"Hello, Leaf: First Impressions
Posted by Jacob Gordon of Treehugger.com Monday, January 31, 2011 11:29:57 AM
For all the heated debate over the viability of electric vehicles, at it's core the argument tends to be a philosophical one -- after all, it's safe to say most people haven't seen a fully electric vehicle tooling around their neighborhood, let alone driven or owned one. Jacob Gordon of Treehugger.com is test driving a Nissan Leaf this week, and through his real-world experiences he'll help us answer the question that should have been asked all along: Is it a good car?
I first saw this car in person when it was unveiled to the world in Yokohama, Japan. In a whirl of fanfare and scads of scrambling camera crews (not to mention mountains of complimentary sushi) we finally got to see it: A fully electric, affordable four-door from a major manufacturer. That was the summer of 2009. Now, the Leaf is ready for prime time and arriving in the garages of its first customers. I'm not a customer, but I do have a brand new Leaf to drive around for the week -- and I must say, as I watched it pull up my quiet street in Nashville, it was distinctly odd to see this much-hyped vehicle in the real world.
But the real world is where the Leaf must compete. Nissan wants the Leaf to be a real car for real people. So I tried to oblige them: I spent a week with the Leaf doing what I normally do (which is maybe not exactly the same as your routine, but should be familiar enough for most people). I took it grocery shopping; I scraped the ice off on a 28-degree morning; I packed my steel guitar and Fender amplifier into the trunk (this is Nashville, after all) and spent a weekend going out to eat, seeing music, and stopping by a friend’s farewell party. I also did a lot of weaving and passing on the interstate, got a speeding ticket in my neighborhood (“hey, you can write about this in your review,” the cop suggested), and I even made it home without running out of charge (barely) after driving too far out into the burbs.
What I found is that living with an electric car is different, and not without its adjustments.
But I like it.
First Impressions
Judge for yourself if you find the Leaf attractive. In my view it looks futuristic, sure, but no more futuristic than a new non-electric Nissan might be. The new Juke, for example, is probably a more daring design experiment than the Leaf (which, it should be noted, borrows a good number of cues from the Versa and Murano). The Leaf’s bugeye headlamps are certainly novel, but after a week with the car they actually became one of my favorite features. (You really have to stare into them for a while to appreciate how much is going on.)
Inside,I was impressed that Nissan kept things stylistically understated. For a radical car, the company could have tried to pull an off-the-wall interior like the Cube’s undulating cockpit. But no: The Leaf is original and crisp, but not over the top. If anything, it leans too heavily on the side of modesty. Nothing in the interior screams luxury, though everything feels high-quality and solid. Controls are well placed and, for the most part, intuitive. (I’ll get into more detail on gadgetry in an upcoming post.)
Driving the Leaf is remarkably satisfying. Not mid-life crisis satisfying, but you’ll probably be happy with its peppy acceleration, which is available both out of a stop and in freeway passing. Handling is tight and responsive as well -- especially for a car of this price tag.
We’ll go into what it means to own a car that eats electrons instead of hydrocarbons later, but suffice to say it's a different ballgame. The neighbors certainly notice. (It helps to have “Zero Emissions” emblazoned on the side, though that's optional.) People get in the Leaf and scratch their heads, and you tend to hear either “wait, I still don’t get it,” or, “woah, it’s totally silent!” The Nissan Leaf is a fascinating car to experience: Satisfyingly familiar yet radically new.
Stay tuned for the rest of the posts in this series. I’ll be getting into more detail on driving performance, how to charge up, and the Leaf’s high-tech features.
Hello, Leaf: The Daily Grind
A week with Nissan's electric vehicle.
Posted by Jacob Gordon of Treehugger.com Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:52:46 AM
For all the heated debate over the viability of electric vehicles, at its core the argument tends to be a philosophical one -- after all, it's safe to say most people haven't seen a fully electric vehicle tooling around their neighborhood, let alone driven or owned one. Jacob Gordon of Treehugger.com is test-driving a Nissan Leaf this week, and through his real-world experiences he'll help us answer the question that should have been asked all along: Is it a good car?
