Would a Leaf be for me?

[tcpace]

First of all, let me say hello, and thanks for taking a moment to read/answer this.

I'm a pizza delivery driver. I generally drive anywhere from 30 miles on a slow shift to up to 130-150 on a really busy weekend shift. I'm considering leasing a Leaf using the money that I am paid for fuel usage on the job. The range, as I understand it, would be the biggest limiting factor, though I can plug it in at work while not actually driving. I've crunched some numbers and come up with about $250/month I receive for fuel reimbursement (varies obviously, so far this year, I've gotten $2923.91). Being actual owners, you guys have the real world knowledge to help me out, so would this be a viable choice for me?

Thanks again,
Thomas Pace

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Pizza delivery is an interesting application. Assuming your deliveries are mostly on surface streets you can figure on higher range than you would if you had to do much on the highway. Refer to the famous Tony Williams range chart:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you get one with 6kw L2 charging rate and you have an L2 station at the pizza store, you can figure on putting back about 25 miles of driving for every hour it is plugged in, or 12 miles per hour on the 3.3 kw models. L1 would probably be useless at only 4 miles/hour.

Only you can assess whether the time driving vs parked at the store would be enough to fill the shortfall in a busy shift. Would you have access to a gas car just in case you had to make a delivery and the Leaf was run dry?

 

[tcpace]

Im not sure i could manage to get a charging station installed just for me, so I would be doing the standard 110 charge. Yes, though, I would have access to another car. Just trying to get away from having a single car and leaving wife + kids at home with nothing.

As for the mileage, I'm only just now keeping a record of that, so it'll be a few weeks/months before Ican accurately guess at mileage used.

 

[mwalsh]

First of all, let me say hello, and thanks for taking a moment to read/answer this.

I'm a pizza delivery driver. I generally drive anywhere from 30 miles on a slow shift to up to 130-150 on a really busy weekend shift. I'm considering leasing a Leaf using the money that I am paid for fuel usage on the job. The range, as I understand it, would be the biggest limiting factor, though I can plug it in at work while not actually driving. I've crunched some numbers and come up with about $250/month I receive for fuel reimbursement (varies obviously, so far this year, I've gotten $2923.91). Being actual owners, you guys have the real world knowledge to help me out, so would this be a viable choice for me?

Thanks again,
Thomas Pace

I personally would go with the Volt. Around 40 miles EV on days when that's sufficient and around 40mpg after that on days when it's not. And you should be able to get into one with a sub-$300 lease.

 

[pkulak]

Yup, go with the Volt. Unless you are in the PNW and have quick chargers all over the place that you could drop into once in the middle of your busy days.

EDIT: Though, I've heard that the Volt mileage penalty is $0.25 a mile (vs $0.15 on the Leaf). 12000 miles a year is only ~33 miles a day, so you'll have a really good chance of going over.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

What LTLFT said. Plus:

30 miles is easy

Is the 130-150 mile busy weekend shift one day? Or two or three days?

65-75 miles/day may be doable if you plug in a lot, but if you're busy, you may not have much time to charge.

Also, where are you? Hills, cold, bad weather, all eat range.

Having that other car will save you on busy days.

 

[mwalsh]

Do you also carry a loan on your current car? A lease or loan will mean you'll have to carry fully comp insurance vs. a car you may only (be obligated to) carry liability on. Don't forget to factor any additional insurance premiums into your calculations!

 

[tcpace]

I didn't want to go with the volt since the money for this would come from what Iget paid for fuel usage (which iIwould need for the volt, thus making me have to put personal money into. I hhaven't factored in insurance yet since I'm not sure this is even viable. The busy shifts are 2 days out of the week (Saturday/Sunday) though Thursdayand fFridayare hit or miss.

 

[DanCar]

The leaf may work for you depending upon where you live and work. You get excellent range when you drive slow and not heavy on the accelerator and brake. On the busy weekends you can swap out later in the day for the other car.

You might want to wait for 2015 model which may bring increased range:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14298&p=325010&hilit=range+sooner#p325010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[ggodman]

Just my 2 cents, have a leaf and a volt, for your situation a volt is more practical and the cost for both is about the same with the current lease deals, 2013 leaf back in June in so cal was about 320 all in, 2k down 15K miles not 12K.

A couple things to be aware of with both cars is for my situation anyways the insurance and registration we both quite expensive because of the sticker price of the car I'm guessing, so I would advise getting numbers for those before doing anything.

I've had my leaf since June 2011, love it but I don't really see how it would work for you unless you left it home on busy days and took you gas powered car, with the volt if you able to plug in at work for opportunity charging and if you stay in battery all the time great, but if not you are not limited, it would really be ideal for the kind of driving delivery involves I would think.

 

[smkettner]

Slow days the LEAF will work. Busy days you will be burning gasoline.
Even if you dropped LEAF at home by the time it charged enough your shift would be over.
Maybe a RAV4-EV?

 

[Nubo]

First of all, let me say hello, and thanks for taking a moment to read/answer this.

I'm a pizza delivery driver. I generally drive anywhere from 30 miles on a slow shift to up to 130-150 on a really busy weekend shift. I'm considering leasing a Leaf using the money that I am paid for fuel usage on the job. The range, as I understand it, would be the biggest limiting factor, though I can plug it in at work while not actually driving. I've crunched some numbers and come up with about $250/month I receive for fuel reimbursement (varies obviously, so far this year, I've gotten $2923.91). Being actual owners, you guys have the real world knowledge to help me out, so would this be a viable choice for me?

Thanks again,
Thomas Pace

The first question has to be, what is your yearly mileage? Sounds like you'd be well over even the 15,000 miles/year lease option. And I imagine the point of this is that you'd be driving the car for personal use also?

As far as charging, you don't necessarily need them to "install a charging station just for you". The L1 EVSE can be upgraded to work on 240V. So if they have a 240 socket available (or are willing to install just a receptacle), you'd have the option of Level2 charging. See evseupgrade.com

 

[JeremyW]

If you are young, insurance is going to wipe out any savings. Period. I know this personally (I'm 25).

Get a used gen 2 Prius.

 

[LeftieBiker]

You could have gotten a Prius PHEV if you'd acted earlier - and found one - for about $250 a month with ~$1k down, if you don't have to pay tax on your lease. Despite the low EV-only range (you'd probably get about 15 miles EV) the PIP can easily average 85MPG over 100 miles. It would also be an interesting test for the PIP's battery!

 

[ksnogas2112]

Location? If you're in a cold winter climate then you'll not get the range you expect and will need to run the defrost/heater to keep the steam from the pizzas off the windows. Nice thing about the Leaf is the flat "trunk". It keeps the pizzas level.