Cordless Charging For Electric Nissan Leaf.

Recharge your car without plugging it in.

When you buy a Nissan Leaf - you get a standard charging extension cord. For a little extra you get a 220 volt charging cord. Some people forget to plug the car in - and in the  morning they come out to a low battery. For $2000 - one can buy a charging system that is automatic. When you pull into the garage - you park on top of a charging box. It charges the battery without being in contact - just close. 

We have owned our 2012 Nissan Leaf now for a little over 3 months. We have put about 2000 miles on it. That comes down to about 22 miles a day. We use it every day. Lulu grabs the key fob to take it to work. We love it for shopping around town and going to FSU games. We have not plugged it in anywhere else but in our garage. We do not even carry the charging cord with us. 

The Leaf goes about 80 miles on a charge - we plug it in every night - and I think we only had the gauge down below 30 miles once or twice. At first - you keep an eye on that gauge like a hawk - worrying that you will not have enough power to make it home. They call it "range anxiety." After a while you forget all about it.

But to be on the safe side - we plug it in every night - whether it needs it or not. In the morning you are confident knowing you can go 80 miles - or more. Yes - sometimes throughout the day depending on how you drive - you get extra miles. Some folks boast of going as far as 120 miles on one charge. 

At 14 cents a kilowatts hour - it costs about $3.30 for a full charge. Of course your battery is never completely empty - so a charge is usually much less. Our Leaf usually takes an hour or two to re-charge.

To me - part of the joy of owning an electric car is plugging it in. It has a little flap just like the gas filler on a dirty car. The plug reminds one of the gas filler nozzle. Yes - you are still using fuel but only the equivalent of 120 miles per gallon of gasoline. 

I would not encourage anyone to buy a new Leaf. Ours cost $42,000 - just two years ago. We bought this one used for $12,700. No way do I condone $30,000 of depreciation in two years! But there are plenty of two year old ones on CarMax and Craigslist for around $15,000. To me - it is one of the better bargains in cars - if you can live on 80 miles a day - or are able to plug in at work. 

Of course - your mileage may vary :-)