Have a Leaf as your only vehicle?

[firtree]

Greetings,

I'm new, though have been silently reading the posts for a while. I'd very much like to lease a Leaf, however it would be my one and only car. I'm in the SF Bay area, a little farther out from everything I love (Vallejo), and leave town often to get things done, i.e it's about 30 miles to Oakland, but only 17 miles to Bart, which is what I usually do. I do very much love going to the ocean (HMB), and I suppose I could change my destination to Ocean Beach to have more charging options available, but it's still quite a lot of miles - 46 one way - if I go straight there and do not deviate. Also, I wonder about the days I have many errands to run... How quickly can I charge in between? Has this proved cumbersome for anyone? And then there's the occasional visitor from out of town. I could rent a car for the sightseeing adventures and it's not that often. I'm fairly certain I'd have to rent a car for trips to Shasta or Tahoe (which aren't that often either).

I'm just curious how others are managing with a Leaf as their one and only? Do you wish you had an extra car? Do you rent gas cars often -- find that you make longer trips more than you thought you would? If I still lived in Oakland, I wouldn't be so concerned. Living in Vallejo now adds a lot of extra miles to any destination.

Many thanks!

 

[johnqh]

Doable if you have a zipcar around. The money you save is more than enough to pay for occasional zipcar rentals.

 

[Klayfish]

I don't know I'd recommend the LEAF as the one and only car. It's realistic range is in the 75 mile range, maybe less depending on terrain, etc... If you're going 46 miles one way, you may have some serious range anxiety. Unless you had a place to charge at your destination.

As far as charging speed, with 110V, I charge from 30% to about 80% overnight...roughly 12 hours. If you have access to 220V (L2) charging, you can charge up to 4 times quicker. You could charge a very low battery to full in about 4 hours, I believe (haven't tried this yet). If there are quick charge (QC) public stations, you can charge even faster. But they're few and far between.

I'm very happy with my LEAF, but I don't know I'd want it if I didn't have ready and easy access to a conventional car.

 

[johnrhansen]

I say to use your trip meter to find out. Reset it to zero every time you leave your house and you've been parked for 2 hours. See how many times it goes over 75. This is assuming you have a place to have your own level 2 charger installed. If you can't, then it can't be your only car in my opinion. There have been many times during the day when I stop at home, eat, change clothes, and do other things while the car is charging and then head out later for another adventure. You can't do that charging level 1. I still have my truck, but mostly because I can't sell it. I rarely use it.

 

[RonDawg]

If this is going to be your only car, one with a quick-charge port is important, and getting one with the faster 6.6 kW (6.0 actual) on-board charger is a MUST for faster charging at public J1772's when QC is not available. That means a Leaf S with the optional charge package at the very least.

You may want to check out PlugShare to see what public charging opportunities exist between your home and your desired destinations. On the Peninsula, it shows two CHAdeMO quick chargers in downtown SF, one in Daly City at the Westlake Center, one at Serramonte Nissan, and several along Highway 101 all the way into San Jose. (The Leaf is not compatible with the Tesla SuperChargers, or the SAE Combo/"FrankenPlug" quick chargers should they eventually become a reality.)

I still have my previous car as my "range extender" and since January I have only used it less than a half-dozen times for trips that the Leaf cannot make. I drive it once a month just so it doesn't rot from lack of use. So having a Leaf as your only car does work, but you will have to do some pre-planning.

As already mentioned, rental cars and car-sharing memberships can serve as your backup. Some Nissan dealers throw in some free rentals as well as part of their One2One program. Mine gave me 10 free rental days but I have yet to use any of them. If there is a Hertz Local Edition convenient to you, many of them now have a "Hertz 24/7" service that lets members rent at any hour, for as little as an hour.

BTW "inherently low emission" vehicles like the Leaf qualify for a reduced bridge toll rate on state-owned crossings when you use a FasTrak transponder and drive through the HOV-only toll booth position, once you get your HOV stickers (which will also let you can also use the carpool lanes). This applies even if you are alone in your Leaf. The Leaf qualifies for the white sticker which also qualifies you to use the HOV toll booth position on the Golden Gate Bridge, which does not extend the same privilege to green sticker cars like the Volt.

 

[firtree]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all the helpful replies. @RonDawg, thank you for the charging info, laid out so clearly. Really appreciate that. Yes, I've been looking at PlugShare to see what charging opps there are venturing out to HMB. It might be doable if I have the on-board charger, and take a different route than my usual. How long does a quick charge take?

