Accepting that your Nissan Leaf is an in-town-only car is a big psychological barrier. Although I was aware of the statistical reality of normal car driving, the cold hard facts were not enough to easily get me over the barrier.
Two graduate students suggest in their study (http://www.solarjourneyusa.com/HowFarWeDrive_v1.3.pdf) that 95% of trips will be 30 miles and under. In my world this is true, and I knew it was true before I bought the Leaf. There was just something so fundamentally different about watching that battery meter quickly sink during the cold winter months in my hilly town that made me wonder, "Did I screw up by buying this car?"
I told myself that I needed to get a Prius or a Volt...an in-town-only car lacks versatility.
I told myself that any car that doesn't provide me with an over-abundance of cabin heat in the winter is not worth owning in Montana.
But the math doesn't lie: my Leaf covers over 90% of my trips. I have a minivan when we travel longer distances once a month or so. So I am not contemplating trading it off. And I'm just about over the psychological barrier. If, prior to my Leaf purchase, someone had told me that I would have a hard time adjusting to a limited-range car, I would have told him, "I've run the numbers and I won't have any problems at all." Like other things in life, living with an emotional reality is often trickier than understanding the statistical reality.
