Key to 2015 Nissan Leaf Range: tire pressure!

As soon as I picked up my new used Nissan Leaf a couple of weeks ago, I got an immediate annoyance:

A tire pressure alert, that is ... I checked the tires and found that I had about 28 psi in each.

This seemed too high to generate the alert, but at the same time I knew that recommended pressure for this car is 36 psi.

An extended family member had swiped my little compressor out of the garage and burned it up by overuse, so I ordered a new one:

It's an improvement over the previous (Kensun) inflator in that (1) it's a little bit quieter (still loud, though) and (2) it allows you to program the desired pressure level in and automatically inflates the tire to that level. 

I blew all 4 tires up to 36 psi last night, and this morning received the pleasant surprise:

No more warning light, and 70 miles available instead of the 61 I'd seen yesterday (similarly cold foggy weather). I gather that the computer calculates available miles based on several factors including air temperature ... and tire pressure!

Anyway, keeping my tires at 36 should make me a little less dependent on the superchargers around the area ...

I'm defecting to Ireland so I can vote in their elections!

Not really, but one of my other favorite podcasts had an episode last week covering ranked-choice voting and its implementation in Ireland:

Also, the Republican in Maine's 2nd district is slightly ahead but  is subject to ranked-choice voting and that probably won't be resolved until next week. (Although he's reserving the right to sue if he loses ...)

Interesting electoral times we live in!

Freakonomics: how to improve the political system by combining features that already exist

I've been a fan of the Freakonomics podcast for years ...

The most recent concerns the ossified political system in the U.S. and some efforts to retool it. The focus is on an organization called Unite America.

I'm generally with the democrats, but I agree that the hyper-partisan setup isn't good for the country or anything else. Unite has three main goals:

• A nonpartisan "top four" primary ... the top four finishers go on to the general election
• Ranked-choice voting in the general election to pick the winner from these 4
• The removal of redistricting from the parties, giving it to a nonpartisan commission

Versions of all these exist currently:

• "top two" in Washington, California and Lousiana (maybe others)
• Ranked-choice voting in various cities around the country and in Maine, after an initiative battle with their wacky governor
• Nonpartisan redistricting in Arizona and there are efforts underway in Wisconsin and elsewhere

The thing about ranked-choice voting: you don't get a Trump or a Paul LePage. They're nobody's second choice.

This would leave creative independents a shot at the prize ... no longer would a vote for one of these be a "spoiler".

This is a years-long effort, but the pieces are in place ...

Going from a 2016 Nissan Leaf ... to a 2015 from Vroom.com

I am coming to the end of my 2-year lease of the 2016 Nissan Leaf I've been driving since early 2017:

I've enjoyed it well beyond the end of my 12000-miles-per year lease and have been getting a 15 cents per mile mileage charge since I passed 24000 miles ... several months ago. Also I have enough wear on 3 tires (I had to replace one of them after I found a screw in it) that I decided to just buy a certified used one from Vroom.com.

The 'new used car' is much the same as the old one:

Except is has only 2/3 of the range of the 2016: I think it's  a 20 KwH battery versus the 30KwH in the 2016. This is plenty to get back and forth to work (15 miles for me), but on Monday I went from home to work then home (plugging in for 1.5 hours at home) then to Mercer Island to play bridge.

When I was done the car said I had 31 miles left, and since it's only about 21 miles home, I figured, "good to go".  Not so! By the time I got home:

So: I absolutely am going to have to take advantage of the high-speed chargers that I've found over the past 2 years (mostly via Plugshare), on any day I'm doing much more than driving back and forth to work.

My experience with Vroom.com ... was not half bad! I mean: they are a car dealer and they did try to upsell me insurance I didn't need. But they arranged 100% financing with no hassle (over 7% interest since my credit score is down a bit, no surprise) ... They shipped it from Texas for $500 ... the car carrier driver was an immigrant with imperfect English who left the car at a bus stop out on a busy highway rather than the much quieter spot I thought I had picked out.

But overall, 8 out of 10 ... not even close to the worst car-buying experience I've had! On to the supercharger ...