On the Road Again

or,   EV Travel on the cheap: 900 miles on Zero Dollars.

We're not exactly post COVID, but finally close enough to get out and do mostly outdoor things.

Being crazy people we're out doing a road trip in the EV. [2021 Nissan Leaf S-Plus, 62KWh battery]

"But I thought EV roadtrips were for rich people with Teslas?
      Besides, aren't most of the chargers Tesla 'Superchargers'?"

With a little thought and minimal planning it's quite possible to do some semi-serious road tripping in a Leaf that you're paying maybe $200/month for (or less, see previous posts!) without shelling out the extra +$400 to $600 a month (we're comparing leases here, YMMV) for a Tesla. Roadtripping in a Leaf is slightly slower, mainly due to slower 'Fast Chargers' (DCFC) but think of yourself as being paid SEVERAL $Hundred$ per hour or your time. See Note on Cost/Mile below.

Wenatchee valley at apple blossom time, Rainer in the distance.

Pre-trip: You pretty much *have* to have several charging vendor's Apps on your phone.
Yes this sucks ... and ... they're working on it.
There are some recent wrinkles to that: Shell Recharge (the biggest non-Tesla charging network player in Europe) has recently bought out GreenLots, a conglomerator (is this a word?) of charging networks in the U.S. and Canada. They claim their account will be able to activate Shell, GreenLots, EVGo and ChargePoint chargers, 'and several more to be named later' and if that's true it may reduce the number of apps you have to cart around, since those were all on my 'must have' list. Stay tuned for updates.

In addition I need (but sometimes dislike) both EVCS (formerly AV/Webasto) and Electrify America (Charge America too darn much IMHO)
My issues with EVCS are almost entirely due to pricing. $20/mo. is what AV/Webasto billed for their all-you-can-eat plan. I didn't need it (well except once) but that was pretty reasonable. When EVCS took over that went to $50/mo. They bill $0.49/KWh otherwise, also a completely ridiculous amount, so if you have need (over 100KWh/month regularly) that monthly amount might look less awful to you. Of course that's only for the rather limited EVCS network and does you no good with the dozen other suppliers. Boo.
They do have a 'First Month's Free" deal so that's one of the things we'll be using on this trip. Yay!

First day: 420 Miles from Eugene to Leavenworth/Wenachee Washington.

Leg one from Eugene to Hood River OR, 100% down to 5%, 188 miles ~ 3hrs.
Cold (38-42) raining and blowing, not ideal 'range' weather.
We almost certainly could have made it to TheDalles but 5% isn't much charge remaining.
Besides, the EVCS charger was free-to-me (see above) and though 44KW isn't fast, Hood River is a nice town to walk around and have lunch in during the 90 min(!) it took to go from 5% to 95%. You kind of have to do -something- since the town seems convinced that a public restroom will attract homeless folks (and they may be right) but if you expect to need that type of relief it will probably be in a restaurant if you're planning to walk less then a mile. We could have cut it off at 90% and have been fine, maybe even 80%. The newer EVCS chargers have a button that allows 80% charge or 100%. See "Note about 100% charge" below.

Hood River to Wapato WA. 120 Miles.
I still had some free charging available through  ChargePoint and their charger at Wolf'sDen Wapato WA which was just about perfect. It went from 30% to 85% in 28 min. peaking around 55KW. Battery temps were edging up so 85% was 'it' and besides we only had like 106mi. left to go. Note that even had it not been free-to-me, this location has an unusually low rate of $0.11/KWh so the charge-up cost would have totaled $5.20

Wapato to Leavenworth: 110 Miles
This part has two mountain passes, one over 4000 ft. and in this case there was still some snow on the ground. It's also (mostly) not major freeway, so keeping the speeds down closer to 60 and allowing some regen on the down-slopes made this work well. We arrived with around 20% SOC left so technically that's the end of the day's travels. We just happened to have time during dinner for some charging so we didn't need to do it the following day.

EVCS (AT/Webasto) charger in Leavenworth. 10 years old this year!

