Should I lease a Leaf? Commute is 10 miles a day.

We have 2 cars at home. Thinking of replacing my trusty old Accord which has 250K miles on it. Still runs fine. I am thinking of leasing a Leaf and donate my Accord. Since I drive 10 miles/day, is it worth paying ~$250/month (+ down payment) for leasing a Leaf? I need a new car since I have been driving the Accord for 15 years. What do you think?

What is your other car ? How much of non-commute traveling do you do ?

Most of us use Leaf not only for commute - but all in-city travel.

If you put all of those miles on your accord in 15 years, it sounds like you will easily put enough miles on the leaf to have a huge savings in fuel.

johnrhansen said:

If you put all of those miles on your accord in 15 years, it sounds like you will easily put enough miles on the leaf to have a huge savings in fuel.

Click to expand...

I was commuting 80 miles a day for 11 years. My new job is 5 miles away.

evnow said:

What is your other car ? How much of non-commute traveling do you do ?

Most of us use Leaf not only for commute - but all in-city travel.

Click to expand...

My wife drives a Lexus SUV. Non-commute is around 50-75miles/week.

vadaseri said:

We have 2 cars at home. Thinking of replacing my trusty old Accord which has 250K miles on it. Still runs fine. I am thinking of leasing a Leaf and donate my Accord. Since I drive 10 miles/day, is it worth paying ~$250/month (+ down payment) for leasing a Leaf? I need a new car since I have been driving the Accord for 15 years. What do you think?

Click to expand...

With a five mile one-way commute, assuming you've got no major health or safety issues you should consider a bicycle, not an EV. Since the Accord still works, if you want keep it for the days with inclement weather or when you need to haul lots of stuff, and ride the bike the rest of the time. You can buy a good used bike for $250 (that's what my current one cost me), plus another $150-$200 or so for a helmet, lights, pump, lock, flat repair tools. You can drop the annual mileage on your insurance in addition to the amount you'll save on gas and maintenance (figure $50-100/year for parts and maintenance on the bike if you ride a lot). This is by far the least expensive and healthiest way to commute for that distance. You can also opt for an e-bike, if you can't peddle hard and arrive at work sweaty. This will cost you around 1/10th of what the LEAF would cost you.

vadaseri said:

We have 2 cars at home. Thinking of replacing my trusty old Accord which has 250K miles on it. Still runs fine. I am thinking of leasing a Leaf and donate my Accord. Since I drive 10 miles/day, is it worth paying ~$250/month (+ down payment) for leasing a Leaf? I need a new car since I have been driving the Accord for 15 years. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Keep your Accord, run it into the ground...

Assuming a .25cent per mile cost to run the Accord (I Assume you own it) Your Annual cost for the Accord for the is around $625- 1000/tops a YEAR

The Cost to run your Leaf for the same period would be: Lease $3000 + Power ($100 or so a year) ....

If your Accord died, then maybe, but still with your low commute, its hard to make back the Gas savings when you drive so little in the leaf.

vadaseri said:

My wife drives a Lexus SUV. Non-commute is around 50-75miles/week.

Click to expand...

If you use Leaf for your non-commute as well, it starts being useful. Otherwise as GRA says, get a bike.

Unless you just want a new Car. Because my old car died and Hyundai repaired it for free because of a recall, it was 11 years old and 155K miles. But I just wanted a NEW car.

And I will never buy a GAS car again!

Here in NJ the bottom of the line LEAF lease is $2400 down and $199 a month for 3 years.

You might be able to get that cheaper if you only do 6K miles a year.

Sal

I only live 5 miles from work too, but I don't ride my bike. I have to be at work at 6 am, and I prefer not to ride in the dark, during the coldest part of the day. Call me wimpy.. but I do live in rainy Seattle! I still somehow managed to put 20,000 miles on my leaf in the past 14 months. It's cheap transportation. You might be driving it on trips where you and your wife go together too. Who says gas is going to remain cheap during the next few years. Lots of geopolitical stuff going on right now.

BTW, when I got Leaf my commute was 5 miles one way too. Now it is closer to 12.

One more vote for the bike. Best way to commute. I do 8 miles one way and I'm terrified that some day I'll have to move within a mile from work.

Of course... if you just want a new car, there's nothing wrong with that! Get the premium package.

If you get the leaf, your wife is going to take it from you and give you the Lexus. I have a 3-4 mile commute and I bought a nice electric scooter for $1k.

