is the leaf right for me???

I have a 75 to 78 mile round trip to work...is this EV going to work for me?
I can not charge it at work.

I am in the Atlanta Area...considering, not yet leased...

It depends on where you live (please add it to your profile, after which it will show for all to see), but most here will recommend against it regardless. If there's any way you will be able plug in, even to 110V, at work, then I'd say go for it. A quick charger near work would also do the trick, but be a little less convenient (even though I personally find my time spent at quick chargers to be remarkably productive). Explore http://www.plugshare.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (playing with the options) to find locations of quick chargers.

You want either a Volt or a Prius PHEV. If you like the EV driving experience, get the Volt. If you like using as little gas as possible, get the Prius. That sounds odd, but the Prius will get much better fuel economy from about 65 miles on than the Volt.

Not yet in my opinion - Wait until the longer range version is released then it may be perfectly good for you. While you could do this commute at first, it won't take a lot of battery degradation before you are finding yourself stuck or having to use another vehicle.

IF/when the 150 mile Leaf is released, go for it.

In the meantime, consider a PHEV or PIP if you need a vehicle now and desire to use less gas...

jorgearcelarreta said:

I have a 75 to 78 mile round trip to work...is this EV going to work for me?
I can not charge it at work.

I am in the Atlanta Area...considering, not yet leased...

Click to expand...

Many factors need to be considered, mostly temperatures, the percentage of expressway driving, and speeds driven & habits. I know these distances are working for my situation but have a moderate climate, no more than 60% expressway and the expressway speeds are safely driven @ 65 mph. Thus far the range is holding up OK (at 9500 miles) but the consensus you will find on this forum is this won't work well in the long run without having a recharging source away from home. If contingent L2 charging is available along your route this might be workable, but only makes sense if you personally have the time & desire to make it work. Understand that some of your return commutes might involve a brief charging stop to grab enough juice to make it home.

jorgearcelarreta said:

I have a 75 to 78 mile round trip to work...is this EV going to work for me?
I can not charge it at work.

I am in the Atlanta Area...considering, not yet leased...

Click to expand...

No. Current LEAF does not work for your situation.

If you have been looking at the EPA range ratings, quit doing that. They are near useless.

Based on my 41 month experience with a 2011 LEAF, the LEAF after two to three years of capacity degradation is at best a 40 to 60 mile range vehicle, and in cold weather if you like a heated cabin is more like a 30 to 35 mile range vehicle.

With 40 to 45 mph steady speeds the new LEAF will easily do 100 miles.
But Atlanta interstates are not good for that.
And range will degrade with time.
May be slower degradation in 2015 with heat resistant battery chemistry but will be two years or more before we know how much slower degradation is.
And if you get SV or SL with heat pump HVAC winter range impacts will be less.

But overall your round-trip with no work place charging in Atlanta is a bad idea for the current LEAF.

Start searching and reading about the people who carry a generator if plugshare doesn't show many public chargers on your route. Check the reviews of the public chargers to see if they are maintained. You'll be able to make it at first easily, in my 2015 I can do my 90 mile drive in 1 charge with mostly highway (60mph) no problem, I'll hit the low battery warning but not the very low warning. I do have a 120plug at work and 2 480v chargers near work too. As mentioned before no one knows if the 2015 will degrade as fast as the old batteries.

Are you willing to spend up to an hour of extra time in the winter? Either sitting at a charger or driving on side roads at 30mph? Are you willing to drive with your tires at 44psi and put up with a harsher ride?

Wait till at least January, at the Detroit show the new volt and maybe the new sonic BEV details will be out. If the new volt rumours are true you'll get 60 miles full electric and much better economy running on gas. Since many people can stretch a volt to 50+ miles now that means in good weather you should be able to do it on full electric if you want to. The Sonic BEV is rumoured to be 200 miles range for $30K. Volt should be out 2016 model year (so around Sept next year) and Sonic in mid 2016 for a 2017.

Can you update your location info via User Control Panel (near top) > Profile (left side)? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

Of those 75 to 78 miles, how much city vs. highway? Can you at least charge at 120 volts @ work much of the day? If not, I'd say forget about it unless much of the driving is well below highway speeds. At highway speeds, forget about it.

Is there a place near work where you can charge? 110 volt outlet somewhere? If you drive carefully you get about 5 miles per hour of charge off of 110. Drive carefully means driving slow and regen braking versus hard braking. So after nine hours at work you would have plenty of buffer.

jorgearcelarreta said:

I have a 75 to 78 mile round trip to work...is this EV going to work for me?
I can not charge it at work.

I am in the Atlanta Area...considering, not yet leased...

Click to expand...

without the ability to charge midday, I'd say no, the LEAF will not work well for you