Visited the National Harbor Superchargers today with #CO2Fre and was surprised to see not any signage indicating the imminent closure. Spoke to one fellow Tesla owner as he returned to his vehicle and he had no idea about it. I took these pictures this afternoon which demonstrate there's absolutely nothing to indicate the garage will be closing this Wednesday!
On Thursday, 1 November, the National Harbor SuperChargers will be closed and removed as the property has been sold to a hotel company that wants to tear up the lot. My understanding is that the equipment will be returned to Tesla and the property owners for National Harbor have offered to allow Tesla to reinstall them in the Fleet Garage at Tesla's cost. This is a paid garage where you get a card on entry and use a pay machine to pay the card before exiting with the card. You will therefore be forced to pay $5 for only 30 to 40 minutes of parking instead of being on the honor system as it currently is. Overall, it's unclear if Tesla will take them up on this offer, or consider moving to free parking at Tanger's Mall down the street. The Springfield Supercharger will remain opened.
I, for one shall be boycotting the new hotel. It breaks my heart to lose these as I work very close by and have only been able to use them twice in my 9 weeks driving #CO2Fre.
And for fans of the game The Simpsons™ Tapped Out (on iOS or Android—Yours truly is plays under the moniker of TimeHorse, naturally), here's a picture of all three premium item Electric Cars modeled by one of the rarest of premium characters, Shauna, in her Halloween She-Devil outfit.
(Finger Tenting) Excellent.
Here some great reasons to buy and some important disclaimer for folks in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is my belief as an already electric car driver it behooves me to write the caveats in hopes that Tesla and I, once we get those papers filed and service center in Fairfax Country, Virginia on Tyco Blvd., can work together to break the backs of the hybrid lobby and show Richmond and Fairfax that Electric Cars are the future.
.png) | The US government offers a $7,500 federal tax credit when you purchase a new Tesla. |
|---|---|
| Yes, the tax credit is helpful, but only if you pay at least $7,500 in taxes. As this would typically be someone earning $40,000 per year or more, I don't think it needs a caveat since no-one earning only $40,000 per year could *every* *dream* of owning a Model S at the equivalent of 2 years salary. | .png) | Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) displaying the Virginia Clean Special Fuel license plate may use Virginia HOV lanes, regardless of the number of occupants. |
| Clean Fuel plates are grandfathered, meaning the hybrid drivers ate up all the good ones and all that's left are third-generation access that only allows HOV access on a toll road in Northern Virginia. We need to work to wrest those first-generation Clean Fuel plates attached to dirty priuses and civic hybrids from those smelly, polluting, dirty cars and reissue them to the proper, truly clean, 100% cars like the Tesla Model S and the car I drive which I won't bother mentioning because I'm just here to promote Tesla and the Model S, even while I can't afford one. But maybe this point is moot since most of the HOV lanes in Virginia are being replaced by toll-based HOT lanes where the Clean Fuel plates don't even qualify. | |
| Local governments may reduce personal property taxes paid on electric vehicles. |
| Some local governments reduce your property tax burden by as much as 50%. For example Prince William County, Arlington County and the richest county in the nation, Loudoun County, all provide property tax discounts. However, the most populous and third richest county nationally, Fairfax, provides *no* property tax discounts what-so-ever, not for hybrids, not for electrics. And the property tax on a Model S can be as high as $2,500 per year. Though I suppose if you can afford a Model S, you can afford a property tax bill which represents your approximate fuel savings. And let's not forget, Fairfax County is where the Tesla Showroom and future Service Center are located. | |
.png) | Virginia Dominion Power offers reduced residential rates for electric vehicle charging. |
| Dominion's rates are why I used to pay $2,500 on fuel before getting an EV and now pay less than $300 per year for fuel. The electric cost per kWh out of pocket (including tax, generation, distribution and all riders) can be as low as about 6¢/kWh. But there is a caveat for this too, since Dominion now requires you to put your whole house on Time of Use for this rate, meaning if you have a stay-at-home parent and kids you'll be running the air conditioner and if you have a heat pump the heater seasonally at peak rates, though the rates fall into 4 tiers so the evenings aren't too bad and the overnights are dirt cheap. They used to offer a two-meter solution but having gone this route I will say for me it's hard to consider it worth it. While the whole house solution has effectively no cost to the customer to install, the two meter solution added perhaps $1,000 more installation costs after EVSE tax credits, which would take years to realize in saving relative to the whole-house option. Then again, I calculated this based on the fact that I don't have a stay-at-home parent in my house. | |
| Electric vehicles are exempt from biannual emissions inspections. |
| True, but safety inspections are still required. Let's not let drivers forget this lest they wish to get a ticket for failing to get their car inspected annually. | |
| Most importantly… NEVER PAY FOR GAS AGAIN! |
| Again, true, but what anti-EV Richmond did, secretly in the dark of the Hybrid Lobby highly public excision of a $64 surtax is leave that surtax on Electric Vehicles, in addition to a $50 per year tax already imposed on Electric Vehicles. So effectively, Electric Vehicles are taxed $114 annually for use of the Virginia Roads (fuel taxes) which is, as far as I can tell, the highest fuel tax in the nation on EVs. Compare this to a 50 mpg Hybrid driving the average 15,000 mi per year. This represents only $48.60 in taxes for fuel at the rate of 16.2¢⁄gal as of 1 January 2015. Thus, for 15,000 mi traveled per year an EV pays more than twice that of a hybrid in Virginia. This is something which we need to fix. Never should a hybrid be taxed less than an EV. It's wrong for Tesla, and wrong for all of Teslas EV-driving supporters. | |
Thank you for reading
Generous readers, I'm happy to announce it's that time of year again! Time to show your friends, neighbors and general passers by our shared love for Electric Vehicles. Yes, it's International Plug-In Day, the day we all go out and display our love for cars powered by the ubiquitous plug.
