Chris and Doug get their LEAFs

Funny how time flies. It's been about three months since I got my LEAF, a very sophisticated electric car that continues to amaze me every day. Since I live less than two miles from the EV store, my commute is pretty easy. I can go round trip on less energy than it takes to power a 100W light bulb for ten hours. That's cool! The ride is solid, quiet and smooth as glass, at least on roads with good pavement. Probably 60% of my driving is giving test drives. Some are walk ups, some schedule ahead of time, but all of them, 100%, want to buy this car. I even had a guy offer me $70,000 for my LEAF, double what I paid for it not a month earlier.

One especially excited customer wanted to know if the LEAF would drive from Santa Monica to Disneyland and return with 10 miles of range remaining. I said sure! My RAV could do that, so I figured the LEAF, with 3 fewer kWh capacity in the pack, could as well. So, we drove to the front gate of Disneyland, stopped across the street for lunch, then drove back to the dealer, a total of 87 miles, and had 13 miles remaining. It was virtually all freeway driving, and we even used the AC some. I kept the speed between 55-60. Looks like under those conditions, the range is 100 miles.

Driving in heavy traffic, and using hypermiling techniques, I can get up to 120 miles, but you have to drive gently in eco mode to get that. Eco mode reduces the energy in the accelerator requiring you to push the pedal further to get the same amount of energy. It's a rather simple, but ingenious method that enables you to drive efficiently. I wish all cars, gas and electric, incorporated it. We'd save a lot of oil if they did.

The number of delivered LEAFs is still small, maybe about 500 total in the U.S., and about 3,000 in Japan. Last week, and today, I delivered two that bear a mention. Doug Korthof and Lisa Rosen, two of the EV community's most earnest enthusiasts, picked up their red LEAF today. Doug is best known for his righteous and vigorous condemnation of GM for crushing the EV1. To this day, Bob Lutz dreads the thought of receiving another of Doug's emails. The other delivery, yet another red LEAF, went to our man, Chris Paine, director of "Who Killed the Electric Car?". The car arrived just in time for the premiere of his new film, "Revenge of the Electric Car". On Friday, Chris will join Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors (not to mentionSpace X and SolarCity), and Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan in NY at the Tribeca Film Festival for the exciting debut of this eagerly awaited follow up to Who Killed.

Chris now has quite the stable of green cars: a Tesla Roadster, LEAF, Volt, RAV EV and his gas hog Prius. Once he sells the RAV and Prius, he'll have the only garage anywhere with an example of all three of the cars featured in his new film. Now that's cool!

Since both Doug and Chris have solar on their houses, there are two more LEAFs driving on southern California's most abundant resource - sunlight. EV/PV strikes another blow against the oil and coal companies!

BTW, Chris and I are selling our respective RAVs, so if you're interested, give me a shout.

A discussion with an EV denier

This is a thread I contributed to today with a fellow on an EV list.

It's an example of what I do every day. It's weird, but I spend a lot of time commenting on various websites and in response to all manner of people who for some reason find fault with electric vehicles. Whether it's because they don't understand the truth of the technology and are therefore just ignorant, or they have some malice toward what it means politically to switch away from oil to electricity, they are compelled to spend energy fighting this technology.

Anyway, the following consists of three emails with someone who took issue with EVs without responding to direct questions. You may enjoy reading them.

Paul
******


Oliver,

You state, "Although our military may be used in some fashion to help
protect our oil interests and plays a factor in our low priced oil, I
do not readily accept the numbers you provided."

Fine, tell me the number you do accept. You cannot be saying that you
think this number is zero, can you? Is the life of a soldier worth
zero? Or, was the trillion dollar cost of the Iraq war (so far) not
based in fact? Do you have another number to share? Or, are you
suggesting that the Iraq war had nothing to do with oil? Which is it?
What are your numbers?

You state, "I happen to feel that there are many other concerns facing
the world far more serious than reducing our use of oil."

So? Does this mean you do nothing about our use of oil because there
are other concerns that are more serious? Can you not multi-task? Do
you not brush your teeth because there are more important things than
brushing your teeth?

Just because there are more important things than reducing our use of
oil does not excuse any of us from reducing our use of oil. The
problems associated with the use of oil are massive and far reaching.
They include enormous pollution of our biosphere, the weakening of our
economy (the purchase of foreign oil is a full 45% of our foreign
trade deficit!), and the national security issues that come from
funding our enemies by purchasing oil from them. Maybe you can list a
few problems that are worse than these (I have a hard time coming up
with any), but for you to claim that you can't be bothered doing
anything about it sounds pretty insincere.

