I know the owner of Canada's first Nissan LEAF [Q&A inside]

"Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy" (zipppyart)
04/22/2014 at 15:14 • Filed to: Nissan LEAF, electric cars

The Nissan LEAF is by all means, a modern attempt at the mainstream electric car. I'd like to tell the story of Canada's first Nissan LEAF, on this so-called, "Earth Day".

Photo: Ricardo Borba

Rewind to September 28th, 2011, a Canadian software engineer at IBM, takes delivery of the first commercially available, mass-produced electric car in the country. This man is known as Ricardo Borba, whose decision to go fully electric was sparked by the infamous BP oil spill a year before, in 2010.

He was considering a new vehicle, such as the Toyota Prius, as a replacement for his aging Toyota Sienna minivan at the time, and hated the oil monopoly with a passion. That infamous oil spill did not help oil companies with their reputation, especially with this man.

Photo: Ricardo Borba

The car now has over two years under the possession of Ricardo, and at the time of writing, just shy of 50,000 KM on the car's odometer, under its... uhm, wheels.

Ricardo, who is a resident of the National Capital region of Canada, also known as the Ottawa area, is the first regular person (maybe perhaps anyone) to own such a vehicle in the country, which in these two years, ownership has increased exponentially. With him being the first, meant he was an early adopter, debugging issues that may arise with an otherwise untested vehicle. The charging station installed in his garage was the first of its kind to be installed in the country, like the vehicle he purchased along with it.

Photo: Ricardo Borba

Ricardo's "plan" was to be among the first in the country to own an electric car, but he turned out to be the first, and became a celebrity in the process, who's image is a first choice for news articles for around the country.

Photo: Arthur Lima

To be honest, I am an old-school kind of guy, who prefers simple solutions to simple problems, this car's simplicity is questionable, as it has a lot of high tech gadgetry under the shell of a normal looking vehicle. The headlights are even sculpted specially to deflect wind away from the wing mirrors, as there is no engine noise, just the whirring of an electric motor spinning at several thousand RPM, and tire drone.

Speaking of simplicity, I have come up with a theory, that simplicity for the end user appears to be met by more complexity in engineering, which in turn, can reduce longevity.

Compare a car like this to something crude and robust as a Ford Crown Victoria or an Old Volvo, which are built to last, contrary to a new car, which likely may end up being disposed of after 5-10 years of ownership, after the batteries go flat, while the Crown Vic and Volvo go on for hundreds of thousands of kilometres without major repair.

I'll contact Ricardo to see if he can answer any questions you may ask in the comments below. He has a blog called !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and you can read his posts there.

DISCUSSION (24)

thebigbossyboss > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 11:05

Cool. Thanks for this. In the newspaper article it says "more charging infrastructure needed". Do not have any problem with companies putting in paid chargers, but have always wondered why city hall insists on charging electric vehicles for free.

Party_in_the_USA > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 11:08

Good for you. Would you like a cookie?

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Party_in_the_USA
04/22/2014 at 11:09

Um yeah, chocolate chip please.

Vicente Esteve > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 11:25

It would be cool if Nissan would gift all leaf owners a Bambu plant or a Bonsai tree.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > thebigbossyboss
04/22/2014 at 11:29

I believe it's because they're experimenting with it, and are unsure about pricing as of now.

Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 12:24

Would he have really been the first electric car owner in Canada though? I know there are a few Tesla Roadsters driving around, and I'd imagine at least one of those beat him to the punch by two years.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise
04/22/2014 at 12:27

Those weren't for sale in Canada at the time, but were able to be brought over from the USA, and registered. The first car to get a green vehicle plate here in Ontario is a Tesla Roadster.

Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 12:30

Ah, so he may not be the first owner, but definitely the first buyer. Gotcha.

Ricardo Borba > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 20:21

Thanks, Arthur. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Ricardo Borba
04/22/2014 at 20:39

What motivated you to buy the first leaf?

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 20:40

Hi Ricardo!

How does the car do in the worst of Canadian winter? Does the charging infrastructure limit where you travel?

Ricardo Borba > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 20:43

The charging station at City Hall is part of a trial the City and Hydro Ottawa are doing in order to learn about the demand and the technology. The intent is to have as many people using the station as possible, to get a good understanding of the system during the trial. That's why access is free. However, parking is limited to 2 hours so you can't really get a full charge out of it. Another thing to remember is that, compared to what we are used to paying at gas stations, electricity costs are very low: somewhere between 45 and 75 cents per hour of charge in the case of the 2011 LEAF (varies based on time of use). The stats from the first year of the trial were released late last year: on average, the station was used 2.5 times a day and each charging session lasted about 40 minutes.