This year, Plug-In Day is a two day event, and here in the greater Washington, D.C. area, we're taking it to the neighborhoods! So mark your calendars, 28 September 2013!
Because we have 2 days of events, we've decided to have regional events on Saturday and one huge event in downtown DC on Sunday. We hope everyone can show their support at their local Saturday event and then everyone come down to Washington for the regional event Sunday on the steps of the U.S. Capital.
Hello from your Herndon Event team captain! As the organizer of this event, I hope it to be the biggest of all the regional events. This is the only gathering scheduled for Northern Virginia. As such, I hope folks from Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, Prince William, Manassas and even Stafford Counties and Cities can make it out to western Fairfax to join us in sharing our love for EVs. Come and commiserate over our failed attempt for equal taxation regardless of propultion and the $64 tax we now have to pay for as both hybrid and electric vehicle owners. We're planning to have LEAFs, Volts and Tesla Model S a plenty to show, as well as all kinds of electric vehicles. Learn about Dominion Virginia Power's Time-of-Use Rate Schedules and the Green Option for energy credits. And teach folks about the around 50% Personal Property Tax discount for Electric Vehicles in Arlington, Prince William and Loudoun Counties. (Sorry fellow Farfaxians, we still have to pay full price for our tax in our unprogressive county.)
For the regional Sunday event, we're extremely fortunate to be getting permission to have our display right in front of the U.S. Capital building, on Third Street SW, in front of the Reflecting Pool and near the US Botanical Gardens. This is thanks in no small part to the work of Maryland's Senior Senator Barbara Mulkulski (D). This website would therefore like to express their personal thanks to Senator Mulkulski. We're working on sixty spots to display our EVs so that visitors to the Capital can see just how affordable, obtainable and ubiquitous Electric Cars have finally become!
At each event, we hope to have opportunities to test drive our electric cars including, in Herndon and Washington, CO2Fre, yours truly's very own Nissan LEAF. So come one, come all, see how easy it is to plug in your car at the 2013 International Plug-In Day events! And if you'd like to show off your car, just click on the link at the start of each event to register with the Plug-In Website. Hope to see you there, and thank you!
Hi EV maniacs!
Please share this invitation with your friends/listservs.
Our January meeting will be on Wed Jan 18 from 7 - 9 PM at the Silver Spring, MD public library on Colesville Road, just inside the Beltway and only 4 blocks north of the Silver Spring METRO. We will endeavor to start and finish on time, but there will be plenty of time for the best part of the meeting, BS-ing, before and after the planned agenda.
Draft Agenda
- The DC Auto Show is in late January at the Convention Center and we want to be there. Eric Cardwell, ace VP of our club, is heading up this operation. Lots of good ideas are percolating already.
- EV license plates and membership categories. Bryan Murtha will update us.
- New EVs coming to market: Tesla Model S, Model X?, iMiev, Ford Focus EV, Toyota PHEV
- Who bought/leased a new EV? Any issues?
- Charging stations: New ones, Where, Issues?
- Reveng of the Electric Car. Movie premier in Baltimore. How did it go?
- Charging at work with 110 volt outlets. Cheap. Bob Bruninga update.
- California ZEV and Federal MPG standards. How does this affect EVs?
- Other agenda items you want to discuss?
Charlie Garlow, your Prez and a host of fantastic volunteers.
How about the property tax rate in Fairfax, Virginia?
P.S.
Just a reminder about tomorrow (Wednesday's) EVADC Meeting. And to say that we got some feedback on topics, including questions about the Chevy Volt and any difficulties, including the fire controversy [overblown, in my opinion]. Here is the previous message. Please forward to others. Bring a friend.
Couldn't agree more, Charlie!
Having driven CO2 Fre for over a month now, I feel I can now safely make some recommendations for change that would make my life infinitely easier. Some of these things I've been writing about long before I purchased my Nissan LEAF; I knew going in some sacrifice would be required for the greater good. That's not to say there aren't great things like the burgeoning Charging Infrastructure and wonderful LEAF features to help get me through the day! But there's always room for improvement and if you don't speak up, nothing will get done.
The chart above demonstrates how of the most popular EVs today, the LEAF takes the longest to charge from depleted to full:
As can be seen, the LEAF is slower by an hour even over the Tesla Model S and is clearly the slowest to charge of all; it's even twice as slow as the Focus Electric and Chevy Volt. Of course, in terms of the amount of mileage you get from charging any of these cars can differ greatly so to be fair, compare them to the total pack size:
Obviously, the Model S has a lot more battery than the Nissan LEAF but still only takes about 6½ hours to charge. And since most cars in the sample range in capacity from about 16 kWh to the LEAF's 24 kWh, yet most of these have much shorter charge times, it's clear that Nissan underestimated the competition.
See the Model S Beta on display.
The Beta version is a 90% production intent prototype of the Model S.
