My fellow Honda Hybrid owners:

It is time to say goodbye. After almost 5 years and 80,000 miles we are giving up our Honda Civic Hybrid. My wife has purchased a Nissan Leaf electric car, and we have sold the Civic.



I must say that I am somewhat saddened by having to give up the Civic. It has run almost perfectly over the last 5 years. Completely uneventful and still returning 40+ mpg consistently. And even though we bought the Civic in November of 2006 for $24K, we still sold it almost 5 years later for over $15K.

Our replacement car the Leaf, is quite exciting too. For the majority of the driving we do, the range of the Leaf is completely adequate. We have a charger in the garage that can fill it back up in around 4~6 hours, and it is all done automatically in the middle of the night. It costs us about $3 to go 100 miles, vs $9 to do it in the Civic.

So keep up the good posts here, and perhaps we will meet again.

 

Congrats on your new purchase! The only draw back is how do you make trips over 100 miles? I guess we will just have to change our ways and stay closer to home? H

 

We have other cars that are more fun for long distances.

 

Method to your madness. Save enough during the week with your EV so you can take the Spider for a cruise.: H

 

Cool! Drop in and let us know how your experience with the Leaf goes.

Best of luck with the new car.

 

1. Don't forget to Rejex it.
2. Don't send any more oil changes for analysis every 10K miles.
3. Don't forget your friends at greenhybrid.com.
4. Do enjoy your new ride, Gary!

 

Steve:

Thanks for the tips. I did Rejex it last weekend, but had to give the paint a good going over with a clay bar. The paint was very rough. Now it is as smooth as a baby's butt.

Yes, no more oil changes, and will continue to post occasionally. So far, we have about 600 miles on the car, and have spent about $17 in electricity to go that far.

The incentives for electric cars is something we could not pass up. They are much better than when Hybrids first hit the street in 2005/2006.

Today's electric car incentives include:
$7500 Federal Tax credit
$5000 California purchase rebate
$2500 DoE rebate for the home charger and installation
$950 Rebate from Nissan for accessories on the car
$1000 Discount from the dealer from MSRP
Solo Carpool sticker with no expiration
Special half-price rate for electricity to charge the car
Free parking in San Jose

With what we sold the HCHII hybrid for, and all of the incentives, we will end up with a cash balance after 3 years of driving the car. Can't beat that!

 

Good luck with your new EV, I hope it lasts many years and in the future is offered a battery or fuel cell upgrade to extend range and make it comparable to gas powered cars.

 

Orient,

Congratulations on your new ride. Can you share the calculations that you used to figure electricity usage? Every analysis I have read suggests that the electricity is about equal or slightly more than the cost of gas.

I also remember from engineering school that approx 50% of all electricity is lost during transmission, and since a lot of it comes from coal, I always questioned if it was actually "greener".

I totally commend your purchase as a pioneer in this area. We are selling the HCH II but bought a Subi Outback 2.5 with CVT & PZEV. Seems like one of the greenest cars you can get that is not a Hybrid or Electric.

MW

 

I too ditto MW's question. I'd be curious. (Not suspicious of your intentions but rather, I'd like to learn more)

IIRC, some of the posters here live in Canada or in the state of California which tends to be ahead in terms of green energy. I live in the mid-west, and get (almost) all my electricity from coal-fired plants -- 40-44% efficiency by the time the energy reaches my house, hardly anything to be cheerful about.