First Day with the Leaf

Yoli and I had contacted long time friend Francisco Jaramillo to get a ride to North Bay Nissan in Petaluma - about 50 miles north of our home in San Francisco.

Francisco, and his beautiful wife Grace, live in Petaluma. He commutes daily to San Francisco. (I couldn't do it) Francisco agreed to give us a ride, but we had to get to the financial district before he left for his long commute home. It was Friday the 13th of May. Our lucky day. It seemed appropriate for us to take public transportation and car pool to pick-up our all electric battery powered Leaf.

We walked to the nearest bus stop and took Muni to downtown SF and waited somewhat impatiently for our ride. On the drive up to Petaluma we caught-up with our friend Francisco. We talked about the usual things. How the children were getting older and moving on to college. You know. How our parents are getting older and more dependent.

We were surprised how pleasant it was dealing with North Bay Nissan. Car buying is quite different from when I sold cars. We had reserved the car back in April 2010 and placed an order on October 14, 2010. Ron Coury gave us a great deal at 5% under MSRP. Our salesman Tony Muscatell was great - he explained everything about the Leaf including a few things I didn't already know. Like the fact that most dealers are now selling them for 5% over MSRP. Hmm, I could make 10%...

Stopped at the Golden Gate for a picture

After completing an extensive demo and check-out list we were on our way south to our home in SF. Wow, what a quiet smooth ride. Yoli fell asleep on the way and I drove silently through the beautiful scenery on our way home.

As I drove south looking at the range indicator, which keeps track of how many miles of juice you have left, I discovered a new sensation. I am positive this is a sensation that is shared with all people who own electric vehicles; it can only be called "Range Anxiety."

Luckily I live in San Francisco - seven by seven miles.  We drove over 50 miles from the dealer and still had close to 30 miles left.  That's plenty for me.

I'll end this first entry by saying that now we have to clear some space in the garage. I better go help Yoli...