In his recent State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama said that he wants to see the U.S. be the first country with 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. If that’s going to happen, 1 million Americans need to decide that these cars make sense for their lives. Nissan’s claim is that the Leaf will take you 100 miles on a charge, and while it’s surely true that the average American travels less than that each day, there are some important things to consider when confining yourself to that limit.
If you’re thinking about a Nissan Leaf EV, you need to consider if it fits your needs and lifestyle. To that end, here’s a breakdown of how Nissan expects you to juice up, as well as some of my real-world experiences with the EV.
At home
Most Leaf owners will be charging in their garages, where they’re expected to have a special charging box installed. These boxes are pretty small and unobtrusive. But they run at 240 volts -- like a clothes dryer, with a similar big, weird plug -- and cost around $2,000 with professional installation. The home charger will fully juice the Leaf in about seven hours, though you won’t need to fully charge to pick up your kid from school or go to Jamba Juice. You can also remotely control the charging schedule and even the climate control from your computer or iPhone. (More on that in a later post.)
On the road
Filling up at home is all well and good, but people will also need a boost while parked at work, driving around town or en route to more distant locations. In Tennessee, for instance, there are plans for public charging spots along the Nashville/Knoxville/Chattanooga corridor. Nationwide, fast-charging locations are planned all over the place, both through a major public/private partnership called The EV Project and through individual businesses.
The EV Project, which kicked off with $115 million in federal stimulus money, plans to install 15,000 charging stations in 16 major cities and will even give free home charging systems to those who qualify. That's a good thing, given the current lack of EV charging infrastructure, though in the long term I’m not terribly worried about a lack of public charging locations. Today we’re at the bleeding edge of a national EV-charging grid, and I’m confident that the pieces will fall into place relatively quickly. With government backing, as well as buy-in from Nissan and General Motors, the EV Project is leading the charge and has roped in some powerful allies.
One unlikely partner is the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Restaurant chain. Twenty-four Cracker Barrels in Tennessee will be getting 240- and 480-volt EV charging stations so your lithium-ion battery can soak up electricity while you and the family soak up biscuits and gravy.
So what did this mean for me and my Leaf? Not much, I’m afraid. I visited the two public charging locations listed on the Nashville page of the EV Project's Charging Maps site; one led me to a destitute truck stop that promised it would soon be a new Travel Centers of America, and the other to a suburban home. Good thing I wasn’t on my last electron. I might have had more luck following the Leaf’s GPS-programmed charging locations, but the closest was 16 miles from my house.
When using a home charger, or the kind being installed by the EV Project, an empty Leaf can be fully juiced in seven hours; superhigh-speed chargers, clocking in at 480 volts, will crank your battery up to an 80 percent charge in just 30 minutes. But in a tight spot, there’s always the option to just plug into a conventional wall outlet. This slow-trickle method is
considered a last resort -- it’s what I used, since I don’t have a home charger -- and takes about 20 hours to get back to full.
In a jam
I didn’t plan this, honestly, but I darn near ran out of charge while in fast-moving traffic on Interstate 24. I drove out to the Hermitage Manor, Andrew Jackson’s old pad, to meet my photographer and get some scenic shots. But my driving style is more aggressive than the Leaf anticipates, and the 35 miles of remaining range estimated by the computer turned out to be more like 28. (That's an approximation -- I don't know for sure because I didn't actually run out.)
When I was a handful of exits from home, the energy gauge said I had eight miles left -- all good. But immediately thereafter the system declared I was dangerously low, and the digital display replaced my remaining eight miles with three foreboding dashes. As the GPS suggested rerouting me to charging stations -- none closer than 16 miles away -- I quickly turned off the air conditioning, stereo and headlights (it was daytime) to conserve energy. I also slipped into the more frugal Eco mode and hoped for the best as I made my way for home.
I made it, and so didn’t fulfill my grim premonition of gliding to a helpless and embarrassed stop on the side of the freeway. But it sure did put the fear of “empty” in me."
Em: http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/au ... 04ef41c306