- Saturday, November 26: 10am - 5pm
- Sunday, November 27: 10am - 5pm
Tesla Washington DC
1050 K Street N.W. Suite 101
Washington DC 20001
I may own the prettiest EV in town, but there's no way I'm gonna miss seeing this!
My helpful Commonwealth Delegate Tom Rust, who is currently running unopposed, conveyed a bit of information which I certainly found interesting and I hope you will too.
Board seeks input on highways, rail and transit projects
The Secretary of Transportation and the Commonwealth Transportation Board will conduct nine public meetings across the state in October and November. These meetings are being held to give stakeholders the opportunity to review and provide comments on projects and programs to be included in the Fiscal Year 2013-2018 Six-Year Improvement Program. This includes highway, rail, and public transportation initiatives. Following the open house from 6:00-6:30 pm, there will be and opportunity for the public and transportation stakeholders to comment. Written comments may also be submitted during this informal session, or they may be mailed or e-mailed until December 12, 2011. The Northern Virginia meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 25 beginning at 6:00 pm at the VDOT office, 4975 Alliance Drive in Fairfax.
I plan on attending this meeting to speak about an issue very important to me at the Commonwealth level: Electric Vehicle access to High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes with single occupancy.
In Virginia, we've had 3 different phases of the HOV easement for clean fuel vehicles. It all started with House Bill 1881 and Senate Bill 771 of the 1993 session of the General Assembly, which established the Clean Fuel license plate and is the origin of the Virginia Code § 46.2-749.3. Special license plates for clean special fuel vehicles. (Unfortunately, the on-line legislative records don't go back as far as 1993 so I can't provide an exact link to the text of these bills.) Then in the 1994 session, Senate Bill 71 added an easement to allow Clean Fuel vehicles to use the HOV lanes as single occupancy as per Virginia Code § 33.1-46.2. Designation of high-occupancy vehicle lanes; use of such lanes; penalties. However, this bill only extended the easement up until 1 July 1997; the law was later amended by 1996 Senate Bill 274 and 1996 House Bill 585 to extend the easement to 1999 and by 1999 Senate Bill 1068 to 2004 and finally by 2003 House Bill 2316 to 1 July 2006.
It was a brisk, autumn morning while on my way to work my 1995 Nissan Altima was totaled by a minivan at the American Legion Bridge. It was 2000 and the hot, new technology was the 2001 Toyota Prius and the 2001 Honda Insight: the first generation of hybrid cars. I needed a new car, and I wanted one badly! But the Prius was back-ordered for months and I needed to get to work; I couldn't wait. So I resigned myself to the most fuel-efficient car I could get in the full-sized class. I'm still driving that 2001 Toyota Avalon today.
Around this time the Federal Government started to get involved in national guidelines for HOV designation and usage. On 10 August 2005, Public Law 109-59 was passed, adding Section 166: HOV Facilities to 23 United States Code, Chapter 1. This set at the Federal level the allowances already specified by the Commonwealth, which was charged with defining rules for its Clean Fuel easement by 30 September 2009. Yet while the U.S. Congress was providing an HOV easement for all, Virginia was beginning to clamp down.
On 19 April 2006, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 1248 and Senate Bill 454, which amended Virginia Code § 33.1-46.2 to define a second type of Clean Fuel plate. This new plate would begin issue on 1 July 2006 and entitle any vehicle which bore it an easement to travel on any HOV lane in the Commonwealth of Virginia except along the I95/I395 corridor. Where as any car registered before 1 July 2006 would continue to be given carte blanche access to all of Virginia's HOV lanes with single occupancy. With this new provision, the easement was extended another year where by both types of clean fuel plate would be allowed to use the HOV lanes outside of I95/I395 and the older plate allowed to continue using those lanes too.
I was quite angry when this was announced. After all, I had wanted to get a hybrid, but they weren't available. I certainly wasn't going to trash a five-year-old car for a new one at that point. As an environmentally conscious individual, such waste would have been anathema to my nature. So instead I planned. I knew that my car should last another 5 years, and I knew the days of better technology were coming. This was the seeds of the website you see here: if I couldn't have a car with clean enough fuel for all HOV, I'd get an even cleaner fueled vehicle for my next automobile! I'd get an electric car.
This system of two-tiered Clean Fuel categories was extended to 1 July 2008 by 2007 House Bill 2132, to 1 July 2009 by 2008 House Bill 1014, to 1 July 2010 by 2009 House Bill 2476 and finally to 1 July 2011 by 2010 House Bill 214 on 11 March 2010 and by Senate Bill 552 on 10 April. On 20 April 2010, I placed a $99 reservation on a Nissan LEAF. Finally I was going to get my Electric Car! We were told that the Southeastern United States would be allowed to order the car in December 2010, and assuming 6 months of production, we'd have our cars by June, 2011. I might not be able to drive HOV single occupancy on I95/I395, but at least there would be I66 and VA 267, the Dulles Toll Road and Greenway.
On 10 December 2010, my dreams of driving electric were dealt a serious blow. The night before the delivery of the first production Nissan LEAF, they informed all reservation holders in the Tier 2 market, which at that time consisted of the 7 states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, wouldn't be able to order their car until Late Summer 2011. Late Summer 2011 ordering meant late autumn delivery at best; well after the end of the HOV easement 1 July 2011.
