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I bought an used Nissan Leaf. 6 months ago.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 12, 2017 12:04PM PDT

There's a longer story how I ended up here but it started with us replacing a car. So after that I had this 2003 Civic Hybrid that I fixed up and it's back to 50+MPG after repairs. But it wasn't what I wanted so I googled like this.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cars+with+terrible+resale+value

Now that was a bit of a surprise since I was shopping the Nissan Leaf years ago but felt it was overpriced for what it was. But as this was to be my car for in town trips the range of the Leaf was not a concern at all. So the search and research began.

I found a spotless 2014 Leaf SV for 11K and that was that.

It's been 6 months and my van cost me 10 dollars in gas and all my trips around town and more was in the Leaf.

My takeaways on this are too many to list here but I'd do this again and if you ever can take a drive in a modern EV car, do it.

Feel free to ask me more questions. One of the neatest features is Nissan's app for the car. I can tell my car to turn on the climate control to cool or heat up the car as well as charging status.

Post was last edited on April 12, 2017 12:05 PM PDT

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

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Just to add

by Steven Haninger Apr 13, 2017 11:08AM PDT

Personally, I'm not sold on EVs as being "eco-friendly" or wallet friendly just yet. Those who say they create no smog are only looking behind their own car and not where the electricity came from that charged it. As well, while you save on gasoline costs, there are other things to consider. See below:

Nissan Leaf TCO

as well

Nissan Leaf replacement battery

I do like the idea of having both a commuter car and one for vacation travel. Sometimes all you need is to make an appointment or buy a loaf of bread. A small car is nice. But, if you want to go "primitive" camping, you may need a church bus to load up that propane BBQ grill and satellite dish.

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TCO is blown because I only paid 11K.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 13, 2017 11:16AM PDT

As to the replacement battery I have enough range for 99% of the trips I make so I am not looking for a battery today, but thanks for the link as it confirms what I've heard.

-> SMOG. Here's the neat thing about EV cars. These are the only cars that can get cleaner over time. Yes, I do plan to install solar panels and power plants have been cleaning up for years now.

As to operation per mile costs, I am currently cheaper per mile than our 2016 54MPG Prius.
Here we pay 22 cents per KWh and in Nebraska it's 9 cents so your electrical rate really knocks the per mile costs around.

-> To be specific I'm now at 4.0 and higher miles per KWh. This helps folk do some math.

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