The EVCS charger (behind the Library/City Hall parking lot directly off the main drag, address on PlugShare is somewhat misleading, although the map marker is right) is one of those which hasn't yet been updated from it's old AV/Webasto days and as a result, is, right now, free to use for everyone with a CHAdeMO connector. (mainly Leaf and Kia Soul EV) But I'm sure that will change. Not for the better from my perspective.
We happened to be using it almost exactly 10 years (2012) from when this charger was installed and turned on. Back then it was amazing it worked at all. Now it seems somewhat clunky and slow, but it still moved us from 18% to 80% while we were having dinner. ($50 for two hamburgers. Are you insane? With sides like a small salad and fries, but $50? and that doesn't include tips or drinks. Leavenworth is a very pretty expensive tourist trap.) And if you'll forgive the 90 sec. or so it takes to get going it works well if not quickly. 45KW peak, but then our batteries had experienced a long hard day so their temperature might have been part of the equation.

Yes, this day of the trip could have been done in 30-60min. less time in your new Tesla, Primarily because there would have been one less charging stop, but you paid dearly for that bit of time.

"What if you still had your 'old' 2018 40KWh Leaf instead of the 60KWh Leaf S-Plus you have now?"
I'd just add a charge stop in Portland, move the next charge from Hood River 10-20 miles farther to The Dalles and keep everything else the same. I might have to slow down a bit (5 mph less?) going up the passes but it would only add around 30-40 min. to the day. ...and the 40KW LEAFs cost $8-10K less than the 60KW ones!
I know Tesla owners who go a couple hundred miles per day, several days a week. If that's what you need to do then a Tesla may make perfect sense. Just don't try and tell us how awesomely frugal you are. Yes, I'm looking at you Don.

Day Two and Day Three:
Running around locally in the Wenatchee Valley. Nothing to see here, move along.
At the end of day three we plugged into the same EVCS charger in Leavenworth. Those free electrons sure do taste sweet. 40-90% charge during dinner again. Peaked at 47KW this time!
We may need that tomorrow. Passes Ahead!
Almost makes up for the simply absurd $0.49/KWh that EVCS 'normally' charges.

Day Four, Stevens Pass:
...would be really awesome to look at if the entire thing weren't covered in clouds and rain. Boo.
It was less than 120 miles over the hump and we stopped at PowerSports KIA in Everett for some free charging. They also had the new KIA EV6 on display (WAY Cool) -and- being Cinco de Mayo were hosting a free Mexican themed lunch buffet for all comers. Good deal all around. OTOH they have about the slowest 'fast charger' we've ever seen. Peaked at about 15KW. Since we couldn't spend all day there we only took on about 16KWh.

Day Five:  Dinking around the N.Seattle area. Pouring rain all day. Whee!

We did stop for a charge at Campbell Nissan, which was kind of a disaster compared with the KIA folks the day before. For starters they have set up with ChargePoint so you do have to pay. OTOH it's only $8 for a full charge. Neither of the two chargers there have a credit card option -or- QR Code scan option. You must have an RFID card or a NFC equipped phone. That kind of phone costs $300 more than the ones we have. Not Happening. But we have the RFID card (remember day one?) so no problem, right? "Not Authorized!" on the display. We found out later that our good friends (NOT!) at EVgo had disabled the card. Of course they reached out to us to let us know in a timely manner (NOT!) Nice folks  (NOT!). Now that we're friends for life, I'll be doing absolutely as much as possible to damage their business and reputation. I don't want them to die screaming in agony, but having all the senior management purged during a bankruptcy would be nice.

We got on the phone with the ChargePoint support folks. The poor trainee person we talked to first wanted the number off of the charger. There was no number anywhere. She didn't want to believe me "Of course there's a number." then she wanted an address, "Campbell Nissan, Edmonds WA."
Yes, but what's the address?
How would I know?
We went around for 5+ min. and she then said she'd talk to someone and call us right back in less than 5 min. ... So 10 min. later. I called them again. Remember the pouring rain? Yeah, so do I.
Anyway the next support person sounded like English was his third language -and- he kept spare golf-balls in his mouth. However he was a technical whiz. From all the typing noises I suspect he was on some kind of command-line terminal app. Turns out that charger does not show up at all on their internal application, and there's three different locations labeled "Campbell Nissan" in their system. 10 min. to find the right charger, "Iz dispay flash now?"  then a reset (4-5 min.) then a full reboot (5-8 min.) and hurray! It worked! In compensation he gave us the charge session for free.
Obviously charging providers cannot afford to have a skilled technician spend 28 min. on the phone to get a single charge session to work. IMHO this whole industry (except Tesla) has a ways to go before this becomes viable.  Nothing against Campbell Nissan, their guy came out and tried to help. The problem was not on his end. Anyway, we picked up 45KW in about 90 min. end to end. We'll need it. Long day tomorrow. Remember the pouring rain? Yeah, so do I.

