The Nissan Leaf was unveiled in Yokohama, Japan, on Sunday and it’s set to spearhead the mass-market Electronic Vehicle (EV) revolution. Intent on capitalising on the emerging EV market, Nissan plans to start selling their zero-emission Leaf in America and Japan during the latter part of 2010. A five-door, five-passenger hatchback, the Leaf sucks it power from a 24-kilowatt-hour battery pack that’s made up of 192 lithium-manganese cells. Positioned flat beneath the vehicle’s floor to optimise weight distribution and ensure maximum passenger comfort, this clever piece of electrical engineering gives the Leaf a maximum cruising range of 160 kilometres – more than enough for the average daily commute. Charge times vary depending on outlet voltage, but a normal 220-volt power outlet will juice-up the Leaf’s battery in four hours. Once stored, all this energy powers an 80kW AC motor that gives the Leaf a limited top speed of 140km/h. With such a hi-tech powertrain nestling beneath its bonnet, Nissan have equipped the Leaf with their “EV-IT” range-monitoring system that keeps tabs on battery levels and – utilising the on-board navigation system – tells you exactly where and when to recharge.
saw a GEM NEV yesterday on the road. I think if he got cleaned out he would have been in a worse position than a motorcyclist - at least bikers wear gear.
This is now the best candidate for families who can afford the 2nd or 3rd "extra" daily driver car. Excellent amount of space, and a 100 mile range is more than enough to leave this thing unplugged for days if it's the random daily "beater" (quotation marks because it won't be used as such by the people who are using it, IMO).
Evaluating and doling out fuel economy ratings has been one of the Environmental Protection Agency's core tasks for years, but it's finding out the hard way that doing the deed for electric vehicles is a trickier business. The EPA has given the Nissan Leaf a 92 city/106 highway mpg rating, which equates to 99 combined mpg, or "MPGe," as the federal agency puts it. There is none of that 367-mpg trickery going on here anymore.
The EPA has also estimated the Leaf is good for 73 miles on its 24-kilowatt-hour, lithium-ion battery, which is 27 miles shy of Nissan's touted 100-mile range. The 73-mile range is deemed to be accurate for the EPA's testing demands, and unsurprisingly for these types of vehicles, your mileage may vary significantly on driving habits and circumstances. There's no doubt that the 99-mpg rating would garner an "A+" grade if we resorted to the letter system proposed by the EPA and Department of Transportation.
To find the fuel efficiency numbers, the EPA uses five-cycle tests with different driving conditions and climate control settings. Then, using the standard of a single gallon of gasoline equaling 33.7 kW-h of energy, the EPA calculates the MPGe for the Leaf.
The Leaf's future Monroney will display a 7-hour recharge time on a 240-volt outlet and the 73-mile driving range as well. Again, your mileage and range will vary. With enough stop-and-go traffic and regenerative braking, 100 miles of travel is not out of the question.
Powering the Leaf is a 107-horsepower electric motor. It's pegged to start at $32,780 before federal tax credits. Pre-orders have been sold out and deliveries begin at the tail end of this year in select states, including Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.
The dedicated racer also gets a full carbon fiber monocoque bodywork with removable front and rear sections, fixed windows, LED headlights and taillights and driver-adjustable rear wing.
It features a 3.9-inch shorter wheelbase, and is 0.8 inches longer and 6.7 inches wider than the production Leaf, with the most dramatic change concerning height as the RC sits more than a foot (13.8 inches) lower than the road-going model, and ground clearance is limited to 2.4 inches. More importantly, at 2,068 pounds (938 kg), the race version of the Leaf weighs in at about 40 percent less than the production vehicle.
Underneath the carbon fiber skin, the NISMO RC features a mid-mounted lithium-ion battery and a 80kW AC synchronous motor that generates 107 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque, both sourced directly from the production model. However, power is transferred to the rear-wheels versus the production Leaf’s front-wheel drive.
The NISMO RC also makes us of a double-wishbone suspension design front and rear and driver-adjustable brake balance, while it rides on 18-inch 6-spoke wheels and P225/40R18 Bridgestone racing tires.
Nissan says that in preliminary testing, the NISMO RC returned 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) acceleration time of 6.85 seconds and a top speed of 93 miles per hour, adding that it is projected to have a running time of around 20 minutes under racing conditions.
The Lead NISMO RC isn’t just a pure study as Nissan said it will likely make a series of special demonstration appearances at various motorsports venues throughout the year, with the company exploring EV competition spec series in future years.
I'm all for electric cars, but the Leaf is a joke. Until they can get the price of lithium ion batteries down they won't be able to make a car that will run far enough that people can afford. So right now, you need a hybrid system with batteries and some type of ICE backup so you won't get stranded.
I'm a big fan of the Volt, the plug in Prius and even the regular Prius still. I just wish Toyota had stayed ahead of the curve like they were when they first came out with the Prius. Seems like they just sat back and did nothing for 8 years, while the other car companies were developing hybrid and several full electric cars. They had the jump but lost the lead.
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