tailpipe = no harmful emissions, no CO2, etc. You can turn it on in your agarage and not worry about dying of carbon monoxide poisoning. Driving an electric car, you're helping the environment and reducing our dependency on foreign oil. The Nissan Leaf is made entirely in Nashville, Tennnessee-- you're driving an American-made car running on entirely American-made fuel that, even when you take power plant emissions into account, is 50-60% cleaner than gas cars.
DRAWBACKS
In my opinion, the advantages of electric driving far outweigh the negatives-- but there are negatives, and you'll have to weigh how important they are to you. The main drawback to electric driving is range; a gas car can go 300 miles without refuelling; the Leaf can only go about 80. While there are a lot of public charging stations around, and even some quick charging stations that can completely refill the battery in 20 minutes, the reality of electric driving is that the Nissan Leaf is not a road trip car. If you want to go to the beach, you'll need annother car (however, Nissan includes up to 10 days of free loaner cars with every Leaf-- I used that last year when we went on vacation). You can do shorter regional road trips, but it requires planning ahead, looking up charging stations, and longer wait times. With some planning, I've taken the Leaf to Hersheypark, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, but trips beyond that aren't really practical.
An 80-mile range means that the car will be perfect for day-to-day driving, commuting, running errands, etc, but it's helpful to have access to another car if something comes up that requires a lot of driving. For example, one day I knew I was going to have to drive all over kingdom come running errands, and I didn't want to have to schedule in charging times, so I took Sarah's car that day instead. If the Leaf is your only car, 95% of the time it will be everything you need... but the other 5% of the time might be a pain if you have no other options.
The only other drawback I can think of is also related to range: temperature affects the range more than I'd like. As you've probably discovered if you've ever left your phone out in the car all night, cold temperatures lower the capacity of lithium-ion batteries. In the summer, I get about 90 miles of range out of the Leaf. In the winter, when it's really cold, I only get about 60. In addition, the heater in an electric car draws a lot of power. In a gas car, the heat comes from all the excess wasted heat generated by how inefficient the engine is. But an electric car has to have a separate electric heater, and in the depths of winter I've found that can take another 5-10 miles off the range. Cold weather, plus power for the heater, means that I more often have range issues in the winter, and trips can sometimes take a little more planning. This may or may not be an issue for you; it depends on how much you'll be driving each day. For someone like me, who drives at least 60 miles a day, that reduced range in winter can be a pain. But if you'll only be driving 20 miles a day, it will never be an issue.
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
The main thing you need to think through when considering an electric car is, How far do you drive in a typical day? If you're driving 40 miles or less each day, you'll never have to think about range; you'll just plug it in when you get home and never worry about it, and you'll wonder where electric cars have been all your life and how you ever got along without them. If you drive 40-80 miles a day, the Leaf will work for you, but it will be a bigger commitment and will force you to think about driving in a different way, and sometimes you'll have to plan ahead. I fall into that category, and after two years of driving, I know where every public charger in central Maryland is, I intuitively plan my days based on how far I have to drive, and I usually take back roads instead of freeways because range is a lot better at slower speeds. I've gotten used to it and usually don't find it to be much of a hassle, and still think that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, but that sort of range-aware lifestyle isn't for everyone. And if you're going to be consistently or regularly driving more than 80 miles a day, the Leaf probably isn't for you. If you're commuting to DC, for example, you could make it work if you tried-- there are enough quick chargers that it wouldn't add that much time to your commute-- but the hassle would be frustrating.
The question of how far you'll drive each day will also influence how much money you'll save with an electric car. Since I was spending $300 a month on gas, switching to the Leaf was a budgetary no-brainer. But if you only spend $50 a month on gas, an inexpensive, efficient gas car might possibly be cheaper. Personally, I would still choose electric, but if your main concerns are monetary, it's worth it to sit down and do the math: $0.10-$0.15 per mile for a gas car, $0.01-$0.03 per mile for the Leaf, and figure out how much you'll save and if it's worth it for you.
The other thing you'll have to think about with electric cars is the question of new vs. used cars and buying vs. leasing. You mentioned you were thinking about a 2012 Leaf-- I'm assuming that's a used car. I'm curious to know how much that costs-- I'm not very familiar with the market for used electric cars.
I would recommend leasing a new Leaf because of the tax credits associated with electric cars. The Leaf starts at $29,000 MSRP, and there's a $7,500 federal tax credit and $3,000 maryland tax credit if you buy it. The problem with those tax credits is that they're not the same as "$10,000 off sticker price!" You have to buy the car for $29,000, and then when you file your taxes, you claim the tax credit. But you and I don't actually make enough money to actually get all $10,000 back as a tax credit; I would probably only get about half of that back. That's why, unless you make enough money to qualify for the full tax credit, those tax credits aren't as good a deal as they sound.
But leasing is a different story. When you lease a car, technically the car company owns the vehicle, so they get the whole tax credit. What that means, in essence, is that the $10,000 tax credit subsidizes your lease payments and makes them a lot lower than they would be for a normal $29,000 car. For example, if I leased a $29,000 Toyota, it would probably cost $400 a month. But because those tax credits are rolled into the cost of my lease, the lease on my $29,000 Leaf only costs me $249 a month-- and depending on your credit score, the price can be as low as $199/month. The extra-low monthly lease is what makes electric cars so affordable. Leasing is a little more complicated than buying outright, with some fine print you need to be aware of, so if you go that direction, make sure you talk to someone you trust who understands leasing and can help you understand everything.
IN SUMMARY
To summarize, I love my Nissan Leaf, and it is the single best purchase I've ever made. It saves me money, is a ton of fun to drive, and good for the environment and the country to boot. The limited range usually isn't too restrictive for me, but has forced me to change how I think about driving. The subsidized lease price makes it surprisingly affordable and even money-saving for most people.
One final thought, to address a criticism of electric cars that I've heard a lot. Many people complain about the range and say, "Electric cars don't make sense unless they can go 300 miles and refuel in 5 minutes like gas cars. Plugging it in all the time would be a pain!" I think that's false. The only time I ever drive anywhere close to 300 miles is once a year when I go on vacation. Every other day of the year, I don't need a car that can go 300 miles; 80 miles is perfectly sufficient. And plugging it in isn't a pain at all; honestly, I think it's way more convenient than having to go to a gas station once or twice a week. When I get home, I pull into my driveway and plug it in, and in the morning I have a full battery. I never have to stop at the gas station; every morning my "tank" is full without me ever having to think about it. How could it possibly be any more convenient?! The difference between a gas car and an electric car is like the difference between my smartphone and a phone that runs on AA batteries. Yes, I have to charge my smartphone every night, and a phone that runs on AA batteries probably last longer than my iPhone's battery. But I don't want to have to go out to the store and buy more batteries every time my phone dies; I want to be able to just plug it in at night and not think about it. That's exactly what the difference between electric cars and gas cars is like. Yes, your gas car might go farther than my Leaf, but at least I don't have to go to the store every time my tank is empty. Every morning I have a full tank without any extra effort or time on my part. If we're comparing on the basis of convenience, I win.
No comments:
Post a Comment