Spaceship Leaf: Ready for blast-off

By Kay H. Wilson

I received my all electric car, the Nissan Leaf yesterday, Sept. 8. And it does look, as one friend put it, like straight out of Buck Rogers. The cockpit alone qualifies as a spaceship look-alike. But also consider the aerodynamic lines of everything from the headlights to the undercarriage; all created to reduce drag and increase driving distance.

I was trying to get my radio programmed with the correct stations — bless those Japanese engineers, they really are attuned to the pulse of America; it was all Christian and country stations — while I was driving home and decided to wait until today; and it’s done. Next hubby and I go out and program the rearview mirror to become a garage door opener.

My cell phone isn’t Bluetooth capable (I’m kinda old fashioned that way; does my phone ring when someone calls me and can I call out? Then it’s good). I’m not yet ready for a computer phone. Although I have just the car to use one. If I had a smart phone/iPhone (is there a difference?) I could start my air conditioner or heater in the car from the house while the car is on the charger and not use all that power to cool/heat it after I’m in it.

I don’t have my charging dock installed yet. I have to have some upgrading work done on my electrical panel to bring it up to code before I can get it installed. Also, Waco has a city ordinance that if you do any electrical work in your house AT ALL you have to have a smoke detector hard wired into every bedroom and hall or room adjacent to those bedrooms. At a cost of around $100 a pop I have been dragging my feet. I appreciate the city government’s care for my well-being but how do you shut them off when you burn supper? With a baseball bat?

We decided to lease instead of buy. As the Nissan dealer said, you get instant gratification that way; the $7500 tax credit is figured into the lease agreement, so no hassling with the IRS and our taxman to figure if we qualify. I’ve never leased a vehicle before and was trepidatious about it but another factor was advances in battery life and distance of driving; in three years if we still love electric and they have extended the driving distance so we can go to Austin or Dallas with ease, we’ll want to upgrade.

The quietness will take some getting used to. I never really noticed that my gas car made noise when we pulled up to a stop light but the silence of the Leaf is a little eerie. Apparently pedestrians listen as much as look before stepping off the curb; I had to toot my horn at a kid who nearly stepped out in front of me because he didn’t hear me coming. There is a beeper that activates when the car is going less than 19 MPH but I was going faster than that.

There is plenty of room for four; any fifth person would have to be really small. It’s easy to get into and out of. It has a roomy storage area with the option of folding down one of the back seats for additional space.

I’m excited to be on the cutting edge of something like this, maybe contributing to the tipping point from use of fossil fuel to real solutions for alternative sources of energy. You should get one, too; then we can give that new Leaf wave to each other when we pass on the street.

Yours in hope and cynicism,

The Compassionate Curmudgeon

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