Nissan Leaf...Reserved

June 16th, 2010... The day I reserved my Nissan Leaf.



About two years ago (and two years after we bought our Prius) I vowed that my next car would be fully electric. Back then I figured it would be a plug-in Prius, or something else from Toyota. After all, they lead the way in hybrid technology.

Gotta admit, before the Leaf, I never even considered buying a Nissan. Why the change? Well because the Leaf is the first fully electric car for the masses. Skeptics will argue about the longevity of the battery life. Or that 100 miles in a single charge is not far enough. After all the $100k Tesla Roadster goes 245 miles per charge.

We don't have that kind of dough in my family. In fact the Leaf, admittedly, is a bit of a stretch too. But I fully believe that to see the world change in the ways that my wife and I want to see it change, takes sacrifices. It's not cheap to go solar and it's a risky move to buy the first mass-produced electric car. But heck, we only live once and why not take a chance on something new. Revolutionary. I can't wait for the day that I am plugging my car into an outlet whose electricity is produced by the solar panels in the back yard.

Toyota affected serious change with the Prius and I applaud them for seeing a niche and going after it with gusto. Next time you are driving around, count how many hybrid vehicles you can find. Every major automaker has at least one model.

Will more electric cars come out with longer ranges than the Leaf? I sure hope so!! With China set to have 200 million cars on the road in the next decade, I can only hope that before long, I can't drive anywhere without seeing hoards of clean, quiet electric vehicles.

4-Day Work Weeks

I am definitely not breaking new ground here, as companies all over the place are adopting both flex time and 4-day work weeks, but I am proudly beginning this next week. Basically, I will be working Tuesday-Friday, from 8-6 with about a 35 minute lunch break (37.5 minutes to be exact)... My employer, Wesleyan University, in Middletown, CT, thankfully has just begun a 1-year trial program for employees who consistently receive good annual reviews.

This is actually an amazing reward if you think about it. I get about 31 miles/gallon in my 2001 Honda Civic and my daily commute is about 75 miles (blech)... With gas creeping up on $5/gallon, I will be saving myself almost $10 per week in gas alone, not to mention the 75 fewer miles of wear and tear on the car. I used Native Energy's CO₂ Emissions Calculator to figure I will also be saving the Earth from an extra 48 pounds of CO₂ emissions every week. Big fan of that. Check and see if your employer offers this kind of schedule. It is a win for everyone involved. I will be a happier and more productive employee, knowing I am helping the environment by being here one fewer day, but will still work the same number of hours and will have 3-day weekends.

Gas Saving Tips

A nice little set of tips for driving more efficiently can be found here, put together by the Federal Trade Commission. These are a lot of the same things we have all heard over and over but it's a nice reminder as gas approaches $5/gallon.

Toyota Prius

I'll admit it, I love our Toyota Prius. I love that we sacrificed a lot of things to be able to afford it, and every time I sit in the driver's seat, I feel lucky to be sitting there. It's a car. It's not just a car. It is a life-altering vehicle. It is a sign of the times and its popularity speaks volumes about what so many people actually want.

Not Hummers. Not Lincoln Navigators.

While I don't doubt that there are many uses for such vehicles, It's not commuting up a scenic highway that passes from Old Saybrook, CT to the hospital this doctor must work at in Middletown. Ridiculous. I see this guy on the highway and want to ticket him for idiocy. Sure he has earned the money to buy expensive things and show off his success. Great! Good for him! Does he have to drive such a ridiculous vehicle to do it?

Back to the Prius. We had a car that kept breaking down and it was just time to be replaced. We sold it to a guy that fixed it up and bought it to save himself money on gas because it happened to get much better mileage than his current car. We knew we wanted a Prius, but good luck finding one. People buying them today, off the lot, are lucky. There are tons of people like us who put down a deposit, submitted an order, and waited months to have the privilege of driving this futuristic machine.

The Prius changes the way you drive. It gives you a gentle reminder that accelerating too fast burns more gas. It shows you right up front how much gas you are using, and when you alter your habits a little, it rewards you with a little green car icon, like a friendly pat on the back saying, 'hey, you have generated more electricity than in the previous 5 miles.'

The Prius is far from the only hybrid car, and is one of several gas-reducing technologies out there. People often compare only the bottom line (price) and the miles per gallon. The Honda Fit probably gets better gas mileage than the Hybrid Civic, but it's missing something. The Toyota Yaris no doubt gets much better mileage than the Toyota Hylander Hybrid... But the next time you pull up to a red light next to a(ny) hybrid vehicle, I want you to roll down your window and listen.

Enjoy the silence. That silence is the sound of gas not burning. My favorite thing, every time I drive the Prius, is when the gas engine shuts off, while driving or at stops. It is such a wonderful feeling.