An Eco-Upgrade: Making the Switch to EV with a Nissan LEAF
Two and a half years ago, I reluctantly traded my beloved MINI Cooper in for a 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI. Until that point, we had had four MINIs. We are a MINI family; my daughter Nozomi is wearing a MINI shirt in that photo above, as a matter of fact. But I had been carrying some negative equity around and the loan payoff was years away, so I traded in the MINI for a lease.
The GTI--named Alec--was a good transition car for me. He was fast, punchy, and tight like my MINI (Rudy--yes, I name all my cars), though not quite as zippy; driving a MINI feels like driving a really fast go-kart. My lease was set to be up in March 2022, but with the chip shortage on cars, my partner Nathan (an auto salesman) suggested we trade up now while we had some nice equity built in the GTI. Since I only drive for my work commute, the miles were still low on the GTI and the car was in excellent condition.
Nathan suggested an electric vehicle. He knows I'm all about environmentalism and our daughter wants to be a conservationist or ecologist when she grows up, so he brought home a 2020 Nissan LEAF for me to try. "It's Japanese, like you," he said. It was true; I hadn't had a Japanese car yet. We had a Hyundai Elantra years ago, but that's Korean. (Can you tell I'm a big fan of hatchbacks? I drive them exclusively.)
I was a bit apprehensive about the prospect of an EV for daily driving. Don't get me wrong, the idea of a zero emissions car floored me in the best way, but I was hesitant about what that would look like in my daily life. Would we be able to plug it into the outlet in the garage? Would I need to spend hours at local charging stations? There were only a couple non-Tesla charging stations near my city. How much of an interruption to my daily life was this going to be?
The drive was excellent. Comfy seats, excellent suspension, and the smoothest acceleration you can imagine. Traditional vehicles have a weird little barely noticeable jerk on the acceleration from stop to go. I'm not a car person, but it has to do with fuel injection and intake. The fuel has to get to the engine, so that's happening during that acceleration period. With an EV, there's no fuel; it's either on or off, like a light switch, so the acceleration is as smooth as soft butter. I hadn't even noticed that traditional cars did that until I drove the Nissan Leaf and felt the comparison. The fuel injection bump is something all of us have probably just grown accustomed to and don't notice, unless it's super exaggerated due to a problem that needs to be resolved.
The silence of this car... Nathan calls it the Silent Killer, because it's so quiet. It's not entirely silent though. It gives off this soft spacelike hum that sort of sounds like an aircraft taking off in the distance. It makes me feel like I'm driving a spaceship, honestly. Turning the car on, there's no rumble of the engine. There's no Check Engine light, because the car doesn't have an engine, just a battery. And the fuel gauge? Well, it's replaced by a battery life icon, similar to the one you'd see on your phone.
Is it really green, though?
I told my brother about possibly getting this EV and he poo-pah'd me and said that the greenhouse emissions created during the manufacturing process was way worse for the environment than his diesel truck. Fair enough, because that part is true; the emissions generated in specifically the manufacture of the EV batteries is high. It is also true that the electricity required to charge the electric vehicles may be pulling from a dirty electricity grid (fossil fuel power plants), depending on where you are in the world. Both extremely fair points.
But that's not the entire picture. Experts broadly agree that over the lifecycle of the electric vehicle, lifetime emissions are lower than those of traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. This only grows more beneficial as power plants across the US and world begin shifting to cleaner, more renewable and sustainable energy sources. And while the carbon cost of manufacturing rechargeable lithium batteries for EVs is high, experts agree through their modeling and forecasting that the overall lifetime emissions from EVs are far lower than traditional petrol or diesel vehicles. That initial high carbon investment during battery manufacture is offset off once the vehicle is on the road.
Keep in mind, electric vehicles don't have tailpipe emissions. They're also not consuming petrol, which requires an energy intensive process that generates substantial quantities of toxic and non-toxic waste as a result of the extraction, refinement, and transportation of oil and gas. The largest contributor of carbon buildup in the earth's biosphere comes from extraction of fossil fuels. Of the nearly 33 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the earth's biosphere from all energy sources in 2017, oil and gas use alone made up over 55% (18 billion tons). Coal use comprised the next largest chunk, making up most of the remaining 45%.
A typical traditional (internal combustion engine vehicle) passenger vehicle, through the burning of petrol to power the engine, emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Every gallon of gasoline burned creates nearly 8,900 grams of carbon dioxide.
Since my home is run on renewable energy (wind and solar, which I talk about in this post here), my 2020 Nissan LEAF truly is zero emissions.
I learned quickly that Eva (that's her name) could be plugged into any outlet that I would plug a toaster into. We can upgrade to a level 2 charging station if we want, and there are some pretty sweet rebates from our electric company to do that eco upgrade, but in the meantime, a standard outlet works. It takes a little longer, but I only have to charge overnight about twice a week for the amount of driving I do on a daily basis.
Another cool thing is that about a quarter of the Nissan LEAF's construction comes from recycled materials, including steel, copper, plastic, and aluminum. At the end of its lifecycle, 99% of the Nissan LEAF is recyclable, including its battery. 60% of the LEAF's interior is made from recycled materials, most of them being recycled plastic water bottles.
Overall thoughts?
From a monetary perspective, the payment on the LEAF is around the same monthly as my lease payment with my GTI. I'm saving around $75 to $90 a month in fuel and also saving on quarterly oil changes.
I'm not ready to take my entire household EV just yet though, because in my area, there aren't enough charging stations. As a result, it's nice to still have a traditional vehicle in case we're making long distance rural trips without having to plan charging stations into our route. However, in the future, as charging stations become more plentiful, it'll be an easy transition for our household to move entirely to EVs, I think. The ride is smooth, I feel safe, the price is affordable, and the cost to the environment is too great with internal combustion engine vehicles to sell me on anything more than it being negligibly more convenient.
Below is the last picture I took with probably my last traditional car, the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Alec. While I was sad to see him go, I'm so happy to own an electric vehicle as my primary mode of transportation. Here's to the future!
Sources:
Charlie Nichols is the founder of WHE and a staff contributor. Charlie studied Journalism & Mass Communication, Marketing, and Psychology at Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin. She has practiced witchcraft for over two decades and is a certified spiritual empowerment coach, a certified ethical psychic, and a certified crystal healer. Charlie lives on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, USA with her partner, daughter, and animal companions.
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