Back in 2015, I sent an email to Tesla through their "Partner With Us" program while we were still posted at CFB Petawawa. I didn’t hear anything back for three long years. In 2017, we were posted to CFB Kingston, and then in 2018, I finally received an email from Tesla asking if I was still interested. The Model 3 was just being released, and they were building out their network of Certified Installers. That made sense to me—at the time, Tesla only had the Roadster, Model S, and Model X, so there wasn’t much of a need for a network of installers in Petawawa!
Also in 2017, I decided to change trades from Electrical Distribution Technician (ED Tech) to Traffic Technician (Tfc Tech). I had always wanted to be part of Air Crew, and since becoming a pilot in the RCAF wasn’t likely in the cards, the next best option was to be a Loadmaster. A Tfc Tech is the feeder trade to become a Loadmaster—well, at least 99% of them are!
This meant I was going to be posted to CFB Trenton but not actually moving the family. I would be commuting. However, we had a Ford F-150—just like 90% of the people in Petawawa with a SuperCrew cab pickup (slight exaggeration). Unfortunately, our 2011 Ford F-150 EcoBoost, supposedly rated for 9.9 L/100 km, was actually giving us a not-so-lovely 20 L/100 km. Ouch. We took it to several mechanics, but no one could solve the excessive fuel consumption issue.
Luckily, CFB Trenton is almost exactly 100 km from our home in Kingston, making the math really easy.
Here’s what I was working with: Gas was about $2/L. At 20 L/100 km, that worked out to $40 in gas EACH way. Since I didn’t take the move, I was approved for commuting assistance at about $35 per day. The government saves money by not paying for a move, and families benefit by not having to uproot every time there's a posting. Win-win!
But still… $80 a day in gas, minus $35 in commuting assistance, meant I’d be out $55 a day. That hurt.
Enter the 2018 Nissan LEAF. We were a little late to the early-adopter EV crowd, but we saw the political climate in Ontario shifting and knew that the $14,000 provincial rebates wouldn’t last forever. If we were going to make the switch, we had to move fast. There was already a long waiting list for Tesla’s Model 3, but the 2018 Nissan LEAF was about to hit the market with significant upgrades over the 2017 model. I mentioned to my wife that I wanted to go check it out at the dealership. Of course, she didn’t want to come but gave me one clear instruction: "Whatever you do, don’t give them any money."
Uh-huh.
We all know where this is going.
At the dealership, my biggest concern (aside from range, but that’s a topic for another post) was the waiting list. There were already about 50 people ahead of me. Every day I waited meant I’d slip further down the list, and my chances of spending $55 a day on gas were increasing.
So… they needed a $500 deposit to get on the list. Do I go home, discuss it with my wife, and risk delaying? Or do I drop the $500 non-refundable deposit and then go home to explain that I did exactly what I was told not to do?
Obviously, I did the most sensible thing in my mind—I put down the deposit. And then I let the wife know. ;)
Here’s how the math worked out in the end: The 2018 Nissan LEAF cost about $42,000. After the provincial rebate and trading in the F-150, we paid about $16,500 for the EV.
I was on a continental shift work pattern, meaning I worked seven days in a two-week period—adding up to 182 working days a year, minus 25 leave days, for a total of 157 workdays. 157 days x $80 gas per shift = $12,560 per year in fuel costs!
In less than 18 months, the 2018 Nissan LEAF had paid for itself. And it’s still going strong! Well… after the battery was replaced under warranty at 130,000 km. ;)
The wife did get back at me, though—she put down a $1,000 refundable deposit on a Rivian R1S a few months later!