Photos from Earth Day Celebration

Driving Range of over 100 miles and charging at only 91 cents!

This is a  follow up on yesterdays entry about the projected 100 range.  I did not run out all of the charge and so I did not have an actual odometer reading of 100 mile.  But with just slightly over a 30 mile charge left, I had a little over a projected 100 mile range. Yehaaaa!!!

This morning when I unplugged and check the projected range it was 115 mile.  Not as high as yesterdays 123 miles.  However this charge was the least expensive at 91 cents.

Technology of Electric Vehicles

Many of you have heard me say that my experience with owning and driving is that this car is too good to be true. 

So I tried to think of what could go wrong, long term with this car.  So I have identified three things about this car that are unique to the Leaf. 

1.      The electric motor, or traction motor as Nissan calls it.
2.      Electronic.
3.      Battery

First of all is the electric motor.  We have had electric motors for over 200 years.  This is not new technology. Well made electric motors can and do last a life time.  They are almost indestructible.  They are simple and relievable requiring little or no maintenance at all.  An internal combustion engine (gas engine), on the other hand, requires regular maintenance, which includes, oil changes, spark plug replacements,  tune ups, and muffler replacement.   Probably the only thing to worry about with an electric motor is a manufacturing defect.

Second is the electronics.  Again this is not new technology,  and generally very relievable.

That leave us with the battery,  now this could be the wild card, but I don’t thinks.  Honestly though right now the battery is not developed to the point where the Leaf has the range of a gas car.  It does remarkable well for a first generation battery.  I have been told by a retired Nissan engineer that the next generation battery will have about a 300 mile range.  I can hardly wait for that battery to become available!

Speaking at Vanderbilt University on Earth Day

My day at Vanderbilt  Earth Day show and tell yesterday was very interesting and a lot of fun.  The staff was very helpful and very appreciative of me for being there.  All of the people who came to look at my Leaf and ask questions were very nice (100 percent of them!!!).  It seemed like there were several hundred people come by in the nearly 4 hours that I was there.

Invited to speak on owning and driving an All Electric Nissan Leaf

So far the most mileage that I have be able to get on my Leaf on a charge has been 87 miles.  With this last charge, right now I am projected to do a hundred mile on my present charge.  I don’t know why this is happening this way, but this is what has happened. 

I was invited to participate in an earth day celebration at Vanderbilt University.  They wanted me to bring my Leaf for show and tell on Thursday.   On Wednesday night I was trying to decide if I wanted to plug in my car or not.  I had a projected 40 mile left.  Vanderbilt is 13 miles from my home, or a round trip of 26 miles.  So the projected 40 miles would easily cover the 26 mile round trip.  However the weather was going to be much cooler than normal.  So I decided to plug in my car just in case I need to use more energy for heating.  I have been trying to completely drain my battery before each charge.

So on Thursday morning when I unplugged, the car said that my projected range, was 123 miles. That is the most that I have ever recorded.  The last highest projected first time  range reading  was 119 miles.  I have been driving very carefully, and like I said right now I am projected to do a hundred miles on this charge.  We see how it turns out.

This morning I am invited to Deloite for show and tell with their employees.  Deloite is only 6 miles from here. 

The more you use that battery, the stronger it gets

Having the experience of driving a car that has its power came from a battery has been very interesting and a little scary at first.  The day after we took delivery of our Leaf, we made a 35 mile round trip.  When we got back home the battery was nearly discharged.  Needless to say we were very disappointed.  We have learned since then that the more you use that battery,  the stronger it gets.  Now I can’t yet prove this but is sure seems to me that the more that you demand from the battery the stronger it get.  Yesterday I drove it hard with a lot of interstate driving and using the air conditioning.   This morning when I unplugged my Leaf, it said that driving range was 119 miles.  That was the highest that we have had so far.  I have been told that I should wait until the battery is fully discharged before I charge it.  That also  seems to helps make that battery stronger.   

Update: Over 1,200 miles of trouble-free electic vehicle fun!

I have had my Leaf for three weeks and two days!  Even without a charging infrastructure  I already have over 1200 mile fun filled and trouble free miles on it.  You have to a little more planning with an electric vehicle that with a gas car.  The Leaf give the driver plenty of information to help with that planning.  Right now we do all of our charging at home.  We have kept our gas cars for long trips.  I firmly believe that the day will come that a person can get in an electric vehicle and drive cross county just like you can do in a gas car now.