Nissan Leaf: Promising Affordable Electric Vehicle

Nissan has released photos and details of the Leaf electric car that will be available in 2010. The Leaf is an electric motor only vehicle and does not have the gas option of today’s Hybrids. It is a 4-door hatchback model, and according to Nissan will be affordable. No official price has been leaked yet, but it would have to be under 25′000 dollars to really get the public, in the segment they are likely trying to target, to switch from their current small cars.

But even if the price ends up being more initially the Leaf has a few things going for it. 1) Nissan is drawing attention to the fact that the Leaf will cost less to operate than gasoline powered cars. The savings in both energy and maintenance, will come because there are fewer moving parts in the vehicle. 2)  Many governments currently offer incentives in the form of tax credits or rebates to purchase an electric car. 3) In the US market with it’s, recently announced, cash-for-clunkers program, that can be as much as another $5′000 off the price of a new car.

The Leaf uses a lithium-ion battery pack with an output of over 90 kilowatts. The Leaf’s electric motor puts out 80 kilowatts of power, substantial enough to give it the performance equivalent of a combustion engine. Nissan claims the Leaf has a range of over 160 kilometers.  This is reminiscent of other electric vehicles currently in the works from other automakers. Taking a page from today’s Hybrids, the Leaf uses regenerative braking and has a recharge time of 30 minutes to get the battery pack up to 80 percent using a quick charger. From a 200 volt source, the Leaf takes 8 hours to recharge.

There is one feature of minor concern. The car’s on-board computer, along with tracking typical metrics such as charge level and range, connects to a data center that will receive diagnostic information from the car. According to Nissan, “it will also keep the driver informed of local recharge stations.” Nissan says the computer will also provide entertainment for passengers. What Nissan does not mention, is if this information would also allow Nissan to track where your car is, how fast it’s going, and other data, that if were collected by the police without a warrant would result in a violation of privacy rights. It also does not mention what the retention policy would be for this data, and how easily law enforcement will be able to get access to it. Nissan will need to treat lightly on this.

The Leaf will originally be built in Japan, and sold in Japan, the United States, and Europe. As demand dictates, Nissan will build additional units in its Smyrna, Tennessee plant.