You state, "Any saving of oil that I personally contribute to is so
minuscule that it is meaningless."

Boy, this is a great statement! I assume you don't vote either? Are
you teaching your children that anything they do to make the world
better is "meaningless" because, "hey, you're only one person"? Way to
go, dad.

You state, "The day you convince high school kids across the nation to
ride bikes, walk, or take the school busses to school instead of
driving their cars I will consider limiting my use of fuel."

This is the noise Republicans and other climate change deniers make
when dismissing our attempts to pass measures that will limit CO2.
They say the same thing about China and India. "We won't make a move
to do the right thing till they do it first". These are not the words
of a good citizen.

Paul

Oliver,

You state, "And, be careful in accusing me of contributing garbage. I
have found when someone is only interested in furthering their own
views they tend to call other people's views garbage. Respect
an other man's opinion and you will advanced your cause further.

I used the term because I'd asked you at least twice to tell us why
you refuse to count the externalities in your calculations. You never
responded until now, and the response, I must say, leaves a lot to be
desired. I considered your remarks to be garbage because you were
stating things that were just not true and you were refusing to answer
specific questions. When you respect others by answering their
questions, others might treat you with respect.

You state, "The bottom line is that if you begin with the carbon
infrastructure that is already in place and the present cost at the
pump to the customer and compare it to the cost of unsubsidized
batteries it is more expensive to operate an electric car over a ten
year period than a comparable gasoline car."

True.

It's also true that if you ignore the external costs of dirty energy
for over a century and millions die in the meantime, and you just keep
on ignoring these unpleasant realities, that you can keep on going as
though there are no problems - until your kids have to go die in a war
over oil, until your wife gets cancer and dies, until your nation's
economy collapses and you are fighting for survival with all the
crazies out there with guns. Yes, these things are indeed true.

Paul
******

(In response to Oliver's contention that Nissan wasn't serious about their EV program)

Whatever. If you knew anything about the auto industry and how hard it
is to design, produce and market a new car, especially one with a
completely different type of drivetrain, you'd be more willing to cut
Nissan some slack. But if you want to be angry at them, fine. It's not
going to hurt them one bit. We're going to be sold out on the LEAF for
at least two years, and probably more. Your comment that "Nissan may
have to pull the plug on the whole deal" is crazy talk. Nissan is
spending multiple billions on the EV bet. They are "all in" as they say.

Paul
******

VOTE FOR STEVE!

I've never done a blatant ask of this kind in my blog before, but I'm making an exception.

As many of you know, Nissan has been taking a dozen LEAFs on tour through the west coast, and eventually across the country. At each stop, they are putting about 1500 people behind the wheel for a test drive. After the test drive, you are encouraged to stand in front of a camera for 30 seconds saying anything you want about the experience. The video that gets the most votes is the winner of a brand new LEAF.

As you can imagine, people are pulling out all the stops with clever and interesting spiels. I've even voted for a video or two for friends who did a very admirable job and who deserve a free LEAF (you know who you are:~).

However, my friend Stephen Johnsen, long time member of Seattle's large and vibrant electric vehicle association, has produced what I think is the winning spot. I apologize to my friends (you know who you are:~), but I'm sending Stephen's video out to 2,500 people and putting it on my blog.

Stephen is a great guy, he's done a lot for the movement. AND he'll be charging the LEAF on that squeaky clean grid mix in Seattle! Coal and natural gas combined are only two percent of the mix, all the rest is zero CO2. That's clean!

So go here to see Stephen's great 30 second LEAF spot. And spread it around to your friends.

Oh, and you might get a kick out of Stephen's description of his test drive. It's typical of how the LEAF makes you feel.

As for my LEAF test drive experience... My friend Chad and fellow SEVA member Ron Easley went down and test drove the LEAF Sunday. I was very pleased with the quality and all the thought put into the driver display and neat options like using your I-Phone to pre-select the cabin temperature and also having the car email you about charging conditions or if you forgot to plug it in! These are things that you don't even get with an infernal combustion vehicle! I'm a big fan of EV things that not only meet but exceed people's expectations.

