LEAF owners/experience

[Top_Fuel]

...I think he recently did front pads/rotors. Not from wear but due to corrosion on the rotors from lack of use.

LOL...yeah...people are learning the hard way (especially where the roads are treated with salt) that you might want to use your brakes once in a while just to keep them working and clean. Here are some low-mileage Bolt brakes from areas where the winters are rough...





For those new to EVs...

You can accelerate and stop an EV simply by modulating your use of the accelerator pedal. You can literally drive around all day long and never touch the brake pedal. It's kinda cool...but if you never use your brakes then they can end up looking look like the above photos.

I was just going to post the same story about a friend with a Bolt who did the same thing (no level 2 charger at home). And the battery is big enough that even if he did "extra" driving, he caught up over the next night's charge (or two).

Yep...that was me. If you drive 50 miles a day and you add 35 miles per night charging @ 120V, you'll be fine. The one time I needed faster charging, I drove to a commercial Level 2 charger. I never used a DC fast charger.

[AtomicPunk]

LOL...yeah...people are learning the hard way (especially where the roads are treated with salt) that you might want to use your brakes once in a while just to keep them working and clean. Here are some low-mileage Bolt brakes from areas where the winters are rough...





For those new to EVs...

You can accelerate and stop an EV simply by modulating your use of the accelerator pedal. You can literally drive around all day long and never touch the brake pedal. It's kinda cool...but if you never use your brakes then they can end up looking look like the above photos.
.

Don't the brakes engage some sort of regenerative charging thru the brake system when using one-pedal driving?

[defensivetackle88]

Not to derail the thread but….

What about USED Mitsubishi i-MiEV??

It can be had for cheap and the range is somewhat decent around town even in winter time by trip to grocery store, Circuit City and such.

Maybe consider that one? Because it cheaper than a new EV.

Thoughts?

[AtomicPunk]

Not to derail the thread but….

What about USED Mitsubishi i-MiEV??

It can be had for cheap and the range is somewhat decent around town even in winter time by trip to grocery store, Circuit City and such.

Maybe consider that one? Because it cheaper than a new EV.

Thoughts?

I totally would consider an I-MiEV but even with a new battery it doesn't have the range I need for my commute.

[Top_Fuel]

Don't the brakes engage some sort of regenerative charging thru the brake system when using one-pedal driving?

It's called regenerative braking...but the brake system isn't involved.

As you lift off the accelerator when you no longer need to power to move the car forward, the electric motor (which is spinning because the wheels are directly connected to it) becomes a generator and begins sending current back into the battery. The resistance of the motor acting as a generator is what slows the car down.

Here is a decent video explanation.

In some EVs the regenerative braking can be set to be more aggressive. In a Bolt, I could drive all day and almost never touch my foot to the brake pedal. They use deceleration sensors in some situations to trigger the brake lights, because you can be slowing down fairly aggressively without touching the brakes. This "one pedal driving" was one of the things I liked about an EV.

[Dirk Diggler]

I'm not a Leaf expert. A friend of mine owns 2 of them. One is a 2015 and the other a 2017. He likes them but they are mainly used around town because the range on older Leafs is pretty limited. I think the range on his 2015 is something like 70 miles on a good day.

According to this article, the range of a 2018 is about 150 miles. I asked about winter because that's where an EV's range takes a dive. If the range drops by close to 50% in extreme cold and that battery has degraded a bit (10%?) since 2018, then a 55 mile freeway commute (in extreme cold) might put you close to the battery's capacity. I hate to quote Consumer Reports but you can check out this article regarding winter EV battery range. I think you'd be fine 99% of the time because our winters aren't that cold.

Do you have a garage and/or the ability to charge at home with a Level 2 (240 volt) charger?

I mentioned the Bolt because every used Bolt is getting a new 66 kWH battery with a warranty. So even if a Bolt is a little more expensive, it might represent a better value with a new battery. I owned a Bolt for the last 2 years and sold it (that's a whole other story and I will post a separate thread on that later).


How did I forget that you're in my area?!?

Ohio winters aren't that cold anymore? Jeez what happened? Lol

[Dirk Diggler]

The Leaf is a good looking, huge hatchback, more cargo volume room than the Fit IIRC. If I had a garage I'd consider one in a heartbeat Atomic. My friend has a Volkswagen EV that she loves and that thing only has a range of 60 miles.

[Top_Fuel]

Ohio winters aren't that cold anymore?

I just meant we don't have extreme cold winters here (southern Ohio). For example, right now it's -12F at my corporate office in Minnesota. To me that is cold. To some people, -12F might be a mild winter day.

The bottom line is that an EV's range is almost reduced by half when it gets around 0F. So if you live in a cold climate, you want to keep that in mind if you are thinking about buying an EV.

[mohammad]

It's called regenerative braking...but the brake system isn't involved.

As you lift off the accelerator when you no longer need to power to move the car forward, the electric motor (which is spinning because the wheels are directly connected to it) becomes a generator and begins sending current back into the battery. The resistance of the motor acting as a generator is what slows the car down.

Here is a decent video explanation.

In some EVs the regenerative braking can be set to be more aggressive. In a Bolt, I could drive all day and almost never touch my foot to the brake pedal. They use deceleration sensors in some situations to trigger the brake lights, because you can be slowing down fairly aggressively without touching the brakes. This "one pedal driving" was one of the things I liked about an EV.

vehicles that support a true 1 pedal drive like the 2018 and newer Leaf use the friction brakes to bring the car to a stop after letting off the gas pedal as regenerative braking is ineffective at low speeds. Some very sophisticated 1 pedal systems also take into account the distance of the car in front of you when braking.

[Dodge Aries K]

I had a 2012 Leaf. It was a great car except the range was absolute trash. I could get about 30 miles in the winter which is why I sold it to a local dealer for what I had into it. Got to enjoy it for a year absolutely free of charge so that was pretty awesome. Got a new 2023 Bolt LT2 to replace it.

I'm not a fan of GM stuff either but the battery, drivetrain, etc is all made by LG so I figured it can't be too bad. I think one thing GM can do right is make an electric car. The EV1 was sweet (and the Bolt platform is actually called BEV2 like a homage to that) and people who had the Hybrid Volts seem to love the hell out of those. I also have a used 2017 Bolt Premier that I got for a stupid cheap deal to get the state rebate on it. The 22+ redesign is way nicer than the 17-21 interior.

One of the biggest flaws with EV's is the winter mileage drop. The Bolt is rated for 259 miles or something like that but both of mine say around 160 on the guess-o-meter when they're charged up to 90% during Chicago area winters. I'll have to see what they say when it's not crap outside. One of the Leaf's biggest flaws is it's lack of battery thermal management. It might have a heater for it but I know they sure don't have cooling for the battery which caused lots of Leaf's to die prematurely. Also, it has a Chademo port for DC fast charging which is hard to come by... and again with no battery cooling the DC charging gets the battery really hot which is bad.

With the experiences I had (I also test drove a few 18+ Leafs and didn't like them as much as my 2012) I would personally recommend going with a Bolt, especially a 22+ model.