Nissan Electric Car: Your Mileage May Vary

Well, I've done it! Lynne's now on the reservation list for the Nissan electric car - the Nissan Leaf.

What made me choose the Nissan electric over others, like the Chevy Volt? Well, cost was certainly an issue; but I wanted a real electric car, not a hybrid. Yes, the Volt is a serious serial hybrid, but it's still a hybrid. I wanted electric.

So once I got on the reservation list, I went prowling around the Internet looking for first impressions of the Nissan electric car. I know the Nissan electric cars on the first reservation list have already been delivered, so people are driving them. Do they like them? Is the range meeting expectations? Are they fun to drive?

My first stop was sort of a blogged experiment at Automobile Magazine.

The magazine got hold of a 2011 Nissan Leaf, installed a high-speed charger at work, then sent the car home for a week with one of their writers - different writers every week - to give their impressions of "Living with the Nissan Leaf". They're car people, not electric car people, so take their impressions with as many grains of salt as you like.

• New Skill Set.
  "I was given the keys to the Nissan Leaf on the Monday immediately following a weekend with a Chevy Volt, so I was already in electric-car mode." Oh? I think getting into electric car mode takes years of practice, not days, my fellow lead-foot.
• Trip Planning.
  "I figured I'd spend the week carefully planning every trip to avoid getting stranded." Is that so? And who's gonna do that in real life? Not this girl. In case someone missed it, I'm just not that organized.
• Range Anxiety.
  "Indicated range is an elastic estimate that changes seemingly minute to minute." Which means it's practically useless. And anxiety-producing. There is a readout on the dash which informs you of your miles traveled, and then when it starts getting low, lets you know with increasing aggressiveness that it's time to recharge. As if you didn't know. I'm already anxious enough, thank you, Nissan, I don't need your help in that department. Nissan only piles on more anxiety by never letting you forget your battery state of charge and delivering the state of charge news in terms of miles left 'til Armageddon. When you start out with a full tank and deplete 10 EV "miles" in 2 actual distance miles, and that changes every minute you drive, how could you NOT get anxious? You've known what a mile is your whole life, and now Nissan is defining that familiar term somewhat loosely, to say the least.
• Battery Drains.
  Second stop was a report on a long test drive by a CNN Money writer who brought the Nissan electric car home with him to drive the family around for a period of time without plugging in. He discovered that climate control (and multiple passengers, probably) really affects your range - and not for the better. Even in the mild climate of the Pacific Northwest, I think I'll take the optional cold weather package with my Nissan Leaf. It's less than a thousand dollars, and provides nice things like:
  • Battery heater;
  • Heated front and rear seats;
  • Heated steering wheel;
  • Rear seat heat duct;
  • Heated mirrors.
  The battery heater, I understand from this discussion over at the EVDL, is an automatic thing that only kicks in at extremely low temperatures. The rest of the package, though? I'm thinking that stuff will come in handy when trying to avoid draining your battery pack to stay warm.
• Home Charging: Good.
  The third stop was a Motor Trend blog where the writer was experimenting with taking a Nissan electric car home to his apartment for a week with no outside charging capabilities. He was going to see if he could do it. He got off to a rollicking start with Day 1, but alas, Day 2 was nowhere to be seen. I can only surmise that the experiment didn't go well. With a 21-hour charge time (!) on a 110 volt plug-in, I'll definitely be installing that high speed charging port in the garage.

Specs

• Base price (with destination costs): $33,600 Price as tested by Automobile Magazine: $33,930 Available federal tax rebate: up to $7500
• Standard Equipment: Normal, high-techish late-model car stuff. (If you want the gritty details, you can get it here.)
• Nissan-rated range: 100 miles. EPA-rated range: 73 miles. Heavily dependent on your girlyman EV driving skills. Nissan tried to help as best they could with "modes"; but as we've all had to learn, driving with testosterone means you'll charge your batteries a LOT.
• Estimated charging time: 21 hours to charge without a high speed charger, 8 hours with the high speed charger. Hello, Nissan? Listen. 8 hours to charge is NOT high speed. That's REGULAR speed. And 21 hours is just NOT HAPPENING. Are you kidding? Fast charge to 80% in a half-hour, though...that's good, I'll give you that one, but this 8-21 hour charging time is a dealbreaker for those of us who have to travel on the freeway anywhere. 220-volt outlet: 8 hours 110-volt outlet: 21 hours DC fast charge to 80%: 30 minutes
• Powertrain: It's got an AC motor (regenerative braking! Yay!) and lithium ion batteries. 80 kW AC synchronous motor 24 kWh lithium-ion battery 3.3 kW onboard charger 120-volt portable trickle charging cable 240-volt home charging dock Optional 50 kW DC fast-charging port
• Front-wheel Drive.
• Transmission: No transmission, if anybody's surprised by that. Single-speed direct-drive.

Why the Nissan Leaf for Me?

I didn't choose the Nissan electric car because it's a better car than the Chevy Volt or other electric cars that are for sale out there in 2011. (And no, Nissan isn't paying me!) It's a personal thing; it's the best electric car for ME. I'm a mom, and Gavin's still in the car seat for safety, so I guess it's not surprising that I'd choose a mommymobile, right?

Read more about a Nissan electric car that runs on sunshine.