Here Are Some Neat EV Features That Make Them Better Than ICE Vehicles

"Joe6pack" (joe6pack) 03/15/2015 at 19:00 • Filed to: Leaf, EV, Electric Vehicle

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Here are a few of the things that I have discovered in my two and half years of living with an electric vehicle (EV) as my primary mode of transportation. These are aspects that I feel make EVs better than the typical internal combustion engined (ICE) vehicle.

Low Cost of Ownership: I justified the lease of my 2012 Nissan Leaf on the basis of its low acquisition cost thanks to federal and state tax incentives and its low operating costs thanks to it being an EV. I have to say that while it looked good on paper it has actually turned out to be even better. I estimate that it costs me between $30 and $40 per month to fuel the Leaf for my 42 mile round trip daily commute plus some running around on the weekends. I have rotated the tires every 7,500 miles and that's pretty much been it. There is no reason to expect an EV to have more mechanical problems than a conventional car.

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Programmable Charge Timer: One of the neat features of the Leaf is the ability to program it to either begin or complete charging at a specific time. Let's you get a cheaper rate for your electricity after 8:00 p.m. You can simply program the Leaf begin charging sometime after that. Alternatively, if you know that you will be leaving home at 6:30 a.m., every day, you can program it to be ready at 6:00 a.m. While ICE vehicles don't need to be charged, imagine being able to have your car gas itself up overnight.

Programmable Preheating/Precooling - This has got to be one of the coolest things ever. Sure, any automatic transmission car can have remote start, but that requires a lot of effort. You actually have to push a button. With the Leaf, you simply program it to preheat or precool the cabin and to have the job completed at a certain time. And then it does it day after day. You can even program it to be ready at different times on different days. The best part is that if you do this while it's plugged in, it doesn't use any of the power you will need for driving. It also turns on the heated seats and the heated steering wheel as well depending on the outside temperature.

No Warm Up Time - As I contemplate whether or not I would go back to an internal combustion vehicle, this is one of the features I think I would miss the most. Basically, you don't have to wait for the engine to warm up on an EV since it doesn't have one. I go to the gym at 4:30 a.m. three days a week. I simply walk out to the Leaf, unplug it and get in and go without worrying that I might be doing damage since I haven't given the engine a chance to warm up. The Leaf actually uses energy from the mains when plugged in or from the battery when not to keep the battery's temperature from getting too low. Also, my trip to the gym is very short - less than a mile. This would simply be murder on a conventional car's engine.

No Wasted Time Pumping Gas or Changing Oil - This one is fairly self-explanatory. The next time you have to stop for gas, think about what it would be like to simply pull into your garage, plug in your car and go inside. One of the things I really hated about my Jeep was stopping for gas, especially if it was cold and rainy or if there was a line at the pumps. At some point, I might estimate the number of hours this aspect has saved me.

Remote Apps - I know a lot of cars probably have these now. But with the Leaf's system you can get the car's state of charge and range, stop or start charging, or stop or start the climate control system.

Simplicity - Besides not requiring gas or oil, EVs in general are simpler. There are far fewer moving parts which means less wear and fewer things to go wrong. In a hybrid, you are actually carrying around an internal combustion engine that you only need some of the time and wish you didn't need at all. Ever wonder what it looks like under the hood of a Leaf. Here you go:

Storage - EVs in general have more storage space than the equivalent conventional vehicle and way more than a hybrid. This is because the engineers have fewer and smaller components and more flexibility in their placement. Battery's can be engineered in various shapes to maximize passenger and cargo space. They can even be used as part of the structure of the vehicle.

Handling - Ok, this may be one you aren't expecting. Think about this - in many EVs including the Leaf, the Tesla Model S and the Fiat 500 EV, the battery is actually placed in the floor. This results in a low center of gravity. Some testers have even reported that the Fiat 500 EV actually handles better than the regular 500.

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Instant Torque - EVs don't have to build rpms to make power. It's there all at once. They accelerate almost effortlessly without any drama. And Tesla has proven that you don't have to sacrifice performance to go electric.

Quietness - By now you probably know that EVs are almost silent. Most have had to add some sort of warning sound so that pedestrians can hear them coming. Sure, we all enjoy the sound of a nice twin cam at full song, but for everyday use, it can get old.

Smug Self Righteousness - If you just so happen to be one of those folks who believes that the ice caps are melting, the seas are rising and that a polar bear on a stray iceberg will come floating by at any moment, then only an EV will do. When it comes to guilt free driving, it doesn't get any better than this. For bonus points, you can add a solar array to the roof of your house and really give the middle finger to the energy cartels.

