The First LEAF Owner in the World was ... French, from SF Bay Area, Olivier Chalouhi

Already 3 years ... I remember watching this Event set up by Nissan at the San Francisco city hall and this French family man, Olivier Chalouhi, getting the keys to the First LEAF in the World

Now, after 3 years and 30,000 miles driving it almost everyday, to commute, but also to go on family trips, many of his friends and colleagues have been converted to Electric Drive ...

Nissan Gives Leaf Owners a Preview of the 2013 Model

SAN FRANCISCO — Nissan will not formally announce the 2013 version of the all-electric Leaf until early this week at the Detroit auto show, but on Saturday the company offered a sneak preview to the Bay Area Nissan Leaf Owners Association.



Nissan showing a preproduction 2013 Nissan Leaf to a meeting of the Bay Area Nissan Leaf Owners Association, the largest and most active group of Leaf owners in the United States. The San Francisco group has been active in suggesting enhancements to Nissan’s small electric vehicle.

It was an apt setting for the global unveiling of improvements — better range, faster charging and a lower starting price — intended to address shortcomings of previous versions of the Leaf.

“I can point to a half-dozen things on this 2013 car that directly resulted from meetings this group had with Nissan,” said Gary Lieber, co-founder of the owners association, informally known as the BayLeafs. “They really listened to us.”

The meeting, attended by about 60 people, took place at Luscious Garage, an auto service shop specializing in hybrid and electric cars in San Francisco. (Full disclosure: I was invited to the meeting because I lease a 2011 Nissan Leaf.)

Tim Gallagher, a Nissan spokesman, said the 2013 enhancements were “simple, small changes, a nice generational move of the car.” He said the simultaneous increase in content and the lowering of the price was made possible, in part, by the shift of production for 2013 Leafs to the company’s assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn.

When asked if the pricing reduction was significant, Mr. Gallagher replied: “I was impressed. It’s a good number.” He declined to give the exact figure before the official announcement.

The strategy for affordability is primarily based on the advent of a stripped-down S model that comes without a navigation system or a Quick Charge port, and with only a basic radio-CD player. Premium features like the Quick Charge port, previously available only on the upscale SL model, are now included in the SV version. The SV, which was the cheapest model, is now the midrange Leaf.

New features, including LED headlamps, fog lights, 17-inch alloy wheels and leather seating, will now be reserved for the SL. Additional premium upgrades to the SL include a Bose seven-speaker audio system and “around view monitor,” which puts cameras in front, in back and on the side mirrors for parking assistance.

Nissan is adding “improvements for range management,” without actually providing a bigger battery in the Leaf. The implication is that many owners will drive farther than the 80 or so miles typically possible with the 24-kilowatt-hour battery — but the company did not offer an estimate of how much farther the 2013 Leaf would go on a single charge, either in miles or on a percentage basis.

The improvements would result from a combination of an aerodynamic tweak to the front fascia, a more efficient heater and the addition of a driver-selected B-mode that increases regenerative braking. A feature long demanded by Leaf owners, a dashboard display of the battery’s state of charge on a percentage basis, will be offered in the 2013 model.

Charging times using 240-volt power will be faster in the 2013 Leaf with an upgrade to a 6.6-kilowatt onboard charger, from the 3.3-kilowatt charger on 2012 models. That means adding about 20 miles in an hour of charging, rather than about 12 miles. A full charge from empty to full will take about four hours, instead of seven hours.

The charge port area now comes with a much-needed light, not provided on earlier models, and the ability to open the port door from inside the car or by using the key fob.

The car’s driving range will be indirectly enhanced as well, because most Bay Area Nissan dealerships will soon install Quick Chargers, Mr. Gallagher said. The Quick Charger, capable of providing 50 to 60 miles of added range in about 25 minutes, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week — at no cost to Leaf owners.

“I’m confident that in the next 60 days we’ll have a lot of Quick Chargers in the ground,” Mr. Gallagher said. “It’ll be great coverage across the state.”



