Car Reviews: Nissan Leaf Reviews
The Nissan Leaf sometimes formatted as LEAF Leading Environmentally Friendly Affordable Family Car is an electric car announced by Nissan in 2009 It is expected to be marketed in North America Europe and Japan beginning in late 2010 The EV-11 prototype electric car was based on the Nissan Tiida Versa in US platform but uses an all-electric drive train including an 80 160 kW 110 160 hp 280 160 N m 210 160 lb ft electric motor 24kWh lithium-ion battery pack rated to have a range of 100 160 miles 160 160 km on the EPA LA-4 or city driving cycle navigation system and remote control amp monitoring using a cellphone connection through Nissan's secure data center to the car The prototype was on display July 26 2009 The Leaf uses a front-mounted electric motor driving the wheels powered by a 24kW h 90 160 kW lithium ion battery pack The expected cruising range is the same as the EV-11 prototype as is the motor Nissan claims that the…Read More about Nissan Leaf at WikiPedia
Latest Nissan Leaf Frequently Asked Questions:
I dont want no phone, gps, or automatic enviroment adjustment. I prefurable want a Car thats electric, manual, and cheapest of its kind. Nissan leaf has one to may gadgets i find to pricey. I like simple and easy.
Answer:Leaf uses a navigation screen as a power meter the circle gets smaller and smaller as battery charge wears down. Gadgets on Hybrid and electric cars are necessary and costly. Nissan will send me to LEAF school in a couple months. I want bluetooth high end radio hard drive satellite radio linked navigation and electronic air conditioning and all the features that will make the car more enjoyable to drive and worth more when I trade it in. I also like manual gear boxes and roll up windows. Leaf will be a technology test bed and loaded with features. Because I live in North Texas we might not get the Leaf as early as California and other east coast locations. My garage is already wired for 240 volt charging.
Why would anyone buy the chevy volt (Which has a gasoline engine in the trunk) and is going to be available in 2011, when the Nissan leaf will be available next year (2010) and cost about the same (mid 30's) and be all electric!
Answer:So far the LEAF seems to be all talk. Who knows exactly what the car will do and how much it will cost. Seems more like Nissan is trying to steal some of GM's thunder and by your post here, its working. The LEAF's guessitmate range is 100 miles but we'll see what it does real world when the car actually exists. Plugging it in take an alleged 16 hours to charge on 110V, 8 hours on 220V but owners will need a 220V circuit installed in their parking area. Good luck with that in the big city. The charging infrastructure is so limited, there are only a few cities in the US you can drive and charge the car. Unless you live in Seattle or San Diego, you simply will not have a public charging option. As for release date, a more practical roll out will be 2012. Maybe a few LEAF's will be available in late 2010 but that's it. The Volt can be driven absolutely anywhere at any time by anyone. No need for special charging connectors. The gas engine charges the batteries and powers the electric motors. It has a far broader appeal than the LEAF or any other electric car and will have for the near future. Personally, I'm waiting on hydrogen fuel cells. No gas, no emissions, no power plugs, no range issues, just fill it with hydrogen and go.
This is the all electric Nissan car. I am from the SF Bay Area.
Answer:east and west coast get the leif first the end of 2010 then the rest of the country. Being in Texas and a opponent of electric cars and Nissan Technician I will have to wait until late 2011. My commute to and from work is only 25 miles. Electric is the future. Most people will drive electric cars under 90 miles a day
Answer:Depends on your definition of "lasting". The batteries will survive a long time as the companies focus on the battery technology extensively when designing cars like these. However, like every other battery, the capacity will start to degrade from the moment they leave the factory regardless if they are being used of not. This means over the years your recharge vs. driving distance will decline and the battery will not "last" as long as when new. Really only the owner of the vehicle could determine when the capacity was inadequate for their driving needs etc.. With all these unproven new electric cars coming to market it's just a hypothesis as to how long these batteries will really last in the real world. Hybrid cars like the Prius are much less affected as a degraded battery will only make the gas engine kick in sooner. The driver would only notice a fractional loss of fuel mileage but no performance loss to speak of. Right now people (myself included) have an image of rechargeable things (phones, drills etc.) as always dying at the worst moments and they get a vision of creeping along a road somewhere searching for a place to plug in their dead electric car before is won't move. Although safeguards would prevent this in the cars, I guarantee the thought still crosses people's minds.
i'm wondering how you charge it if your going on vacation or something like that. do you just plug it into a wall or something? and is there a price range?
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