The LEAF's exceedingly slow rollout

[tps]

Even as Nissan announces their 5000th LEAF delivery, as one who reserved last year, I'm probably still realistically looking at 40 more weeks or so (late spring 2012) before my LEAF is deliivered. (I've thought of making a chalk mark on my dashboard each time I visit the gas station while I'm waiting; I estimate 20 or so $50 fillups.) What puzzles me most about the rollout process is Nissan's insistance on rolling out by state boundries. They've said it is about charging infrastructure, but for the most part, in this chicken and egg problem, the car has come first and charging infrastructure has followed. Is it any wonder that there's still virtually no charging infrastructure in this area? Nissan has said it's about service. True, my dealer doesn't have the chargers installed yet, but they do have they training. already. So I'm not sure what the real reason for the long staged rollout is, I can only guess that the real beneficiary is somehow Nissan's marketing effort. I have to feel as if with this long rollout, not to mention the fact that Nissan tried to "convert" me to a Versa at the Drive Electric event of all places, Nissan seems to be shooting themselves in the foot.

Most of my friends have long ago tired of my LEAF enthusiasm. They keep saying "Why don't you just get the damn car, already!" I think it would be a lot easier to show my support for the EV movement if I had a real car instead of just a poster.

The LEAF itself is great. I showed the Hertz LEAF to many people during the two days I had it, and got uniformly positive response. It worked perfectly for my daily commute and routine. But Nissan's seemingly arbitrary rollout process is very frustrating, to say the least. (I can't imagine how it must be for those in states past Tier 4.)

 

[TonyWilliams]

They keep saying "Why don't you just get the damn car, already!" I think it would be a lot easier to show my support for the EV movement if I had a real car instead of just a poster.

Why not buy an orphan? That wasn't much of an option 6 months ago, but it is now. There are some out there; you just have to get-you-one.

I'll sell you mine. Even drive it to you !!!

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

At first I thought the roll out process was a good idea, making sure all the ducks are in a row but now i'm not so sure. I think Nissan risks a lot of pent up demand possibly giving up the wait and moving on to something else. I have used the Dealer's charging station once. I've used something other than my garage just a couple of times. And as you point out, even here in Tier 1, there is essentially a small smattering of a network, a network I'm surprised to find I may hardly use because as it turns out the 100 mile range is really quite adequate for metro driving.

I speculate in thinking they are rolling out slowly so that issues are caught before multiplied exponentially. So far, it seems that there are no major problems, so why not just release it everywhere and dramatically ramp up production. there has got to be a good reason because in reality the average metro driver could run this car from their garage charging station without the network and without noticing much in the way of restrictions... and the more cars are out there asking for a network, the faster that network will happen.

 

[evnow]

Why not buy an orphan? That wasn't much of an option 6 months ago, but it is now. There are some out there; you just have to get-you-one.

I think so too. For people in the "last 22" states, just get an orphan (esp. now with MY11 prices) and ship it to your state.

 

[tps]

Why not buy an orphan? That wasn't much of an option 6 months ago, but it is now. There are some out there; you just have to get-you-one.

Maybe I should ask the question, Why should I have to go though that hassle just because I'm "geographically challenged"? What purpose does it serve, so far as Nissan is concerned?

 

[mossyleaf]

I am dumbfounded by those who want a 12 and wish to wait and pay more when they have an option to get one now. Unless you need the cold weather package why??? :roll:

 

[mossyleaf]

Why not buy an orphan? That wasn't much of an option 6 months ago, but it is now. There are some out there; you just have to get-you-one.

I think so too. For people in the "last 22" states, just get an orphan (esp. now with MY11 prices) and ship it to your state.

That's what I'm talkin about!!

 

[abasile]

Why not buy an orphan? That wasn't much of an option 6 months ago, but it is now. There are some out there; you just have to get-you-one.

+1. Maybe you could find one in Tennessee at MSRP. Or truck one from one of the nicer dealers in California. Judging by your level of enthusiasm (which many of us share), I think you'd find this quite worthwhile.

I'll sell you mine. Even drive it to you !!!

:lol: That would be one time-consuming trip! You could write a nice blog...

Maybe I should ask the question, Why should I have to go though that hassle just because I'm "geographically challenged"? What purpose does it serve, so far as Nissan is concerned?

Many on this site have questioned Nissan's decisions, but it is what it is. I think Nissan would be doing themselves a favor to get an enthusiastic early adopter such as yourself a LEAF ASAP, provided you can live without dealer support for a while. But they're not going to do that. Getting an orphan might not seem an ideal approach, but I don't think you would regret it.

 

[smkettner]

Even if all 50 states were allowed to order from the get go there would be the same number of deliveries and the same number waiting.
Just spread around differently. I think it is probably best to focus on one area at a time.

And Nissan is working on a new plant in TN to boost production.

 

[tps]

Even if all 50 states were allowed to order from the get go there would be the same number of deliveries and the same number waiting.
Just spread around differently.

Yeah, but those of us who reserved last year would at least be ahead of, as they have been called, "the unwashed millions", who didn't. It seems that Nissan holding my $99 for a year has bought me virtually nothing.

If I did buy an orphan, what becomes of the $99? Do I cancel my reservation and get it back, or do I leave my reservation in place and generate another orphan for someone else. If I generate an orphan, do I get my $99 back?

