LEAF is cheaper than riding the bus

The 2013 LEAF has been a game-changer for my wife and I; after 10 months and 10,000 miles, we love the car and can't imagine not having it. We have a couple of other cars but the LEAF has become our primary driver. The LEAF is so cheap to drive that it cost less to lease the LEAF than ride the bus to work as I had been doing for the past six years!

We leased the LEAF in January of 2014 so let's compare fuel expenses between 2013 (no LEAF) and 2014 with the LEAF:
Month--2013------2014 (with LEAF)
Jan - $243.98 - $18.45
Feb - $147.68 - $0
Mar - $174.86 - $146.28
Apr - $343.50 - $55.37
May - $163.49 - $97.41
Jun - $157.98 - $27.82
Jul - $236.57 - $109.33
Aug - $230.97 - $52.31
Sep - $340.29 - $0
Oct - $111.66 - $0
Nov - $91.43 - $0
Dec - $204.86

So before the LEAF I averaged $204 a month in fuel driving a few miles to a park and ride (NOT to my actual workplace), then I paid $125 a month for a bus pass to get me the rest of the way into work. (Total = $329/mo). If I actually did the full commute into work (that I do now in the LEAF) with either of our gas cars it would cost far more than that.

Now I pay $212 a month to lease the LEAF and drive to my workplace where I am able to charge for free. I drive 1,000 miles a month and usually average 230 kilowatts of energy use. (If I did NOT charge at work and did all of my charging at home, it would only cost $24/mo in electricity.) Of course you see I still buy gas because I still need my SUV for trips, home improvement, skiing, going off-highway, etc.

It's amazing how fun and inexpensive this car is to operate. We will be able to cut even more trips with the SUV if Leaf 2.0 has more than 130 miles of range (we won't buy one unless it does). Anyways, amazing car, we love it and still can't get over the fact that we can do 1,000 miles for $25.

your expenses are high. bus pass for $125?? wow. I guess its been a while since I got one but my ex-work was giving them out and they were like $40 a month but was for local service (in county) only. If you have to cross districts I could see paying more but not that much more


**edit** ok maybe your cost is in line with ours. the local pass is only $36 a month but the regional pass (as far as North Seattle) is $90 and most people would need a local pass on the other end so likely to be

$36+$90+ ?? so ya, I guess it aint cheap...

The full price of the commuter pass (out of county, like you mentioned) is $165 a month but my company subsidizes a small portion of the cost to encourage alternative transportation.

There are so many things I left out my post above, like the fact that some of those fuel charges were because I felt sorry for my wife and filled her tank and the fact that those numbers do not account for the fuel my wife no longer buys from her use of the LEAF. Nor does it account for the discounts I get for parking because it's an EV and the time savings from getting carpool lane access. I know this is a golden time for EVs and all of these perks will eventually go away, but for the past 10 months, this has all felt "too good to be true."

asimba2 said:

The full price of the commuter pass (out of county, like you mentioned) is $165 a month but my company subsidizes a small portion of the cost to encourage alternative transportation.

There are so many things I left out my post above, like the fact that some of those fuel charges were because I felt sorry for my wife and filled her tank and the fact that those numbers do not account for the fuel my wife no longer buys from her use of the LEAF. Nor does it account for the discounts I get for parking because it's an EV and the time savings from getting carpool lane access. I know this is a golden time for EVs and all of these perks will eventually go away, but for the past 10 months, this has all felt "too good to be true."

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ok, just contacted someone who does the commuter thing and actually local access is free if you have a express (intracounty) pass on the South End and his employer pays the KingCo pass so its only $90 for him

as far as cheap LEAF transportation, I am writing a blog about the costs of driving my LEAF and I am within days of my "break-even" point for the year. details to follow

Well, I have a lifetime free bus pass since I used to work for the local transit district, but I never use it. As the OP said, the Leaf is so great to drive I can't see going back to any non-electric vehicle. And it is cheap. In fact, I can actually make money driving it, or, more accurately, save more money on my taxes driving my Leaf than it costs to drive. That only applies when I drive it for a business purpose, of course, but the mileage deduction rate is so high (55 cents/mile last year) and marginal operating costs so low (less than 10 cents/mile) that anyone in the 18% marginal tax bracket or higher will come out ahead driving his Leaf, even if the trip turns out to be otherwise worthless business-wise.

Turned over my first 10,000 gas-free miles this morning.


According to the onboard telematics, I have burned 2,312.2 kilowatts (kW) of electricity worth a total of $249.71. I still can't believe I can drive 10,000 miles on $250. (ya,ya add 10% for charging inefficiency blah blah, who cares.)

Other nerdy stats:
- I average of 4.2 miles per kW (I don't conserve at all)
- I average 173 trips per month
- I have apparently spent 295.4 hours behind the wheel of this car
- On my typical commute, the motor burns 276 watt-hours per mile, I regenerate 64 watt hours by braking (per mile) and the vehicle accessories consume 9 watt hours per mile.
- I have spent zero hours at the gas station, changing the oil or doing any maintenance whatsoever.
- I have reduced tailpipe emissions by 6,061 lbs. Basically, we all owe each other beers for destroying the environment less.

I love this car for a lot of reasons and do not ever plan to buy another car with an internal combustion engine.

We have started having discussions like this at my work. For Transit (bus or rail) to be "worth it" it either has to be cheaper or faster (and hopefully both if your lucky). Because of the numerous stops, transit is usually not faster (even trains unless its longer distances or in extreme dense areas like new york) but are usually the cheaper option. The cheapest monthly transit pass (includes bus and rail - its cheaper if you buy by the month regardless of modal choice) is $80 without senior or other discount. If you use more of the system it can cost up to $160 per month. Using ~1800 miles per month I still only pay ~$40 for my car, easily beating the cheapest option. It ties for the discount option $40.

