Long-Term Road Test Wrap-Up
arrow2011 Nissan Leaf SL
Nissan's first try at an EV might make a good second car.
Date: August 2011
Current Mileage: 2667 miles
Months in Fleet: 4 months
Average Fuel Economy: 82 MPGe
Average Range: 58 miles
Service: $0
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $0
Fear. The Nissan Leaf thrives on it. Sure, it projects a friendly, green image—the cute chime at startup, the “Zero Emissions” badge on the back, the way it quietly breezes past gas stations—but the car’s main reason for existence, the “why” explaining this new “what,” is that we’re afraid we’ll soon run out of petroleum. (At least some of us are.) And Nissan was afraid it wouldn’t be seen as an innovator. Thus we have our first mass-market electric car, being rolled out in small doses across the country.
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Now that we’ve spent three months getting to know the Leaf, we can report that the fear extends to and permeates the ownership experience. You’re afraid you won’t make it to the next electrical outlet, afraid of having to take a charge-sapping detour to buy milk, afraid to turn on accessories like the climate control or the radio. This editor found himself trying to time manually activated wipes of the windshield and backlight while driving in a spitting rain instead of frivolously leaving the wipers set to intermittent. You think a lot more about your energy consumption when the range limitations are this great and there’s no quick refill option. And if you let it, the experience can be nerve-racking.
Driving Normally for Abnormal Distances
But it’s not all that bleak. We managed to get through a semi-long-term trial of the Leaf with minimal fear-inducing incidents. This was partly because those for whom the associated anxiety was highest elected not to drive the car home. Some simply couldn’t, as the observed 58-mile range average and 12-hour low-voltage recharge time meant they wouldn’t be back at work on time the next day. Takers were sometimes hard to find, which explains the 26-mile average daily mileage accrual over the test period. Those who took the car home for the weekend largely left it there, relying on a second vehicle or a sturdy pair of shoes for transportation. In that regard, it fit some of our shut-in lifestyles well. When the Leaf was moving, it averaged 82 MPGe, well below the EPA’s ratings of 106 city and 92 highway.
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Aside from the range limitation, however, the Leaf behaved like a normal car. After unplugging, we found it’s as straightforward as any other vehicular experience: Get in, press the on button, shift to drive, go. You’re then basking in quiet, with low-speed pedestrian-warning chimes barely audible inside. The regenerative brakes are as good as in any hybrid, which is to say only slightly disconnected from reality. Handling is aided by the Leaf’s low center of gravity—thanks to that heavy battery pack hidden beneath the floor—although the low-rolling-resistance tires keep grip at bay; several staffers wondered how the Leaf might do on an autocross with some stickier rubber.
If you want to extend battery range, though, get ready for some adjustment (see sidebar). The Leaf has two driving modes, the default being chosen when you slide the melted-hockey-puck shifter over and back into drive. Eco, which increases range by dulling the throttle and making regen more aggressive, is accessed by repeating the same shifting motion. Then there are the info screens that report how much power the accessories and your right foot are eating. Monitoring all of this can be distracting—and of course adds to the anxiety. On the plus side, you might need to turn the stereo off to concentrate on the will-I-get-there mental math. Several logbook comments mentioned the extreme variability and unpredictability of the car’s range estimate, which is something you generally don’t see with an internal-combustion vehicle. Turns out attempting to avoid anxiety can cause more.
Technology: Some of It Useful
Those who want to keep tabs on their Leaf’s energy usage after the fact (and we expect this to be the majority of owners) can access the car’s Carwings profile online, which offers a wealth of information broken down into different time periods. Drivers can compare their miser supremacy against others’ regionally and worldwide, and even be ranked and win trophies. The site lets you plan battery-friendly routes and send them to the car’s nav system. We found the online map interface and the in-car implementation clunky. When sending to the car, the site overwrites whatever destination is in the number-one memory slot, meaning only one destination could be sent at a time and the driver had to remember which had been sent. And since the car can’t be expected to be at the exact start of a given planned route, all that was really transmitted was the destination and not the full route. From there, the car’s nav system took over and planned the course as it saw fit.
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We also made use of the Carwings-linked Nissan Leaf iPhone app (the app has since been opened up to BlackBerry and Android users). Whereas the website offers arguably too much information, the app offers a small amount: whether or not the car is plugged in, charge duration, and current range (with and without the A/C on). The app will let users remotely initiate cabin preheating—or precooling—as well as charging. There’s no ability to locate the Leaf, unlock it remotely, or plan routes through the smartphone. (These features are promised for the Ford Focus electric’s MyFord Mobile app, but at least Nissan can take solace in beating Ford to the EV punch.) The app failed to update when launched at times, which required a frustrating relogin, even though it stores your credentials.