Day Six:  Mukilteo WA to Eugene OR.

Driving through Seattle traffic in rain that requires the wipers be frequently switched to high speed is not exactly a fun time. Given construction delays on I5 we went around the city on 405. The longer distance plus rain, wind and temperature ran through 80+% of our charge in the 120 miles to Centralia WA. Where the sun came out and the EVCS charger, not yet converted to the new style, was free! Nice places to eat too. It took right about an hour to make it up to 95% charge. In any sort of normal circumstances that would be enough to get us home. ...Almost...

The rain and wind came back and we had to stop for a bit 20 miles from home at the charger shown here. Despite being all upgraded to the new hardware, this EVCS station does not yet show up on their app. It does show on PlugShare.com and there's positive reviews there, which also point out that it's Free. We picked up 10KW in less than 10 min.

Yup the entire trip, 6 days, almost 900 miles, was accomplished without spending even one dollar on charging,  if you ignore the $5 worth of home charging we started with. Not completely without issues but little of that was the normal course of events. Had we taken the gas car we'd have been out $220 or so for this trip. There was around two  hours of 'wasted' time during the trip that wouldn't have happened in a gas car, although the difference isn't quite so large once you include the bathroom and filling-up and meal breaks you would have taken anyway. Would we do it again? Sure, although better weather would be nice.
EVCS will eventually finish upgrading all their chargers and the free sessions will go away. There's still their First Month Free deal so that's not completely off the table.
"But I already used my free month."
Does anyone you're traveling with have a cellphone and has not used 'their' free month? Just sayn'...
________________

Note on Cost/Mile:
The average gas powered auto, at for example 30mpg, runs around 14 cents/mile in fuel costs if gas is $4.00/gallon, or around $66 for a 500 mile day. Your old pickup, driving at 75 is probably more like $150. Currently in WA gas is nearer $5/gal. As they say, Your Mileage May Vary.

This kind of travel in a Leaf will use up somewhere between 3 and 4 miles per KWh. Depending on speed, temperature and elevation gain, usually closer to the 4 mi/KWh mark than 3. 
On the high end, at least in this area, EVgo and Electrify America are roughly $0.43/KWh and EVCS is $0.49. The ChargePoint unit we stopped at was $0.11/KWh. However, that's unusual, even for ChargePoint. I think the location subsidizes this unit to bring in people. Heck, a lot of people pay that much for their domestic electricity, including us!

The worst case  ( 3 mi/KWh @ $0.49) is $81 for that 500 mile day
The best case     ( 4 mi/KWh @ $0.11) is $13.75 for that same 500 mile day!
Even mo'bettah is doing it all for free, but that takes more planning, and luck.

You can see why planning is so important. If planning is too much of a bother for you, just pay, and  resolve to not care much about it.  Or get a car with better charging infrastructure and (relatively) sensible charging costs, ie: Tesla. Most of the folks reading this do care, probably find at least some thought is worth the bother and can't afford a $50K and up automobile purchase.

____________________

Click to expand

Note about 100% vs. 80% charge:
Charge rates taper off starting somewhere between 50 and 80% State of Charge (SOC). As a result, depending in the car, temperature, and charger it can take, for example, one hour to go from 20 to 80% SOC, but then require another hour to go from 80 to 100%. That is often not worth your time, but there are some circumstances where you'll need every last electron to get to your destination.


