Elsewhere in this thread someone (maybe even you) estimated the battery cost to be about $10K. This translates to about $1,400 per year. This money, at $4/gal, buys 357 gallons of gas, and that is enough to drive 16,000 miles at 45 mpg in a hybrid or an efficient non-hybrid.
This means that Leaf becomes cheaper to drive (assuming electric power of zero cost) if one drives it daily not less than 43 miles. Since power is not free then we can say 50 miles.
It's an interesting balance. If you drive less than 50 miles every single day you will lose money on Leaf. But if you drive more then you have to charge it twice per day or risk losing power on a freeway. There were many articles that claimed that Leaf's range estimate is overly optimistic.
I believe you have a Leaf, so this is not to convince you of anything. (You already know all the facts firsthand :-) This is just a simple calculation that may be of use to someone who considers. I'm living high in the hills, so none of today's EVs will work for me.
Well, here in Georgia the big motivation for getting a Leaf is the state pays you $5000 just for leasing it, so that turns your break-even math into $free (considering you’d be paying for gas if you didn’t) for 2 years. Hence there’s a LOT of them around here (northern suburbs of Atlanta, and the economic sense to get it). If not for that it would still be an interesting & suitable choice of vehicle, given the tradeoffs you note.
Given your math, it might just be suitable for me to buy one after the lease - especially as the dealer, dealing with a flood of EVs nobody wants anymore, might just make me a great offer to buy it instead of return it.
Time to start saving for the used Jeep I was eyeing before getting talked into the Leaf. Great little car, hope he technology makes it really competitive, but without subsidies it’s still hard to compete with used gas engines.