It's been about a year and a half with my 2015 Leaf and thought I'd give an update and give you all a glimpse of what we'll all be driving in ten years! Close to 30K miles on it now and I haven't noticed any deterioration in the range/battery life yet. I drive it regularly and make sure I don't leave it sitting at 100% charge too long. I come home from my 50 mile round trip to work with about 20 or 30 miles left. Plug it in (240 volt charger) so later on we can go out to dinner. It works really well for our lifestyle.
I like the silence and absolutely effortless drive. It accelerates briskly off a stop with the instant torque the electric motor provides. Although it's quick off the line, it soon runs out of oomph at speed. Don't try to get into a roll-on competition! The other really nice thing is the regenerative breaking; it has a "B" mode that really increases that and you can use it to modulate speed in heavy traffic without ever using the brake - single pedal operation!
I've gotten familiar with how it operates and how to get the best energy efficiency; most of the time I get between 4 and 4.5 miles per KWH on my commute. Pretty much depends on if I keep the speed down to 60 mph. Drive 70 and the efficiency goes down. Also, running the heater takes the range down. Strangely, running the AC in the summer seems to be more efficient than running the heater in winter although that may be just due to the fact the battery likes warmer weather better than cold.
I find myself enjoying the commute much more in the Leaf. Since I park in the slow lane at 60mph, it's a lot less stressful than what I used to do in the gas burner darting lane to lane (come on guys, you know what I'm talking about!)
Maintenance:
I had to replace the 12 volt battery last week. Got in the Leaf and it simply wouldn't start. Read on the Leaf forum what it was and a trip to Costco for a new Interstate battery and she's back on the road. Fortunately it was parked in my driveway at the time. I did put new tires on it too but that was because I picked up a couple of road hazards and one wasn't pluggable. I stayed with the Bridgestone Ecopia-Plus tires since heard the wrong tires on these electric cars can ruin your range.
I like the silence and absolutely effortless drive. It accelerates briskly off a stop with the instant torque the electric motor provides. Although it's quick off the line, it soon runs out of oomph at speed. Don't try to get into a roll-on competition! The other really nice thing is the regenerative breaking; it has a "B" mode that really increases that and you can use it to modulate speed in heavy traffic without ever using the brake - single pedal operation!
I've gotten familiar with how it operates and how to get the best energy efficiency; most of the time I get between 4 and 4.5 miles per KWH on my commute. Pretty much depends on if I keep the speed down to 60 mph. Drive 70 and the efficiency goes down. Also, running the heater takes the range down. Strangely, running the AC in the summer seems to be more efficient than running the heater in winter although that may be just due to the fact the battery likes warmer weather better than cold.
I find myself enjoying the commute much more in the Leaf. Since I park in the slow lane at 60mph, it's a lot less stressful than what I used to do in the gas burner darting lane to lane (come on guys, you know what I'm talking about!)
Maintenance:
I had to replace the 12 volt battery last week. Got in the Leaf and it simply wouldn't start. Read on the Leaf forum what it was and a trip to Costco for a new Interstate battery and she's back on the road. Fortunately it was parked in my driveway at the time. I did put new tires on it too but that was because I picked up a couple of road hazards and one wasn't pluggable. I stayed with the Bridgestone Ecopia-Plus tires since heard the wrong tires on these electric cars can ruin your range.