[hardym]

Having been a Lead Acid EV and LiFePo4 EV owner, I gotta comment:

I took another test drive in a Leaf yesterday, preparing for delivery in late June. Quite impressive. nearly 100M range, highways speeds, etc. you've heard it before. The Leaf price for a brand new EV after CA and Obama rebates is about $22K.

I cant belive that anyone is still considering converting their own. The prices I've seen for chinese LifePO4 that can get you on a highway for 50+ miles is $10-15K. The additional investment in parts alone (controller, motor, BMS, etc) is easily another $5K. Unless you start with a great car ($4K), you'll end up with a crappy looking EV. The chance that you actually get to drive your parts down the freeway is only about 50%, meaning that most EV conversions crash and burn due to conversions exhaustion. And, the conversion price will likely be more than a new Leaf price.

The Leaf is a complete EV game changer. I'm lucky to live in a target community (San Diego) that has an early adoptor program. Life will be good again.

Mark.

[NZero]

I disagree, I think for many its the pay as you build and learn as you go that makes the conversion route appealing. And a conversion means you pick you car (whatever it looks like) pick your power plant and pick you range. No such options exist with the leaf.

And price wise, BMW are looking to compete with Nissan and you can get a converted Hyundai or Mitsi for about the same. Its the thrill of the build.

[Coley]

I agree, that there will always be a DIY EV project movement.

We just love to tinker. I can buy an arc welder,but when I was first married back in 1963, I couldn't afford to buy a "NEW" one, so I built my own.

I still use it and the satisfaction of using it is great.

Later when I could afford one, I bought one from the Gamble store. It didn't work as well or last as long.

DIY will be with us a very long time.

[valerun]

well IMHO Leaf is one ugly-looking car. Now yes, that's just my opinion, but that's exactly the point - there will be a LOT of people with the same opinion. What are they going to do? And yes, a couple of other manufacturers will come up with their EVs but in the next 3-5 years, I don't see the choice exploding.

One other thing is that if you want performance conversion, you're out of luck. Unless you want to spend Tesla S kind of money ($50k after Obama). Conversions rule there. BMW electric won't come cheap either.

[cruisin]

Originally Posted by hardym

Having been a Lead Acid EV and LiFePo4 EV owner, I gotta comment:

I took another test drive in a Leaf yesterday, preparing for delivery in late June. Quite impressive. nearly 100M range, highways speeds, etc. you've heard it before. The Leaf price for a brand new EV after CA and Obama rebates is about $22K.

I cant belive that anyone is still considering converting their own. The prices I've seen for chinese LifePO4 that can get you on a highway for 50+ miles is $10-15K. The additional investment in parts alone (controller, motor, BMS, etc) is easily another $5K. Unless you start with a great car ($4K), you'll end up with a crappy looking EV. The chance that you actually get to drive your parts down the freeway is only about 50%, meaning that most EV conversions crash and burn due to conversions exhaustion. And, the conversion price will likely be more than a new Leaf price.

The Leaf is a complete EV game changer. I'm lucky to live in a target community (San Diego) that has an early adoptor program. Life will be good again.

Mark.

There are a couple of things you didnt take into account. The tax credits are for those who have earned income, not for retires or unemployed.

If you are in a position to be able to utilize tax credits, they are available for the conversion costs as well.

Almost puts us on a level playing field.

[steven4601]

Maybe, maybe not.

I was feeling a bit uneasy when I found out how afforable to Leaf is. 22-25k USD is a very good price.

Sadly where I live , citizens wallets get screwed so hard, the price for the Nissan Leaf in US dollars is doubled!
The 32000 Euro is what the vehicle is sold for here. That is 45k USD? Due to import / tax duties.

Get one Nissan for the price of two.

[Mark C]

Only a few places have a state tax incentive to buy an EV. As it stands for the bulk of the US, there's only a Federal exemption, if you qualify.

Still not a bad deal for the Leaf, all things considered. You can certainly build an EV cheaper, but to match what you get {including a factory warranty}, the Leaf will look very appealing to those who are uncertain of their ability to do a nice conversion.

[Ziggythewiz]

Originally Posted by steven4601

Maybe, maybe not.

I was feeling a bit uneasy when I found out how afforable to Leaf is. 22-25k USD is a very good price.

Sadly where I live , citizens wallets get screwed so hard, the price for the Nissan Leaf in US dollars is doubled!
The 32000 Euro is what the vehicle is sold for here. That is 45k USD? Due to import / tax duties.

Get one Nissan for the price of two.

You mean in the Netherlands you don't get the $7500 US tax rebate? Leaf that out and you're up to a $30,000 car. That's a pretty big jump from a just over $20K car to $30K. Once the big business subsidies run out, DIY will still be far cheaper for years to come.

[hbthink]

Having driven a Leaf now for several weeks and a few thousand miles, IMHO they are wonderful cars, no doubt. Its really hard to compete with Nissan working on one in your garage. The Leaf makes the Tesla look like a DIY! again IMHO. Its very well conceived and built car at an excellent price point. They will probably sell and ship 50-60K cars this year making it the most important electric car in history and probably the beginning of a real electric car movement. Will it wipe out DIYs? No but it will bring the masses into EVs and thats good for everyone for all the reasons we all have built and driven our own DIY EVs in the past. Its a very exciting time for EVs and the first time in history that non-DIY folks have choices beyond oil. Thats big! On our street there's another Leaf down the way owned by a family that otherwise wouldn't own an EV. Now thats cool!

By the way I still like my 83 VW Rabbit w FB4001, Curtis controller and old lead acids (soon going lithium) since its a simple car, works well cost less than $10K and I can get inside work on it, play with it and change out things as I see fit. All things I would never do to the Leaf since its my employers car and wouldn't benefit from my tinkering, cept in a few areas

[Nathan219]

A lot of us get parts from salvaged vehicles I see the leaf as a source of a really good salvaged drive train. The car’s styling doesn’t appeal to me but the technology under its hood does. I know it is wrong to wish bad things to happen but I can’t wait till Leafs start hitting things.