We like the Leaf. It’s not a good choice for everyone, but it’s a great second car or city car, set back the most perhaps by the trouble one has to take in charging it. At home you are advised to spring for a high-capacity outlet, and abroad you must plan your trips to coincide with existing charge points. Anything that can make adding power to these cars easier will increase their marketability.
To that end, Nissan has announced that the next generation of Leafs (Leaves?) will feature a wireless charging mechanism that, they say, will charge as fast as a normal wall outlet. → Read More
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and 4R Energy Corporation announced today that the two companies have developed and installed a new EV charging solution that combines renewable solar energy and high capacity lithium-ion batteries. The system was recently installed for testing at Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan.
The system uses the solar cells to collect the energy and a large lithium-ion battery, said to be the equivelent of four Nissan Leafs, stores the energy for later use. This way the energy is harvested through renewable means but is available for on-demand distribution when needed. The charging system includes seven stations — three quick charging stations and four normal stations. → Read More
If the road is smooth enough, you can hear birds chirping while you’re going 35 mph. With the windows up. The Nissan Leaf is that quiet. When going less than 30 mph there’s just a slight electric whine from the powertrain and above 45 mph the wheels produces a steady hum. But there’s this special spot between 30 and 45 where the two combine in a way that they cancel each other out and you find yourself moving along listening to Mother Nature’s soundtrack. The Nissan Leaf has been in my life for the past week. I’ve put hundreds of miles on the tires and ate several meals behind the wheel while trying to figure her out. You see, as much as this pains me to say (more on that later) the Leaf is a real car. It doesn’t feel like a glorified golf cart or tool used just for transportation. It’s a car and with this comes quirks, flaws, but most importantly, a personality and soul. → Read More
I’m a few days into my week with the Nissan Leaf. It’s a fun car; I can say that much so far. My plan later today is to test the range by driving in increasingly smaller circles around my house until the battery is nearly depleted. A full review is coming next week, but until then, here’s a quick look at the simple Leaf iOS owner’s app. Nissan launched the iOS app launched alongside the Leaf electric vehicle and features several critical functions and abilities to enhance the driver’s experience. This app allows the owner to schedule a charge, remotely turn on the heat or AC, and, most importantly, see the available range. It’s currently only available on iOS but I was told by a Nissan rep that an Android flavor is in the works and should be available soon. → Read More
A brand new Nissan Leaf rolled out off a car carrier and into my life earlier today. I plan on spending a good deal of time with this red devil over the coming week. You see, here at CrunchGear, there’s been a raging format war of sorts. Devin, a hipster of a moderate degree, is very fond of the Nissan Leaf. He’s proclaimed on numerous occasions that an EV is perfect car for him and he’s going to replace his ’91 Plymouth Voyager with one whenever they drop in price. I hail from the other side, Team Chevy Volt. I very much respect the expensive but versatile series hybrid powertrain found in the GM product. We both however agree that the future will not be made up by just one alternative power source and both the Leaf and the Volt are aimed at slightly different markets.
As much as I like the Volt, the Leaf is a very important step in the right direction. Never before has a consumer-level EV been mass produced and sold like the Nissan Leaf. Several different trim levels are available through ten countries. It’s a tad pricey, but first gen products almost always are. The one parked in my driveway (and connected to my power) has a window sticker price of $35,440, which includes the $940 SL package that includes fog lights, rear-view cam, and a solar panel spoiler. That’s not cheap. Thankfully, the Leaf doesn’t feel cheap either. → Read More
Remember that plug-in Prius we drove for a bit? Yeah, Toyota is bringing that technology to more models. The Prius has long been the popular hybrid vehicle but cars like the Volt and Leaf are stealing a good deal of the public’s love thanks to their plug-in ability. It seems Toyota is looking to recapture some of its lost karma by shifting the entire Prius line to plug-in hybrids by the 2014 model year.
This comes by way of a short and sweet Reuters report that also states the plug-in feature will come standard and the models should sell at the current Prius’s rate. The big change comes as the automaker switches from NiMH to Li-ion batteries. → Read More
Created for “a series of special demonstration appearances,” this Leaf Nismo RC is a racing-based rethinking of the Leaf design and powertrain. They’ve shaved off about 40% of the weight, bringing it down to just over 2000 lbs, lowered it to have only 2.4″ of clearance, and of course switched it over to rear wheel drive.
