Tag Archives | Nissan Leaf

Review: 2012 Nissan Leaf SL

By on February 17, 2012 in Reviews

By Kevin Miller

I’ve got to admit, my review of the Nissan Leaf has turned out quite a bit differently than I had expected it to. I’m a bit of a self-proclaimed “range anxiety” sufferer, and I somehow expected the electric propulsion of the Leaf and its batteries to leave me stranded, underpowered or underwhelmed. Fortunately, none of those happened. Actually, it was quite the opposite.

Instead of reviewing the Leaf as an “electric car” (you know, one of those almost-a-cars that provides diminished range, experience and expectations), I can review it just as a car with an uncommon powertrain. That said, here goes. Continue Reading →

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Will GM Again Kill the Electric Car?

By on December 1, 2011 in Editorials

By Chris Haak

There is more than a little chatter over the past week or two in the autoblogosphere about the Chevy Volt.  Normally, in these media frenzied times, that would be good news for GM’s environmental halo vehicle, but perhaps there *is* a such thing as bad publicity.

You see, the Volt seems to have a bit of a problem with catching fire following crash tests.

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Review: 2011 Chevrolet Volt

By on August 2, 2011 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

Back in the sixties – a decade which, scary enough, began more than a half century ago – the creators of the cartoon The Jetsons imagined a future world in which robots served humans, there were pushbutton conveniences that automated mundane tasks, and the cars could fly (and fold into a space the size of a briefcase).

We’re now halfway to 2062 when The Jetsons was allegedly taking shape, and we certainly do have many automated conveniences, but we seem to be barely any closer to all having flying cars.  People living in 2062 also only have to work three hours per day; it seems that we’re trending in the opposite direction from that.  However, I really do believe that the Chevrolet Volt is about as close as you can get to driving (ahem, *not* flying) the car of the future.

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Don’t be Shocked, But EV Charging is Very Safe

By on January 25, 2011 in Features

By Kevin Miller

December saw the first consumer deliveries of the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt in the US, and Cobo Hall in Detroit was literally overrun with plug-in vehicles earlier this month for NAIAS. While the vehicles will primarily be charged at home (especially by early adopters of the vehicles), much public money is being invested in building a public, pay-per-use charging infrastructure. While the charging apparatus for use in a vehicle owner’s garage must be designed with user safety in mind, such equipment for use by the general public must be even more so.

With the Volt and Leaf now on the road, and additional manufacturers preparing to launch electric and plug-in-hybrid vehicles, many companies are designing charging and supply equipment for the vehicles. Some of the equipment being designed is for use by vehicle owners in their own garages, and some is being designed for public use, whether for free use from utilities, or pay-per-use by private companies setting up their own network of charging locations. As required by the National Electric Code in the US, virtually all electrical equipment must be certified for electrical safety by an OSHA-accredited Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory. This requirement includes stuff like cord-connected appliances in your home, the espresso machine at your local coffee shop, and even EV charging stations. Continue Reading →

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Check Your Mirrors

By on January 9, 2011 in News

Odds and ends about cars and the car business

By Chris Haak

On the eve of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, there are a few news items that may not necessarily warrant a full article.  However, they’re probably still worth mentioning.

FORD’S new Focus Electric, slated to hit the market in late 2011, made its worldwide debut not at the Detroit show, but at Las Vegas’ CES show.  In the keynote address in which he revealed the car, Ford CEO Alan Mulally called his company as much of a technology company as a car company, and he may be right.  Ford has been on the leading edge of infotainment with its SYNC and MyFord Touch system, and has done a great job of pushing high tech features such as self-parking down from luxury cars into more mainstream offerings.

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First Drive: 2011 Mitsubishi i-MiEV (JDM Spec)

By on January 2, 2011 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

The conventional wisdom is that green cars such as hybrids and EVs have to look like something a little different from the standard three-box sedan if they hope to enjoy sales success. Accordingly, it explains why the Prius outsells the Camry Hybrid.