Another thing I thought was cool was seeing the 6 Aerovironment Level 2 charging stations on their make-shift fence and the big Level 3 Fast Charger on the back of the Semi truck!
I also learned that you can negotiate with Nissan and Aerovironment to simply purchase a home Level 2 charging station for only $721 if you want to have your own electrician install it (It's really a simple 30A device)

As far as handling... the car has some spunk! It is quite fast and would do well for showing your friends that EVs can get up and go! I was able to really floor it and get some wheel slippage with the traction control ON and my friend Ron could burnout with the traction control off. I got to thinking, if I had gone so fast that I rolled the LEAF in the parking lot would I be "TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF" This vehicle is a real game changer and I believe Nissan deserves major Kudos for making a pure battery electric vehicle that people would actually want to drive.

Sincerely, Stephen Johnsen
P.S., If you Supercharge a LEAF do you use a "LEAF BLOWER" acha, cha, cha, cha I got a million of 'em...

Nissan turning over a new Leaf

After running for several years in stealth mode, Nissan reached out to Plug In America two years ago revealing their plans to build an EV for the average consumer, something that would serve the daily driving needs of the vast majority of the world's drivers.

Fast forward to March 29th when, in a breakfast meeting, Nissan disclosed the price of the Leaf, $32,780 - news that crystallized the reality of affordable EVs for the masses.

Topping it off, this past week Nissan invited eight members of Plug In America's board to visit their Tennessee headquarters, meet with the key members of the Leaf program and finish with a tour of their giant Smyrna, TN plant.

Our first night there, we had dinner with key members of the team, including Brian Carolin, Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, Scott Becker, Senior VP, Administration and Finance, Eric Noziere, VP, Corporate Planning , Katherine Zachary, Manager, Corporate Communications, Scott Stevens, VP, Corporate Communications, Jeannine Ginivan, Manager, Mid-Atlantic Region Corporate Communications, Mark Perry, Director of Product Planning and Advanced Technology and our local SoCal contact, Tim Gallagher, Corporate Communications Western Region - all outstanding people - and to a person, passionate about their Leaf program.

The most senior member of the Nissan team was Chairman & Executive VP of the Americas, Carlos Tavares. Marc Geller and I had the fortune to sit next to Mr. Tavares at dinner, giving us the opportunity to share everything we knew about electric cars with top brass of the world's fourth largest car maker. We gladly took advantage of this remarkable opportunity.

Tavares, a native of Portugal, proved worthy of his title as he absorbed everything we threw at him. After spending years trying to convince car makers to build EVs, it was refreshing to find that a company as prestigious as Nissan shares our vision. Much of what we discussed, Tavares knew already, but we gave him information based on our long-time use of EVs that should help shape their plans. I asked Mr. Tavares what EV models would follow the Leaf and he said they are making good progress on a small delivery truck similar to the Ford Transit Connect as well as an Infiniti model. Both are great choices since fleet operators will find the small truck useful in reducing operating costs and the market for a luxury EV is quite large.

I asked Tavares if he'd driven a Tesla Roadster and found that he had not. I told him to let me know the next time he was going to be in LA and I'd make sure to get him some time behind the wheel of one. Turns out, Tavares races in the open-wheeled class, so he's no stranger to speed.

It was a great dinner on a balmy night in small town central Tennessee, and as we arrived back at the hotel and shared the conversations we'd had, it was very clear to us that Nissan's intent is to dominate the market in electric vehicles.

The next morning, we gathered in the Infiniti Theater room of their headquarters where Marc presented a brief overview of Plug In America's history, our current work in promoting plug-in cars, and what we intend to do in the future to help prepare the market for the coming EVs. After Marc's presentation, we fielded questions from the room in a lively Q&A.

At the end of the questions, in recognition of Plug In America's diligent effort to bring plug-in vehicles back into the market, Scott Becker presented us with a grant for $25,000. We are most grateful to Nissan for these funds as they will allow us to further our work educating the public about these important cars.

The rest of the day was spent in a series of meetings with Nissan's marketing and advertising, zero-emission mobility and dealer network teams. They were forthcoming with a lot of detail on the car and how it would roll out. They even showed a sample design of where the various chargers would be located at the dealer, including one that may be for the public, a nice touch. I was impressed that they would share so much information, some of which will remain embargoed to protect their competitive edge.

