Nissan Leaf Update I

I took that picture of an oil slick in the street in front of my house left by a car that had parked there for less than an hour. This is another advantage electric cars have. That oil washed down a drain ten feet away and from there into a lake just a few blocks away.

The tar shingles on your roof dump a lot of petroleum products into lakes and streams as well. See Reflective Metal Roofing--Cost Effective Guilt Relief.I didn't drive my Leaf for the three days Seattle was shut down by a two inches of snow (watch that video). I just didn't want to worry about getting stuck somewhere and running low on power. I drove my wife's Prius ; ).

A month ago I made the unspeakably stupid mistake of overextending my car's range. I had programmed the car to charge only to 80%. The next morning my daughter wanted a ride to a nearby city but it turned out that she wanted a ride well past that city into the countryside for a 4H meeting. I didn't have enough to get us home even though I plugged in for the two hours we were there. I had to stop at a Nissan dealer and call my wife to pick up our daughter. I went to a bar to eat, drink, and watch basketball until the car had enough charge to get me home.

Lesson learned ...charge the car all the way. You never know when you will need it.

The Blink 240 volt charger that I got for free for letting the DOE monitor my energy use over the internet craps out fails to perform as designed a few times a month. I have to unplug it to get it to reset and then recalibrate the screen. It has never stopped working during a charge cycle. The problem is that it won't start charging. Don't plug it in and walk away without making sure you have blinking blue lights above your dash.

My local Fred Meyers store has two 120 volt chargers. I use the parking spaces but never bother with the charger because it isn't worth a few cents of electricity.

A few weeks ago both spots were taken up by Leafs. The security guard told me that they regularly park their cars there all day and sometimes all night. Apparently there are some idiots citizens out there with Leafs who didn't buy chargers for them.

The temperatures have been dropping below freezing and of course the car range is dropping, as it does for all cars in cold weather. My range has not been impacted significantly. I may have 20-30 percent left in my battery by the end of my commute and errands on a typical day in instead of 40 percent or so. The car has had no maintenance issues.

Other electric car posts:

http://biodiversivist.blogspot.com/2011/07/orphaned-nissan-leaf-finds-new-home.html

http://biodiversivist.blogspot.com/2011/06/electric-car-purchase-update.html

http://biodiversivist.blogspot.com/2011/04/leaf-or-miev-which-should-i-buy.html

http://biodiversivist.blogspot.com/2011/02/nisan-leaf-meet-ford-pinto.html

http://biodiversivist.blogspot.com/2010/12/nissan-leaf-as-emergency-power-source.html

http://biodiversivist.blogspot.com/2010/11/nisson-leaf-test-drive.html

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Accusations of "another Solyndra"

Photo courtesy of Major Clanger via Flickr

Dumb headline, I know. I borrowed it from an article discussing a Mill Valley town council decision "not" to put in more electric car charging stations.

A local resident stood up to call electric cars something that was being forced on the community by the Federal government, "another Solyndra" that just "plain doesn't work."

Whatever. The cost of putting them in is relatively small (as will be the cost of tearing them out again when it's realized they are unnecessary). I suspect the real concern is lost parking space.

As the owner of a Leaf (and an electric bike) I tend to agree that the government should not be installing chargers. They are for the most part a waste of money. It's a bit foolish to rely on a charger being available at your destination if you need it to get home again. You may find your spot taken by another vehicle, or the charger may be out of service. And if you don't need it to get home again ...you don't need it.

What are the odds? Pretty high from my experience. I know one guy who was counting on a Nissan Dealership who didn't come through. I know another guy who found the plug filled with mud and rocks (vandalism) and a woman who found the outlet she was counting on to get home was just plain dead, probably from a thrown breaker.

I've had no need for a public charger primarily because I don't intend to ever need one. I've used our other car twice in the two months I've owned the Leaf. Electric cars should not be used out of their designed range and are best suited for urban two-car families. They are not for dummies.

Let the market decide if and where to put chargers. My local Fred Meyers store put a charger in. I've never used it but I know a person who has. She certainly does not need to plug in to get home so I asked why she bothers. When I pointed out that she is only getting a few cents of free electricity and less than a mile or so of extra range she replied, "Every little bit helps." In other words, she does it because it feels good and you know what they say, "If it feels good ..."

Fred Meyers and a lot of other businesses will find out if the chargers increase profit margins because it feels good to enough electric car owners ...or not.

There are many things that government is best at. Some things just can't be left to the market. In general, the government should not attempt to do anything that the market can do better. I suspect that the installation of car charging stations is one of those things. Read Governors of West Coast States Nominated for Nobel Prize.


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