Nissan 'Lea'f electric car problems

[Jo Spencer]

I am staying with my daughter who recently bought, by lease, a Nissan
'Leaf' electric car. They won't let her out of the lease, although I believe it
is a fraudulent business practice to sell a young mother a car to trasport
her children to school, and the car is losing the battery charge so quickly
she can't even get her children to school. And ideas about what to do?
Other people experiencing the problem? I am all for alternative energy,
but these cars are all still so experimental. My daughter should not have
been sold this car.

[Roland Jacopetti]

Hi, Jo. My wife and I have had a Leaf for the last two years. It's also on lease; one year left to go, and we're really not sure what's going to happen then. It's true - - virtually all of the new all-electric cars have pretty limited range on a single charge of electricity. The Leaf claims to get about 80 miles on a charge, and that's possible - -sort of. To get optimum mileage, you have to drive very carefully and keep at a pretty modest speed; more than 65mph on the freeway, and the mileage goes down. Quick take-offs, lots of uphill driving, passing other cars at high speed - it all eats into the available mileage on a single charge.

I think your daughter should figure out how easy or difficult it is to make the commute to her children's school and be prepared to baby the car along if the range is great. On the plus side, it's a nice smooth ride, the Leaf handles very well, and you get to drive by a lot of gas stations. She should take advantage of all opportunities to charge the battery, looking for charge stations on her route which are free or don't charge much, and take the time to use them. Nissan of Santa Rosa has a 440v charger, which will give a very fast charge, and if you bought the car there you can use the charger free. I urge other Waccistas who have electrics to share their secrets to economical electrical driving. Good luck!

Roland

I am staying with my daughter who recently bought, by lease, a Nissan
'Leaf' electric car. They won't let her out of the lease, although I believe it
is a fraudulent business practice to sell a young mother a car to trasport
her children to school, and the car is losing the battery charge so quickly
she can't even get her children to school. And ideas about what to do?
Other people experiencing the problem? I am all for alternative energy,
but these cars are all still so experimental. My daughter should not have
been sold this car.

[CSummer]

Hi Jo, Well, actually electric cars aren't all that experimental. I'm driving one that's 20 years old,
and they've been around much longer than that. Some questions:
Is your daughter in California? If so, CA vehicle lease laws would apply. (See this article.)
Is she getting much less than the advertised range (about 70 miles, I believe)?
What year is it and how many miles on the car?
How far does she have to drive in a day?

This article tells about ending a lease by selling the vehicle, and I once helped a friend buy a leased car.

CSummer

[podfish]

...I am all for alternative energy, but these cars are all still so experimental. ...

I don't think 'experimental' is quite the word, but it's true you can't treat them the way you can a normal twenty-first century conventional-fuel car. It's a bit more like the early days when your car had a manual choke - or for those of us with motorcycles like having to mix oil and gas into your fuel. There are extra steps you have to take and skills you have to develop. You're probably right that the people who sold it to her didn't make any attempt to see if she was interested in making that extra commitment.

I do have a different older hybrid, and it takes some attention to keep your battery charge up. From the little research I've done on the Leafs, it seems that if she's coming into town from deep in Cazadero it might be a problem. But there are plenty of people who report commutes of dozens of miles. It's certainly not the hundreds that you get with a gas-fueled car, but it's enough to reach local schools for most people. The good thing is that owning a vehicle like this puts you in a club, and there are plenty of people online who share tips about how to best use them.

This is one: https://www.mynissanleaf.com/

[tommy]

return the car to the Nissan dealer with a note attached.

[DavidJohn]

It may be that the dealer is obligated to fix it because it is a leased vehicle. Or, if the vehicle is under a warranty that is still in effect, have them fix it! I would think that a repair should also extend the warranty due to the repair itself having it own warranty. Otherwise, consider legal action. If you do not have a lawyer or money to pay one, consider signing up for Legal Shield, which is a form of legal insurance that allows you to talk with a lawyer once you are a member and current on the payments. I know a person who can get you enrolled in Legal Shield.