NISSAN LEAF: WHY GASOLINE? I’LL TELL YOU WHY GASOLINE!

5/9/13

Nissan is currently running a rather engaging commercial on the radio in which it extols the virtues of the all electric Nissan Leaf, including its running the cleanest and one of the least expensive fuels and you, its driver, “wak(ing) up each morning with a full tank.”   Then the ad goes on to say that the question should not be

“Why the Leaf?”

but, rather

“Why gasoline?”

The immediate answer is, of course, cost and range.  The savings on fuel will never equal the additional money spent on a Leaf up front, even without using a discount factor (which would be zero anyway right now due to Ben Bernanke’s war on the elderly, but I digress) on those savings, unless gasoline prices go through the roof and/or one drives a lot of miles in his or her leaf.  But the latter is impossible because of the Leaf’s second big drawback, its range.  The Leaf is supposed to go 75 miles between charges, but even Nissan people admit that, under most conditions, the range is closer to 60 and can fall much further in cold weather.

Nissan, and Leaf enthusiasts, will argue that most people don’t drive their cars to the limits of the Leaf’s range.   They are correct; most trips to the train, to work, to shopping centers, etc. are not the 30 or so miles one way that would challenge the Leaf’s range.   But that retort only leads to the real answer to the Leaf’s failing to catch on, to the “Why Gasoline?” question, if you will…

It’s not that people necessarily drive their cars beyond the Leaf’s range on a regular basis; it’s that they CAN drive their fully or partially gasoline powered cars beyond the Leaf’s range any time they want. But with a Leaf, drivers are restricted to the Leaf’s range.  There is no spontaneity involved.   There is no option to change plans or just to “see what’s down that road,” as yours truly, whose (nearly) favorite activity is driving, is wont to do.  With a Leaf, there is no such freedom; drivers are restricted to their prescribed daily drive or perhaps to very slight deviations from it.

One of the reasons that we Americans, and most people everywhere, favor the individualistic car over collectivist public transportation is because we enjoy the freedom the car affords us.  We can go where we want when we want; we are not restricted by someone else’s schedule or itinerary.   (Remember the old radio ad “Your car is your freedom machine”?  It hit home with yours truly and surely millions of others.)  With the Leaf, however, we are restricted to the range the car affords us and thus to planned itineraries consistent with that range.   How scripted.   How dreary.

I have driven the Leaf and enjoyed the drive.   Admittedly, my expectations were low, but I came away thinking “Wow; that’s not such a boring drive after all.”   The Leaf is (obviously) quiet and handles very nicely, not at all like a golf cart.   It’s not as good a handler or performer as the Chevy Volt, which in turn is not as great a handler or a performer as many of the more conventional cars with which the Volt is compared.  Still, though, the Leaf is a nice car.  But without that range, and without the freedom that range allows me, I can’t see myself ever buying a Leaf.   Though most people don’t share my unadulterated joy in getting behind the wheel and heading for the open, or even not so open, road, I suspect most share yours truly’s sentiment regarding the restrictive aspects of owning a Leaf…or any other all electric car.