Golden Jubilee
Posts: 5187
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm
Location: Lyman, IA
Re: Gone over to the "dark side"
kevin wrote:CB89, How does the car drive in the snow? Keep us posted on the cold temp with the miles. Getting the same weather up here.
I saw a vid on EVs don't work well in MN. Good luck hope it works out.
I don't know about that, The Twin Cities is where mine came from, and believe it spent its 1st 8 years there.
Right now it has 75% worn all season tires on it. The few times I had it out on slushy- snowy roads, it did fine, with near 50%-50% weight distribution, did fine. Better tires would be a good idea if I had to drive in sloppy conditions.
I no longer drive in the worse weather anymore. Just wait it out. Some people can't drive in the snow no matter what they have. I drove my wifes AMC/Renault in the snow, with drifts higher than the hood. Had to hit them at 30 MPH just to power through to the other side.
It is true, that any battery looses power in the cold. If you can just make it in warm weather, you don't have a prayer in cold. So far I have gone to town in 9 deg weather without problems.
The more experience I have with it, the more I find that those that have problems are expecting more than it can reasonably do.
I had done my research before I went down this road. I thought then and have had it reinforced since, that a Leaf anyway, doesn't make a good only car. So far it has made a great 95% car.
The car tips the scale at around 3600lbs so has some inertia to worry about on really slippery conditions, but having it evenly divided between axles seams to make it stable.
The fact that I am considering putting double what a paid for it, into a brand new battery at some point in the future, sums it up fairly concisely.
I would caution anyone considering an electric to look at what is being discussed on enthusiasts websites, about the make/model they are considering, and be very honest with themselves with their expectations on how it will be used. Those who buy on the spur of the moment are often the one who regret it.