I've had a 2015 leaf for 3
I've had a 2015 leaf for 3 years now. Bought it used for $11k out the door with just over 10k miles. Battery health guage still showed 12/12 cells. After 3 years of commuting and running errands in it, I've put on 38k miles and have lost one cell on the health meter. The noticeable difference was a loss of maybe 5 miles of range. Still it is my favorite commuter vehicle I've ever had. (We do also have a 2013 prius plug-in)...
I say commuter vehicle, because that is all I need it to be. I have a roughly 35 mile commute (70 miles total). My battery hasn't degraded much but I think it is due to the fact that I charge on 110v 95% of the time.
I wake up to a full battery (~80m range), drive to work (~45m left), and charge at work for free on 110. By lunchtime, after 4 hours, I've got 55-60m charged, so I can easily make an extended lunch run. By the end of the work day, im usually at 90-95% capacity which is right where I want to be. I drive home with enough juice to run more errands if I so desire. When I get home, I plug it in and relish in the off-peak-hour energy prices. Even if I get home at 11 pm or 12 midnight with only 10% of the charge left, My car is usually at 80-90% by around 8-30 or 9 am. (I tend to work between 10-6).
I live in Utah with 20 degree winters and 100 degree summers. I have noticed it drives fine in the heat of summer with modest AC (enough to be pleasant, but not freezing) with very little change in range. During winter, blasting the heater to be comfy can easily chew through battery, so I am a bit more conservative with my driving during winter months. Oddly enough, the seat heaters and the heated steering wheel (such a good feature) dont seem to eat much range.
My solution to be comfy during the coldest winter commutes is have steering wheel heater and seat heater on high, and to wear a hoodie, and I'm set.
I know this isnt a perfect vehicle for all occasions, for any otger driving demands, we have a prius. However for my commute, its the leaf all the way.
Fun-wise, even the old leaf has a very fast 0-40 accelleration compared to most commuter cars. It is like driving a go kart. Visibility-wise, it sits higher than our prius and the windows are taller, plus the rear window isn't cut in two like the prius. Overall I think its a better 360 degree view than our prius. The back up cams in both our cars are practically identical.
Cost wise... here's the kicker. Average energy cost where I live is 10.31 cents per kwh. My car has a 24 kwh battery. Assuming a 30% loss due to inefficiency, meaning I'd need to charge about 31.2 kwh, it costs $3.22 to get a 100% charge. I charge about 40% at work, so really it costs me about $1.93 for every 24kwh. On a full 24 kwh, I can drive about 80m. Cost for a gallon of gas where I live is about $2.50. For the cost of 1 gallon of gas, I get about 31 kwh on average between work and home, and that gets me about 103 miles. 103 miles for the price of a gallon. Thats being highly conservative, because i know my charging isnt only 70% efficient, and the cost of gas is typically around 2.9 to >3 per gallon here.
Overall, with my current commute, I will drive about 17500 miles in one year. With my leaf fuel economy, I will pay the equivalent of 170 gallons of gas at $2.50 per gallon. My prius gets (with brand new low-rolling-friction tires and a recent alignment) gets 51 mpg. On that same commute with the prius, I would buy 343 gallons - a difference of 173 gallons.
That is a baseline savings of $433 in one year, but i would have done 2 full synthetic oil changes in my prius for $90 each during that time, so its a baseline of $613 saved in one year (over a prius and assuming a gas price of $2.50)... technically we have solar panels and our energy bill is $8/month (the cost to stay connected to the utility)... but I wont get in to that.
Overall, I know its not the best car, but for commuting, it is perfect...