In the olden-days we wouldn't consider getting anywhere near 100% on a DC Fast Charger, but things have changed a bit in the last couple years: Battery capacities have improved, as have battery management circuits.  The 60KWh (or even 40KWh) packs will be charging at a rate of 5-8KW above 90% SOC. If the batteries aren't running too warm (check the display!) this is only about a tenth of the peak they're capable of, and at least for me it seems unlikely this is causing damage, especially if it's a rare occurrence. Regardless I probably would not have charged this high on a warmer day. Neither would I need to, as the range is generally better on a warmer day, and without the heater running.
Another thought to consider: There are frequently 'L2' Level 2 chargers in the same vicinity as the DC fast chargers. Since they can provide nearly the same charge rate above 85% SOC you might consider switching over to one of those. They often have a lower cost per KWh, and especially if its a charger company that bills by the minute rather than by the KWh. [Some states have laws that only allow per-min. billing, and some companies try to do it everywhere because they're (EVgo?) er, slimy, but I repeat myself.]
Note that the L2 charging is also perhaps slightly better at 'easing' your pack right up to the 100% mark as the electronics that manage it are built into your car.
Anyway, it can be good to switch over somewhere above 80% SOC if there's no 'Charge Startup' fee and you can afford the time. Also, there might be someone waiting for the DCFC. ;-)

Charge timing simplified!

It's pretty simple: When you're done, you automatically add 60% to your charge state when you plug in. -OR- you hit a button to get 100% for those times when you'll need it.    Details:

__________

So, you're driving around in your jaunty new EV every day, and when it gets down to 20% or there'bouts on the handy battery meter (which you may have to hit some sort of menu button to see) you plug it in to your nifty home charge cord thingy and charge it. What could be simpler?

...except, you may have read that charging all the time to 100% is bad for the long term health of your battery. Keeping it between 20% and 80%, with only occasional excursions beyond those bounds, has proven to extend the life of the battery pack by a fairly large amount. Maybe even 30%, or more in hotter climates. [note that charging to 100% occasionally is actually good for it.]

"Does that mean I'm supposed to go out and remember to unplug the blasted thing at 3:AM?

Nope, there's a much simpler solution: All the EV's that we're aware of have either a charge limiting setting (Tesla's and Chevy Bolt's)  or, almost equally useful, a charge timer setting. This includes, but is not limited to Mitsubish'is, Nissan's, VW's, Kia's and some home chargers that have cellphone control apps.

Lets use the Nissan Leaf as an example since there's more of them out there than anything except Tesla. All of the above have a way to set a 'default' charge time, and generally a way to defeat that timer limit when necessary.

Here's how I did it, your mileage may vary:
The first time I got the car down to 20%,  I didn't actually plug it in until Saturday (which luckily just happened to be the next day) around 7:AM. At 1:PM it was up to 50%. By 7:PM it was at 80%, so I concluded that "12 hours of charging, on this car, with this charger equals a 60% gain in charge." where 20% to 80% is a gain of 60% eh?
With me so far? 
So, I want into the menu system on the car (after digging around in the manual) and found where to set the charge timing. I diddled the buttons to set the START time for 8:PM  and then set the STOP time for 8:AM. It took a couple times to get it right, and then I had to set that 'timer' to 'ON' and 'Default' 
Now, every time I plug in it charges up an additional 60%, unless it's above 40% to begin with.
...then it charges to 100% (40 + 60) duh.

Obviously if yours charges faster or you didn't want 60%, reduce the number of hours.

"But what if I'm driving a lot tomorrow and I want 100% charge tonight?"

On a Leaf, right near to the button that you use to open the charge door on the car is a button that disables the charge timer 'this time only' which will cause it to start charging right now and charge until it hits 100% -or- you unplug it. Simple. One button that's right near the one you had to hit to open the charge door anyway. Press it AFTER hitting the 'open door' button.

On some other cars you have to get into a menu to disable (or enable!) the charge timing, but it's usually pretty easy.

As to when to do the charging, it's generally preferred to have the charging finish up just a little while before you hop in and take off. This minimizes the time it sits at a high state of charge.
"But that's only when it's hot out right?"
Actually it's also good in the depths of a northern winter. The charging process warms up the battery. They don't like really cold temperatures any more than you do.

Another LEAF, are you insane?

 Yep, #3 is in the driveway. Previous one (2018 Leaf S) is for sale. [Edit: SOLD!!]

NOTICE: I was wrong! see **  below.

2021 Nissan Leaf S ePlus. 225 Miles of range on the hoof.

And yeah, the 50% increase in range is real. 30% more power ain't bad either.  See below.  