Sure, its not all moonlight and roses. I plan to do a follow up on some of the less positive aspects of EV life, so stay tuned. In the meantime, if you any questions about the Leaf, leave them in the comments below and I will try and answer them.

Thanks,

dogisbadob > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 19:06

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Awesome writeup. How many miles so far?

dogisbadob > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 19:07

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oo it actually looks almost like a regular engine!

dogisbadob > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 19:07

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too bad no sunroof :(

E92M3 > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 19:13

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You can lease one for $199 a month now. Practically pays for itself, or would in my case. The only issue I have is I don't want to get rid of my other cars, and I wouldn't want to waste a garage space with it either. I'd have to run an extension cord outside all the time.

Bluecold > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 19:15

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For sub-3 mile trips it's a no-brainer to use a bicycle right?

Don't want to be a dick, but warmup for very short trips isn't a real issue.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 19:18

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The reliability thing confuses me. Cars are conventionally made up of 15,000 parts, a significant moving portion of which is the engine and drivetrain. By eliminating the engine and replacing it with an electric motor which as just one moving part, surely it would be more reliable? I think you're definitely right in saying that it would lower the cost of ownership. Here in HK, Teslas are popping up everywhere because with government grants and incentives, people pay hundreds of dollars less road tax than a comparatively priced and nowhere-near-as-close performing Merc E-Class.

desertdog5051 > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 20:04

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Interesting review. I really appreciate it. I have wondered about the Leaf for a while and did not trust the forums as they are generally populated by lovers or haters. Thanks. I have a converted MGB but it uses lead-acid batteries and it is fun, but not what I want. I also have 3.3 Kw solar on the garage roof. Have not paid an electric bill in a few years and get a check from the power company every month.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > Joe6pack 03/15/2015 at 20:30

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Nice writeup. One consideration for estimating cost to operate is local cost of electricity. The carmakers usually make the "so cheap to operate" argument on the back of a low cost of electricity (such as $0.11 / KWh). Running the model for our local power rates (more than 3X), it would actually be cheaper to buy a plug-in hybrid and run it entirely on gasoline—electricity is only cheaper for us if gas gets back around $5 / gallon.

We are on our second electric car now, so believe me, I've done the spreadsheets. :-)

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 03/15/2015 at 21:26

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Jeez, where do you live that you're paying so much for power?

Joe6pack > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 03/15/2015 at 21:47

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Agreed. I pay around that $0.11/KWh. It was a better proposition when gas was $3.50 a gallon

Joe6pack > E92M3 03/15/2015 at 21:52

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Actually, I park my Leaf outside and use the included charger which has been converted to level 2. The cable is like 20 feet long. The garage is for the Porsche and the Fiat.

Joe6pack > dogisbadob 03/15/2015 at 21:56

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Nope. Not available. Maybe on Leaf 2.0.

Joe6pack > dogisbadob 03/15/2015 at 21:57

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Yeah, they made a fake valve cover.

Joe6pack > dogisbadob 03/15/2015 at 21:57

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27,000+

Joe6pack > desertdog5051 03/15/2015 at 22:03

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Right now, it's hard for me to justify solar. In Georgia we have very low electricity rates. Maybe

Joe6pack > Bluecold 03/15/2015 at 22:12

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Actually, it is. It's better today now that we have complex engine management systems, but I suspect it is still a problem. Think about this. When an engine and the intake air are cold, the air/fuel ratio must be reduced, i.e. more fuel is required. Cold plugs, combustion chambers and valves and excess fuel result in carbon buildup. Modern direct injection engines already have a problem with carbon buildup so I suspect this would exacerbate the problem.

Just my two cents.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 03/16/2015 at 00:40

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California.

What's even wilder is we looked at the special rate plans for charging at night, but those ended up more expensive, because of the outrageous rates they charge during the day (0.51 / KWh anyone?). So getting a few cents off between midnight and 6am didn't even make up the difference.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 03/16/2015 at 00:53

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Holy balls. I would have guessed that electricity would be cheaper in California for some reason. Maybe there's a premium because it's "green"? That's straight-up retarded. And here I was thinking the 13˘/kWh I'm paying in Saskatchewan was bad because it's a 60% increase over what I was paying in Manitoba last summer...

desertdog5051 > Joe6pack 03/16/2015 at 01:25

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I did it because of the financial incentives that were available and the anticipation of higher rates. I have seen 4 rate increases since. So I feel OK. Each rate increase raises my monthly check. That, and I see over 330 days of sun each year.

BloodlessWeevil > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut 03/16/2015 at 07:59

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I'm not convinced the reliability advantage matters much in the real world. It is still, you know, a car. Modern drivetrains will usually outlive the rest of the car by a large margin.