 

[evnow]

Maybe I should ask the question, Why should I have to go though that hassle just because I'm "geographically challenged"? What purpose does it serve, so far as Nissan is concerned?

I understand your frustration - having been similarly "geographically challenged". We can all speculate on Nissan is doing this - but it doesn't get us anywhere. Whatever their reasons ares, they aren't about to change that because of a few of us here at MNL.

So, I think at an individual level, the best would be buy an orphan and ship it.

Afterall, we didn't have that choice with EV1 or even Mini-E.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

If I did buy an orphan, what becomes of the $99? Do I cancel my reservation and get it back, or do I leave my reservation in place and generate another orphan for someone else. If I generate an orphan, do I get my $99 back?

Either way $99 is yours and will be refunded. $99 is also not a part of transaction with the dealer and you will get it back after car purchase

 

[kmp647]

I know you need a cold package, why not get a 2012 from a MD or Va dealer?

I can help you that . let me know

you could have an order by today and delivery by November or december

 

[smkettner]

Even if all 50 states were allowed to order from the get go there would be the same number of deliveries and the same number waiting.
Just spread around differently.

Yeah, but those of us who reserved last year would at least be ahead of, as they have been called, "the unwashed millions", who didn't. It seems that Nissan holding my $99 for a year has bought me virtually nothing.

If I did buy an orphan, what becomes of the $99? Do I cancel my reservation and get it back, or do I leave my reservation in place and generate another orphan for someone else. If I generate an orphan, do I get my $99 back?

It is unfortunate that Nissan did not give a better timeline according to the rollout and the eventual availability at the time the deposit was placed. Or maybe they did?
I do hope that if you go through the normal order process you will be first in line for your area.

If you buy an orphan I would suggest you just cancel your order at that time.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Maybe I should ask the question, Why should I have to go though that hassle just because I'm "geographically challenged"? What purpose does it serve, so far as Nissan is concerned?

Why do you care what Nissan is concerned with? Do you want a LEAF ?

If Yes, then when do you want it?

If now, get an orphan. I guarantee you would have one soon.

If that's too big a hassle (and it wouldn't be... a bigger hassle is waiting for the car), then what's the point? To belly ache about a car company. That has nothing to do with buying a car, WHICH ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU NOW.

 

[Pipcecil]

I honestly think that nissan knew it had a limited production run until things opened up in Tennessee. You can almost equate it to Triage on how nissan rolled out. It chose states based upon their openess and readiness for EVs (how that was determined, I don't know). Basicly, they saved the ones that had wounds that were easily savable. If they threw the leafs out into the wind, you could wind up with more disaster type of stories of people being stranded, etc.

Also, you have to think from their dealership perspective. They had to implement new equipment (testing machines, L2 chargers, etc.) as well as train new mechanics and even sales people. I am assuming Nissan Corporate paid for those services. They only have so much time/money to do these things, it couldn't be done all at once across 50 states. So that is something else to consider.

If you really can't wait, get an orphan as others have suggested. If not, well you can always wait for the ford focus, or other EV coming out. Yes, it sucks you have to wait, but there isn't much you can do about that. I live in Texas and besides the Leaf, all the other rollouts for EVs are NOT coming to Texas, so we only have once choice.

 

[adric22]

I thought the whole thing was obvious.. They are making them as fast as they can. There are a lot of new technologies that they are dealing with in regards to producing the vehicles. GM is having the same issue with the Volt. I suspect the Earthquake/Tsunami also put them behind a few months from where they expected to be. I am willing to bet that until the plant in Tennessee starts full production, Leafs will be hard to come by.

 

[davewill]

Also, you have to think from their dealership perspective. They had to implement new equipment (testing machines, L2 chargers, etc.) as well as train new mechanics and even sales people. I am assuming Nissan Corporate paid for those services. They only have so much time/money to do these things, it couldn't be done all at once across 50 states. So that is something else to consider.

Also, how would you react as a dealer if you'd been told how much you had to spend to get certified, but you will only get a handful of sales because the supply has to be shared with the whole country? The phased rollout allows the dealers to wait until there are a decent number of cars available before having to pony up.

 

[Volusiano]

If you wait to order a MY2012, you will pay $1900 more than the MY2011 SL at MSRP, even after you remove the additional cost of the cold weather package and the QC port (which are standard in 2012) out of the equation.

Furthermore, if you try to qualify for the EV Project with a 2011 orphan, you can apply for a $700 refund from Ecotality for the QC option after you buy an orphan, because it's an option for MY2011. You will not be able to get that $700 free option for a MY2012 because the QC port is standard and not an option anymore in MY2012.

And if you don't need the cold weather package, you don't have to eat the cost of paying for the cold weather package if you buy a 2011 orphan. Otherwise you'll have to pay for the cold weather package in a 2012 Leaf even if you don't need it.

Now that the Leaf sales is spread out to both Tier1 and Tier2, dealers have a smaller allocation of Leafs they can sell, so they'll be much less likely to discount below MSRP like Tier1 dealers used to be able to do. So buying a 2011 orphan at MSRP is a much better proposition than waiting for and paying for a 2012 Leaf order.

 

[TRONZ]

So, I think at an individual level, the best would be buy an orphan and ship it.

Or

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Or

If your ship has not come in, start swimming out to meet it.

Or...

.... you get the idea