Joining the EV only club

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inphoenix

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2015
Messages
287
Location
Phoenix! AZ
I jumped on the EV bandwagon a few months ago with a Leaf S and enjoyed the experience. Decided to go for another EV with longer range and got a Tesla !! Pending the sale of my ICE SUV, I will be joining the "EV only" club. Sounds kinda crazy huh?

Any other EV only families here?
 
It is a bit crazy, but I admire your courage.
As much as I love my Leaf, I don't think my family could live without at least one ICE.
 
We purchased our last ICE back in 2008 which we just sold to replace it with a 2nd Leaf.
We have been leasing one Leaf as the everyday driver since 2013 and using the 2008 ICE as the 2nd daily driver until now.
We still have a well working large ICE SUV back from 2000 which we intend to keep as long as it lasts.

But we are now almost an EV only family..with 2 Leafs as daily drivers and one old SUV as the ICE/long trip backup..

Anything if and when we buy in future to replace the old SUV is going to be only all Electric...
 
mihird said:
But we are now almost an EV only family..with 2 Leafs as daily drivers and one old SUV as the ICE/long trip backup..

Nice!! Do you have two EVSEs? I am debating if I should buy another JuiceBox or just use the mobile connector. I wish there was an EVSE with two cables and some kind of load sharing mechanism.

(Though the garage would look pretty geeky with two cars plugged into one EVSE and cables going around them :) )
 
For my 1st Leaf I have the evseupgrade upgraded stock EVSE that I am still using from my 2013 Leaf - I just returned the 2016's stock EVSE back with the 2013 car.

I am acquiring my 2nd Leaf (2015 model) on this coming May 1st (since it is acquired as a lease transfer)...I am currently in the middle of acquiring a JuiceBox Pro 40 and getting the garage wired for it.

I believe, there are EVSE's that come with dual cords, some can charge 2 EVs simultaneously, some only 1 at a time..

You need to worry about current draw though, with a 100 AMP capable dual charinging EVSE..
 
Using start and stop timers and 2 separate EVSE's you should be able to share one circuit but I'm not a 100% sure it would be code compliant. Thats what I have, one circuit feeding (2) L14-30 outlets with 2 EVSEs each feeding a car. One car charges in the evening and the other early morning, just make sure to never run both at the same time, more than likely it would blow your breaker.
While it may be possible to purchase a EVSE with 2 output cables, more than likely it would require a 60a+ circuit and cost much more than just purchasing 2 separate EVSEs.
Our household has 2 EVs but we also have a older ICE Prius for our occasional out of town driving. I don't see how we could currently get by with just EV, the EV charging infrastructure isn't very good in MN :( Best we could do is borrow a ICE for our longer trips or I guess as some people do, rent an ICE in those cases.
 
I've now been using my 2014 SV with QC as my only vehicle since August 2014. Even road trips of 200 miles are easily doable thanks to the robust QC infrastructure in the MD/DC/VA area.
 
Considering that I have a Model 3 on order (actually 2 of them) Not sure why I ordered 2? I just was #30 in line and by the time they opened at 10AM I saw 800 people behind me and a line 3 blocks long and figured that I'd better just order 2. Anyways... as I was saying, I may or may not be a 2 EV household in a year or two.

Here's the current fleet...

1. Nissan Leaf 2015 S
2. Hyundai Sonata 2011
3. Lexus IS300 2001
4. Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster 2005 (almost forgot about that one)

We originally planned on selling the Lexus when we bought the leaf a year and a half ago, but my wife loves the car and its been tremendously reliable, so we just park it at her work and leave it there. I think we put all of 500 miles a year on it now. We were a bit cautious in selling it for the random day that we both needed long range vehicles. This has happened all of maybe 2 times in the past year and a half, and both days it wasn't raining, so I could have used the Harley or found quick chargers.

Once the Model 3 gets here, we have a few options.

1. Sell the Leaf and the Lexus, keep the Tesla and the Hyundai - This is my wife's preference, but I kind of want to keep the Leaf. The battery in the 2015 has been holding up well and I have a 52mi RT commute, so it will likely be able to do this for many years to come. However, if we can get $10-11K for our Leaf, I'll probably just sell it.

2. Keep the Leaf and the Tesla - Sell the Hyundai and the Lexus - I doubt I'll be able to convince the wife of this one. Also this makes me a little nervous cause the Leaf battery will degrade significantly at some point and I doubt paying $5K for a replacement will be my best option. Also presents charging challenges at home, but not that often as my wife mainly charged at work.

3. Keep the Leaf, Tesla, and Hyundai - Then we have a 3 car household, probably will hardly even drive the Hyundai though, and it will continue to depreciate. Paying insurance on it will not make a lot of sense, etc...