Most days I don't go anywhere close to 75 or even 20 miles. Then there are the days I need to, so I get that planning is the key... and yes, car rentals / car-sharing memberships are a great option and probably more cost effective than keeping my current car as a back up as it's very, very old and ready to retire. We sadly don't have those options here, but I would certainly have enough range to drive to wherever and pick up the rental/share, which are rapidly growing in the Bay Area.

Thanks also for the Hertz Local Edition info. I checked and we do NOT have one, however the general manager said she's been pushing for it. I gave her my contact info and said I and everyone I know will get behind it and go to the council meetings to support it if she'll tell the city they want to be here. That would be a very cool thing.

Didn't know about the possible free rentals from the dealership. Nice.

I want to get a sense of "real world usage", so this is very helpful.

 

[adric22]

I can't speak from experience since we have two cars and the other is a Volt. So we always have long range when we need. But, I think a Leaf could seriously work as an only car depending on the person and their needs. As others have mentioned, I would think DC fast charge should be heavily considered, especially if you have DC fast charge stations in your part of town.

 

[RonDawg]

How long does a quick charge take?

30 minutes or less to 80%.

Thanks also for the Hertz Local Edition info. I checked and we do NOT have one, however the general manager said she's been pushing for it. I gave her my contact info and said I and everyone I know will get behind it and go to the council meetings to support it if she'll tell the city they want to be here. That would be a very cool thing.

There are two Hertz 24/7 locations near I-80 on the other side of the Carquinez Bridge: one at San Pablo Dam Road, and another on San Pablo Ave near Buchanan St. The second one appears to be easily reachable via public transportation from Richmond BART; if there's bus service between there and Vallejo, you might be able to just leave your Leaf at home. EDIT: there appears to be bus service between the Vallejo Transit Center and El Cerrito del Norte BART, which is even closer to the second Hertz 24/7 location.

This of course if you need to rent after normal business hours, otherwise you can use your local (non-24/7) Hertz Local Edition. There is also the option of taking BART to SFO or OAK to rent a car, but being airport locations you will pay through the nose in concession and other added fees/taxes.

http://www.hertz247.com/Location/HLE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Reddy]

If you go with a Leaf, make sure you buy/lease from a dealership that is "along the way" to your chosen recreation. That way, in a pinch, you can stop for a top up and not feel like a leech. Also, I second the need for the 6 KW and QC package for traveling, but not necessary for in town.

 

[Epi117]

Im in Portland, this has been our only vehicle for the last six months, family of four.

Three days a week i do 60 mile trips (30 each way) other days its way less, we are avg about 900 miles per month per carwings.

So far it has worked great for us.

I only use a lev 2 charger at home.

Once in while i use a blink charger (have a free $100 gift card from blink that expires at end of year)

I rarely use free , dealer and other chargers because i wind up spending to much on coffee and snacks that always defeats the low cost of free.

I haven't had to rent a car.

 

[firtree]

Thanks again, @RonDawg, very appreciated.
@Epi117, that's very cool, thanks for your input.

 

[johnqh]

Zip car is much easier than car rental. Pick-up is instant, you can rental by hour, and gas/insurance is included.

You can pick up at Berkeley, then drive to HMB. Five hour would cost you 40$. With a one-day rental, the daily rate may be cheaper at $30, but probably use 4 gallon of gas at $16.

Of course, if you want a full-day trip, rental is cheaper. However, if you plan for whole day, you probably can use your leaf and charge somewhere during the day. Just make sure you have QC option.

 

[Levenkay]

When I bought a LEAF twenty-five months ago, I kept my previous ICE car (a '99 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX) for longer trips - mostly, visiting family 270 miles away. But I found that I was having a lot of trouble with driving the Eclipse once every two or three weeks to keep it in running trim. It gave me a scare the first time I found that its battery had gotten too flat to start, and making arrangements to turn its insurance on & off for single days at a time was an annoyance. So I handed it down to a newly-licensed nephew that Autumn, and have had a LEAF as my only owned vehicle for nearly two years now.