Why would I worry about that when the General Assembly had been steadily renewing the easement each year? It comes down the second part of 2010 Senate Bill 552. Just like 2006 House Bill 1248 and 2006 Senate Bill 454, the 2010 bill defined a third class of Clean Fuel plates with a further restriction: no more access to I66 HOV as single occupancy after 1 July 2011. By delaying the car release in Virginia by 8 months, Nissan was injuring its customers not only by the delay itself but by the fact that no LEAF bought in Virginia would qualify to drive on the HOV lanes of either I95/I395 or I66 with single occupancy. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt, with it's late 2010 release, would qualify, as well as any Smart ED leased here in addition to the Commonwealth's 2 or so Tesla Roadsters. None of those cars were released before 2006 and thus none qualify for the original Clean Fuel badge, but at least the handful that got in before the deadline get to use I66 single occupancy — but not the LEAF, not the Ford Focus Electric, not the Tesla Model S. Clean cars can drive, but Cleaner cars are left sitting in traffic.
On 28 March 2011, Virginia House Bill 1432 extended the HOV easement until 1 July 2012. Yippie! I can use HOV single occupancy if and only if I pay a toll. And the badge in the middle: how can I spell anything with that? It's ugly!
California knows how to treat environmentalists right. Effective 1 July 2011, while the Commonwealth of Virginia was taking away HOV rights from the first generation of Electric Vehicles, California started restricting its HOV single occupancy to only cars with a White sticker, meaning Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (SULEV), Inherently Low Emission Vehicles (ILEV) and certain Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV). The LEAF qualifies for this, but hybrid gasoline vehicles don't. Not even the Chevy Volt qualifies in California. Effectively, you need to be nearly Zero-Emission to get the White Sticker. The White Sticker easement extends until 1 July 2015.
Yellow stickers for Hybrids and Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emission Vehicles (AT PZEV). They were limited the first 85,000 applicants and expired as of 1 July 2011. California is also considering a new Green Sticker to begin distribution on 1 January 2012 and restricted to the first 40,000 applicants. It's unclear whether the LEAF would qualify for a green sticker, but according to the list of qualified vehicles, the 2010 Plug-In Prius does.
More information can be found in the California Clean Vehicle Incentives FAQ.
In Maryland, Virginia's neighbor to the North, they also have an HOV easement, but they restrict it to plug-in vehicles only. This means the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF qualify. I like the Volt so I like this system. I prefer Zero-Emission as the standard, like California, but the advantage of following Maryland's lead is that we could co-operate on the issuing of stickers and recognize them in both states. Thus Marylander could use Virginian HOV lanes and Virginians could use Marylander HOV. I also like the sticker approach because it ties the qualification to the vehicle and doesn't allow it to convey the benefit in perpetuity like you can with the original Clean Fuel plate in Virginia. I don't mind people who were early adopters having an advantage for HOV usage, but it's time for a new generation of early adapters. It's time for the Electric Vehicle.
Now you know the background, here is what I'm planning to say tonight.
In 2000, when I bought my last car, it was next to impossible to get a hybrid. Hybrid vehicles were, after all, limited to a handful of custom imports and hobbyist vehicles. There were barely any of these new, clean cars on the roads of the Commonwealth back then. Hybrids were, after all, expensive, untested domestically and weren't even available in major dealer showrooms yet.
At that time Virginia Code § 33.1-46.2 Section A Paragraph 6, allowing single occupancy HOV usage to cars baring Clean Fuel plates, made a lot of sense. There weren't very many hybrids on the road so letting them use the HOV lanes wouldn't affect traffic congestion greatly.
However, as of mid 2011, we now have over two million hybrid vehicles on the road, and many of those are right here in Northern Virginia and around Washington, which boasted the fifth largest growth nationally in the hybrid market. The Commonwealth has adapted to this, limiting single occupancy access to certain HOV areas, but this favors the oldest hybrids and doesn't encourage our citizens to help our business by buying new cars.
Today, hybrid vehicles are ubiquitous. Plug-in and Battery Electric cars, however, are still rare. These newer, cleaner vehicles are today where hybrid vehicles were back in 2000 and 2001: expensive, untested domestically and not even available in major dealer showrooms yet. Just as the Commonwealth helped the nascent hybrid vehicle market to grow though the HOV easement, so too, I argue, that the next generation of even cleaner fueled vehicles should have that privileged.
It's time we cleaned up our clean fuel cars. It's time to put zero-emission vehicles on I66 and I95/I395. It's time for those busy and congested roads to produce no pollution for the housing that runs along these highways, where families live and children play. Don't we want to stop our voracious appetite for hydrocarbons coming from nations which dislike us? Isn't that the kind of kind of Virginia we should be striving for?
That part of the speech should run about 2½ – 3 minutes, which would be my allotted time; I'll therefore submit the rest of the speech as follows in written comments.
The way I see it, we have 6 options:
- Keep things as they are, with new, zero-emission vehicles restricted to VA 267 and no access to I95/I395, nor to I66.
- End the Clean Fuel HOV easement all together, which although fair would, I suspect, make no-one happy.
- Evolve the requirements for the HOV easement over time, expiring dirtier cars and creating openings for cleaner ones. We might not be able to tie this to specific CAFE standards according to the EPA, but at least we could work towards emission targets.
- Simply put a time limit on the HOV easement, so that the oldest cars only qualify for say 10 years and as those cars expire, new slots open up for the new generation of cleaner vehicles.