If you want to get one of the first Leaf EVs, you need to sign up on the Leaf site to let them know you're interested. Those who sign up will receive an email on April 20th with a link that will take you to a page where you deposit $99 to hold your place in line. Some time in August, you will be contacted to begin working with the Nissan dealer of your choice. (*Important... Nissan strongly recommends that the price be held at the MSRP of $32,780, but the dealers are independent companies that can charge more if they so choose. If a dealer decides to ask for more, you may take your business to another dealer. Doing so will ensure few dealers will add to the price.) Delivery of the first cars will begin in December and grow throughout 2011 as production allows.

The initial delivery locations are mostly on the West Coast, AZ and a few other sites. Nissan will bring other dealers into the program based on demand, so start calling your local Nissan dealers and let them know you're interested. But definitely sigh up online, too!

Our trip ended on Thursday with a tour of the Smyrna, TN Nissan plant, which coincidentally opened on my 31st birthday in 1983. According to the plant's super bright operations manager, Susan Brennan, VP Manufacturing, the building covers 5.4 million square feet and is the largest auto manufacturing plant in the U.S. At capacity, the workers and robots can turn out a new truck, SUV or car every 27 seconds, over 500,000 per year!

I think most of us have seen footage of robots welding car bodies together, but seeing it in person was amazing! The entire operation was like a giant machine that worked like a fine watch. Very impressive.

This fall, the first Leafs will roll off Nissan's assembly line in Japan. Susan Brennan will lead a team of engineers from Smyrna to Japan to learn as much as they can about building the Leaf before returning and developing the line that will, by 2012, be manufacturing up to 150,000 Leafs per year in Tennessee.

American made cars propelled by 100% American made electrons.

Next month, Nissan breaks ground on their battery manufacturing plant immediately adjacent to the car factory, eliminating expensive shipping costs for the heavy packs. They are so close, they'll be able to deliver them by forklift.

All of the Nissan employees we met were friendly. From the top executives to the men and women building the cars, they all seemed to know they were about to make history. Twenty years from now, I believe it will be difficult to buy a car that isn't capable of plugging in. Looking back at 2010, it will all seem so obvious in hindsight - non-polluting transportation that runs on domestic renewable electricity made from sunlight and wind.

Nissan Announces Affordable Price for the Leaf

Well, the gauntlet is down.

This morning, Nissan announced a price of $32,780 for the Leaf, a price that no doubt sent shivers down the spines of Toyota and Honda, not to mention GM execs. They now have to compete at a much lower price point if they want to play the game in which Nissan is writing the rules.

Keeping in mind the federal tax credit of $7,500, the price drops to a very affordable $25,280. Then, to top it off, several states throw in inducements of their own with CA providing an additional $5,000 rebate. We now have a base price of a mere $20,280, and the damn thing runs on sunlight!

It surprised me that Nissan was willing to divulge the price so early, but given the storm of interest the announcement has created, it was clearly a good idea.

Nissan won't be able to keep up with demand for at least the first two years. Word-of-mouth will be unlike any consumer product since the iPod. When each happy customer brings a Leaf home to display in their driveway, all their neighbors, family and friends will be clamoring for rides, and once given, they'll be sold that electric drive is the way to go.

This is not to say other plug-in vehicles won't sell just as well (we want you ALL to succeed), but Nissan will certainly grab the low hanging fruit that's been ripening for a long time. I imagine the Volt will do well, too, but we need to see their price before predicting much.

The federal tax credits are good for the first 200,000 units from each manufacturer. California's rebates only total $4.1 million, so they'll go fast, although there's a decent chance we'll add more to the kitty next year.

Other states offer incentives, too. See Plug In America's compilation here.

To get in line for a Leaf, you need to go to their website starting 4/20 through 5/15 and register by putting down a $99 fully refundable deposit. That gets you in line. Some time in August, you'll actually get to tell Nissan what goodies you want on the car and place your order. Deliveries to selected markets start in December and roll out across the country in 2011 and globally in 2012.

It is confirmed that you'll have the choice of buying the car or leasing, although the trial balloon of buying the car and leasing the battery is no longer on the table.

A $2,200 charging station will be installed and 50% of that is returned as an additional federal tax credit.

Nissan's willingness to lock in the price at such an early date has made the wait for the car easier in a way. With the benchmark made real, we can all plan for the day when the Leaf, or some other plug-in car, is ours to keep.