One nice EV-specific feature of the nav-equipped Leaf is that it can help you find a nearby charge station. It does this by accessing a database of public stations as well as remembering the location of any place it has been plugged into. For us, that meant when the charge was low the car invited us to visit our co-workers or, worse, the office. Not a big problem if you don’t share the car with a bunch of people as we do, but a somewhat odd behavior, especially if you plan to mooch a little charge wherever you can get it.
The Other Economy Measure, Some Charging Quirks
It’s a good bet the early Leaf adopter isn’t poor, though—at least not before making the purchase. Although we spent much less to run the car than we would a similar gas-powered hatchback, the initial investment is a steep one. Before the applicable $7500 federal tax credit, our top-spec Leaf SL cost $35,440, which included the addition of a $700 quick-charge port and $170 worth of cargo and floor mats.
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For 2012, the quick-charge port is now standard on the SL, and the SV and the SL get heated front and rear seats, heated outside mirrors, a heated steering wheel, rear-seat HVAC ducts, and a battery heater. All of this should help keep occupants more comfortable in winter months while increasing the car’s cold-weather efficiency—heating the seats requires less energy than heating all the air in the cabin. If you spend the extra pennies to preheat the cabin while the Leaf is still plugged in, for example, you’ll make up for it with a longer range in foul weather.
Actual, physical problems were few during the three-month trial. Our introduction mentioned a driver’s window that went off track, which triggered the Leaf’s only dealer visit during its admittedly short stay. Other quirks: Occasionally, the low-voltage charger’s sensitive electronics didn’t like the socket ground in one of our garages. This self-preservatory behavior isn’t exclusive to the Leaf—we’ve experienced the same problem with a Volt—but it’s important to know that not all 110-volt plugs are seen as equal in the eyes of an EV. The charge cord’s design mandated some precarious placements. The portion of the cord leading to the power brick is very short, causing it to hang down from the four-foot-high outlets common in garages and putting undue stress on the cord and outlet. This could be avoided with a longer lead to the brick, allowing it to rest comfortably on the floor.
In essence, the Leaf works. It might not work for everyone—it didn’t for some of us—but that’s because it’s an EV. Until a supporting infrastructure exists, range limitation will continue to be a factor. The Leaf is a real and true second-car option for those who want to be first—the enthusiastic early adopters.
But is it a second car for enthusiasts like us? We’re afraid not.
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Sidebar: You Can’t Go Home Again—At Least Not Immediately
On one weekend I spent with the Leaf, I had to drive to my parents’ house about 45 miles away, which was outside the car’s round-trip range. As I didn’t plan to return on the same day, this presented an opportunity to conduct a semiscientific experiment comparing how the Leaf and I could handle the trip with two different mindsets. I wasn’t interested in testing the worst case and bumping up against the range limit but instead compared the “normalest” case against the car’s most efficient setup.
Starting with a full charge in Ann Arbor, I set out for suburban Detroit on my normal highway-heavy route. All the accessories were on: climate control, stereo, even the lights and wipers, thanks to a well-timed rainstorm. I got there in the 45 minutes the trip usually takes me—with the onboard computer predicting 29 miles of remaining range—and plugged in for the night to ready the car for the return trip. (You think driving a podlike electric car is embarrassing? I had a high-school flashback that evening when I had to ask to borrow my dad’s car to go visit some friends.)
On the way back the following afternoon, again with a full battery, I behaved like an EV worrywart, making myself painfully aware of the fact that I was in a range-limited vehicle. I pulled up the efficient route back to Ann Arbor on the Leaf’s nav system, shifted into eco mode, and suffered through the drive without any tunes or the comfort of climate control. This gave me the opportunity—an extended one, as the trip took twice as long—to ponder in relative silence whether or not I’d be willing to make these sorts of sacrifices in a daily commute, or even for the occasional drive. Answer: nope.
Then again, as I’d proven the day before, I didn’t have to make those sacrifices. When I arrived home, the computer guessed that, if I had left the car in eco and driven the way I had been, I could have made it most of the way back to my parents’, with 47 miles of range left in eco or 42 in drive.
The final energy tally for Day One’s 45-mile trip was 19.72 kWh. Day Two’s back-roads trip used 16.66 kWh, for an efficiency improvement of 15 percent. This came at the cost of some comfort and 45 additional minutes of my life, but we already knew the Leaf was best suited to around-town trips. What this particular weekend proved is that it also works for the occasional longer jaunt—as long as it’s overnight. —DG
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Continued...