Insanity arguments:

Q: This thing has been in production for over 10 years! Why not get a newer design?

A: Money,    ...well, and in that 10 years it's proven fairly reliable.

Longer answer: Lots of money. Tesla and GM (Bolt) do not qualify for the federal rebate. $7500 is real money. Kia/Hyundai are about $8000 high for similar capabilities during real-world negotiations. Availability on those isn't great, and $8K is real money. Jaguar and Audi are expensive jokes. Ford? maybe someday. VW might be worth a look.  

Leaf dealers are already getting antsy about their stock levels so between Nissan's reductions and dealer reductions you're looking at $10K off the top. A $42K car is suddenly $32K, -before- federal and state rebates. Deals are out there. With the right combination of time of year (dealer incentives), state, federal, and sometimes local electric company incentives it is VERY possible to get the lower range model (40 KWh) down to $18K by the time all is said and done. Don't believe Idjits who tell you how expensive electric cars are. Teslas, yes -they- are expensive

Q: Leases are insane!

A: This was pretty thoroughly covered during the post on the previous Leaf purchase (the 2018.)

Besides, per another previous post leases are great if you don't qualify for the full federal tax credit.

And another thing that's not so obvious: The two previous Leafs have/had market values AT LEAST a couple $K more then the 'buy-out' cost at the end of the lease. Ya buy it out, title arrives, you sell.  That, plus Oregon rebate(s) have MORE than covered all DownPayment + Fees + Licensing +Taxes and leave something left over.

As a result total cost of operation; MonthlyPayment + Tires + Licensing + Maintenance + Electricity (fuel) + Insurance (yes I mean EVERYTHING) averages out to below 20 cents/mile. 

Try doing that, INCLUDING Depreciation, time-value-of money and Interest, on your current and previous vehicle(s) and you'll probably come up with double that amount, unless you're driving an unusually efficient and reliable older car. Personally, I'm driving new. Nice new!

Or, stated differently: Averaged across all three cars we've been looking at effectively below $200/mo. 
 ...total of all transportation costs for our average 1200 mi/mo.

Q: This has the old style Fast Charging connector that they're not installing many of any more. Isn't buying into that kind of dead-end technology at least sorta nutzo?

A: That's a good point. If we were keeping it for The Long Haul it might turn into an issue. However the first big batch of fast charge connectors/stations put in Oregon and Washington were mostly the kind the Leaf uses. Especially true of the parts of the states that are NOT Portland or Seattle. Yes the rate of build-out of the newer CCS charging connectors is about 5X more than the older one, but there's still plenty to cover the next three years of the lease. Even Electrify America (the 'charger' arm of VW) who have been most aggressive about phasing out older charge connector types, is still putting in new Leaf-style fast chargers throughout 2022 and it's not like those are just going to get turned off thereafter. At least in most places.

Besides, we charge at home 90+% of the time. Probably more-so with the longer range:

Yes that's our first full range run, full charge, driving home new from the dealer. 225 miles to empty (the --% remaining at the bottom).  About 80% freeway at 70 mph and the remainder in town at 'slow' with AC on around half the total time. And yes we went around the block a couple times to get to -just- zero out the charge% remaining.    Kids: Don't try this at home!.

____________

So how is it?

It doesn't feel insane at all ;-)

The Center dash screen is bigger and now supports more 'phone' functionality via Apple/Android compatibility. Having your phone's mapping app up on the big screen is nice, and you don't have to buy the up models (SV or SL) for $3-7K more to get 'navigation'. ...Besides, we hate leather seats.

Other than that and the slightly quicker acceleration (trust me there was PLENTY before) and the 50% longer range, it's essentially identical. The big front quarter blind spot for tall drivers is still present and they did NOT bring back the cool 'side shade' that was part of the visor in 2017. (see ** below)

The revised tires seem just a little quieter and maybe 2-3% more efficient. We're seeing 4.0 mi/kwh now in situations where 3.8 mi/kwh was the norm. Not a big deal but these things add up.

Mike Hendricksen, the Internet Sales Manager at Alan Webb Nissan in Vancouver WA was nice and responsive throughout the process and matched the lowest price elsewhere. Kudos!