Old Walt here has turned into a grumpy puppy waiting for his owner to get an EV. Pretty soon, I hope to see him smile again:~)

NISSAN ANNOUNCES NISSAN LEAF PURCHASE PROCESS

The line for a new plug-in vehicle from a major OEM is now forming with Nissan's announcement that you can register for a first come - first served place in line to get their Leaf.

You can reserve your place in line starting in April for a refundable $100, and confirm the purchase as early as August for a delivery probably in December, or shortly thereafter.

Of interest is that they are confirming you can either buy the car, or lease it. No confirmation on whether you can buy the car and lease the battery. They're still working on how that would work, if at all.

Some might not feel it's important to get one of the first of any particular car, especially since brand new vehicles tend to have some shakeout issues that get fixed in subsequent iterations. However, there are those who like being in the vanguard and want to be the first on their block with exciting new technology.

Well, if you fit that description, you'll definitely want to get on Nissan's list. And GM's for that matter when it starts.

I wasn't that type of guy for most of my life, but I stumbled into the most incredible opportunity in 2002 that literally changed my life forever. My wife and I bought an electric car.

From that point on, we haven't emitted a whiff of pollution while driving.

We stopped going to gas stations entirely.

We never, ever wondered if our car would start and run. It's operated perfectly 100% of the time for over 7 years and 78,589 miles.

All of our energy money stays in our country. Most of it in our own pockets.

We can run our car with energy generated from the sunlight falling on our house.

All of these things making driving a complete and utter joy.

This is why I think Nissan and GM, not to mention BMW, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Mercedes, Ford and all the rest, are going to have a hard time keeping their cars in stock. There will be a strong initial demand followed by huge word of mouth.

And once the inevitable increase in the price of gas occurs, the masses will follow. This is why the smart people are paying attention.

To get on Nissan's list, go to

REGISTER: Interested people can register for more information about the Nissan LEAF on www.NissanUSA.com. To date, close to 50,000 people have registered on the website. Registrants will be given first priority to reserve a Nissan LEAF.
RESERVE: The reservation process will begin in April, shortly after the announcement of the price of the Nissan LEAF. Upon paying a fully refundable $100 reservation fee, registrants will be among the first in line able to order a Nissan LEAF.
ORDER: Nissan will begin taking firm orders in August, for deliveries when sales begin in the driver’s particular market.
EARLY DELIVERIES: Rollout begins in select markets in December 2010, with vehicles available in all major launch markets quickly thereafter.

Talking to Texans

What do Texans know about electric cars? Quite a bit it turns out.


I spent Friday and Saturday in Austin at their Climate Protection Conference and Expo. Fellow Plug In America board member, Marc Geller, and I set up our booth and spent two days talking non-stop to Texans about plug-in cars and renewable energy. We also spoke on two panels, Marc spoke about the cars themselves and I spoke on a panel about charging infrastructure.

Having grown up in San Antonio, I remember how conservative Texans were in general, so I fully expected to encounter some push back on our positions regarding EVs. On the contrary, with one notable exception*, everyone we met was as hungry for EVs as we were. The only difference was that they had not yet learned about the coming plug-ins. It was our job to inform them. Once told of the auto industry's rapid move toward electrification, you could feel their excitement grow.

I was struck with the pervasive desire to quash our addiction to oil and replace it with a healthy reliance on renewable energy. The demand for plug-ins is not just on the two coasts, Americans everywhere want them.

My previous statements, that the market for plug-ins is much larger than the automakers think, were borne out in our conversations with these Texans. To a person, they were desperate to move away from oil. Granted, we were in Austin, the most liberal city in the state, but not everyone at the conference was from Austin. We met people from San Antonio, Dallas and Houston and they were all the same. They couldn't wait for the opportunity to drive on electricity.

"We can now see a clear path to having thousands -- even hundreds of thousands -- of zero-emission vehicles on Texas roads in the next several years," said Jason Few, president of Houston-based Reliant Energy. The local utility, Austin Energy, has been a leader in wind energy with the nation's highest percentage of wind in a municipal utility grid mix. Their understanding of the benefits from plug-in cars goes back many years to the inception of their Plug In Partners program. Using that strong west Texas wind and the plentiful sunshine to replace the 60% foreign oil in every gallon of gas makes sense to everybody.

