Most auto reviews take the reader through the paces based on a very short experience with the particular vehicle. A good reviewer will answer the right questions and put the car through a variety of conditions to give as rounded a picture as can be done quickly. This review is different, as it covers a full 12-month experience for our Nissan Leaf, which was purchased September 21, 2019.
For my baseline view of the Leaf, go to the November 29, 2019 blog post, The Electric Car Driving Experience: Part 1.
Driving Experience
There’s not much to add regarding the driving experience of the Leaf, except to confirm that it rides like a very quiet “normal” car. The acceleration is definitely more than what we had been used to with the Toyota Prius or other cars we had owned. It took some time to get used to the e-pedal feature, which does offer passive braking and improved travel economy. Once mastered it was my preferred mode. The safety features are definitely appreciated, especially the lane change warnings. These were optional and can be had on any new car, but they are a big help to us. That and the Sirius Radio feature that lets Linda listen to the Beatles channel when she wants. The car is roomy enough for 4 adults and the cargo area is large enough for 6 bags of groceries or other packages.
We continue to charge the Leaf in our garage. When the battery gets to 10%, we charge it overnight. A full charge takes about 11 hours. In the morning, it is ready for travel. On average a charge is 50 kWh.
Efficiency and Range
Anyone who owns an electric car is concerned about range. Don’t let them tell you otherwise. Until Level 3 charging stations are as common as gas stations, range is a concern. Yes, you can plug in to any 110 volt outlet almost anywhere, but to get 30 mile added will take 8 hours. Even a 240 volt outlet will take 90 minutes. Level 3 charging stations and ones that work with the Leaf configuration are few and far between.
The 2019 Leaf SV Plus is advertised with a range of 215 miles, based on a 62 kWh battery. During the course of the year of driving the Leaf, the range varied from a low of 192 miles to a high of 266 miles, with an average of 238 miles per charge. As would be expected, winter was the hardest on the battery, drawing electricity for heater, defroster, and often windshield wipers and lights during the trip. The lowest ranges were on December 20th and January 10th. Conversely, the highest ranges were in June through October. Highway driving is a slightly higher draw of electricity than hill and dale city driving, probably due to the consistently higher road speeds. The longest trip we took was to Pottsville on December 30th in the dead of winter, a distance of 120 miles round trip, mostly freeway driving. That trip was made at 3.3 miles per kWh, which translates to a range of 205 miles.
Another way to calculate efficiency is to look at miles per kWh. The promised efficiency for the Leaf was 100 miles per 32 kWh (3.125 miles/kWh). Overall, during the course of the year, the battery averaged above what was advertised for the Leaf, 3.84 miles per kWh. The driving year encompassed 7,258 miles, consuming 1,892 kWh of electricity. The MPGe (miles per gallon electric equivalency) that was advertised for the Leaf was 114 for city driving and 94 for highway driving. The combined MPGe for this last year was 129.3, again higher than the claims by Nissan. (Converting electricity to gallons is done by multiplying each kWh/mile by 33.7.)
Raison D’Etre
The attraction of the Nissan Leaf was that it is an electric car and does not use fossil fuels. It replaced a 2008 Buick Lacrosse that got 18 miles per gallon. In the year we’ve had the Leaf, we’ve put on only 7,258 miles, which was probably limited due to the Pandemic. Had we put those miles on the Lacrosse, we would have consumed 403 gallons of gasoline. As each gallon of gas produces 19.6 pounds of CO2, we prevented the release of 7,900 pounds of CO2 into the air, almost 4 tons. So, good for us. Except you need to know that every year, Pennsylvanians put almost 40 million metric tons of CO2 (a metric ton is about 2,200 pounds) into the air from the burning of gasoline, almost all of which is due to driving. Pick your analogy – bailing out a boat with a teaspoon, Sisyphus, etc.
You may ask where the electricity we used to charge the Leaf came from? Good question, as using electricity generated from coal-fired power plants defeats the whole idea of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Burning coal, one kilowatt hour of electricity produces 2.21 pounds of CO2. Our Leaf used an estimated 1,892 kWh of electricity during the year. Had all of the electricity been produced by coal-fired power plants, we would have been responsible for the emission of 4,181 pounds of CO2 or a little more than 2 tons. This would have been half of what the gasoline fueled Buick would have produced. OK, but not great.