- Follow California by completely ending the easement for hybrid vehicles and only allowing Ultra-Low Emission, Inherently Low Emission or Super Ultra-Low Emission on our HOV lanes. I don't expect the Commonwealth to be this draconian but I see it as still preferable over the Status Quo. And finally…
- Allow only Plug-In Vehicles, vehicles that can be plugged into the wall, to take advantage of the HOV easement. As a resident of Northern Virginia I find this the best solution for the Commonwealth because it's the exact same rule which governs our neighbor Maryland. In fact, what would benefit the residents of Northern Virginia most would be if Richmond and Annapolis could set up a joint commission and co-operate on the issuing of this Plug-In easement such that each state would recognize the other's right to use HOV single occupancy within both states.
And finally, if we're to enact any but the first two options, I would recommend that we end the use of the Clean Fuel plate in favor of a non-transferable sticker, like California and Maryland. The ties the easement to the qualifying car and allows the Commonwealth to restrict usage to specific vehicles rather than to an owner, since it's the car we need to be clean.
I know I'm not making any friends with this viewpoint but in the long run, I see any of options three through six as in the best interest of the Commonwealth. Let's keep Virginia green and I thank you for your time!
I know this speech will rub a lot of people the wrong way, but it's from the heart and I feel it must be said. Will you join me tonight?
So, I don't know know if I can get Justin to actually have Nissan of Chantilly to take the loss on the $850 Destination Charge or the $4xx (dang it, every time someone tells me the exact amount I totally forget it!) Processing Fee. In fact, I spoke to Justin earlier this week and he was pretty set on the Processing Fee but I decided this is not the time to push. But with all my other calculations I really am thinking bugger it, it's just not worth it when I could just keep socking away about $1,137 a month in my savings account and finance the rest for a Tesla or 2013 LEAF. It especially turns me off that I've help so much to attract business for them and I would never, ever feel that a car dealership didn't deserve a profit on a vehicle but given my legwork $1,582 pure profit at my expense seems a bit to much.
My main mark against Tesla apart from its outrageous price and dodgy delivery record is simply that I do believe in efficiency and honestly, if I only need 125 mi (200 km) a day range 95% of the time, what's the point of a 300 mi (483 km) range car. I know I could get the base model which has 160 mi (257 km) range would therefor save me about $20,000 and better suit my needs, but I've a fast EVSE and I love the idea of using it to go far. Bad American! Bad me and my wanderlust instinct!
I often make fun of the difficulty people have getting their $5,000 deposit back from Tesla if they change their mind about the car, but I guess reading the terms of reservation agreement, clause 2 pretty much says you can.
Nature of Agreement; Non-Binding Reservation Payment The Reservation Payment is fully refundable by us to you at any time (for example, if you choose to abandon your reservation, or if we decline to maintain you as a reservation holder). This Agreement does not constitute an agreement for the sale of a Model S and does not lock in pricing, a production slot, or an estimated delivery date. You are under no obligation to purchase a Model S from us, and we are under no obligation to supply you with a Model S or any other vehicle. If and when we notify you of the availability of a Model S and you wish to proceed with the purchase of a Model S, such sale and purchase will be governed by a separate and legally binding Purchase Agreement between you and us or between you and another authorized Tesla dealer (Tesla).
So I won't fault Tesla that though I still have my reservations that the reservation can be easily refunded.
I also seriously consider leasing one of the team 500 Smart EDs. My main knock there was that I do mostly highway driving and 60 mph (97 kmph) on the capital beltway (I495), not that I ever go over 55 mph (89 kmph), when most traffic is going almost 70 mph (113 kmph), in that pokey, little Smart, is just a traffic hazard in this neighborhood. But now there's a new Smart on the way that's boasting a 75 mph (120 kmph) top speed (any faster and your facing a Class 1 Misdemeanor her in the Commonwealth of Virginia) and a 87 mi (140 km) range. Of course, that's cutting it very close given my 37 mile each way commute and doesn't leave much slack for traffic or bad weather and road conditions. But it's definitely looking up and that spells an EV I really could love.
As for the 2013 LEAF, by the time that comes out, I'd guess the order process could be refined and become more traditional so the dealer can be more involved and negotiations may finally benefit the consumer since there should no longer be this quota system. On the one hand, this benefits the dealer because he or she now has more control, but it also benefits the savvy consumer such as myself who knows what the car is really worth.
Anyway, I just don't know. Some days I feel like I may as well allow my dealer that lovely profit and suffer the butt-ugly monster loan despite my avid savings. And others, I say forget it, no need to keep my current car, trade it in and get a Tesla Model S and finance about 40% of the $77,000 cost.
Sigh.
If only the 2012 was more value-added than the 2011. If only you could get it in Green or with Leather Seats and especially the coveted 6.6kW Charger. If only…
A friend of mine recently asked me why I was so worried about the Destination charge when my dealership representative promised me not to charge it. As the issue is complicated I feel it only proper that I explain it here for all to see that it's not a knock against any dealership or Justin Maynard, who I can't recommend more!
Technically, the dealer doesn't charge the destination fee, NNA (That's a link to the Nissan North America private dealer website) charges it and generally the dealers pass that on to the consumers. I don't know if I've made this clear but I really like Justin Maynard, who wrote up my offer, and I would buy from him again in a heartbeat. In fact, I have great respect for Mohamed, Carlos, Sharron, Bruce, Chris, Brian, J.D. and any other LEAF specialist I've spoken with in the area and hope to be posting my reasons for the agonizing decision I made to choose Nissan of Chantilly someday soon! In fact, it's my sworn promise if I don't take possession of the LEAF I ordered that I will make absolutely sure Justin is able to sell it for a tidy profit in my stead. And I'm sure just as orphaned Chevy Volts have been selling within 36 hours, any area LEAFs will do just as well.