The only downside here is that most Texans are going to have to wait a bit longer to get the cars because the GM Volt roll out will be limited to California, at least for the first few months, and Nissan's announced plans for the Leaf are mostly for a West Coast roll out with some cars going to Arizona and Tennessee. I recently heard that Nissan has agreed to supply Houston with a few Leafs from the initial manufacturing run. This is a good idea since Texans are hot for EVs. Marc and I told them repeatedly to contact their local GM and Nissan Dealers in Austin and request they get them as soon as possible. From a marketing viewpoint, getting these cars in the hands of outspoken early adopters will go a long way toward preparing the ground for others. Word of mouth will be strong.

I think the nervousness from the OEMs about the market for plug-ins is misplaced. What we're seeing in Texas and elsewhere seems to be prevalent. I honestly think their problem will be keeping up with demand.

I want to personally thank Chad Schwitters of Seattle, Brett Conrad of Santa Monica and Peter van Deventer of the Netherlands for their generous contributions to help defray the costs of my trip. Our membership continues to grow, allowing Plug In America to further educate info-hungry drivers on the benefits of going electric and preparing them for the change.

Also, thanks to Renee Nguyen of Texas Is Hot for taking the picture of our booth at the top. And Marc Geller gets credit for the picture below.

* The notable exception mentioned above is my very own brother, Harrel, who lives a short drive from Austin. He drove up to see me on his motorcycle, instead of his giant SUV. I took that as a good sign:~)






I'll consider my work done when he is driving on electricity.

Paul
*****

Nissan's Leaf falls gently to Earth in LA

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault/Nissan, was on hand to introduce the new Nissan Leaf electric car this morning at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. A large crowd of media and EV enthusiasts were on hand to drive the Nissan Versa test vehicle sporting the electric drive train of the Leaf.

The Versa is very close in size and weight of the Leaf, so the driving characteristics are pretty much what you'll see in the Leaf itself when Nissan brings it to market next fall.

Acceleration was quite good even when going uphill with the weight of three adults. Nissan's Larry Dominique says 0-60 is under 10 seconds, quick enough for most folks. Regenerative braking will be automatic with two levels, a very mild deceleration similar to what you feel when you lift your foot from a gas pedal in an internal combustion car, and a slightly stronger regen you can employ by moving a lever. It wasn't clear if the car will be enabled to "freewheel" like my RAV. For hypermilers such as myself, freewheeling is very important. I assume they'll incorporate it eventually if it's not already there.

I found the car to be a bit more attractive in person than in the photos. It's distinctive without being bizarre. The lines are clearly drawn with a low drag coefficient in mind and this accounts for the ability to average about 4 miles per kWh.

The car comes equipped with a lithium manganese battery pack made by Nissan partner, NEC. The capacity is a mere 24 kWh, 3 less than my RAV's NiMH battery holds.

The first model year comes equipped with a 3.3 kW charger that will upgrade to a 6.6 kW charger in the next model year. I confirmed that you will be able to upgrade the 3.3 to a 6.6 charger should you want to (trust me, you will want the faster charger). The Leaf will also be able to charge from a 50 kW DC charger as well. Nissan intends to install 50 of these fast chargers throughout California next year in anticipation of the cars coming to market. Fast charging will allow you to greatly extend your range without having to wait for a long charge.

This picture shows the two charge ports located under the Nissan badge in the front of the car. Level 1&2 charging will happen with the plug on the right, and level 3 fast charging with the plug on the left.

Ghosn confirmed rumors that Nissan would sell the car, but lease the battery. This initially troubled me given the problems we had a few years back when GM, Toyota and others recalled the leased EVs to destroy them, but the logic of leasing the battery works in this case.

Nissan expects to sell the car for about what a comparable gas burner would cost, somewhere in the neighborhood of $30K (this price is before the $7,500 federal tax credit and any applicable state tax credits). The gas burner would, of course, need gas, oil changes, tune ups and smog checks, so you need to add those operational costs to the total lifetime cost of ownership. With the Leaf, you pay about the same for the car, but the battery lease payment, combined with the kWh you buy to charge the battery, will be about the same or slightly less than the gas costs for the internal combustion car. You also get numerous other privileges with the Leaf, such as never spending a single minute at a gas station, no tune ups or oil changes - and the big one - you get to drive without guilt.

Ghosn is the first CEO of a major car maker to mention the guilt line. That's because he's the first to offer a car that can be driven on 100% renewable electricity. One of the journalists in attendance offered that he had coined a great marketing tag with his comment about guilt-free driving. I expect we'll see that in the ad campaign once they get it cranked up.