Well, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV certainly fits the bill of looking different. Technically, I suppose that it’s a one-box car, though in reality, it is far more ovoid and organically shaped to call it a box. It’s smaller than nearly everything on the road today, and will certainly attract attention wherever it goes.  Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to drive an i-MiEV (Japan spec, right hand drive) at a media event, and I found the car to be a curious blend of the normal and abnormal as I tallied a few miles in the little EV.

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First Drive: 2011 Nissan Leaf SL

By on December 21, 2010 in Features

By Roger Boylan

GM’s short-lived electric car of the ‘90s, the EV1, was available in limited quantities as a lease-only proposition, so the 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first all-electric car the general public can buy. Its price is reasonable for such cutting-edge technology: around $25K, once Uncle Sam’s tax credit of $7500 is applied.  Is it worth it? It certainly has great promise, and it’s a well-conceived little car. I spent a short while behind the wheel of Leaf a couple of days ago–a very short while, unfortunately, the actual drive time  having been eaten into by a high-energy sales presentation from Nissan’s own Seinfeld-wannabe; I didn’t catch his name, and I ducked his pitch. I was there merely as an Autosavant, desirous of completing my trifecta of electric-car tests (read about the Toyota PHV Prius here and the Chevrolet Volt here).

The Leaf is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack of the type familiar to me from the Prius Plug-In and Volt. Lithium-ion batteries offer quicker acceleration and a longer range than your common or garden nickel-metal hydride battery, but unfortunately, they’re still at a fairly rudimentary stage of development, with limited range and—in the Leaf—a dead weight of about 500 lbs. We were shown cutouts and diagrams by the comedian. But I was reassured to note that, notwithstanding the futuristic technology, the Leaf is a fairly normal-looking car, a four-door hatchback with that cloyingly cute Pokémon face so typical of small Japanese cars.

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Volt, LEAF Powertrains Among Ward’s 2011 “10 Best Engines”

By on December 8, 2010 in News

By Charles Krome

The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF continue to rack up the awards, with the propulsion systems from both being named to the annual “10 Best Engines” list put together by Ward’s.

Per the editor’s, the former’s “‘Voltec’ propulsion system is brilliant—a technological masterpiece,” with editor-in-chief Drew Winter adding that “General Motors engineers have changed the course of history by creating an electric vehicle with true mass appeal.” But is it really an EV? Well, Ward’s says “Some consider it a glorified hybrid while others just don’t understand it.” Make of that what you will.

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Volt Rated at 93 MPGe, Leaf at 99 MPGe

By on November 25, 2010 in News

By Chris Haak

This past week, the EPA released the long-awaited official mileage estimates for the two newest kids on the block, the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.  Because both cars are capable of running without burning gasoline (in fact, the Leaf cannot use gasoline at all), many were curious as to how the Monroney stickers would turn out for these two trendsetting automobiles.  So now we have the answers, and they are probably more realistic and more relevant when comparing against other cars than some of the initial claims that had been thrown out by both GM and Nissan.

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Review: 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid

By on November 24, 2010 in Reviews

By Roger Boylan

When a representative from Toyota asked me if I’d be interested in having the plug-in version of the Toyota Prius hybrid to myself for a couple of days, I of course said yes, knowing that relatively few drivers have had that privilege. And a privilege it has been. Rarely do I consider myself a trendsetter, a go-getter, or on the cutting edge of anything, but I felt like all three at the wheel of this Jetsonmobile.

The name “Prius,” of course, is as synonymous with “hybrid” as the name “Bill Clinton” is with “ego,” and Toyota has sold well over two million copies since its worldwide introduction in 2001, so Priuses tend to be among the more ubiquitous vehicles on the road. Not the Plug-In, though, which Toyota calls the PHV, for “Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle.” This variant first appeared at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, and only about 150 are currently being test-driven in the U.S.  These cars are not “mules” or prototypes, but fully finished cars that look and perform pretty much like regular Priuses, the main difference being that the PHV boasts a larger-capacity battery pack consisting of 3.6-volt lithium-ion cells rather than the nickel-metal hydride cells in the standard Prius. This allows for rapid charging via household current and a short electric-only driving range at speeds up to 62 m.p.h.

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