Nissan Leaf

[DuncanWatson]

Yeah… I am unfortunately a bit tired tonight, but I should of course in hindsight have included a caveat about shaving of the obvious aerodynamic deadly sins and such…

No worries. I come from the HPV (human power vehicle) world and achieving 83 mph without trickery like drafting and slopes via human power is an unforgiving endevour.

The vehicle looks good from an attractiveness standpoint though it is a bit too low to be practical in an area with speedbumps and odd cut-outs for driveways like where I live. And the wheels and tires look too expensive for regular use.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

The vehicle looks good from an attractiveness standpoint though it is a bit too low to be practical in an area with speedbumps and odd cut-outs for driveways like where I live. And the wheels and tires look too expensive for regular use.

Fair enough.

You’re a tough crowd aren’t you. :wink:

Like this then:

Caveat (number two): Adjusted for standard ground clearance, and reasonably economical tire dimensions.

 

[JRP3]

I agree with your basic premise, it's a much better looking vehicle than the LEAF. I'm not sure the ground clearance is that bad either.

 

[mhpr262]

Re: the Leaf's range, its Chief Vehicle Engineer has gone on camera saying he recognizes Leaf owners want more range.

I bet most owners would rather have a battery cooling system as a first priority. I bet it needn't even be liquid cooled. If the engineers thought the LEAF battery would be fine with no cooling at all (and in temperate climes it seems to be) simple aircooling of the pack by just connceting it to the standard airconditioning system would probably be enough. Not perfect of course, but good enough.

 

[Soflason]

Nissan/Renault hit 100,000 EVs on three continents, with a focus on the Nissan Leaf (and Renault Zoe) in the video:

 

[hcsharp]

I bet most owners would rather have a battery cooling system as a first priority. I bet it needn't even be liquid cooled. If the engineers thought the LEAF battery would be fine with no cooling at all (and in temperate climes it seems to be) simple aircooling of the pack by just connceting it to the standard airconditioning system would probably be enough. Not perfect of course, but good enough.

Except that you've missed the obvious connection. Liquid thermal management is much more efficient in warm/cold climates so the range would be much greater. My wife and I looked into buying a Leaf but had to pass when we found out it would not make the round-trip commute of 42 miles when it was -25 deg F. In the summer it would do nearly double that. By comparison my Roadster only loses about 25% of its range in the same conditions with the heater on full blast. The difference? Liquid thermal management.

- - - Updated - - -

I agree with your basic premise, it's a much better looking vehicle than the LEAF. I'm not sure the ground clearance is that bad either.

+1.

 

[spacexfan]

Except that you've missed the obvious connection. Liquid thermal management is much more efficient in warm/cold climates so the range would be much greater. My wife and I looked into buying a Leaf but had to pass when we found out it would not make the round-trip commute of 42 miles when it was -25 deg F. In the summer it would do nearly double that. By comparison my Roadster only loses about 25% of its range in the same conditions with the heater on full blast. The difference? Liquid thermal management.

And yet you have to keep in mind that you can get a used (~15K miles) leaf for only 17K$. Compare that to the competition (i3, iMev, Focus EV,...). Then you just LOVE the leaf! :love:

 

[hcsharp]

And yet you have to keep in mind that you can get a used (~15K miles) leaf for only 17K$. Compare that to the competition (i3, iMev, Focus EV,...). Then you just LOVE the leaf! :love:

I'm afraid my wife will not love anything that won't make her round-trip commute below 0 deg F. Even if it's free.

 

[ggies07]

Has anyone read any new articles about Nissan developing thermal management for their batteries? I wonder if Carlos Ghosn understands the need for it in the next generation LEAF.

 

[shrink]

Has anyone read any new articles about Nissan developing thermal management for their batteries? I wonder if Carlos Ghosn understands the need for it in the next generation LEAF.

I was at a Town Hall Meeting a few months ago in Scottsdale, AZ with Nissan and local LEAF owners. Nissan VP, Andy Palmer, was there. He said several times that there are no plans for thermal management in the LEAF. In fact, he argued against the need for it. He did say tweaked battery chemistry in the future won't need thermal management, which I find plausible, but to argue TMS wasn't needed with the current chemistry to a bunch of Phoenix LEAF owner's whose cars lost a lot of capacity and range within about a year was insulting.

There is a link to the entire video over at MNL if your'e interested.