However, we used our rights to pick an energy provider to find one that produced 100% solar and wind power. Ultimately, we did not add CO2 to the atmosphere by using electricity to power our car. Our solar panels replaced about 80% of our electric use during the year, the difference purchased by a green energy provider. If you are interested in making sure that your electricity is non-polluting, you can select providers that are committed to green energy. The program is administered by the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission, under the name, PaPowerSwitch.
For the available suppliers, you can filter your search by Renewable, PA Wind, or Solar to find providers that can sell you 100% renewable energy.
Alternative Fuels Tax
I worked for PennDOT for over 25 years and value the importance of the Federal and State Gas Tax to provide funding to repair our roads and bridges. Leaving aside the fact that the current fee structure is woefully inadequate to address the current needs, I think it is a good governmental solution to require all users of the road to help pay for its maintenance.
Currently, the Federal Gas Tax is 18.4 cents per gallon (not changed since 1993). The State Gas Tax is now 58.7 cents per gallon. Going back to the Buick example, the 403 gallons driven by the Buick would have resulted in $310 in taxes paid for roads and bridges. By the way, if we used the Nissan Leaf rating of 129 MPGe, we would have been responsible for 56 gallons equivalent of gasoline, resulting in $43 in taxes paid for roads and bridges.
If you don’t have a gas-powered vehicle, are you still responsible for an equivalent gas tax? The answer is yes. But the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not compute taxes as suggested above. The method is as follows. The alternative fuel is recalculated into BTU’s and normalized. For electricity, the converted tax is $0.0172 per kWh.
The 1,892 kWh consumed in the last year should yield an alternative fuels tax of $32.54.
This is the easy part. Had I been able to charge the leaf at a public charger, the owner of that charger would have been responsible for the alternative fuels tax. The taxing source is where the electricity is provided. We have a charger in our garage, and therefore have become an alternative fuels distributor. Every month, I should submit a DMF-101, otherwise known as the Alternative Fuels Tax Report to the Department of Revenue. In October 2019, I submitted a REV-822, AKA, the Application for Alternative Fuels Tax Permit, which would get me a Permit Number. In November, two gentlemen from the Department of Revenue came by the house looking for my charging station, which was inside my garage. I gave them the necessary information and showed them the facility and sent them on their way. Without the Permit Number, I cannot complete my Tax Report. I am still waiting for my Permit Number. However, if anyone from the Department of Revenue reads this and can give me instructions on where and how to send my check, I am ready to get them the $32 and change for this last year.
We can laugh about this now, but as the country goes to non-fossil fueled vehicles, the loss of revenue from electric cars and other options (hydrogen) will force a reckoning over user fees. VMT (vehicle miles traveled) will have to be part of the solution in the near future if we still want to have roads and bridges in any kind of state of service.
Cost to Own
We are currently paying $0.14 per kWh for 100% renewable electricity from our provider. This prices the 1,892 kWh needed to drive the 7,258 miles into a cost of $265, or about 3.6 cents per mile. The Buick Lacrosse, at 18 miles per gallon, cost around 15 cents per mile to operate at current gas prices. Beyond that, inspection of the Leaf was $33.87 with tax. It does not require an emissions test and sticker, which would have added an additional $18.00, nor does it require an oil change, which would have occurred at this time. Apples to apples, the cost to run the Buick for the year would have been around $1,200. The cost to run the Leaf was $300. We continue to get oil change discount coupons from Faulkner Nissan and don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Summary
As long as we are using the Leaf for local travel or shorter trips, it is a more than suitable replacement for a gas-powered vehicle. It is quieter than any car we have owned. It lacks an engine, radiator, emission controls hardware, exhaust, catalytic converter – these are all parts that are neither needed nor missed. Even compared to a new gas-powered car getting 40 miles per gallon, it is still much cheaper to operate, and that factors in gas at the lowest levels in years. We keep the Prius as the second car and a car that would take longer trips. As we have taken few long trips in this year of COVID, we have largely relied on the Leaf for our transportation, and we expect to do so in the future.
I, Beckerman, not Robot 