The performance is… well, we can’t expect too much, since it’s more or less an optimized Leaf, not a sports car from the ground up. → Read More
Although I’m excited about the Leaf and EVs in general, the launch hasn’t exactly been smooth. There have been shortages, range issues, and now some sort of bug with the AC unit that’s causing some cars to not start at all. It’s unclear how widespread the problem is, or what Nissan intends to do, but the consensus seems to be “if your Leaf gives you a weird error on startup, don’t shut it down. Drive to the dealer ASAP.” [via Autoblog Green] → Read More
Poor Kelangst: he or she is the first person ever in the whole world to announce that they’ve depleted their Nissan Leaf’s batteries, a problem bolstered by the fact that some range calculations for the Leaf are inaccurate until you’ve driven the car a few hundred miles. The post, in which Kelangst writes “Part of me is amused that I may go down in history as the first dumbass to drive the car into submission. But I am slightly shaky and upset as I thought there should have been no problem getting home.” appeared on MyNissanLeaf and was followed up by helpful advice like “Did you try turning it on and off?” → Read More
The Nissan Leaf is a pretty neat car. It has no gas tank or combustion engine. Instead, it’s powered by lithium-ion batteries and an 80kW electric motor. It lasts up to 100 miles on one charge. Unfortunately, the the Leaf isn’t sporty or fun to drive. The only thrill you get is from driving one of the first EVs on the road. Nissan, however, is capable of making some pretty good sports cars: the GT-R and 370Z. Nissan has recently previewed their new ESFLOW concept electric sports car planned for the Geneva Auto Show. Nissan wants to prove to the world — and Tesla — they can make EVs not only eco-conscious, but also fun. → Read More
There’s a lot of buzz out there surrounding EVs; why shouldn’t there be? So far, the mass marketed EVs: the Volt and the Leaf, with the Focus Electric and Tesla Model S on the way, are pretty exciting. The offerings seem to be pretty solid, but as of right now, the cars aren’t selling in huge numbers. Adding to the gloomy forecast, a panel of experts thinks EVs are over-hyped and Obama’s plan to sell 1 million EVs by 2015 might be impossible. → Read More
Never before has an EV been European Car of the Year; this year the Nissan Leaf gets it. Similar to the North American Car of the Year, which the Chevrolet Volt won, the European COTY is chosen by auto journalists; 58 of them from 23 European countries. The contest was very close. The Leaf rang up 257 points from the journos, besting the Alfa Romeo Giulietta by only 9 points. So why did the Nissan Leaf win? → Read More
Being the first affordable all-electric car on the market, the Leaf was kind of guaranteed to be a big seller. But their way of going about selling the thing seems to have given their customers unrealistic expectations of when their cars would actually arrive. People have been given extremely vague promises of when their car will arrive (“4-7 months”?), and theories have arisen in the community to the effect that Nissan is attempting to manufacture scarcity.
Nissan is hitting back, or rather soothing back, and has issued some statements regarding the rollout intended to get their customers to put down the pitchforks. → Read More
When Japan’s second biggest mobile carrier KDDI announced its winter and spring line-up back in October, the company also showed a very Kindle-like e-reader. Dubbed Biblio Leaf SP02, the e-ink device was introduced with an open price model, no exact release date and just a few specs – until today. → Read More
While I’m sure the guys at Nissan were crossing their fingers, hoping for a 100MPGe rating, the EPA either had other ideas, or didn’t plan for three-digit numbers on their window stickers. Maybe the new ones will change that, but for now the poor Leaf is stuck with a paltry 99MPGe rating. Wait, that’s pretty good. → Read More
The Leaf I drove a couple months back was more or less final, with only some small adjustments here and there yet to be effected. But some specs have remained in question as the consumer-grade EV entered manufacturing. Nissan has cleared up the matter, mostly anyway, with a nice new spec sheet.
Here are some highlights from the official announcement. → Read More
Toshiba and Japan’s second biggest mobile carrier KDDI announced [JP] the Biblio Leaf SP02 for the Japanese market yesterday, an e-reader that features a 6-inch monochrome screen (16 shades) with 800×600 resolution. The device has 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity and supports XMDF/PDF/EPUB files. → Read More
Well, there it is. The 2013 Infiniti EV. Looks great, eh? The press release says it will “be a stylish, high performance five-seat luxury vehicle with zero emissions technology.” So in other words, it will be a Nissan Leaf done-up in stylish sheet metal, which will no doubt carry quite a premium. [Infiniti via cnet] → Read More
Hope you got your Leaf already ordered because otherwise you’re out of luck, hippie. Nissan just stopped taking orders for its electric sedan now that there are 20,000 orders. That was the plan all along, however, Nissan didn’t expect to hit this mark until December, which clearly states there’s a demand for a polished electric vehicle. Hear that, Chevy? Your Cruze EV better hit American dealers. → Read More
