Rick Samuels, 71 — Portland, OR —
Tesla Model 3
The Leaf was the first, affordable, practical EV. We leased our first Leaf for three years in 2011. I was commuting 30 miles a day, which was an ideal range for a first-generation Leaf. We then bought a two-year-old, lease-returned 2013 Leaf.
In 2014, when the first lease ran out, Nissan was almost giving 2014 models away. It was $1,000 upfront and $100 a month for a two-year lease. At the end of the two years, in 2016, Nissan gave us another 12,000 miles and kept the payments the same. At the end of the third year, we ended up buying it for $9,200. We had the 2013 and the 2014 for some time.
In early 2021, we wanted a car with more range, so we ended up leasing a 2020 Leaf SV-Plus with 200 miles of range. The lease price reflected federal and state tax credits plus a factory incentive. We live in a floating home and a nearby members’ club allowed us to put Level 2 chargers in the parking lot.
Last fall, we took our first real road trip, and that’s when we found out how abysmally bad public charging infrastructure is.
The problem we found was finding ones that worked without a problem. At that point, we said, if we’re going to drive an electric car, and we want to take trips, pretty much our only choice is a Tesla, so we bought a used Tesla Model 3 and sold one Leaf.
We have taken several trips in the Tesla and never had a problem charging. We’ve had it for a year and have not had any significant problems with it. Our Leaf, which now has over 80,000 miles on it, has also never needed any significant repairs. We really only had to get the 12-volt batteries replaced.
I tell people that if it’s going to be your main car for trips, the only electric car I would get right now is a Tesla. In two or three years that may be different, but right now, their public charging infrastructure is just so much better. You don’t have to worry about a card reader not working or about a screen being vandalized.
We see no need to have a gasoline-powered car. And we hope we will never have to buy another gasoline-powered car.