Now, I'm sad to say many dealers don't know that the destination charge is not part of the price quote or MSRP. I don't consider this their fault. This is a fairly new process and mistakes, if made, are never done as a means to pull the wool over the customer's eyes. Much as car dealers may be maligned for some reputed antics, remember they are human beings and are doing their best not just to sell you a car but to make you a satisfied customer so that you will come back again and again. Be thankful that we have so much choice of dealership here in the Mid-Atlantic region; it's this competition that contributes to keeping most dealerships honest.
Now, we don't know the Invoices for the 2012 Nissan LEAF but as estimated on the My Nissan LEAF website, We know the profit margin on the vehicle itself is about 4.24% for a total of $1,582, which matches what Bruce at Herb Gordon Nissan quoted me last month. Contrast that with the Accessories, also known as Port Options, which have about a 20% profit margin over MSRP. For example, my car order, with fully-loaded options, comes to about $282 profit for the accessories in addition to the $1,582 profit for the vehicle for a total of $1,864 net profit. The dealer doesn't get a penny of the Destination charge, however, and so any reduction in the remaining $850 cost comes directly out of their profits. It won't eliminate the profit, but it will reduce it to $1,014, still a tidy sum.
Now, as I said, the Dealer can't control the Destination charge, which is why, when you order your car, on the Nissan Customer Dashboard, you see this disclaimer:
MSRP excludes tax, title, license and $850 destination charge.
Again, this isn't from your dealer, this is directly from Nissan North America; don't blame your sales person! Tax, title and license, obviously, will vary from state to state so it's not fair to include that in the price. You did expect to pay sales tax and registration fees, didn't you? So Destination is yet another charge on top of this, which your dashboard has listed since the time you ordered as a warning to you. The value of the Destination Charge may vary from state to state, but Nissan can calculate that and report it on your Order Details page just fine. It's quite reasonable for them to charge it — after all, they're shipping the car all the way from Japan — but despite having said all this, I don't have to like it.
Now, when Justin and I discussed the quote he was going to send me, we agreed no extra charges, that Transportation, Destination and everything else would be covered under MSRP. And I honestly think he truly believed that at the time. I of course noted MSRP would still not include Taxes, Title and Licensing, as it never should, and we agreed there too. This is why whether I take the car or not, I am happy to offer him and his wife dinner for 2 on me to say thinks for being such a good sport in this process. But that still begs the question, will I take the car?
Well, I've listed some reasons against the 2012 LEAF vs. the potential for the 2013 LEAF here before and so part of my hesitation to take possession stems from that discussion. In the end, as I calculated in the My Nissan LEAF forums, my car's take-home cost should come to 1 of 2 costs:
Both prices include tax, title and registration; license plates aren't included since I will try to order my plates through the DMV separately. I do have a plate in mind but because named plates are so competitive in Virginia, I'm not going to post it here, but I will say it's related to one of my other blogs.
In any case, I wanna keep my car cost under the dreaded $40,000 mark. And that's why I may just walk away. My current car is a 2001 Toyota Avalon (now an 11 year old car with over 180K miles on it) and although fuel efficient for it's class at the time, it's no hybrid, never mind electric. I'm itching for a change but I've waited this long, I can wait a bit longer, especially when faced with a $1,062.53 annual property tax bill. But at the time I paid around $35,000 for the vehicle, very near to MSRP since I did my research tough I gave a little back on the port options like a glass breakage sensor. In my book, that was an expensive car, but it had leather seats, a 6-disc CD changer (which has been broken for about half the life of the vehicle thus far), heated seats, sleek design and a quiet, smooth ride. All in all, it's a nice car and I got what I paid for.
The LEAF, by contrast, is a souped up compact with a lot of nice bells and whistles, like RFID entry and CARWINGS and lots of other features not available in 2001 that are now standard on even the smallest cars. What you're paying for on the LEAF is a freedom from the pump — that and a really bad Yen to Dollars exchange rate. You could save hundreds in fuel cost by charging at home vs. paying the ever-rising price of gasoline, but then knock a G off that for the Car Tax and how many years does it take to equalize the expense? Well, I'll save that calculation for another post, but it will take some time even with the Federal Tax Credit of $7,500 which I can take advantage of early next year if I take possession of the LEAF in November.
So that's the calculus; and now you know. So what do you think? Should I take the car even if it cracks $40,000? Should I walk away? Should I wait for a Tesla Model S, which can take full advantage of my 19kW EVSE and get 300 mi (483 km) per charge? Should I just take the LEAF and flip it in 18 months for a late-model-year 2013 LEAF with the 6.6kW charger option? Or should I just convert it to a Lease for 3 years with a $500 or so annual premium on my 24K miles per year requirement? What should I do?
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow my former home of Montréal, Québec, Canada will have its chance to see and test drive the all-new, 483 km (300 mi) Tesla Model S sedan! As a long supporter of my former home and the idea of the entire North American continent becoming an EV paradise, I am very happy to announce that the Tesla Model S is on show now at the Palais des congrès in downtown Montréal. So get on up to La Belle Provence and check it out!
