view in one page and print
Nissan Leaf: A revolutionary vehicle that drives like a car
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/08/business/la-fi-nissan-leaf-review-20101209
The five-seat sedan is an enjoyable compact that just happens to avoid using gasoline altogether. It handles like most other front-wheel-drive cars in its class.
December 08, 2010|By David Undercoffler, Los Angeles Times
No one loves lofty rhetoric and prosaic hyperbole more than car manufacturers. With a dollar for every time a mundane car was described as "exciting," "revolutionary" or "race-inspired," you could pull an Oprah and buy everyone on your block a Lamborghini.
But after a week of driving — and more importantly — living with a Leaf SL, it's clear that this is what revolutionary looks like. Whether it is successful with consumers, however, remains to be seen.
(Nissan Leaf Electric Car)
The Leaf is revolutionary because when it hits the road this winter, it will be the first mass-market all-electric car on the market and will start at $32,780 before tax credits. Kudos to Nissan Motor Co. for having the joules to devote the time (it started developing electric vehicles in 1992) and the expense (billions of dollars) necessary to bring the Leaf to production.
And in so doing, Nissan addressed the myriad shortcomings that electric cars traditionally have had in comparison with their internal-combustion brethren. Key among these are concerns about the cars' practicality and cost and consumers' range anxiety, a nascent term that describes the fear of running out of power before reaching the destination.
My time with the Leaf demonstrated that for all its innovation, it's just a car. It's not a science experiment, or a spaceship or a pipe-dream prototype. It's a livable, enjoyable car that just happens to avoid using gasoline altogether because you plug it in at home to charge. A statewide network of charging stations is also in the works.
Except for the faint dentist-drill whine of the electric motor in place of an engine's reverberations, there's really nothing very different about the Leaf once you're on the road. The 80-kilowatt motor puts out 107 horsepower and a lively 207 pound-feet of torque, so acceleration is robust and smooth.
The motor is paired to a single-speed transmission. Drivers can switch the transmission from normal mode to eco-mode. This boosts the Leaf's range about 10% by increasing the regenerative braking and making it harder to accelerate with full power. Since there is so much torque available in normal mode, I was happy to leave the transmission in its eco setting and reap the increased mileage instead.
Nissan says the 24-kilowatt-hour, lithium-ion battery in the Leaf is good for about 100 miles on a single charge, while the Environmental Protection Agency says that number is actually 73 miles.
he Leaf charges from empty to full in about 18 hours using a standard 110-volt outlet as I did, or in eight hours using the 220-volt charger Leaf buyers can have installed in their home. This unit costs $2,200 and is eligible for a 50% federal tax credit.
Furthermore, through a grant from the Department of Energy, buyers of the Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt can get a home charger free of charge, with most or all of the installation covered as well.
Although 18 hours to fully charge your car may be a prohibitive burden to using an automobile, I found that at the end of each day, the Leaf's battery was rarely at or near zero charge. I learned to think of it as a cellphone; you bring it home at night with perhaps half the battery charge remaining, charge it overnight and use it in the morning.
Based on Southern California Edison's electricity rates, a full charge on the Leaf cost me a little more than $5.
I averaged about 85 miles on a single charge while driving it like a normal car. My commute is flat and includes 20 miles a day of freeway driving, which I did often at speeds of around 75 mph. I used the radio, the climate control when needed and kept the headlights on during the day.
Commuters in California should note that the Leaf will be eligible for the state's much-coveted HOV stickers providing carpool-lane access when the new batch is made available for 2012. (The Chevy Volt will not be eligible, Nissan is quick to point out.)
The Leaf's standard navigation system doubles as a dashboard-mounted Prozac for range anxiety. Easily accessible is real-time information on energy consumption, the effect of turning on or off the climate control, a map of how far you can drive in both normal and eco modes, and directions to the nearest charging stations.
Be warned, however, that most of the charging stations listed right now are useless because they have yet to be retrofitted for the Leaf and Volt.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment I had with the car was that using the climate control reduced the Leaf's range 15% to 20%.
Nissan tried to mitigate this effect by installing a timer on the Leaf that enables drivers to cool or warm the car while it's still plugged in.
It handled like most other front-wheel-drive cars in its compact class, though the batteries bring the car's weight to a portly 3,366 pounds. Nissan took this into account and mounted them beneath the rear seats to give the car a low center of gravity.
Space is great for full-size adults, and the rear seats fold down for extra cargo space.
The exterior styling is unique from any angle. This is a good thing at the back of the car, yet the bulging headlights in the front look as if the car is choking on its power cord. Overall, the styling is enough to denote the car as different, yet avoids throwing it in your face.
There's more to the $32,780 base price than meets the eye. All Leafs are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit, bringing the price on the base SV to $25,280. California offers an additional $5,000 rebate.
So for about $20,000 excluding destination charge, Californians can get a compact, five-seat, four-door car that comes standard with such amenities as a navigation system, Bluetooth connectivity, LED lights, anti-lock brakes, traction control and alloy wheels.