Another perspective: you may be the ideal next owner for one of those many Leafs that are for sale missing one or even two capacity bars. You may be able to buy one for $10k, giving you ownership of the car, with no range anxiety, and more comfort and weather protection than even the best bicycle can provide. ;-) The only real issue I can see is the possibility of your daily mileage increasing a lot in the next 5 years. I do think that leasing may be less than ideal, unless you can lease an S model for $100 a month or so...

I used to live about 27 miles from work, so the LEAF was a great value. I considered the Volt, but I would be burning gas every day if I got one.

When I moved, I shortened my commute to less than 2 miles, so now alternatives are starting to look better. The Volt would fit nicely because I could drive it daily without having to burn a drop of gas, but I discovered that the Volt ICE runs frequently in the winter, meaning my entire commute would involve burning gas 100% of the time during the winter months, even though the distance I have to drive is well within the all electric range of the Volt.

I'm undecided at this point, pretty much in your situation. I bought an e-bike and try to ride that as often as I can. It's great for the summer, but sucks in the winter. I'll need a car, and I'm not sure the LEAF fits me anymore. It's a great car, don't get me wrong. But I really don't want another sub-100 mile EV.

Kubel, a Prius PHEV would fit your needs well, if you added a battery - powered footwell heater like I tested last Winter. The next version may even have electric heat as an option, based on what we've been asked in owner surveys.

I'm in a similar situation. I bought the high end 2011 Leaf and still bicycle most days. We will cross 3 yrs next week and have yet to cross 21,000 mi. Leasing didn't make much sense back then, but if I had the chance to do it now, I'd buy used for around $10-12K (ideally with 4 bars lost and hope for a new battery under warranty) and enjoy the savings. However, in your situation, you may find more uses for driving the Leaf since it's so much cheaper than gas. Heck, I certainly did (commuting 200 d/yr x 10 mi/d = 2000 mi/yr but I somehow managed to add 7000 mi/yr :? ).

johnrhansen said:

I only live 5 miles from work too, but I don't ride my bike. I have to be at work at 6 am, and I prefer not to ride in the dark, during the coldest part of the day. Call me wimpy.. but I do live in rainy Seattle! I still somehow managed to put 20,000 miles on my leaf in the past 14 months. It's cheap transportation. You might be driving it on trips where you and your wife go together too. Who says gas is going to remain cheap during the next few years. Lots of geopolitical stuff going on right now.

Click to expand...

20,000 miles in 14 months with a 10 mile commute? Wow, you must make a lot of extra trips around town!

Your rather unusual experience aside, one problem with a very short commute and a LEAF is that the car isn't really cost-effective for low annual miles. I do about 7000 miles a year and the car isn't remotely cost-effective in any way, not even close. I bought it because I wanted to drive electric and was willing to pay (a lot!) for the privilege. The folks with long commutes who do 12k or more miles a year can often make pretty good cases for savings on gas paying for a LEAF lease.

I agree with GRA that five miles each way is bicycle territory (I walked a commute a bit farther than that two days a week, bicycled three days a week, some years back). I did a bicycle commute for 20+ years (rain, snow, lightning, dark-of-night...). [I am the only person I know who bought a house based on the bicycle commute (didn't want to be too close to work, wanted a pleasant route with mountain views in the morning).]

But if a bicycle just doesn't cut it, for whatever reason (some women have valid safety concerns, for example) the OP should just be aware that a low miles-per-year LEAF is something of an expensive luxury.

My 2¢.

johnrhansen said:

I only live 5 miles from work too, but I don't ride my bike. I have to be at work at 6 am, and I prefer not to ride in the dark, during the coldest part of the day. Call me wimpy.. but I do live in rainy Seattle! I still somehow managed to put 20,000 miles on my leaf in the past 14 months. It's cheap transportation. You might be driving it on trips where you and your wife go together too. Who says gas is going to remain cheap during the next few years. Lots of geopolitical stuff going on right now.

Click to expand...

You'll note that the OP lives in the Bay Area, as do I, and even on the winter solstice civil twilight is at 6:52 a.m. and 5:24 p.m. in San Francisco. I admit my willingness to commute by bike every day would undoubtedly wilt a bit (or more likely mildew) if I had to do it in Seattle's climate. But lots of people in Seattle and Portland do bike commute daily, so it's not as if you can't. Fenders, raingear and plenty of lights and reflectors are required, along with the willingness to do it.

As to the price of gas, riding a bike now doesn't preclude getting an EV later if gas prices do go up, and waiting means that the OP can get a better and/or cheaper EV down the road that can be used for far more than just commuting/errands and short trips. As dgpcolorado says, there is no economic justification for getting an EV car with that short a commute, unless you also use it for lots of trips outside work.