Manuél Ferrari > Ricardo Borba
04/22/2014 at 20:47

How does the heater hold up on the coldest days? Does it heat the car as well as cars with an ICE?

And how badly does your range get effected when you have the heater on full blast?

Ricardo Borba > Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise
04/22/2014 at 20:52

I was not the first electric car owner, just the first Leaf owner. Roadsters had been around since at least 2010. I also know one person who owns a converted Porsche in Ottawa since 1982.

Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise > Ricardo Borba
04/22/2014 at 21:15

Ooh, that converted Porsche sounds interesting. Any more info around about that?

Alex B > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
04/22/2014 at 21:19

Hey! Fellow leaf here. What is your favorite part about the Leaf?

Ricardo Borba > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif
04/22/2014 at 21:21

> How does the car do in the worst of Canadian winter?

I've been driving it for three winters here in Ottawa, with temperatures as low as -30C. The good thing is that it *always* starts in the morning, regardless of how cold it is. You can also pre-heat the cabin using an app on your phone, while the car is inside the garage (no worries about fumes going into the house and killing everyone). The car also drives very well from the start, very comfortable, very silent, never sluggish or stiff like a gas car during the first few kilometers. On the other hand, range can drop fairly significantly, from 120-150 km in the summer, to 60 km in the coldest day of the winter, depending on how much you use your cabin heater.

> Does the charging infrastructure limit where you travel?

It does, a lot. It's never a problem in the city because I can charge at home and at work so I'm always covered. But traveling outside the city requires some planning because there are not a lot of stations within range. We have a second car which is always available for long trips, but the Leaf is the one we use 90% of the time.

People living in the West Coast have a completely different picture because the charging infrastructure there is much better developed. You can basically drive from Vancouver to San Diego using DC Fast Chargers along the way (80% charge in 30 mins). The province of Quebec is currently installing DC Fast Chargers between Montreal and Quebec, and plans to install stations between Montreal and Ottawa (Gatineau) in the future. Unfortunately there are no plans announced in Ontario.

Tesla Motors decided to solve this issue by creating their own charging network, which allows Model S owners to drive from Vancouver to Los Angeles to New York to Miami and back to Los Angeles using their own Superchargers. For free.

Ricardo Borba > Manuél Ferrari
04/22/2014 at 21:35

> How does the heater hold up on the coldest days? Does it heat the car as well as cars with an ICE?

The Leaf has heated seats (back and front) and a heated steering wheel, which are much more efficient in terms of energy usage. If you heat up the cabin the same way you're used to do in a gas car, it gets really uncomfortable. Just way too hot. We end up using the heated seats a lot and keeping the cabin fairly cool (around 18C), just to keep the air flowing and avoid fogging the windows.

> And how badly does your range get effected when you have the heater on full blast?

The heater on the 2011/2012 Leaf is very inefficient so it can easily cut your range in half if you use it too much. Nissan completely redesigned the heating system in the 2013/2014 models, which now uses a heat pump that is way more efficient. I don't have the range numbers but I did a side-by-side comparison between a 2013 and 2011 and the new heater uses about 1/6 of the energy, which very very good compared to the original Leaf.

Manuél Ferrari > Ricardo Borba
04/22/2014 at 21:42

Interesting it gets too hit if you heat the cabin up. Nice that Nissan improved the efficiency of it greatly though!

Ricardo Borba > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/22/2014 at 22:08

> What motivated you to buy the first leaf?

I wanted to reduce my dependency on fossil fuels and the oil industry. I wanted to support the development of technologies that can ultimately replace oil with something that makes much more sense, to our health, to the environment and to the local economy. And electric cars are also much more fun to drive!

Ricardo Borba > Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise
04/22/2014 at 22:10

More info about the converted Porsche: http://www.econogics.com/ev/myevs.htm

Ricardo Borba > Vicente Esteve
04/22/2014 at 22:13

> It would be cool if Nissan would gift all leaf owners a Bambu plant or a Bonsai tree.

I would be even happier if Nissan installed DC Fast Chargers at every Nissan dealership and made it accessible to Leaf owners 24/7. They already started doing it in the US and in the UK, but not in Canada.

Ricardo Borba > Alex B
04/22/2014 at 22:21

> Hey! Fellow leaf here. What is your favorite part about the Leaf?

The instant torque and acceleration from the get-go.

Vicente Esteve > Ricardo Borba
04/22/2014 at 23:17

Yeah, that would also be cool.