Here’s an extended test drive of the Nissan Leaf in Lisbon at the European Press launch. Thanks to Russell Bray for his invaluable contribution. Click on the image to view video.
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Very nice video on the Leaf, Danny, both from the give and take between youself and Russell and some more info from the Nissan Rep. It was nice to see Russell start to warm up to EVs by the end of the drive- it points out how important EV test drives can be.
I test drove the Volt a couple of weeks ago- very nice- and hope to do the same to the Leaf next month when their traveling caravan hits Austin.
You drove the Volt! Wow. Thats great. I’ll be waiting to file your video report from the trip. Seriously, get a camera on future events if you like – be great to get an Austin perspective.
And on another note, looks like Obama is in India chasing EV’s. He’s even been meeting with the Reva GWiz bunch! http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/11/06/us-india-ceo-summit-electric-car-partners/
I did do a video of it- sort of;-) We have never got around to replacing our video camera, so my wife shot the video from the back seat with our little Kodak digital camera- it’s okay, but not great. I tried to edit it a bit, but with mixed success. I afraid that while I have very good computer skills, it does not include video editing like you;-) But I’ll give it another try this weekend.
On another note, I saw the price today for the European Ampera- ouch! The VAT added to the cost is really high.
On another note that might bring that cost down- GE is going to buy 12,000 Volts over the next 4 years.
Woo-hoo! I get to test-drive the Leaf in 3 1/2 weeks! It will be my first all-electric car to be in- look forward to what is probably old hat to you;-)
Great. You guys probably get it before we do. By the way, it won European Car of the Year this week.
I test-drove the Leaf on Saturday, here in Austin- nice little car! Very quick and nimble- and, of course, very quiet. I think the Volt was smoother, and more refined, but the Leaf was fun to drive. They are both very nice, very good CARS.
Before we drove the it, we got a presentation on the Leaf- most of it very basic- but the one thing that caught my attention, was their emphasis on the battery pack configuration. My concern with the Leaf is that it is cooled passively, with air, as opposed to the Volt, which has electric heating and liquid cooling throughout the battery pack- because of this, I expect the Volt battery to be in much better shape after 10 years. But I knew this before- what caught my attention Saturday, was how, and it was mentioned 2-3 times, the Leaf battery pack is designed to be able to have individual cells replaced if one goes bad.
I honestly do not know if the Volt, or other EVs for that matter, can have individual cells replaced easily or not- but it sounded like Nissan will use this strategy, perhaps, as a way to easily and cheaply keep their packs running- I think they are gambling this will be cheaper than investing in extensive cooling aparatus like the Volt did, by pushing the cost into the future, where battery cells presumably will be cheaper, and by replacing only individual cells that need it. Most interesting…
I do not recall it from your videos (but I may have forgotten with my age-addled noggin), but I was curious if this was brought up in your own test drives of the Leaf?
Hey Paul,
As I remember (and I’m suffering the same noggin deteriation). The cells look like laptop size and are absolutely replaceable. I imagine they’ll want to keep thousands and switch individual ones out continually. By the way, i think my GWiz batteries are finally seizing after almost 6 years. Slowed down a few Porsches on Park Lane today as I crawled along at snails pace…
LOL! What a funny picture in my mind of a long line of porsches stuck behind your GWiz! I won’t be hypocritical, though- I would probably be one of the impatient ones fuming if it was me behind you- though it wouldn’t be in a Porsche;-)
I’m impressed your batteries have lasted this long- very good for a set of lead acids. Are they very expensive to replace? Or does this re-tilt the mind in favor of replacing the GWiz with a Leaf.
They are expensive to replace, seeing as the cars only worth about 2000 pounds now. Must admit, I haven’t actually cancelled the Leaf order yet. Thought I would get the family to a test drive next month…..just in case…. Our ICE vehicle broke down 3 times this Christmas!
Hi,
really nice video. I really love the work nissan is making with the leaf. Let’s wait until renault come with their 4 models and the market should be satisfied… at least prepared for a the start of the EV era.
Thanks
olmo
I appreciate Nissan Leaf. At least they are cheaper than Tesla Roadsters, but the price needs to come down further.