And if you miss it, don't worry, maybe you can catch the Model S at one of its subsequent stop.
In a recent blog entry, Tesla finally gave us a glimpse into the probable pricing of their first foray into the family sedan: the Tesla Model S.
The price of the US base Model S with a 160-mile battery is $49,900 after the $7,500 federal tax credit. The 230-mile range option is expected to price at about $10,000 more and the 300-mile option at about $20,000 more than the base.
What this means is for their base model, a 160-mile / 257-km range vehicle, they sticker price will be $57,400. The $7,500 comes from the tax credit for plug-in electric vehicles, which the Obama administration is trying to make a rebate. If this change is made, you may get that $7,500 back as soon as you buy the Model S, right at the dealership. Without it, you could wait up to 16 months to you file your taxes and get your refund for the year you bought the car. Clearly, an up to 16 month wait is not an easy pill to swallow when you're forking down $57,400 + options for a Model S.
But when you do the math, $57,400 is just the tip of the iceberg. Clearly from this information, we finally have a window into 300 mi range barrier.
The 300 mi / 483 km Range Tesla Model S will retail for about $77,400Clearly, we can see the from this information that the 230-mile / 370-km range Model S will start at about $67,400. Since the Tesla Roadster's range is about the same (221 miles / 356 km by the latest EPA measures), $67,400 looks pretty sweet when compared to the Roadster's $109,000 price tag. But the range-smashing Signature and highest-end Model S is where the car really starts to compete with the old internal combustion engine vehicles! When you do the math, the 300 mi / 483 km Range Tesla Model S will retail for about $77,400. While not at all a trivial purchase — you could buy a quality, small, used airplane for that money — you'll definitely be able to make that weekend trip to the countryside with that kind of range.
Finally, I want to apologize to my readers. I've been AWOL for the last couple months while I gather heaps and heaps of new information, as well as try to get around to writing a number of stories I've been meaning to tell. I'm hoping in that light to try and bring you a story every day or two to try and catch up on all my material. So stay tuned…
…I wrote about some of the Electric Vehicles available today.
In just the last year, a number of cars have been announced with varying levels of fanfare, most of which targeting a 2011 or early 2012 release. Many of these are listed on the Plug-in America Vehicle Tracker, and others are too new for even that list.
I first learned about the plans for an electric Ford Focus in late 2010, mentioning it as early as my And when problems with the LEAF were announced in early December, I became very keen to find out as much as I could about this potential LEAF competitor.
A Tesla as a family car, I first mentioned the Model S indirectly in my EVSE installation post. With the highest upgrade boasting a range of 300 mi (483 km), this isn't just a work-and-back-again car; it can really take you places, if you're willing to pay. But that range-extended upgrade is currently price unknown and for that $57,400 Plug-in America lists, all you get is 160 mi (257 km). Still, it's a very beautiful car and if I had $5,000 to spare I know I'd reserve one today!
Just when you thought Toyota had forgotten how to make an EV, they're back with an all-new, redesigned with a Tesla drive train, Rav4 EV 2012! I've yet to talk much about the 2012 Rav4 EV but I have seen it and I'm very excited!
I first learned about the Ford Transit-Connect EV when researching the Focus Electric. I have notes from the big announcement at that time that I've yet to transcribe onto this blog. Then again, if I had I dime for every post I intended to make but never have time to get around to, I'd be a professional blogger by now! The Transit-Connect is more of a delivery van than a commuter car, so it's not really an Affordable Electric Car so much as an Affordable Electric Truck; but I'll leave someone else to write that blog.
I've mentioned the C-Max Energi in a post about the Focus Electric, but then dedicated a post of its own to this PHEV and a wholehearted recommendation for a blog about it written by a friend of mine who recently received his very own Nissan LEAF.
I mentioned both of these cars in the Ford Focus Electric post as a counterpoint to an established, American automotive corporation. Both are built in China and both worry me a great deal in terms of safety because of this.&nbps; It's not that China isn't a country full of skilled laborers, but in a country that would put lead in its toys and poison its milk, I just don't want to trust my life to one of their cars.
The Inizio, and indeed all of Li-ion Motors cars are missing from the Plug-in America site. But, I did see this car back in January and even interviewed a representitive from Li-ion Motors that I hope to bring to you in the near future and I look forward to learning more about their future Liv line of vehicles.
In Andrew Winston's piece, linked above, he argues that Ford may be too late to the EV game and wonders if the automaker has the commitment to see its lofty goals through. I, for one, wish Ford all the best in this venture, as I do General Motors with the Chevrolet Volt, and look forward to seeing where Ford takes its Focus Electric and Plug-In Hybrids, Transit Connect Electric and C-Max Energi lines. But for me, it's more a question if whether Nissan is too little, too late.
Clearly, I've been blogging a lot recently about the Focus Electric here — and am due to post my CES report someday — but I once wrote a pro and con evaluation of the Focus Electric on the MyNissanLEAF forum where I said I'd pay as much as $3,000 for the 6.6kW charger — again, search my blog and my posts on the MyNissanLEAF forum to see how much I gripe about the LEAF not having a 6.6kW or 7.2kW charger and also the missing Cold Weather Package trim — but man, the trunk space is a joke! I don't mind too much in a commuter car, as my future-EV is so designated, but it makes Costco runs almost impossible since the back seat is typically already filled when I take the Avalon. And I know folks in the semi-conductor industry that do not have positive impressions of what Ford is attempting, especially with respect to BMS (Battery Management System).
