Turning Over a New Nissan Leaf
Prince George, B.C, – It may be sluggish in cold weather, and the battery life may be shorter when the temperature dips, but Prince George City Council has voted to renew its agreement that shares a Nissan Leaf electric car with 3 other partners.
The City partnered with the Regional District of Fraser Fort George, Northern Health and the University of Northern B.C. in use of the vehicle.
City staff reported that on cold winter days, (where temperatures drop below -20ºC) the vehicle’s range per charge was greatly reduced. ” Had to turn off external lights, and heat to accommodate for these dramatic drops which is a safety concern due to decreased visibility” reads the staff comment.
“The vehicle is being underutilized by all partners”, says Manager of Public Works Dave Dyer. he says it seems well suited for start stop driving, but is not the preferred vehicle for trips of 80 kms or more because of concerns of the life of the charge.
He says there was very little maintenance required on the vehicle, but it hasn’t been driven enough to indicate how the long term performance may be. He says when the vehicle was purchased it was thought there would be about 18 thousand kms a year, but here we are 4 years later, and it turns out only 18 thousand kms have been put on that vehicle in four years.
The Regional District only put on about 700 kms during the pilot project period ( 4 years) with staff concerned the charge would not last if the vehicle was driven to further reaches of the Regional District boundaries.
UNBC users also commented on issues with the Leaf during cooler weather “September through November we had issues with the cold, it was sluggish and struggled navigating University Hill and Tyner Boulevard.”
Northern Health did not offer any comments.
“This is of huge interest, especially with the recent news on Tesla” says Councillor Garth Frizzell. Councillor Albert Koehler would like to see more charging stations installed “With no extra charging stations there is no incentive to get electric cars.” He would like to have staff work on research with car dealerships and BCHydro to see if more charging stations could be added in Prince George.
Councillor Brian Skakun says if the dealerships want to sell electric cars, they should be the ones responsible for installing charge stations.
Comments
I wish I had pockets so deep that I could buy all the toys I wanted with no regard to the bottom line.
What a waste of money! They have had 4 years to make it work. If you can barely get up university hill from September to November I guess December to April aren’t much better. Time to cut their losses. It is obviously a failed experiment.
If it has to be driven without heat and lights and can only be used in the summer months they should just replace it with a couple scooters.
It seems that the ones who have the opportunity to use it are voting with their feet.
They are using other forms of transportation. That settles it for me. If people aren’t using it, it can’t be that good.
Get rid of it.
Okay, but who in their right mind would but it up here? Some senile rich old lady who just wants to go to the grocery store once a week?
Better put a deposit on the Tesla. Won’t see one for 10 years if they do! I’m all for electric cars, but north of Vancouver won’t make sense for quite awhile yet.
Funny Comments…..
Do people really expect that an electric vehicle that has only been on the market for less than 10 years has all the bugs worked out?
Don’t forget they have been making gas engines left right and centre for the past 100+ years and for some reason I still see the odd vehicle getting towed. So cut them a bit of slack, it’s a product that will only get better.
I agree it’s got some things to work out before everybody should be lining up to get an electric vehicle, but almost every auto maker is moving towards making an electric model of some kind.
I for one think that 4 partners sharing 1 vehicle and reporting on it’s usage is a great idea.
I think the real shame is Northern Health not offering any comments. I see a whole fleet of small cars parked in the lot opposite the main hospital building. I could really see how having some of those vehicles as electric for in town travel being a great option. I wouldn’t go 100% electric so there are vehicles for those cold days or longer trips, but certainly 1/3 of the fleet makes a lot of sense.
Did you not read the report? They don’t work in the cold. We get cold in this part of the world!
The City says they spent $44,000 for the vehicle. Who knows what they actually paid for it and this is for a vehicle that’s probably at best a toy for half the year. There was a $5,000 subsidy on it to that gets foot by John Q British Columbia taxpaying public to Nissan. This is totally fiscally imprudent. Would you buy a car that you could only run for half or even 2/3rds of a year and drop $44k on it?
The numbers didn’t make sense when they proposed it and they won’t get any better. The premium we paid on this car is conservatively 100% for a comparable gasoline/diesel car. You can buy a helluva a lot of fuel, oil and maintenance for $22,000 (like for the life of the car and then some.) I’ve heard the cost to replace a battery in the Leaf is enough to make the car obsolete when that happens after 7 or 8 years.
This just had stupid written all over it. Governments are not supposed to be early adopters of bad technology. We should leave that to rich morons like green whacko actors. We could have filled a lot of potholes for that.
Do you seriously believe a car can be in the market for 10 years, and not have the main bugs worked out? It’s too bad the Tesla model won’t work in Prince George. Not because of the cold, because they perform very well in the cold and snow, but they require road lines for the self-driving mode…
The self driving feature does not require lines on the road . There is another little problem for PG in regards to the teslas . That is for some reason there are no plans to bring a tesla supercharging station to bc north of Kamloops . If you look at the supercharging stations across canada on teslamotors.com you will be left wondering . Looks to me like there isn’t enough money in PG to make it worth while .
Last year ( 2015) Scotland which if super imposed laditudanully on PGs area would stretch from just south of Quenel to Whitehorse , produced 60 percent of their electricity from renewables . They a have full coverage tesla supercharging stations offering free charges ( zero marginal costs ) . Money changes everything . So does time .
There is a destination charging station in PG that has a tesla connection listed on the tesla tech support . It’s only a 40A . It’s at the inn of the west 770 Brunswick . Another at kitimat , Microtel . Another at cache creek Sage Hill Motel . All three are only a pathetic 40A .
