Dumbest thing someone has said to you about your Leaf?

[kawh]

i just had to start this topic.

i love this car so much that i offered a test drive to any interested coworkers at lunch.
one said a polite "no thanks," then added that she didn't want to think about what might happen if it was driven into a lake! (no kidding here, no irony... a concerned question.)

really??? is this where people's heads go when they contemplate driving an electric car??? just curious if others have had similar encounters. (btw -- no lakes anywhere near here in northern california.)
kawh

 

[LEAFfan]

After I told a car sales guy that it was 100% all electric he asked me if it used any gasoline? :lol: :lol:

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Along those lines I was showing someone the Honda generator we have for hurricanes and they asked "does it run on gas?"

 

[kovalb]

Me: "It's an electric car."
Other guy: "So what kind of gas mileage does it get?"

Strange but true. :roll:

 

[TonyWilliams]

Me: "It's an electric car."
Other guy: "So what kind of gas mileage does it get?"

Strange but true. :roll:

I've had this, almost word for word.

When I told my mother that I was getting an electric car, she asked why I would want a golf cart.

When I offered to give her a LEAF or Volt for a retirement gift, she said she didn't want anything that would raise her electric bill.

So, what if it only raised it $10, and that replaced $100 of driving in her old ICE? No, still doesn't want to raise electric bill. (I offered the Volt to counter the "can't drive 500 miles at will" comments).

 

[TRONZ]

I once found a guy holding a lecture to his kids in front on my car. He was explaining to them that the LEAF was Socialism... the Government was giving these cars away... but nobody wanted them. I politely listened to him until he was done. When he suddenly realized it was actually MY car, his wife grabbed the poor kids and they quickly pushed them down the sidewalk. I just got in and drove off but it was very crazy and sad.

 

[abasile]

For us, it was something along the lines of, "Did you know that hybrid and electric cars can kill children?"

The idea is that their quietness makes them dangerous. I have explained that the LEAF has a noisemaker!

 

[padamson1]

TRONZ said:

He was explaining to them that the LEAF was Socialism... the Government was giving these cars away... but nobody wanted them.

Wow what is it with some people these days. Liberals point at SUV's and say the Republicans are using are tax dollars to subsidize gas so we'll buy them then Tea Party pyscho's point at hybrid's and say the government is forcing us to buy them even though there is an endless supply of oil in Alaska (that those f%@#in liberals won't let us touch).

The latter is of course directly a function of FOX News & conservative talk radio, but what is driving the former? Is our educational system so bad that people will believe anything they read or hear without actually thinking and then investigating to confirm that there a actual facts to back up assertions?

So nobody wants a LEAF huh? Well considering only liberal sites like Plug-Cars cite the problem as supply and not demand, I can easily see how someone could think this. But after I hear or read something I make a habit of checking the opposite new source e.g. if I read it in the WSJ, what does the NYT say? FOX News reports this, so what is the Daily Show or CNN slant on that? Oddly enough I rarely check on NPR these days b/c it usually turned out to be accurate, even if with a left sided filter.

This country will never become independent of foreign oil or get back into the economic lead if people can't actually think for themselves. I really love this forum b/c everybody has a different reason for having a LEAF, its great to see people thinking for themselves!

 

[TRONZ]

From the look on his his face, this guy knew he was shoveling BS and why they evacuated as soon as a knowledgable person showed up. I just felt bad for the kids being lied to like that.

 

[davewill]

From the look on his his face, this guy knew he was shoveling BS and why they evacuated as soon as a knowledgeable person showed up. I just felt bad for the kids being lied to like that.

Luckily the thicker the BS, the more likely the kids are to categorically reject it when they get older.

 

[kieodadie]

A car salesperson asked me if the Leaf has 4 or a 6 cylinder engine.

 

[rawhog]

.

 

[PDXLeafer]

A guy who drives a big truck told me when I mentioned my electric car 'yeah, but I heard they actually cost a lot more in electricity than I spend in gas!'

I was almost speechless, but not quite

 

[mbutter]

I once found a guy holding a lecture to his kids in front on my car. He was explaining to them that the LEAF was Socialism... the Government was giving these cars away... but nobody wanted them.

I would have loved to hear his explanation of the 'Hummer/SUV Business Tax Incentive' a few years back. :roll:

 

[Nekota]

I can't remember the exact question but it was along the line of how are you going to dispose of the toxic battery?

 

[EVDRIVER]

"I see the solar panel on the roof. I guess you never need to charge it". My favorite form a Prius tech at the dealer, " In our Prius training we were taught that the battery in the LEAF can blow up and start a fire, that's why Toyota is waiting to build an EV, the batteries are not good enough but Toyota is working on ones that are". What a hybrid synergy drive head.

 

[kballs]

Something along the lines of "Have you heard anything about them building battery recycling infrastructure? I really hope they have a way to recycle that battery because lithium is a really toxic heavy metal."

Then I corrected him and said Lithium is the lightest metal, is more or less non-toxic, you could eat it [and be really relaxed], if needed you could dump it in a landfill without much negative effect except the space it takes up, and that the battery packs are big so there is pretty minimal labor to get a LOT of lithium for recycling so it has a strong economic case. I noted that Nissan has stated they will recycle Leaf batteries at end of life. I also noted that lead-acid car batteries have a really high recycling rate even though lead is pretty cheap so it's not a big leap to recycling big lithium batteries.

I said that the toxic heavy metal they were thinking of was probably cadmium, which is prevalent in small rechargeable batteries for electronics and power tools and was indeed a highly toxic heavy metal, and that no production electric cars use that (or ever will) because it's so heavy and isn't competitive on energy density even though cost is lower.

 

[Boomer23]

I once found a guy holding a lecture to his kids in front on my car. He was explaining to them that the LEAF was Socialism... the Government was giving these cars away... but nobody wanted them. I politely listened to him until he was done. When he suddenly realized it was actually MY car, his wife grabbed the poor kids and they quickly pushed them down the sidewalk. I just got in and drove off but it was very crazy and sad.

This one still has my mouth hanging open in disbelief. I'm glad it was you, tronz, and not me. I wouldn't have been able to sleep afterwards.

 

[Volusiano]

For us, it was something along the lines of, "Did you know that hybrid and electric cars can kill children?"

The idea is that their quietness makes them dangerous. I have explained that the LEAF has a noisemaker!

My daughter went to a show choir summer camp attended by adult teachers. She mentioned to them that her dad (me) just bought a Leaf 100% electric. Somebody spoke up and said they heard it's already killed several people because it's like a silent weapon.

 

[Ready2plugin]

I can't remember the exact question but it was along the line of how are you going to dispose of the toxic battery?

I've gotten this one several times.