So the only benefit at this time is "reduce anxiety" from driving in traffic, which really doesn't push people to take transit vs driving solo, its more of a side benefit. As EVs become more common it could hit transit and reduce ridership unless there is some type of overhaul.

Pipcecil said:

We have started having discussions like this at my work. For Transit (bus or rail) to be "worth it" it either has to be cheaper or faster (and hopefully both if your lucky).

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When we have these discussions at work, I always have to explain more than once that what I am saying is true. I am seeing recent leases posted on this forum in the low $200s per month with nothing or <$1,000 down. The $2,500 rebate you get in California is 'worth' $70 a month if you think about it spread over 36 months, so in those cases the Leaf lease is only $150 a month plus insurance, annual tags and probably a set of tires on a 3yr lease. Transportation in any form doesn't come much cheaper.

My lease is $290 a month and a bus pass is $80. Parking would be another $40, plus $20 for electrons. My bike costs me about $200 a year to maintain, so

Leaf: $350
Bike: $17
Bus: $80

It's not really close.

Does OR do EV rebates? If so, be sure to take that out of your lease costs (unless you used it for your down payment).

pkulak said:

My lease is $290 a month and a bus pass is $80. Parking would be another $40, plus $20 for electrons. My bike costs me about $200 a year to maintain, so

Leaf: $350
Bike: $17
Bus: $80

It's not really close.

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ya!@! your "leave out everything except what pertains to your statement" chart is fine!! i get thats a tongue in cheek post.

so let me take your chart and apply it to my life. my lease is $245 a month and I pay for parking and bridge tolls all the time but all is reimbursed thru work so I will not mention that. I otherwise do not park anywhere that charges but have clients ALL over the Puget Sound region. So, I will do my chart.

LEAF; $245 lease, $35 electric, $71 insurance or $351 (which means I pay waaay more you but I also suspect your chart is incomplete. :roll: )

Bike; $2 (I ride roughly 100-200 miles a month for recreation during the Summer, less than 100 feet during the Winter but have NEVER spent that much on maintenance but staying off the streets has no doubt increased my tire life)

hospital bill (when I get hit by a car which WILL happen) $349 which means Bike is same cost as LEAF

Bus; $80. plus walking shoes $10 (i generally by running shoes twice a year and being the cheap bastard I am, i ALWAYS wait for Famous Footwear to have a sale so I can get $100 pair of shoes for $60...) plus $500 for taxi fare since there is not a bus schedule in the ENTIRE country that would allow me to meet my clients work schedule. (I chose the cheaper route of taxi fare. I do have the option to accept or decline any work assignment but doing so frequently moves me from the top of the consideration list for new job assignments which would impact my income MUCH more than taxi's would)

So, my contention is that bikes and the LEAF would be equally beneficial to me, transportation wise but since my bike offers me tranquility and a peace of mind I currently cannot obtain elsewhere (riding on a paved trail thru the woods here is very peaceful) I am afraid that tips the scales once again in favor of the LEAF (that and the fact that Olympia may rate as a "Silver" for bike riding but is still VERY dangerous if not using one of the many trails here)

Yeah, you're right. Monthly parking in downtown Portland is actually $200-$300 a month. Not sure what I was thinking with that $80 thing. And I forgot insurance and parking tickets.

Other than that, I'm not sure what point of mine you're trying to debate. Are you saying that the Leaf is saving me money vs riding the bus of biking? And you do that by assuming that anyone riding their bike will end up in the hospital once a year? I've been riding to and from work for 7 years and I've never even had a scratch, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Last I checked, though, over 30,000 people die per year in cars in the United States, so I should really be added funeral costs into my Leaf calculations, I suppose...

I'm really surprised Portland does not subsidize EV parking.

pkulak said:

Yeah, you're right. Monthly parking in downtown Portland is actually $200-$300 a month. Not sure what I was thinking with that $80 thing. And I forgot insurance and parking tickets.

Other than that, I'm not sure what point of mine you're trying to debate. Are you saying that the Leaf is saving me money vs riding the bus of biking? And you do that by assuming that anyone riding their bike will end up in the hospital once a year? I've been riding to and from work for 7 years and I've never even had a scratch, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Last I checked, though, over 30,000 people die per year in cars in the United States, so I should really be added funeral costs into my Leaf calculations, I suppose...

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oh not a debate. just another POV. my job eliminates all but personal car or company car. what really irks me is that few can make public transportation work. my Nephew lives in downtown Seattle with his wife and they do have a car which can remain parked for days at a time. But the bus is limited for them and they have the best service available which really aint saying much. So frequently they have to drive simply because the bus either doesn't go there or doesnt go when they need it to.

Yeah. I looked into moving to Seattle a while back and I was not impressed with the public transportation. Everywhere I thought about moving to would have taken me over an hour to bus to downtown. And I'm just talking about a half dozen miles away. We would have had to become a two-car family, which I wasn't very interested in.

pkulak said:

Yeah. I looked into moving to Seattle a while back and I was not impressed with the public transportation. Everywhere I thought about moving to would have taken me over an hour to bus to downtown. And I'm just talking about a half dozen miles away. We would have had to become a two-car family, which I wasn't very interested in.

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I know 3 who commute from near Olympia to Seattle and its 75 to 90 mins depending on what they need to do when they get to Seattle and that is after the make it to their respective park and rides so its an extra 4 hours a day. not what i call an ideal solution. For my nephew and his wife who live in White Center which is convenient for them because Sister in Law lives in Port Orchard about 2 miles from the Ferry Terminal and they are 2 miles from the Terminal on the other end but its a 40 min bus ride for them so its almost two hours for them every day.