TESLA Model S @ 11:00 AM Tomorrow

OMG! Too long. Time Passes too quickly.  Not enough time in the day for everything, including blogging.  But good news on the LEAF!  8000+ miles and 11+ months since buying gasoline and quite frankly I don't have anything bad to say about owning and driving an all-electric automobile.  Nissan, you scored 100% with the LEAF and I can't wait until I get my next one.

I only have 13 months left on my LEAF lease.....  I love my LEAF!!!!  I hope my LEAF doesn't find out that I have an appointment to test drive a Tesla Model S tomorrow morning........  Maybe I should be more concerned about letting the Tesla dealer know I have common sense and I drive a LEAF?

What's worst....................

I'll let you know after tomorrow.

Another round trip into Manhattan today!

Go LEAF!!!!

I averaged 5 miles/kWh on a round trip from the 'burbs to Manhattan, this is the best efficiency I have ever experienced with my LEAF. Now keep in mind this is a 50 mile trip (including the diversion to drop my daughter off at a friends house), I started with the dashboard showing 93 miles in Drive, but 104 miles in ECO Drive.  I stayed in ECO Drive 90% of the trip [just some times, you have to drop in to "D" to get around those New York City Taxi Cabs!

Side note: I had just entered onto the FDR from the Harlem River River Drive and some yo-yo in an Audi riding my rear bumper did the high beam flash thing because I wasn't going fast enough for them.  So, with no one in front of me for a 1/4 mile, I shifted into "D" and mushed the go pedal.  It was so nice to see those headlamps get really small really fast in my rear view mirror.  Of course, within a mile we got jammed up in traffic, but when the Audi crept by me, the driver took a very long look at the LEAF.  "Go LEAF" +1

I got home with 39 miles of range showing on the dashboard [104-50 = 54?].  What happened; I drove into Manhattan alone with the rear windows opened a 1/4 inch each to get some circulation.  On the way home there were four (4) of us in the LEAF and everyone was talking.  So......  Oh boy!  The windows started to fog up and I had to turn on the climate control so I could see where I was going.

In the end, the climate control consumed 15 miles of range, I drove 50 miles, got home with enough range to go out to dinner and back, and (for the first time!!!), and I grew four (4) trees!!!!

No "Range Fear" here!

JS

Post Script:  I have not added to the blog in a few weeks because of time, family. work, and there only being 24 hours in a day.  Yet, a lot of "LEAF" things have happened that I will start sharing as my time frees up.

LEAF A La Mode

While not exactly vanilla ice cream on pie, here is my LEAF A La Mode thanks to 12 inches of snow last night in New Rochelle, NY from the Nor'Easter that just battered New England..

Actually, doesn't it look like my LEAF is smiling under a down blanket knowing it doesn't have to go anywhere today?  [Yeah..... my street hasn't been plowed yet, nor will it any time soon; so much for getting any city services from the (really high amount of) property tax I pay!]

Jim S.

No Reuters, EVs are not dead!!!!!

Come on Reuters, stop bashing EVs.  EVs are growing not dieing.  This negative press on EVs reminds me of the bad press the Prius got when they were first rolled out more than a decade ago.

Dear Reuters and the rest of the Press, please stop the negative spin.  Where is the positive spin (or does that not sell news)?

Jim S.

Digital Wipe Out!

NISSAN we have a problem!  Do you see what I see?  That's right..... Nothing!  

Bellow is a photo of my Nissan LEAF dashboard while I was stopped at an intersection earlier this week.  I was travelling in a north westerly direction and the sun was directly behind me (the picture was taken in the morning).  Sun glare completely blinded all of my dashboard displays.  I felt a little disconnected, exposed, naked, unsafe..... you choose the right word to fit your mood.

While digital is cool and touch screens are even cooler, they are worthless if you can't see them. Analog is cool too, perhaps a little retro but a dial or two could be a good solution to prevent glare wipe-out of critical instrumentation.  

Now that I am thinking about sun glare digital wipe-out, I have never had this problem with the digital dashboard on my 2009 CNG Honda Civic.  Perhaps it is time to take a lesson from Honda?

Jim S.

The world would be a better place if.......

The world would be a better place if we could all embrace and practice energy management rather than  our current practice to hoard energy we "think" we may need (i.e. need vs. want; or more specifically EV battery range "limit" vs how far do we really need to drive).  It would also be really cool if we all knew truth.  What is the source of the information (negative background noise) bashing the range of EVs ?  Who is try to convince all of us on daily basis that we need more than what we really need (need to go farther than we actually go)?

Where am I going with this?  Now that a major portion of the Northern Hemisphere  is dealing with winter weather (i.e., New Rochelle, NY where I live) and we have to bundle up in layers to conserve our energy (stay warm), I think now is a good time to introduce my thesis: Our society (as a whole, and I know there are many exceptions, like me) does not understand or chooses to not understand where the energy that keeps us comfortable (alive) comes from, or the affect our "programmed" over consumption has on society and our global environment.

What does this have to do with my Nissan Leaf?  A lot!

As I read recent negative news about EVs, their poor sales, limited range, etc.  especially due to seasonal (temperature) extremes, and battery limitations; I have come to the realization that an EV Allie, the "Popular Press", has failed all of us.  They are looking at the wrong side of the "coin".  Come on!  Change your ethos.  Promote the real and positive side, maybe even the truth of how EVs have been the foundation of the automobile industry and possibly the salvation of society as we now know it. You shouldn't be afraid of change.

My observation; the Popular Press is more interested in selling their business (perhaps, ADVERTISING??) by tickling the negative emotions of an uniformed public with preconceived notions that EV's don't have the range to get you where you "want to go", rather than inform and share with their readership the experience of pioneer EV owners and how EVs will get you where you need to go (and back - BTW for at least 1/3 the cost of the equivalent gasoline powered vehicle)..

"Honey, its cold outside.."   Yes it is. Now is winter.  Honey, it should be cold outside (don't ask me why it was 60 F yesterday or global climate change, or carbon emissions....).   Yet being cold outside, our Nissan LEAF has not stranded us by the side of the road.  So we get  home with a little less range in reserve.  So what.  We got home.

I love our LEAF.

BTW - To the driver of the electric BMW that passed me while I was driving my CNG powered Honda  Company Car on the Hutchinson River Parkway this morning in Harrison/White Plains, NY at around 8:05 AM:  Hi! I saw your car out of the corner of my eye and knew immediately what you were driving - cool!

Zoe

Zoe - Nissan LEAF's cousin - JS