Well, if Nissan keeps pushing back the LEAF roll-out in the Washington, D.C. region, and the Focus Electric is supposed to go on sale here at the end of the year for the 2012 model, then heck, yeah, I'll consider it. You can only poke us Tier 2 states in the eye so much. If I had the money, I'd get a Tesla Model S 300-mi edition, but IMHO it's gonna sell for $77,000 and that's well too much to swallow! So I'm still in the LEAF camp but keeping my options opened. In 2010 we had only 1 choice: the 40 mi-on-EV PHEV Chevrolet Volt. This year, we may have as many as 4 choices, including the recently available for leasing Smart Electric. Maybe even more if the Plug-in Prius makes its debut in the 2012 series as planned. Perhaps the Coda or BYD may finally get their acts together (but don't get me started on those Chinese cars), or any number of surprises that may come our way in 2011.
We live in interesting times, my friends. Interesting times.
For once, the awful photographer that I am, I have none the less decided to give you a pictorial retrospective of install of one of the first EVSEs in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So with minimal textual interruption, here is my adventure into the world of Electric Vehicle Service Equipment — click any image for a larger version:
Wee! A package for me! From Clipper Creek? I wonder what it could be?
Woo hoo! The Clipper Creek CS-100 Electric Vehicle Service Equipment, complete with J1772 e-hose and Charger!
Ah, a sneak peak into the interior of this industrial strength behemoth!
The heart of the machine: the 90 Ampère, 220 Volt A/C converter! At least, so my dreamy eyes interpret the mysterious box in front of me.
Gonna pump me some serious electrons with this puppy: the J1772 standard Electric Vehicle charge plug.
Aw, isn't she sweet — or he, all buff, industrial and military? Nah, I like my ladies tough! So there she is, all ready for her rough and ready install!
Ample room in the circuit breaker box for a new lead for my sub-panel. And a bit of trivia: notice the blue sticker next to the 20 Ampère breaker? The plugs it's connected to aren't NEMA 5-20R, plus the wiring didn't look a sufficient gauge for 20A. So when I bought the house we told the former owner to downgrade that to a 15A breaker; I'm still waiting…
Ta-da! Joe, the kind Electrician from Cullen Electric, Inc. has added the first link in the power chain to my new EVSE: the 125 Ampère, 2-pole circuit breaker.
And here is the 4-wire 1/0 SER Aluminium cable at the beginning of its journey out to the sub panel in the garage.
Yep, Joe warned me he would need to make a hole in my ceiling to run that thick wire across the house, but all in all, he did a pretty nice job of patching it back up, don't you think? Just need to sand down the gauze mesh and repaint!
This one caught me a bit by surprise but it's small and I didn't even notice it until Joe pointed it out; I assume the wire got caught on its way to the utility closet so he had to fish it half-way through and anchor it there.
Here the cable comes out into the utility closet (more of a utility room under the basement stairs, really)…
Then the chord goes out again and up into the garage wall.
We're back in the garage. Joe is on his lunch break so I thought I'd take a sneak peak at the new sub-panel before he put the cover on it. As you can see, the 4-wire 1/0 SER Aluminium cable comes to the end of its journey here.
Time-lapse… the sub-panel is now fully installed with a new 3-wire 1/0 SER Aluminium cable coming out above on its way to the final leg of the electrical odyssey.
And what do we have inside? Another 2-pole circuit breaker, this one with a 100 Ampère rating. Can I just say, I'm probably learning way too much about Electrical Codes and Pricing and Wiring and Regulations than I probably ever remotely should?
Yep, that's for my CS-100 EVSE. Squee! Also, can I just say, should an adult male of my experienced age really still be squeeing like a school girl? Yes.
Okay, I have to give a shout-out here to my best friend from preschool, Tony, as well as the Fairfax County Electrical Inspector for reminding me of the virtues of good, fire-retardant caulk. That's 3M Fire Barrier Sealant CP 25WB+, with 4-hour fire resistance, and it's red.
Now we trace the 3-wire 1/0 SER Aluminium cable from out of the wall, toward the other side of my garage. Notice the NEMA 5-15R on the far left for reference…
Look, off to the left! EVSE ho! And of course, now on the far right, there's that same NEMA 5-15R to guide our way.
My EVSE is receiving power from below thanks to Joe's fine work installing the 3-wire conduit to it. The J1772 e-hose now sits lonely, waiting for an EV or Plug-in Hybrid to charge. Nissan? Chevy? Ford Focus EV? Mini-E? Tesla? Anyone??
Thank you Clipper Creek from one more happy, if untested, customer!
Finally, you may be wondering how much this cost. Well, it wasn't cheap, but here's the breakdown:
Total cost to me: $2,323.15, assuming I qualify for the full EVSE Tax Credit and not get hit by AMT this year for the first time because of it. Otherwise, it's a rather unpleasant $4,323.15 out-of-pocket with no money back and no return on investment for the next 12 or so months.
One question I still have is if I get a Smart Meter with TOU installed next year, as well as pay someone to fix the ceiling drywall, can I still qualify for the newly-passed 2011 EVSE 30% Tax Credit, capped at $1000. I doubt the expenses that time would be anywhere near the maximum $3,333.33 for which the credit qualifies, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