Oh but then there's option #4! Buy 2 Tesla Model 3's and sell everything else! This would be awesome! Just have to confirm that we pay enough in taxes to take both credits ($15K), otherwise we'd have to break the purchases into two calendar years.

And in all cases I keep the Harley because that was a pre-marriage acquisition, meaning that if I ever sell it, I will never be allowed to get another one.

As far as charging goes... I don't think there's any way that this working without an extra line being run. Theoretically I could have a 16A L2 charger for the Leaf and a 32A for the Tesla on my panel, but that would require both cars to be parked in the garage, which isn't really going to work in our scenario. I mean really? How many people actually can fit two cars in a two car garage?
 
If I sold my none running classic VW's I could join. But. I love them. 71 VW camper and 67 VW bug. I'd love to use a salvaged Nissan Leaf to convert them but I'm no metal machinist.
 
We use our 2013 Leaf for any R/T 85 miles or less. We use our 2012 ICE for back-up and any R/T greater than 85 miles up to about 500 miles. Any trips greater than 500 miles R/T we rent an ICE, usually for one or two weeks. In June we will be taking a two week cross country trip that will use about 7,000 miles and in August another trip for one week with about 2,000 miles, both with rentals.
 
We have been in EV only family for quite sometime :

2015 Tesla Model S (it's already been coast-to-coast and Mexico to Canada, plus Florida to Massachusetts)

2012 and 2014 Toyota RAV4 EVs- company cars

2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class ED

All four cars are quite capable of driving over 100 miles in addition to all being capable of fast charging with CHAdeMO with our company's "JdeMO" or Tesla CHAdeMO adapter, as applicable.

With a well-developed fast charge network, plus Tesla Superchargers for the Model S, all of which are constantly growing, I will never drive gasoline cars again (or even keep one as a standby car).

I have two Tesla Model 3 cars on order.
 
DanCar said:
Dreaming of the day that most of us will be able to afford a car with Tesla like specs.

Or we can also dream of a day when Tesla like spec. cars become affordable to most of us :)
 
Well... We have 2 daily driver Leafs, custom electric bicycles and electric lawn mowers/yard equipment and some solar, but I own quite a few gas vehicles (1 licensed Jeep) and a Harley (licensed) and Suzuki motorcycle. So not technically EV only, but generally! I find that having 2 electric cars actually more than doubles the experience. One example of this is when one car is depleted, you can many times just jump into the other and complete your tasks for the day when necessary.

On another note... We have two AeroVironment Level 2 charge stations and are on the SRP (EV) Time of Use plan. We also have 2 upgraded Panasonic EVSE's.
 
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On May 1, we managed to acquire our 2nd Nissan Leaf in the family, as a lease transfer from a local Craigslist Advt. We sold our previous Nissan Rogue gas commuter a month ago, and had been on the lookout for a 2014 or 2015 lease transfer. In a few days, we were able to locate a local 2015 SV listed for a lease transfer.

We are now a proud EV only family with a 2015 SV (black) and a 2016 SV (Blue)...
 
mihird said:
4f721a32-91ba-4da3-b4d5-63b752ea6310.jpg


On May 1, we managed to acquire our 2nd Nissan Leaf in the family, as a lease transfer from a local Craigslist Advt. We sold our previous Nissan Rogue gas commuter a month ago, and had been on the lookout for a 2014 or 2015 lease transfer. In a few days, we were able to locate a local 2015 SV listed for a lease transfer.

We are now a proud EV only family with a 2015 SV (black) and a 2016 SV (Blue)...

Congrats.

The carpool exemption sticker on the black Leaf is in a rather odd place. I know with most BEVs and PHEVs there really isn't a good spot for the large ones that go on the rear sides, but I think he or she could have put a bit more thought into their placement. The instructions on the envelope even say on the rear quarter panels "behind the wheel wells." On my both my Leaf and eGolf I put them very low on the rear bumper sides, basically at mudflap level. That is also the suggested placement on the diagram on the envelope.
 
Yep. Unfortunately since I took over someone's lease on the black one, it came with the stickers.

I have noticed that trend in CA. People are pushing those car pool stickers as low as possible & they look better being pushed down. I hate their looks especially on these darker colored cars.

I can't imagine how hurt people must be feeling putting them on Tesla paint jobs.

Anyways, last 2 days the Leafs are fighting over a shared EVSE but I am getting a Juicebox pro 40 installed this coming weekend.

I can never think of going back to gas commuting.
 
Congrats Mihird,

I think I had also reached out this Black Leaf owner for a possible lease takeover and was told that he has someone local. I know what you mean by shared EVSE. My Tesla and Leaf have the same fight at this time. Luckily Tesla does not need to be charged everyday so we are doing ok so far.
 
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