 

[ggies07]

I was at a Town Hall Meeting a few months ago in Scottsdale, AZ with Nissan and local LEAF owners. Nissan VP, Andy Palmer, was there. He said several times that there are no plans for thermal management in the LEAF. In fact, he argued against the need for it. He did say tweaked battery chemistry in the future won't need thermal management, which I find plausible, but to argue TMS wasn't needed with the current chemistry to a bunch of Phoenix LEAF owner's whose cars lost a lot of capacity and range within about a year was insulting.

There is a link to the entire video over at MNL if your'e interested.

I see. Interesting.......I guess they better hurry getting the new chemistry tweaked then. Thanks! MNL?

 

[shrink]

I see. Interesting.......I guess they better hurry getting the new chemistry tweaked then. Thanks! MNL?

Oh, I'm sorry - MNL = Nissan Leaf Forum - Online forum for the Nissan Leaf Electric Car or the LEAF forums.

The bottom of this post from Tony Williams (who is also active on these boards and organized the recent All Electric Vehicle Rally) has a link to the aforementioned town hall meeting:

My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Lost Battery Capacity and Range / Autonomy, Page 2

 

[ggies07]

Oh, I'm sorry - MNL = Nissan Leaf Forum - Online forum for the Nissan Leaf Electric Car or the LEAF forums.

The bottom of this post from Tony Williams (who is also active on these boards and organized the recent All Electric Vehicle Rally) has a link to the aforementioned town hall meeting:

My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Lost Battery Capacity and Range / Autonomy, Page 2

ah, ok. Thank ya!

 

[Benz]

The 75,000th Nissan Leaf was sold in August 2013. It took about 6 months for Nissan to sell the last 25,000 Nissan Leafs, as the 50,000th Nissan Leaf was sold in Februari 2013. Will it be possible for Nissan to sell it's 100,000th Nissan Leaf just in the last few days of December 2013, or will that be more likely to happen in 2014?

 

[montgom626]

I assume this is world wide?

 

[TonyWilliams]

I assume this is world wide?

Of course, sales of the LEAF, not restricted by political boundaries. Unfortunately, here in the USA, there still seems to be snags in the production of the car that prevent them from increased production at Smyrna, Tennessee.

 

[Incredulocious]

Of course, sales of the LEAF, not restricted by political boundaries. Unfortunately, here in the USA, there still seems to be snags in the production of the car that prevent them from increased production at Smyrna, Tennessee.

From a recent post on AutoBlogGreen:

That's what we learned speaking with Billy Hayes, vice president in charge of global sales of the Nissan Leaf, at the in-depth Nissan360 event in Southern California this week. Hayes said that Nissan did recently decide to increase Leaf production – from around 2,000 a month to 2,500 – but that it just takes time before that decision turns into more vehicles out the door. "What we wanted to see was a sustained 2,000 [sales] a month and it's no secret that we're running kind of tight on dealer inventory," he said. "What people don't really understand is that yes, we have capacity but there is also a lead time because of electrode production. Between the time that we make a decision to increase production to the time it actually goes up is about six months. We recently made the decision to increase production in the Smyrna plant, but we won't see that until November or December."

The new, higher production number will itself be reevaluated in the coming months – Hayes said he is "very optimistic" it will also be moved up – but any further increase would then take another six months to implement. That means we're not going to see US Leaf sales break out of their 2,000-3,000 monthly sales levels until at least the summer of 2014.

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/08/21/nissan-leaf-production-increase-slowed-by-electrodes-ev-china/

 

[aaronw]

My problem with the Leafs is that they're clogging up all the charging stations. In the rare case when I need to charge, all the spots are taken up by Leafs since they have so little range.

 

[Dave EV]

My problem with the Leafs is that they're clogging up all the charging stations. In the rare case when I need to charge, all the spots are taken up by Leafs since they have so little range.

My problem with the Teslas is that they're clogging up all the charging stations. In the rare case when I need to charge, all the spots are taken up by Teslas because they take so long to charge. :tongue:

Seriously - heavily used infrastructure is a good thing - that means we need more infrastructure!

 

[Incredulocious]

My problem with the Leafs is that they're clogging up all the charging stations. In the rare case when I need to charge, all the spots are taken up by Leafs since they have so little range.

My problem with the LEAFs, Teslas, Volts, etc. are the folks who plugin when they don't need it because the charge spots are free and convenient. I see that now that more and more charge stations are no longer free, the spots are now more often available. Which is great when you really need the charge - need it enough that you're willing to pay a small fee. Free is nice but not when it leads to the available charge spots being full.