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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Nissan's math says you should be able to drive Leaf 15,000 miles a year for about $400 of electricity (based on national average of 11 cents a kilowatt/hour). (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/09/nissan-leaf-electric-car-calls-emails-if-you-forget-to-plug-it-in/1)

http://www.youtube.com/v/bQq5b1D0lO4?fs=1James R. Healey - USATODAY (http://content.usatoday.com) - September 14, 2010

How many will be willing to ditch their liquid fueled vehicles? --Ed.

While Nissan's 2011 Leaf electric car hardly is as cute as the cuddly polar bear in the new TV ad, above, for the battery car, Leaf does have some engaging and appealing attributes. (See how Nissan made the ad in the post above).

How about it can be set to call and email reminders if you forget to plug it in. Or it lets you warm or cool the interior remotely, using your cell phone, so you can hop into a pre-cooled or -heated car.

Or that it's quite roomy for a small car. Or its "driving range" feature -- far from having anything to do with golf -- shows you via a circle on the navi screen where you can go before you're out of juice.

Leaf's not unique. Chevy says you can pre-heat or -cool Volt's interior, too, for example. But the array of conveniences and remote links to the car, listed all at once in a presentation by Nissan at USA TODAY's HQ, made the point that electrics will be much more than an alternative to... http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/09/nissan-leaf-electric-car-calls-emails-if-you-forget-to-plug-it-in/1

Responding to the editor's question, "How many will be willing to ditch their liquid fueled vehicles? --Ed." I think they will sell everyone of them in rapid fashion.

If my income was just a little higher, a Leaf would suit my needs very well. My work site is only 2.5 miles from my house and my coven is 24 miles from my house. I would still have to have one conventional or hybrid car for visiting family members out of state. You don't have to have a six-digit income to afford a Leaf (you just have to make more than I make, ha ha!)

my coven is 24 miles from my house.I did not know that about you. This is why I wish the avatars were bigger than 100px*100px, or at least clickable to a larger size.

Robert: yup... Bigger avatars would be nice. My avatar incorporates the Triple Goddess symbol. Wicca is primarily an ecology religion that still gets odd treatment by Hollywood (personally, I cannot cast fireballs) and misunderstanding from the Abrahamic religions.

Well for the difference of $22 a month in energy costs, I'll keep my Prius and its 500 mile city and 650 mile plus highway range. :)

Yearly fuel cost for me would be $240 for the Leaf and $506 for my Prius.

I could "only" do about 13.5k miles per year in the LEAF. Not quite half of our total miles including both commutes and not quite half of our non-commute miles.

While a Prius isn't "worth it" for low mileage users, a LEAF isn't "worth it" for users on low mileage or expensive electricity so unfortunately I can't argue to my wife that it's financially prudent to replace a car early and get a LEAF. My wife's also range-anxious.

But the good thing about waiting is that by the time we come to buy EVs and PHEVs should be better (if not cheaper due to the tax credit being used up).

Having said that I'll be waiting to get an EV, if they brought one to Maine for test drives I'd be burning a few gallons of gas to try it out.

I would have to sort the Leaf emails into a priority category. I'm afraid it would be lost in the deluge.

Responding to the editor's question, "How many will be willing to ditch their liquid fueled vehicles? --Ed." I think they will sell everyone of them in rapid fashion.

I don't know how many of you subscribed to the Leaf emails, but they sent one today that states they were not taking any more reservations this year:


We are thrilled with the overwhelming enthusiasm people like you have shown for the 100% electric Nissan LEAF™. To date, 20,000 people have already reserved a LEAF - a number that has exceeded our expectations.

We have completed the first phase of reservations. In order to provide the best level of customer service and premium ownership experience to the first Nissan LEAF drivers, we will not be accepting new reservations until the next phase begins. A subsequent phase of reservations will begin next year, after current reservations and orders have been processed.

We're grateful for your understanding and patience as we work to bring this 100% electric car to you.