I have to say, this was a very satisfying event. Instead of Plug In America showing up with protest signs like we used to do, we now get to come to these great events where progressive companies like Nissan are making high quality electric vehicles and rushing to get them to market. I heard a rumor that Nissan will start taking reservations in February. You'd be smart to go to their website and give them your name now.

Lots of Plug In America members were there. In this picture, we see PIA documentarian, Stefano Paris, Director, Chris Paine, political gadfly extraordinaire, Dency Nelson, myself and the one and only Chelsea Sexton. Chelsea, by the way, was THE hot interview of the day. Virtually all the media wanted her opinion of the Leaf. From what I heard, she liked it every bit as much as I.

Paul
*****

Battery value in the afterlife

This story is about the economics of EVs, but it addresses a mostly unknown aspect that is only recently getting some attention.

What is the value of the battery pack when it can no longer give you the service you require?

"Lithium-ion batteries have a limited number of charge cycles in electric vehicles, but once a car’s battery pack goes kaput, it can be recycled or find new life in less demanding applications — storing renewable energy generated during off-peak hours, for example."

This is precisely what Ed Kjaer of SoCal Edison told me when I toured the SCE "smart garage". The large battery packs will have a long afterlife storing kWh from off peak charging at night in your garage or anyplace you can safely store the batteries. In the near future, we will all be on Time of Use (TOU) utility rates, so any energy we use during peak load times will be much more expensive than energy used at night.

Charging these large battery packs at night on 8 cent/kWh energy and using it to offset 40 cent energy the next day could prove quite lucrative. Therefore, when you replace your EV's battery pack with a new one after 7-10 years, the old pack may be worth hundreds, or even thousands of dollars as a storage pack in your house, or at a commercial building where many packs are strung together. It's this value that Nissan, and everyone else, wants to know.

This "afterlife" value affects the cost of EV ownership in a positive way since any value attributed to the battery pack increases the value of the car at the end of the lease, or when a used car is sold.

Nissan wants to take advantage of this value by offering to finance the cars themselves, at least for the initial rollout. As Josie Garthwaite astutely observed in her article, this will let Nissan set the residual value higher based on its internal assumptions of the battery's value and longevity which will mean a lower lease price.

A potential downside was highlighted in the article when Larry Dominique, VP of product planning for Nissan, was quoted saying, "We want to be able to control the residual value; we want to be able to control the end value, so at the end of a lease or loan we have the vehicles back and we can decide what to do with them."

Whoa! I had a flashback to March, 2005 on the rainy sidewalk in front of the Burbank GM facility when GM hauled 12 truckloads of EV1s to the crusher. I'm sure Nissan would never do such a thing-again. All the same, I would encourage Nissan, and all the other carmakers, to always offer the option to buy the cars outright. Those of us who understand the EV and how to operate it, may think it's a better bet to own that battery. We at least want the option.

Speaking of taking EVs back after the lease expires, I'm already hearing talk of some action against BMW should they decide to take their wonderful Mini Es away and destroy them after the one-year-only lease program. Whatever happens with those cars, it'll happen in time to be included in Chris Paine's upcoming "Revenge of the Electric Car".

Paul
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Toyota's Gamble

The New York Times reported today that Toyota could be falling behind its rivals in the race to go electric. They specifically mentioned rivals Mitsubishi, Nissan, Tesla and GM, but could have listed a dozen others (see Plug In America's EV Tracker for a complete list).

“The time is not here,” Masatami Takimoto, Toyota’s executive vice president, said during a factory tour this year. Electric cars “face many challenges,” he said, adding that “to commercialize pure E.V.’s, we need a battery that far exceeds the current technology.”

Coming from a VP of Toyota, this is an absurd comment. I'm still driving a Toyota-made EV that was designed over a decade ago. Hundreds of these RAV4 EVs continue running perfectly, and I can assure you these are not secondary vehicles but the primary vehicle for the families that own them. To make a comment like this doesn't show ignorance, there's something else behind it.

“In a world where vehicles run on electrons rather than hydrocarbons, the automakers will have to reinvent their businesses,” Russell Hensley, an analyst at the consulting company McKinsey, told clients in a recent report.

True statement.

"Toyota executives rattle off reasons to be skeptical of electric cars: They do not travel far enough on a charge; their batteries are expensive and not reliable; the electrical infrastructure is not in place to recharge them."