Source: The New York Times

EV Owners Celebrate at Plug In Day Across the US

No gas. No tail pipe. Fun to drive. This is commentary heard from electric vehicle owners at events throughout the U.S. on Sunday, Sept. 23, in support of the second annual National Plug In Day.

Plugin day here at Crissy Field in San Francisco 

The SF BayLEAFs Club was well represented

Husband and Wife, Volt and Leaf

Husband and Wife, Volt and Leaf

There are now thousands of Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs on U.S. roads. Two of those belong to Sierra Club member Rick Corcoran and his wife, Kathy. Their cars run on solar thanks to a 3.5 kilowatt system that sits on the roof of their home, located near Santa Cruz, California. Rick and Kathy took a few minutes to answer our questions.

Q: When did you get your cars?

Rick: Kathy got her Leaf in August and I got the Volt last May. The Volt is by far the greatest car I've ever owned.

Q: Why do you say that?

Rick: A few reasons. I'm doing my share for the planet. We have our own fueling station at home. So we aren't paying for wars anymore by using as much gas as we did. Secondly, the Volt is like driving an iPad on wheels. It drives like a spaceship. It's just so quick, smooth, quiet, and fun.

Lastly, I'm guessing I save over $1,000 a year in gas alone. I used to hate to go to the gas station and fill up. It was always this annoying chore. Now I only do it every other month and I only put in half of what everyone else is putting into their gas tanks.

Kathy: We figure the Leaf saves about $2,500 a year. No gas or maintenance expenses. We're saving a lot of money.

Q: The Volt has a battery and a gas tank that extends its range while the Leaf is an all-electric car. Do you ever worry about the Leaf's range?

Kathy: Nobody really drives more than 50 miles everyday -- that includes going back and forth to work and running a few errands. At the most for my car, it's 13 miles to work, 13 back, and I might make a few stops here and there. That's 40 miles at the most. So I don't have any sort of range anxiety. There are no worries if all you're doing is a having a regular day. Granted, it changes if you're taking a longer trip.

But we did the math. If the Leaf was my only car and I wanted to see my daughter in San Diego, it is still far cheaper to own a Leaf and rent a car to go on a long-distance trip than it is to own a conventional gas-powered car.

Q: Name an amenity that most people don't know about.
Kathy: It has a climate control element where it's heated at 7:10 every morning before I go to work. It doesn't drain the battery because it's plugged in. Regular cars sit idle for a long time in the morning just to warm up. Imagine all the gas wasted on just idling before you get going.



Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the EV industry right now?

Rick: Getting the word out that these cars are affordable, that they're not just for millionaires. The Leaf after federal and state rebates was only $20,000. And Kathy saves $2,500 a year with an eight-year warranty. No gas and no maintenance -- no oil checks, no air cleaners, filters -- except to rotate the tires. After 8 years we'll save about $20,000, the cost of the car. These cars are less expensive to drive and they turn out to be about the same cost as any other car, especially as gas prices go up.

Q: You both testified at a recent Environmental Protection Agency hearing in San Francisco about the need to raise fuel standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025. What did you say?

Kathy: I was a little nervous talking to them. But as a teacher of 30 years, I love our children. And to send our children off to a war so that I can drive my car? We need to take the blinders off and see what we're really doing there in the Middle East. So I told them that we need to raise our kids to understand that our country isn't a guzzler, but a giver. We've soaked up so much of the world's energy. We need to be the innovator of energy for the world.

I remember the days of the gas shortages, when there were these huge lines and you could only fill up on certain days. Everybody was freaking out. One of the biggest things that convinced me at this point in my life about getting an EV is that now I can really feel like I'm making a difference.

Young men or women -- who are now my kids' ages -- are stuck over there. It doesn't take a rocket science to figure this out. We are addicted. And if we don't recognize this addiction, we'll always be over there.

Visit the Sierra Club's Go Electric Campaign.

-- Brian Foley

Source: Sierra Club - Compass

Nissan makes a video about the SF Bay LEAFs Facebook Group

Starring Gary Lieber, Co-founder of the San Francisco Bay LEAFs Facebook Goup