My test car had the only option package offered for the Leaf, a $940 SL package that includes a backup camera, fog lights and a solar panel spoiler good for charging your cellphone.
Also included on all Leafs is an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the battery and a five-year, 60,000-mile powertrain warranty.
My week in the Leaf required no cumbrous change in my driving habits or daily activities. I'll be the first to admit the Leaf is not for everyone, namely single-car households or people who drive more than 100 miles a day.
But with most Americans driving 40 miles or fewer a day, the Leaf makes a strong case to forgo internal combustion and step into a revolution.
david.undercoffler@latimes.com
_______________________________________
Nissan Leaf Features
_______________________________________
Test Driving the Chevy Volt
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372238,00.asp
By: Lance Ulanoff 11.05.2010
A test drive of GM's latest innovation proves the Chevy Volt is the real, electric deal.
(Chevy Volt Electric Car)
Tooling around mid-town Manhattan Streets in the 2011 Chevy Volt is not a life-changing experience, but the experience of driving it does give me some confidence that the electric car could change a few lives.
After four years of development, and a near dismantling of the whole project when General Motors went through bankruptcy and full restructuring in 2009, the electric car, or as GM calls it, the "electric vehicle with extended range," finally arrives at select North America Chevy dealers before the end of 2010.
Like many next-generation fuel-efficient cars, the Volt won't come cheap. The four-door sedan will list for $41,000 (there's also a leasing option: $350 a month/36 mo. with $2500 down). There will be some relief on the price-tag front: the electric vehicle qualifies for a $7,500 tax credit.
Despite the controversy surrounding the Volt: Is it a true "electric" vehicle? Is it actually a "hybrid" like the Prius? I've come away convinced that this is the real, electric deal.
Here's how the Volt works:
It has a huge battery, which takes four hours to charge. The electric motor is powered by the battery. You can drive for 40 miles or so on pure battery power. If you coast or go downhill (think no acceleration), the wheels of your car can serve to help charge the battery backup. At some point however, after 40 miles or so of driving, the gas-powered motor will kick in. According to Stephen Marlin, GM's Manager of Advanced Technology Demonstration, that motor, which sucks gas from a 9.6 gallon tank is not physically connected to the electric motor driving the car. Instead, it's there to act as a generator that recharges the battery. With the engine kicking in to recharge ever-so-often, the Volt can, according to GM representatives, drive about 350 miles.
By contrast, a hybrid vehicle like the Toyota Prius, will occasionally use its gas engine to propel the vehicle. I've ridden in a Prius and can actually hear when this switchover is happening. As for the electric Nissan Leaf, it's a fully electric car that does not charge while driving via a separate motor. Recent reviews put the Leaf's range at around 100 miles.
I quizzed Marlin on how long a full-tank of gas would last: "That's the newness of this. It's really hard to put a number on that," said Marlin. Most people (roughly 70%), Marlin explained, drive 40 miles per day, which would not eat into the gas. Interestingly, the Volt is designed to force the gas depletion if you haven't driven for 45 days or haven't filled up in 12 months. 12 months!
Marlin explained that the 45 days cycle is really designed to keep the gas motor healthy and make sure the gas has not gone stale inside the Volt's pressurized tank. Since it's possible, according to Marlin, to fill up once in 12 months, the Volt will, in this circumstance, use the motor enough during a drive to bring the gas tank down to a quarter of the tank, thus forcing a refill.
GM representatives couldn't go into detail on the CPUs or platform driving the car's computers. However, Marlin did say there are lots of lines of code and many modules operating the various Volt systems. He did allow that the technology inside the Chevy Volt is "very software intensive," adding, "There's lots we can do with software to make [the Volt] operate more efficiently."
As for the test drive in the city, it was mostly unremarkable. The most interesting part of the experience is how it begins. There's no ignition key. Instead you have the fob to unlock the car and a big blue button to turn the Volt on.
The Volt features two large screens on its dash that can tell you a lot about what's going on with the car. There's the dashboard screen, which doesn't have a physical speedometer. Instead, there's a big graphic telling you how fast you're going, how far you can get and other trip details. The second screen is a touch screen that serves multiple purposes. You can set it to show you when the car is using electricity and when it's charging, or use it to control the radio, navigate via GPS or see what's behind you when you reverse.
Driving the Volt didn't feel particularly "electric". It had ample pep. Smooth handling and solid, if slightly mushy, brakes. I never detected a hint of engine noise from the transmission-less Volt, even when accelerating. GM execs said the Volt can go for 0-to-60 MPH in roughly 8.8 seconds.
General Motors expects most consumers to charge the Volt overnight via a 240 V outlet (one of those big numbers you use for your washing machine or dryer). When my 15 minute drive was done, Marlin told me that each charge should cost the average consumer $1.50, which is roughly $45 a month. Not a bad deal, especially is you only fill the tank once a year.
Be sure to check out my slideshow for a look inside and around the car and to drive along with me (and see my near collision[!]) watch the video.
______________________________________
Chevy Volt-Official website
Leave a comment
(if you having troubles, try posting your comment on this page or send an email to chronicle @ itbhuglobal.org)Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221005, UP