After 13 years, I finally bought a new car. After trying to hold out for Honda to lease me a Fit EV, I finally gave up and bought a new Nissan Leaf.
With an EPA estimated range of 84 miles, it should be a perfect car for my commute to Towson. My first experimental trip was done at a leisurely pace, and I arrived with 49 miles of range remaining. The University’s charging stations made quick work (2.5 hours) of bringing me back to full charge. Switching to all-electric fuel should save me up to $250/month in fuel. Add to that lower maintenance costs, government tax incentives, reduced parking fees, and 72-month 0% financing, and the Leaf was one of the most economical choices we could make for a car.
The car itself feels really space-aged. I have never had integrated Bluetooth and Navigation before, and the electric features can be partially controlled via an app. A couple of obvious features are missing though. Despite all of the features to track the car’s location being present, Nissan sells that capability as a $500 add-on that we didn’t know about until after we took delivery. (I may have to see if we can get a deal installing that later.) Now if only Nissan would update the firmware with the ability to lock/unlock remotely (or at least check the status of the locks), I’d feel completely like George Jetson.