Life with the Leaf. Part two.
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While going to the post office on Beverly Blvd a few weeks ago, I had noticed a few EV charging stations there. Since I wasn’t driving an EV then, I didn’t pay too much attention.
But yesterday, while looking for a place to charge the Leaf, I thought I would try.
But as you can see, these are an older obsolete kind of plugs.
The sad part is that I saw at least 25 charging stations there. All Available of course, since no one can use them. Many of them in really bad shape.
I wonder how much all that stuff did cost, a few years ago. Something that is now obsolete. And not even replaced, or updated.
What a shame…
So I went to the nearby outdoor mall, The Grove. Where they have a few EV stations.
But they are not free. They are run by a company called Blink.
It costs $2 an hour. Which is OK I guess.
I was charged 4 hours, or $8 when I got back. (Even though the charge was full after a bit over 3 hrs)
So in about 3hrs, I went from 58 miles to 101.
But. As you can see. That 101 Miles readout was pretty optimistic. Since it only took 4.5 miles of city travel to go down to an 87 miles range.
At the end of the day, I was able to plug the Leaf to the regular 120 outlet in the lot where I park it.
From there, I get about 4 miles per hour.
Like someone mentioned here in the comments, the Leaf is not for everyone. You need to figure out if it is really for you.
Getting one if you can’t plug it anywhere, or if you do over 100 miles a day is like getting a 2 seater sport car and complaining about luggage space.
So far, I really like it. It is a very nice, solid and comfortable “real car”. With more power than most other compacts on the road today.
In the 3rd picture, my god, do the headlights protrude that much from the body (one with Blink on the wall)? Just never noticed that…
So $8 worth of charging got you 43 miles. In a Prius, $3.40 of gas will get you 50 miles (and no range anxiety). Pure electrics while novel, are an inferior choice to a Prius.
What a hassle.
Forget these things. The concept is finem but I'll wait 20 years till they get the voncept wired and the costs reasonable.
This is one area the government should be helping. Instead of just giving people money to buy electric cars, how about a charging standard so everything is uniform?
$8 for 43 miles was only because I used this "Blink" charger at a mall. Which is way overpriced.
When charged at home, a full overnight charge is about $1. Which gives you about 90 miles.
That is MUCH cheaper than any gas car.
Plus the Leaf is much more powerful and fun to drive than a Prius.
But it is still a new technology. Like buying the 1st iPod when not that many songs were available as MP3s…
the future is already here, LEAF, embrace it….no gas, no oil, no spark plugs, no emmissions, no tune ups, no mufflers….WOW!