How far is far enough? Over 80% of American drivers don't exceed 40 miles a day. Tens of millions never drive long distances, and of those who do, a plug-in hybrid would suffice.

The batteries are costly, I'll give him that, but the prices are getting lower every day. As for not reliable, of all the RAVs Toyota has put on the road, virtually none have had battery failures. The batteries are exceptionally reliable.

This last bit about the infrastructure is laughable. The electric grid is everywhere. The cost and effort to install a charge station in a garage or driveway is minimal. The public charging will be built out as the cars are delivered. I recently attended a stakeholder's meeting at Plug In 2009 in Long Beach, CA where utilities, automakers and city planners were all discussing how they were going to build out home, workplace and public charge stations over the coming years. Toyota wasn't in the room. Maybe they should attend these conferences. They'd learn a lot and maybe stop making such boneheaded statements.

"Even when electric cars are sold widely, the company says, they will be suitable only for short trips and serve a decidedly niche market."

Short trips constitute the vast majority of all trips. A car suited for short trips of less than 100-200 miles per day does not serve a niche market, it serves the majority market.

"Meanwhile, Toyota’s new president, Akio Toyoda, has become a big promoter of the company’s fuel cells, which he calls the “ultimate” technology."

A huge mistake!

“You don’t see many competing technologies survive in a key market for very long,” said Mr. Shimizu, the Keio University professor.

And more often than not in the history of innovation, a change in the dominant technology means a change in the market leader.

“Electric cars are a disruptive technology, and Toyota knows that,” Mr. Shimizu said. “I wouldn’t say Toyota is killing the electric vehicle. Perhaps Toyota is scared.”

Here's what I think. Toyota is working feverishly on an EV to compete with Nissan's Leaf. They are going to release the plug-in Prius late next year to compete with the Volt. In the meantime, they'll make public statements about how the batteries and the infrastructure aren't ready to try and damp enthusiasm for plug-ins so they can continue to sell their hybrid models to the very demographic who are likely plug-in buyers. Then watch what they say when they hit the market with their own EVs.

Paul
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Nissan LEAF charging and price concerns

As many of you have already heard, the new Nissan EV is called the "Leaf". Nice green name and the car itself is attractive in a Prius sort of way. I don't have any pictures myself, but Wired's Autopia site has a few good ones and a lot of good info on the car as well. A couple of items not discussed, but important to know have to do with the final price and how fast the cars will be allowed to charge.

First, the price. Some speculation centered around whether Nissan would sell the car and lease the battery in order to keep the cost down. When we were first told of the price range being between $25K and $34K, leasing the battery was not mentioned. Some mention of battery leasing has been made, however, mostly centered around the deal Renault/Nissan has with Shai Agassi's Better Place. When I posed this question to my Nissan contacts, the answer was "... at this point, we can't offer the level of precision on that topic that many people would like...it just is too early."

I wish they could be more specific, but I do understand the need to be circumspect this far in advance of delivery. The people I know who drive EVs are mostly in favor of owning the batteries as long as we can get a good 7-10 years out of them. We see the downward trend in costs and fully expect a replacement pack 7 years from now will be quite affordable.

My biggest worry is the speed at which Nissan will allow charging. The car will come with a cord allowing charge from a regular 120 volt outlet, but this will be painfully slow. Households that buy the car will have a charge station installed on their 240 Volt circuit, but the charge will be limited to 3.3 kW. This is marginally faster than charging from a 120V circuit, but half the speed of our RAVs that charge at 6.6 kW. We've gotten used charging at this speed, but even 6.6 kW is slow compared to Teslas which can charge as high as 16 kW.

Now, to Nissan's credit, they are going to be deploying lots of very fast level three chargers in the communities that receive the initial several thousand cars. These are 480V systems that charge at 50 kW, very fast indeed! So, to the extent customers have access to these chargers, they may find home charging at 3.3 kW to be acceptable, but I think that's a big risk.

The reason given for starting the first year with the slow charging had to do with cost and availability of cord sets. This may be something we have to accept, but I'm afraid it'll give the wrong message. With a range of 100 miles, the speed of charging becomes more important.

This link will take you to a story on Renault's Frankfurt Auto show all-electric line up. The first time a major automaker is showing nothing but EVs. This is great news from this EV powerhouse, Renault/Nissan.


Paul