The other six dealers we talked to? Not so much...

We'll edit this if anything new pops up. Thanks for reading!

** NOTICE: I was wrong! I've been beating up every LEAF version since our 2017 for not having the nifty sunshade/visor extender so you're not blinded from the side when you have a low sun angle therefrom. On the 2017 there was a panel you could slide out so your eyes were protected when you had the visor popped loose and flipped over to the left side, to make it 'wide' enough for when the sun was directly from the side, like driving North at sunset or South after sunrise.

While they DID remove that panel, it turns out they just made it so the entire visor slides sideways. This doesn't work quite as well, but better than nothing. I hereby apologize to Nissan for all the Darning to Heck things I said about them, or at least those related to this topic. 
Why didn't we see this or figure it out sooner? The text they added to explain about it is lightly embossed light grey on light grey and you can only see it when lit from a certain angle with the visor down. It took us over two years to find this 'feature.' We must be extra dense.

Update2Update

EDIT: Nov.1st.'20:

The annual killer deals on Nissan Leafs are in full swing. We've recently seen a base Leaf at $79 (plus fees) down and $79/month for 24 months in Portland. Even if you're not a fan of leases, this is still pretty sweet. Not sure if you can apply for state rebates on top of this, [Oops, apparently not!]

Many units up in Seattle for purchase. For buyers who will register in Oregon, Base models have hit around $16-17K again, but the big news is that we've seen the 'Plus' version with the 50% larger battery pack down to $21K after rebates/credits. Woo. 

This won't last, as usual

So, someone actually requested this awhile ago and we got much of it written, and then a pandemic.
...and I'm finally getting around to posting. There's very few edits involved in a four month delay. Surprised? You shouldn't be ;-) On with the show:

Although the truly amazing deals from a year ago (see previous posts) are gone, fear not, they will come again! In the meantime, you can still get a new Nissan Leaf for right at $20K after all (including Oregon) rebates. Don't pay attention to Tonkin dealership advertised prices, they are slime-mold and 'include' the rebates in the advertised price.

Firstly, our 2018 40KWh Nissan Leaf is doing fine. In fact more than fine. Absolutely no problems at all in the 25,000 miles we've put on it. It hasn't been into the dealer for the firmware upgrade that allows faster fast charging, so we still get only about 2/3rds of the 'fast' charge rate that our 2017 30KWh Leaf exhibited. Reports indicate it isn't all that much faster even with the update, except on second and third fast charges in a single day, like on a trip.  As a result the bigger battery does you only a little good when traveling. The Longer range is offset by longer charging times, depending on your trip route and conditions. In day to day local use this is partially offset by the faster AC/home charging, which is about twice as fast as home charging a 2017.  The 60KWh 2020 Leaf+ is apparently doing better, but it's still ~$10K more. See the -go-to- blog for Leaf facts & data: DaveInOly who has a GREAT post about the tradeoffs.
Still our Leaf gets us where we need to go, no fuss no muss no bother. We still hate the sun visors (See previous posts.)
Note that the four iMievs that we have local knowledge of are still doing fine as are the five Leafs.

Battery recommendations haven't changed. Letting the car sit fully charged, especially when it's hot leads to about twice the battery degradation (ie: half the battery life) than you'd achieve if you were paying attention and actually cared. Only charging to 80% is still the recommendation, except just before a long jaunt. If you NEED 100% on a daily basis, you'll get less life and probably should have purchased a different vehicle.  Obviously this is a bigger concern for the lower end EV crowd than for those with long range Teslas and proportionally deep pockets.

Rant about Toyota: Despite having some of the best plug-in hybrids out there (Prius Prime and especially the RAV4 Prime) Toyota has gone out of their way to kiss the trumpian ass, oppose fuel mileage standards, oppose EV legislation and put serious money behind lawsuits in support of those goals. They have consistently come out as promoting their bottom line and their lack of vision. being late to the EV party, and have shown themselves as a net detriment to society and the earth. We strongly oppose buying Toyota products at this time. Dumping their stock would be good too. </rant>

Updates on purchase recommendations:

Newly delivered Archimoto

There have been a couple questions about Arcimoto. They are cute, fun, locally produced (buy local!) and seem to work pretty well. They are also grossly unsafe, less than ideally suited to wintery/rainy climates and ridiculously expensive ($20K, no rebates) for what they do. Electric motorcycles are more fun and less expensive. However, if you have the deep pockets necessary to support this kind of thing, have at it. We've been in a pre-production unit and talked to an owner. They are a hoot.