Ataloss, I’m not sure what map you are looking at, but Scotland is nowhere near that big. It’s only about 450KM from north to south and anywhere from about 40 to 250KM wide from west to east. Quesnel and Whitehorse would be well over 1,500KMs apart and north of Quesnel, BC is probably 1,000KMs wide from west to east.
Scotland also has over 5 million people living there. I doubt that that the area from Quensel to Whitehorse would have more than 200,000 people living in it.
I’m all for looking at alternate energy sources, but that comparison just doesn’t work.
NMG I was not comparing area or population . I was comparing location relative to position of latitude on the planet . I deliberately left out longitude for , I was hoping , obvious reasons . Your argument that it is a bad comparison is valid never the less . It should be easier for us because we need less than they do .
What a Revelation ” On -20 C Days ,the Range is greatly reduced and Lights and Heater have to be turned off! Any one with a little Knowledge how all Batteries behave in Cold Temperature would have know that. I will not freeze to Death driving one. That Big Block Engine will keep me nice and warm. But go ahead and Buy one if you have to much Money and feel good and book your Trip to Hawaii .
Tesla well if you have deep pockets. If electric is so good why the high taxpayer subsidies. Musk has made a lot of money mining government subsidies and with the major auto manufactures ramping up production of electric Tesla which has not made a profit yet may be left an orphan.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/news/a27094/consumer-reports-tesla-model-s-not-recommended-on-reliability/
No comment yet from Ataloss?
What’s up with that? Perhaps his solar powered system is down and he can’t power up his computer this morning?
Should we be worried?
Not one positive report on the Leaf and the plan is to keep it for another four years just in time to replace the very expensive battery. Where do these people come from?
Heck it can barely make it up the hill to the glass palace. Seems Garth wants another free taxpayer funded charging station part way up the “hill”. He mentions a Tesla, I guess he is drooling over that brick and is putting in overtime to see how the city will pay for that.
Oh a little secret about these electric cars, don’t let the battery completely discharge as that will ruin it. Not under warranty and in the case of the heavily subsidised Tesla that is a 40,000 grand bill to replace. So don’t leave it up at the airport while on vacation.
40 k replacement cost ? Only a used gas car salesman could hyperbole like that . 40k would buy me 4 tesla power walls .
Only city hall would get involved in a battery powered car that doesn’t work and then continue down the same path wasting more tax payer coin.
Maybe a survey needs to take place to see what city hall people who promoted the Nissan Leaf venture drive for vehicles.
The nationalist government has lavished £1.8 billion-worth of subsidies on wind farm operators since 2007 in its bid to meet self-imposed renewable energy targets.
The National Grid also handed energy companies a further £80million to switch wind turbines off to stop them producing too much power.
Despite the huge subsidies, the cost of wind energy has added nearly £70 a year to the average household energy bill.
There are currently around 2,400 wind turbines scattered across 219 wind farms in Scotland, meaning that each turbine has cost the taxpayer £750,000 in subsidies.
The majority have been approved or built during the SNP’s time in power, though the Renewable Obligation subsidies’ scheme was introduced by the previous UK Labour government.
The subsidies handed to operators are recouped via a supplement added to all domestic and commercial energy bills.
Critics say that the SNP’s readiness to indulge wind farm developments with taxpayers’ money has led to a rush by operators, landowners and farmers to build turbines.
Tory MSP, Murdo Fraser, convener of Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, said: “My view is we should have a balanced energy portfolio, and wind should be in that mix.
“Yet, what we are seeing is wind farms being developed at breakneck speed at the expense of all other sources.
“And with such generous subsidies being lavished upon operators, landowners and farmers, it’s little wonder they all want to get in on the act.”
ht tp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/10122850/True-cost-of-Britains-wind-farm-industry-revealed.html
The true cost of the fossil fuel industry can be counted in lives lost in the multimillions through wars , corruption and pollution .
This week every single tesla model x ever manufactured was recalled. I sure hope they have enough money left to buy a dozen stamps to notify all of the owners:P
All tesla car has an onboard apple touch screen with instant communication with tesla tech department . No stamp needed . Btw the recall is for a back seat anchor clip .
Another example of shoddy manufacturing. Many people who plunked down a 5k deposit are not ordering their cars until tesla proves they can produce a more reliable product. And given the price these are people who for the most part have at least one other car.
source please
Why not lease a Chevy volt which has a back up gas engine. Then in -20 or -30 you don’t have to compromise your safety in order to prove how liberal you are.
The people(government) subsidize all sorts of industries – wine, movies, transit systems. They come and go, up and down. Imagine if the $2000 per year gasoline cost could be cut in half, or more or even to some in the right city down to zero. What would that unleash in the economy?
Electric is worth experimenting with. Site C anyone?
What about taxes lost that are included with gasoline purchase that pay for the roads etc.
The money not sent out to the Koch brothers ,Victoria and autowa ,will slosh around town from pocket to pocket . The PST would likely be paid a few more time than if the others got it . Nice to see you keeping your eye on the money .
That $2k that doesn’t go to Shell, you spend elsewhere in the market will get taxed on another product, or maybe you just save the money. Unless you take money outside of canada, money is never ‘lost’.
I’ve actually driven that shared Nissan Leaf a few times. I could see there being 3 big problems.
The price point on that vehicle is still too high. I wouldn’t take it on a longer trip outside of town for fear of running out of charge (100 to 200 km). There are not enough recharging stations and the plug appears to be proprietary. You would need to have a special charging station wired in for home use.
The vehicle itself is a pleasure to drive though. It’s much quicker than it looks, good acceleration in nice weather. And it is so quiet that you may not realize that it is actually running.
There is certainly a future for these but it may not be here in Prince George.
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