I made gas prices largely obsolete

A little over 3 months I'm at 4,100 miles.
Power wise that's about 1 mega watt hour I have put into the leaf or about 70 to $100 worth of power.
Saving about $740 in gas.
That means about $220 more dollars per month to spend on cocane, hookers and booze.
I was only projecting about a 100 to $150 per month savings, max. I'm closer to $220 per month which was unexpected. That changes the ecpected pay off to about 3 years. I was expecting 4 to 6 years.

 

I'm glad to hear your investment is paying off for you. Hopefully it continues to do so...

 

Here driving an electric vehicle is legal tax evasion.

They figure since there are only about 1.5 vehicles per 1000 that are electric national wide so the fed isn't going to touch it. Plus most of those cars being on the left coast that new Mexico probably figures more like 0.5 per 1,000 it would cost more to implement and apply a "electric vehicle tax scheme" than what it would ever collect at least for the foreseeable future.

And how do the rich get rich and stay rich?
One way is they avoid paying taxes...

So you pay income tax, then buy fuel with that taxed income and pay fuel taxes that you put in your car that you pay taxes on...

 

I replaced 2 of the bridgestone ecopia tires with made in Roanoke VA Yokohama avid ascend tires that are also low rolling resistance. But energy economy went down from 4.5 to 4.7 miles per kwh to 3.7 miles per kwh. But after 200 miles I am back up to 4.3 miles per kwh.
If I can't get back up to about 4.4 after about 2000 miles I'm going to have to go back to the ecopia tires.
The Yokohama tires are better in every way but rolling resistance.
I believe they are tied or really close for longevity.
That leaf will light up the ecopia tires with the traction control off. I barely get a chirp out of the Yokohama tires.

 

My leaf needs an oil change.
The little single gear transaxle with parking lock appears to have its original transmission oil in it.
Nissan does not recommend changing the gear oil on the 2011, but by 2015 they have a 110,000 mile oil change recommendation.
Since I beat the crap out of my leaf, use it like a half ton pickup some times and 110,000 miles is after the warranty is up I'm suspicious.
I found pictures on the Internet of a guy that changed the oil in his leafs transaxle after 80,000 and it looked almost like used motor oil.
It only takes 1.5 quarts of oil so might as well.

 

I noticed gas and diesel prices went up...

 

Gas went up 10 cents here.

 

I see people blocking roads again.
The good thing about the leaf is you don't hear the engine rev up. It just takes off like a bat out of hell with no sound.
The motor direct drives the wheels through a single gear 8.1:1 gear ratio, no torque converter or clutch or clutches.
And it's so low to the ground if you go under it, you're done.

 

The leaf rolled over 7,000 miles on the trip odometer I reset when I got it.
Had this been a gasoline vehicle I would have had to of changed the motor oil by now, once for sure and be coming up on the second one.
I don't miss doing that.
By Nov 2 I will have racked up over 3,000 miles in 2 months.
Meaning I would have burned up to $500 worth of gasoline.
That's $250 per month in gasoline.
I was projecting more like $150 per month.
So if this keeps up the pay back time moves up even faster, around 3 years or less.

 

Put a windmill on the roof of the car, and recharge the battery, while you're driving down the road!

 

When I first got the car I was worried about range.
I was going to build a tow bar rig.
That way I could be pulled along by another car or truck and let the brake regen charge the battery.
Since my wifes car, my firebird and most of the people I know have 2 inch ball hitch on their vehicles.
Charging with a 120v generator only gives about 1 mile of driving per 12 minutes of charging.
Pulling the car with another vehicle can generate 1 mile of driving range per mile of pulling.
If you "ride the brake" which intensifies regen with out actually engaging the hydraulic brakes can force charge 2 or 3 miles of driving for every mile towed, but I don't want to flog the batt like that.

But I'm not that worried about it now.

 

Phoning a friend for a tow would be far cheaper than calling a tow truck and use a lot less gas and be around 100x faster than a generator.
But I have yet to construct the tow bar as I now see no need for it.

 

Just wait till you have to replace the battery’s. $$$$$$

 

I'm really not worried about the battery.
I already have plans for the old one.
The "old one" will probably still be at 80% capacity when I replace it.
I don't know if I want a brand new 30kwh 2017-2018YM replacement from nissan for around $6,500 attempt to make a 2019+ 60kwh battery fit. Or get a reconditioned 3rd party direct replacement battery using a mix of used cells for around $2,000.
I will probably sell it after I lose some battery capacity and buy another newer one that's recently had a batt change under warranty like I did with this one.
Or I may buy a slightly wrecked one with a good battery, take the battery, part out the rest.

 

Last month numbers are in.
I ran up nearly 1,500 miles on the leaf.
My electric economy is down about 10% due to cooler temperatures.
The leaf used about 375 kwh.
My total bill divided by kwh used was $0.096 per kwh.
Or $36 to power my leaf.
If I had driven the firebird it would have cost $255 in gas and I would be 1/3 of the way through that oil change.
That's assuming best case scenario summer time fuel economy in the firebird.

 

My leaf has the optional DC rapid charger, which I have never used.
So I bought a portable second hand 10kw single phase 240v powered fast charger.
A full power 3 phase rapid charger can charge the battery at up to 50kw.

My gen 1 car only charges at 3.8kw using the built in charger, in 2013 and up all electric cars they can charge at up to 6.6kw.
(Note, all plug in hybrids use a max of 3.3 to 3.8kw charging and don't have rapid charging)

That means to replenish 20kwh of battery power with a 3.8kw charger would take around 5 hours.
The current 6.6kw standard can do it in a little over 3 hours.
This 10kw charger can do it in 2.

 

Man this stuff is always changing.
CHadeMO fast charging standard used by nissan, Toyota, honda and zero bike used to be limited to 48 or 50kw depending on the source of the information.
Now it's 62.5kw.
That could charge my car in like 20 minutes or less.
Not that there will be one like that around here any time soon.