Leaf-ing Around Chicagoland

Today we recorded the coldest temperature in Chicago in Chicago with an air temp of -23 and a “feels like” temp of -50 with the wind chill. Of course, this meant that I simply HAD to take the Leaf for a spin. Truth be told, I was a bit nervous that the car would conk out mid-drive and we’d be stranded, a dangerous prospect for us and the tow truck driver who would come to our rescue. BUT, I am pleased to report that the Leaf started up just like normal, had no issues while driving, and started again after being parked on the street for five hours!

I made my first-ever YouTube video of the trip! Please watch it here and enjoy the ride.

It took a little bit of work, but reviewing the last two billing cycles and diving into the details of the bill online, I have calculated that it costs $2.55 to fully charge the Leaf. I then calculated that it would cost $13.20 to get 120 miles out of a 25 MPG conventional car, that’s a really big difference! This is a big part of the “total cost of ownership” calculation that is so hard to articulate for folks who might consider an EV, but are turned off by the initial sticker shock.

I have 14 years of utility data, but there are many factors that make a linear, apples-to-apples comparison difficult. Our building has had many energy efficiency upgrades over that time, from insulation and new appliances to LED light bulbs, and adding the weather and rate changes into the mix makes isolating the electrical consumption of the Leaf somewhat difficult. BUT, just using an average of the last three years after most of those upgrades were complete, it looks like the Leaf will increase our bill by 20%. This will add up to about $325 per year to keep the car charged to meet our needs.

Sparing you again from the weeds I dug through to calculate the annual cost of gas for our previous small car, which switched from a 25 MPG conventional car to a 40 MPG hybrid during the study period, and knowing how much gas prices have changed in the last three years, the annual average gas cost was around $900 per year. Should these estimates pan out, the Leaf will save us around $575 per year.

What I really like about that savings figure is the impact it could have on the regional economy if ownership of electric vehicles was widespread. In 2012, we produced a report for Clean Fuels Ohio that calculated such an impact, and it’s really impressive. To summarize, $750 of that $900 we used to spend on gas (86%) leaves the regional economy to pay for the primary activities of extraction and refining, leaving only $150 to be spent locally on job-creating activities like shopping and going to the movies. With the Leaf, we now have $575 in our pocket to spend, almost three times as much!

There are 1.9 million households in Chicago, and the US Census reports there are 1.1 vehicles per household. Now, imagine that extra $425 per household multiplied by 11,000 EVs, which is only 1% of those household vehicles, and the result is nearly FIVE MILLION DOLLARS being spent at coffee shops, movie theaters, restaurants, babysitters, taquerias, sports bars, hardware stores, and more, instead of leaving the region. That’s just in one city, in just one state. WOW.

I had the most amazing experience driving the Leaf recently – I drove 15 miles and actually GAINED 5 miles of charge while driving!  I assume this was due to the regenerative braking system, and my valiant attempts to hypermile, but still, I found it remarkable.  Maybe it was because I was driving back to work from an electrical vehicle seminar hosted by Chicago Area Clean Cities?

After one month of driving the Leaf I believe my range anxiety is cured, but I also have a new and somewhat surprising outlook on these cars.  I am a Midwesterner, so to me, a road trip vehicle needs to be able to go 300 miles with no more than 15 minutes on a fill up/recharge.  Now, I know that Tesla is there already and building its nationwide network of charging stations, but even at $35K for the common-folk model, it’s still fairly unattainable.  I also understand that the 2018 Nissan Leaf will have a range of 250 miles, but I have a radical proposition: is it possible that long distance just isn’t the point for EVs?

We know that 92% of daily commutes are less than 70 miles round trip.  I am in that group, and thus far I charge at home at night only three days per week, and I have only used charging stations at destinations for experimental purposes.  Would more people consider owning an EV if they knew that charging at home would cover virtually all of their driving needs?

What if we were to change the discussion, and consider our whole travelling system differently?  Households that need multiple cars for daily use could easily make it on one EV, and have unlimited road trip use of their conventional vehicle.  Households that need only one vehicle could cover the cost of renting a gas car for long drives when needed, using their annual EV fuel savings.  I have heard these discussions in professional circles, but not in the mainstream nor in consumer media.  Thoughts?