The remainder of the recommendations are pretty much the same as previous posts.
If you want new, and have the required level of financial wherewithal to support it the top answer is still Tesla.
Sedan: Tesla Model 3, $36-37K after rebates.
Crossover/more capacity: Tesla Model Y, $44-48K after rebates. [remember Tesla and GM no longer qualify for the Federal Tax Rebate]
We still don't recommend the autopilot options unless you have a long freeway commute, in which case get a different job. The long range versions would be nice, but it's a large $$ jump for little day-to-day gain, except in certain cases. See 'long commute' above ;-) The Tesla Supercharger network is about 10X better than anyone else's distance charging 'solution' despite hype from other sources.
What about BMW and Jaguar and Audi and and and... High prices and unproven reliability vs. Tesla.
A case could be made for the Kia Nero or (essentially identical) Hyundai Kona, which give you the mini-SUV/Crossover thing for about $10K less than a model Y. We suspect that long term, battery life and resale value will cause the Tesla to come out ahead. YMMV.

The new Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid could be worth a look. In theory it will be under $30K after rebates if you get the bottom model and don't get screwed over by the dealer. The once and future Ford Mustang EV may still happen. We'll see how that pans out as actual vehicles get delivered someday. VW may also turn into something someday.

For those of you with lesser means, the best deals out there in our opinion are off-lease 2017 Leafs. You get the bigger and more capable battery (compared to the 2015's) and still should stay under $10K if you're smart and persistent. We're not worried, dumb and immediate gratification wannabees don't read this blog.

If you've only $4-6K to spend a 2014 iMiev or 2015 Leaf can do the job. See previous posts.
Granted getting one of those 'checked out' can be difficult. One thing that might help is reading up on CANion (iMiev) or Leaf Spy (Leaf, duh) with which you can check out the battery packs on your phone/tablet. Then leave the rest of the checkout to car-knowledgeable friends. If everything works, it will probably stay working. The battery is always the big and expensive question. See a previous post about that. Bad stuff you're looking for is a battery cell that's noticeably lower then the others when the pack is below 20% charge -AND- under load, like going up a hill. Seeing that cell temperatures are consistent is good too. This CANion/LeafSpy checkout, when done right will tell you more than even the dealer's battery check can in some cases (the dealer thing is still worth doing).
"Waaaa, that's too much bother!" Well, summon thy large bank account and go forth!

The NCTC No Charge to Charge incentive that Nissan offered is now dead. Make sure the charging you need is available. ...usually at home...

Also: True electric vehicle environmental 'cred' is still only available to electric bicycle pilots.

Dead-ish: Too good to pass up: New LEAF $15,000...or so...

Edit: It's dead Jim. ...sort of...

[Edit Fall 2020]: End of year deals are back, at least in Seattle or Portland.

Fed credit looks viable throughout most of 2021 for Leafs. Leafs no longer get the EZCharge card. Some areas are offering $250 credit with EVGo.  Rebates are dead for Tesla and GM.

[Edit Fall 2019]:
The Oregon state credit (and some in WA, CA) are still in force, and the Federal tax credit is still happening (probably throughout 2021 for Nissans) but the additional incentives for (most) power company customers in Oregon all went dead July 1st. All is not lost however, the Aug-Sept time-frame is when the dealers get additional incentives from Nissan to move 2019 inventory. Historically that has meant an additional $1.5-2K off, assuming you can find someplace with considerable stock levels. Oregon seems pretty tapped out in that regard, but there are still a fair number of units in the greater Seattle area, and since Oregon residents don't pay WA sales tax, the only real additional 'cost' is the bother of going up there and getting it. We highly recommend having all the negotiations completed over email before heading up there. The process can be fairly painless, and if you can get the NoChargeToCharge/EZ-Charge benefit working before you leave the dealer, the 'fuel' cost of getting of home should be minimal.
One other thing to consider: The Aug-Sept time frame has had the best deals for leases we've seen. As a result, folks that don't qualify for most or all of the Federal Tax Credit (generally incomes below $70,000) see our post on that topic: Link
Even right now (July'19) the dealer up in Bellevue has 51 LEAFs and an extra $1000 off for previous Nissan owners and takes an extra $10,100 off for lease purchases. Remaining financial engineering is left to the reader. ...remembering that there's still the $2500 Oregon credit...