My only other quibble is remote start. You guys do know that manuals can get that too, right?

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > BloodlessWeevil 03/16/2015 at 08:29

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Debatable. You could say that both electric cars and ICE cars undergo the same sort of stresses, but will react differently due to their drivetrain differences. I would say that electric cars would definitely need less costly servicing as they don't consume as many perishable materials like ICE cars. But who knows, electric cars might present their own unique challenges.

And as for remote start, I've only ever come into contact with it once with an old friend's Supra. I live in an environment where pre-starting your carcisnt needed, especially in a country that fines you if your car is sitting idling for more than three minutes.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 03/16/2015 at 09:45

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The number they typically use as a "national average" is 0.11 / kWh, so we are definitely on the expensive side. Though I haven't seen a very complete explanation, your hypothesis about "green" power is part of the reason—the power mix they use is heavily tilted toward expensive renewables and the like.

And...it's complicated. The rate plans are hard to compare because some of them are tiered and some of them aren't. The time-of-use plans are a bad deal for us, because they charge so much during the day and the off-peak rates don't really kick in until midnight.

So power was only 0.08/kWh in Manitoba? Wow!

uofime > Joe6pack 03/16/2015 at 10:21

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How much of a drain is running the heater or AC on your range?

Joe6pack > uofime 03/16/2015 at 21:35

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The power drain from running the heat, particularly in sub-freezing weather, is absolutely appalling. Keep in mind that I have Leaf 1.0 which uses a resistive heater which is maddeningly inefficient. Leaf 1.1 or whatever you want to call it uses a heat pump which is much more efficient although I think it still may have the resistive heater for severe conditions. To make matters worse, when the battery is cold, the computer is programmed to reduce regenerative braking which further exacerbates the range issues.

The A/C on the other hand doesn't really seem to impact the range nearly as much. The Leaf actually has a screen that allows you to see what systems are using what power and you can even see there that the A/C doesn't use anywhere near as much power as the heat.

I plan to do a followup article on the downsides of living with an EV soon.

uofime > Joe6pack 03/16/2015 at 23:16

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That's interesting.

A heat pump is an interesting idea trying to exchange heat with the air when its cold out seems like it would be problematic since you end up with a frozen over heat exchanger

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 03/16/2015 at 23:35

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Manitoba relies very heavily on hydroelectric generation, and the largest installation basically uses a lake the size of Israel as a reservoir, so yeah, power's cheap. There's also less than two million people in the entire province, so demand's not all that high.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 03/16/2015 at 23:55

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Well that makes sense. Good for them making use of hydroelectric.

Also, thanks for engaging in an obscure and interesting discussion. Gotta love Oppo. :-)

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 03/17/2015 at 10:35

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Yup. I'm a nerd. Lol.

redmouseball > Joe6pack 04/02/2015 at 23:30

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not "fake". IGBT's are electron "valves".

redmouseball > desertdog5051 04/02/2015 at 23:33

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are you single? 3.3 kW is ~ 1 major appliance running. I've measured north of 10 kW draw at my house

Pif > Joe6pack 04/03/2015 at 00:20

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Air is denser when cold, so you'd actually be getting more air and better efficiency.

desertdog5051 > redmouseball 04/03/2015 at 00:56

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No. 2 adults living in the house. Average to slightly below average electricity usage each day. (A Kwh is equal to a 1000 watt electric heater running for one hour). We would not have that type of drag on the system. We use a toaster oven as often as possible to cook. Gas stove and water heater, dryer and furnace. Gas bill generally is less than $45 per month in winter.

Also, I live in a reasonably moderate climate area, do not rely on refrigerated air conditioning to cool the house, get about 330 days of sunshine each year.

redmouseball > desertdog5051 04/03/2015 at 15:27

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ah, that explains. Not much of an option of no AC for me in FL, and I've got electric everything (no gas to house, but wish I had).

And I very well know what kW/kWh is. I work for the bad guy, the especially bad guy in this state where they won't allow solar PPA's (yet). Out of pocket solar to cover my current current usage is cost prohibitive / un-economical.

desertdog5051 > redmouseball 04/03/2015 at 19:49

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We went with the grid tied solar right about the time the housing market crashed. Electricians were hurting for work. Also, we got in when the Federal and State and Utilities were all doling out lots of incentives. Our 12 year contract with PNM gives us $xx amount per KWH produced plus they "bank" the equivalent amount each month. We have to quit their service or move away to another state/utility company jurisdiction to access the banked money. Sweetheart deal.

Being in the arid SW, I use evaporative cooling. Works great. Uses no more electricity than a small water pump and a circulating fan.