I've rented ICE cars two or three times for those 270-mile trips, driven the LEAF on three of them (five QCs each way) and taken the train once. Oregon's got quite a nice network of DCQC stations scattered around, and it's getting possible to do a bit of touring; especially if there's at least L1 charging at the destination(s). The newly-online Westport, OR DCQC let me make a camping trip to the Ft. Stevens state park near Astoria a couple weeks ago. I've made an experimental trip to the Mt. Hood Meadows ski area in the fall, but I got low enough on charge that I'm a bit leery of trying it when the roads are snowy.

The LEAF is working out quite well as my only vehicle, and savings on not having to insure a second car pretty much make up for the occasional (three or four times a year) ICE car rental.

 

[Phoenix]

Besides commercial car rental agencies and zipcar, there's also citycarshare in SF. You can also use peer-to-peer car share outfits such as:

getaround.com (requires facebook verification) and relayrides.com (requires text messaging capability).

I always thought it would be keen to get an ad hoc network of LEAF owners so one can hopscotch from town to town especially when there are no quick charge stations (none to date between Vacaville and Hayward along the Bay). Getaround.com and RelayRides.com offers that potential if they would only be more flexible/responsive in their procedures.

 

[Arvind]

In our 2-adults 3-seniors household, a 2013 Leaf SV has become our primary car, and a 2011 Prius is our backup/long distance car.

 

[firtree]

Levenkay, thanks so much for posting your experience. I'm feeling much more certain it will be fine as my only vehicle and yes, as others are saying, the car rental options are many.

All the feedback is super helpful, thanks to all.

 

[BoHenriksson]

After two great months of Leafingship with a 66 miles round trip commute about three times a week, I have yet to use my 06 Prius - at all! Even with some small detours for errands I generally arrive home with 20 miles left on the GOM. I plan to join the 100 mile club here some day, just for the fun
Winter may be a whole different story, but if my workplace can be persuaded to install a few plugs I will probably ditch my Prius. The money I"m saving on gas would easily pay for renting an ICE car on the odd occasion.... Or trade wheels with a friend for a few days, EVERYBODY just loves driving this thing!
Havent had this much fun driving since I got my license!

Bo

 

[loomis2]

I wouldn't recommend a Leaf as an only car, but it is perfect as a primary car. If you find yourself trying to find ways to make trips work by renting another car or rerouting/changing destinations then you are already making things more difficult than they need to be. A nice new car should be a stress reliever, not a stress creator. If you have a close friend or family member to swap cars with on occasion then that is the only way I could recommend going alone with a Leaf.

 

[johnrhansen]

Well there's one thing I'm sure my standby ICE vehicle will do that the leaf will not. Haul around dirt and yard waste, and topsoil, etc... etc.. Trouble is when I use my truck, it is usually for some family member or friend I haven't used it for any project of mine for quite some time and it's not very often I need it for anything other than a truck, but I'm glad I still have it... just in case. It's worth insuring it to have a truck around.. I wonder when tesla is going to build a pick up truck? And will they build a big one that I can do some work with?

 

[firtree]

After two great months of Leafingship with a 66 miles round trip commute about three times a week, I have yet to use my 06 Prius - at all! Even with some small detours for errands I generally arrive home with 20 miles left on the GOM. I plan to join the 100 mile club here some day, just for the fun
Winter may be a whole different story, but if my workplace can be persuaded to install a few plugs I will probably ditch my Prius. The money I"m saving on gas would easily pay for renting an ICE car on the odd occasion.... Or trade wheels with a friend for a few days, EVERYBODY just loves driving this thing!
Havent had this much fun driving since I got my license!

Bo

Well... again thanks to all for your input... It's truly appreciated AND, today I became an official Leafer, yikes! Ocean Blue S w/charge pkg. Drove from San Jose to Vallejo, and of course had to charge once. I have many questions that will be presented in other threads and are probably already answered somewhere on this forum. Right now, I'd love to know from Bo, how are you getting that range? Is it non-freeway driving? Do you have a model with the "B" mode? I definitely see how freeway driving eats miles. A little range anxiety, tho I suspect it will be fine once I get used to it, but I'd love to increase the range. 66 miles RT w/20 left? If it's on the freeway, that's great! Please tell me how!

For those who expressed their concern about the Leaf as my only car, I hear you and appreciate your thoughts. I don't think I'll need those rental/car swaps very often. When I want to go to HMB, definitely, but since moving to Vtown I don't go that often (unfortunately), so I think for most of my daily life, it will be fine. We'll see, and I'll keep you all informed