Now defunct post remains for historical perspective:    ;-)
This deal has been out there for a month now and we only caught on last week. Granted the deal goes through the end of June, but for some of you that's hardly enough time to get your ducks (or beavers) in a row.

The basic thing is: PG&E, Portland General Electric, Pacific Power and EWEB customers get an additional $3500 off of a new Nissan LEAF (40KWh 156 mi. range) or $2500 off a new LEAF Plus (60KWh 225 mi. range) that they purchase outright before July 1st. Not applicable to leases, so if you don't make enough to qualify for the federal tax incentive, you're out of luck (in many ways... ;-)
YES! ALL THESE INCENTIVES 'STACK'




Lets do the math; for Oregon at least, there are somewhat similar deals going on in other states, WA and CA in particular.
New LEAF 'S' (base model, no leather or ProPilot, 150 mile range) $28,000 +Tax&Lic&Fees.
$28K - Fed $7.5K - Oregon $2.5K - PowerCo. $3.5K = $14.5K +Tax&Lic&Fees.

           [MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE that you're getting one that has the Fast Charging option, even if you don't think you're going to need it.]

New LEAF S-Plus (base model, no leather or ProPilot, 225 mile range) $36,500 +Tax&Lic&Fees.
$36.5K - Fed $7.5K - Oregon $2.5K - PowerCo. $2.5K = $24K +Tax&Lic&Fees.

First, find the lowest advertised price in Oregon or Washington for the general type of car you want.
We have historically started with pricing from the Seattle Area dealers (Bellevue, Younker or Campbell Nissan) and then take that link and use it to beat the dealer you're actually interested in buying from over the head. This has historically worked well with Dick Hanna Nissan and somewhat with Carr Nissan, both are PDX area dealers. It's a good idea to approach their internet sales department from the Costco dealer discount page (if you're a member) since that adds to their incentive-to-discount. Who knows, this could work with local dealers too. We always check... and it hasn't worked yet.
In the examples above we just did 10 min. worth of web searching. The low on a Leaf S was 27.9K from Bellevue Nissan and the low on a Leaf S-Plus was at Carr Nissan (Beaverton) and of course the 'loss leader' specials get sold out quick, but staying on top of it and retaining copies of the 'specials' actually works. We've been through this before ... and before.
"All this is just too much bother!"
Fair point, but that just means you probably aren't ideally equipped to step far enough outside your current 'comfort zone,' to where an EV is necessarily a good idea for you. It is admittedly quite a bit to deal with, most of it's calmly after the sale though.


Links:
Overview
Pacific Power
Portland General
EWEB

Downsides:
- Purchase deals only, no Leases. We have previously been fond of leases.
- The Federal tax rebate is easy to do, but you do need to have enough federal tax liability outstanding after all other deductions. Implying an income above $70K.
- The Oregon state rebate has a couple hoops to jump through but it doesn't have an income test. Can take over 9 months to get the money though.
- The rebates from the various power companies are supposed to be applied 'up front' ir at least that's what the paperwork implies. No income test. The obvious big issue is getting the transaction done in time (end of June.)
- If you want the lane-keeping auto-cruise-control (ProPilot Assist) and the fancy wheels and leather power seats then you're out an additional $7K
- In the worst-case real world, Cold blowing rainy day with lights heater and defroster on while doing 70+ mph on the freeway the range on the 'S' is below 120 miles and the S-Plus 160 miles. That's just physics, folks.

FYI we've had our 'New/Upgrade' model 'S' 40-KWh 2018 LEAF (see previous posts) for 10K miles now and it's been no trouble at all. Goes over 100 miles a day with no additional charging, couple days a week. Comfortable, quiet, corners and brakes well. Plenty of 'pep.'  Fits four real humans, plus a bunch of boxes and stuff in the back.