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Old Nissan Leaf becomes affordable road trip machine after 160-mile battery upgrade

sckbke Juiced 2013 Nissan Leaf via Reddit post

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With demand for electric vehicles surging and used prices getting pushed sky high, some may think that the idea of a sub-20,000 dollar EV with more than 70 miles of range is just a fever dream. However, one Reddit user posted their experience buying and using a first-gen Nissan Leaf that gets more than double the vehicle’s original 70 miles of claimed range.

The silver 2013 Nissan Leaf posted by user sctbke is a sleeper for sure, but an affordable one. The Reddit user writes in their post that, when faced with buying a new vehicle, they came across a shop in Portland Oregon called EV Rides that would take older Nissan Leafs and retrofit them with batteries from newer models.

 

The company offers an assortment of battery options: the original 24 kWh battery, a 30 kWh/40 kWh/ pack, or even a 62 kWh battery. This, claims the site, allows the first-gen Leaf to achieve a range of up to 230 miles per charge. Yet even the more modest upgrades allow the Leaf to either get 90-100 miles of range from the 30 kWh battery pack, or 150-160 miles with the 40 kWh battery. The Redditor opted for the 40 kWh upgrade.

In the post, sctbke says that they get roughly 110 miles of range on the highway or 160 miles of range in town. Further, they love that they can use 50 kW fast charging systems. And because their workplace has solar charging available, the vehicle essentially charges for free. From their four months of ownership, they claim that they have already saved over $1000 in gas, and the vehicle is set to pay for itself in saved gas costs in roughly 2 years.

The saved gas money was only one of the many reasons they went for the vehicle. They cited a couple of other main motivators that led them to their decision. First off, unlike many other states, Oregon offers a $5000 rebate on electric vehicles (new, used, or converted) for lower-income individuals.

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On top of that, the Oregon and the Portland areas already have great access to charging infrastructure; including CHADEMO, which the Leaf still uses. They were also relieved to find out that the newer Leaf’s battery doesn’t deteriorate at the same rate as the older first-generation batteries, allowing for longer terms of ownership. The environmental benefits were the cherry on top.

In a comment to Teslarati, the EV owner said “I’m a big advocate for trying to get lower-income people into EVs because they can save so much money, and that’s what worked for me with this car. It took some creativity, but it became a very affordable option.” Specifically, EV drivers can benefit from less maintenance, reduced or (in this case) eliminated fuel costs, while participating in maintaining the environment.

Ever since buying it, they cited multiple quality of life benefits over their gas-powered SUV. Not only were they saving gas, but despite not having at-home charging, they only need to charge roughly 2 times a week. The vehicle has also served as a worthy companion on 3 road trips that were over 300 miles each.

 

While they acknowledge that the 30-45 minutes of charging required almost every 100 miles on the highway isn’t great, they plan their trip around stops in the different areas where they will charge; getting around either on foot or by bike while the Leaf replenishes its batteries. They note only one other detriment; after 300 miles, the battery often gets too hot, requiring them to stop to let it cool.

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The user even notes that they were able to drive the vehicle on a 615-mile road trip down the Pacific coast without issue! The charging time and periodic ~110-mile stops simply added character to the adventure. The pictures in the post show that the Leaf has even made its way into the mountains. The small, affordable, second-hand battery-electric car has been taken everywhere from mountain biking trails to hiking and camping (yes, inside the car!) areas.

Overall, EV Rides is offering a great service by making useable electric vehicles available to a wider audience than traditional manufacturers are willing or are able to. This can be a signal that the demand for lower-cost options is there, and many would benefit from their implementation.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

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Lifestyle

Tesla Cybercab and Robotaxi’s real advantage won’t be the ride service

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Concept art of a Tesla Cybercab in Las Vegas Strip as rendered via Grok

For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.

Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.

Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.

Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant

Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.

This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?

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If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.

What do you think? Leave me a comment.

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Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade

Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.

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Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)
Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)

Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.

The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”

The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.

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It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.

The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.

For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s surprise addition to the X Takeover lineup has fans talking

Elon Musk will join Saturday’s X Takeover at Giga Texas for a live virtual interview.

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Credit: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley
Credit: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

Elon Musk will join X Takeover at Giga Texas on Saturday for a live virtual interview, according to Sawyer Merritt, who shared the news late Thursday. Musk will not be on stage in Austin. The conversation is set to stream for free on the @teslaownersSV account on X.

Organizers had kept expectations in check. In a September update, Tesla Owners Silicon Valley said Musk had appeared at the event twice before but was not promising a third appearance, even as fans hoped he would walk the Giga Texas grounds in person. A virtual spot matches 2024, when Musk gave a surprise interview of about an hour to the crowd in San Luis Obispo, as Teslarati reported at the time.

This year’s edition is a first in several ways. It is the first X Takeover held outside California and the first at a Tesla facility, with tickets selling out in eight days. Tesla provides the venue, but the event is produced independently by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley. The main event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, followed by a drone and light show at 9 p.m. Maye Musk is the keynote speaker, Franz von Holzhausen is set for a virtual keynote, and Nicki Minaj is the special guest. Joe Tegtmeyer, whose drone footage Teslarati used to track the Optimus factory steel frame at Giga Texas, is also on the speaker list.

Musk’s interview topics have not been revealed, but the backdrop is busy. Tesla doubled its Cybercab fleet in Austin in late September, and last week Musk explained why Robotaxi hours only moved from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Merritt also reported Thursday that Texas DMV records now show 319 registered Cybercabs, up from 169. NHTSA’s deadline for Tesla’s sworn answers on Cybercab certification is October 30, and Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21.

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Fans who cannot make it to Austin can watch the livestream on X. Musk tends to say more in unscripted settings than he does in prepared remarks, which is the reason this one is worth having open on Saturday.

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