We’ve leased a 2015 Nissan Leaf since the fall of 2014. In October 2015 we bought a 2013 Chevy Volt off lease, making our household all electric.
Although the Volt is an extended range electric vehicle (EV)–it also has a gasoline engine–we drive it mostly as an EV.
Since I work with renewable energy, we made a number of energy efficiency improvements in our home in 2001. Until the advent of our EVs, we consistently averaged around 3,200 kWh of electricity consumption per year, including that for air conditioning here in the San Joaquin Valley. Summers are hot here, often around 104°F (40°C) and air conditioning consumes a lot of electricity.
Even with the advent of our Nissan Leaf and now the Chevy Volt, our utility’s conservation report (PG&E) puts us 25%-40% less than similar homes and nearly as good as “efficient similar homes.”
In 2015 our Nissan Leaf consumed 1,030 kWh. In 2016 the Leaf consumed1,085 kWh and the Chevy Volt used 245 kWh in the last quarter. Our EVs contributed about one-quarter of our total consumption of from 5,000-5,500 kWh per year. This is still less than the typical home in the PG&E service area in the San Joaquin Valley.
In the first quarter of 2017, the Leaf consumed 226 kWh and the Volt 200 kWh for about 40% of first quarter total consumption. The cooling doesn’t begin until the second quarter and I expect that the percentage of our consumption attributed to the EVs will decrease once the air conditioning kicks in.
Our annual mileage is about half that of the typical North American as I work at home. If you drive your EV more than we do you can expect to use proportionally more electricity.
