5 ms·

Nissan unveils world's first mass-market electric car, the Leaf

23 points by newacc 17y ago

SwellJoe 17y ago
I've been half-heartedly shopping around for a car. I've been living for 2.5 years without one since selling my Nissan 350Z when moving to the valley from Austin. One of the reasons the shopping is half-hearted is that I think I kinda want an all-electric vehicle, and there aren't really any realistic electric vehicles available (my primary purpose would be for driving from Mountain View to San Francisco and back every week or so). The other reason is that I think that what I really want is another Z car. What I'm saying is that I've loved my Nissans in the past, and if this comes to the States at a reasonable price point, it could very well be my next car.
- smokinn 17y ago
  I'm in the same situation. I don't want a gas guzzler so I'm waiting around for the electrics. I might get an electric motorcycle first though since new car models tend to have problems in their first year so I imagine the first year of a completely different kind of car is going to be rife with headaches. Basically it's the same as my phone situation. I don't want an iPhone because of Apple's management of it. I prefer owning what I've paid for and having another company tell me what I can and can't do with my own property doesn't sit well with me. I'm waiting for a viable substitute to be available, something like the HTC Hero.
gojomo 17y ago
Wow, the Leaf has a strong 'face' with a smirk: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/nissan-leaf_hi_003.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/nissan... It's almost like one of the Pixar 'Cars' or the characters in the Chevron commercials from a ways back.
- nickd 17y ago
  http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/future_cars/mazda_3_2010.html http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/future_cars/mazda_3_2010.html The new Mazda's always crack me up when I see them for the same reason. I wonder if it's a conscious design decision.
  - anigbrowl 17y ago
    This one really does it for me... http://epicponyz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/presidenheadlamp.jpg http://epicponyz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/presidenheadlam... Sorry :)
- smhinsey 17y ago
  When I was a real little kid, maybe 8 or 10 or so, my mother took me shopping for a new car and I distinctly recall bursting into tears at the sight of the first one she liked because I thought it looked mean. I've always wanted to hear the inside scoop on whether cars intentionally anthropomorphise so well or if that was just one of those happy accidents.
  - chaosmachine 17y ago
    It's a pretty safe bet that designers take it into consideration, and intentionally play it up in some situations.
    - Timothee 17y ago
      The BMWs, I feel, are a good example of that with a pretty feline look (to me at least), or gaze maybe.
      - DTrejo 17y ago
        I mostly get that feeling from the headlights and front.
    - smhinsey 17y ago
      Yeah I agree that they do now, I am just curious about how it came to be that way.
TweedHeads 17y ago
I've always wondered if it wouldn't be easier to use the grid to power cars instead of thousands of tank trucks on a daily basis to fill our gas stations which at the same time consume more gasoline. From the practical point of view, we should use the oil to generate electricity, not to run our cars. Until we find a way to replace oil with nuclear, fision or whatever, then the grid remains intact we only change the source. And cars remain electric without any change. See? blame BigOil for stomping his boot on the head of progress...
- smhinsey 17y ago
  I'm sure you are aware of this, but just in case, there are good reasons why this hasn't taken place and most of them have to do with battery technology. The basic problem is that the current crop of batteries take too long to charge on residential current and don't hold charge long enough. Their weight is also a big issue.
- Xichekolas 17y ago
  We are just now at the point where battery technology makes this possible. It's not like 'BigOil' has been preventing this... liquid petroleum based fuels have so far offered the most practical solution for powering a vehicle, and this is only now starting to change.
- coryrc 17y ago
  Filling your gas tank is equivalent to ~0.5megawatts; your house is 50kilowatts (usually a 240V 200A service), so we can't use electric cars in the same way we use gasoline cars. They're only useful for trips around town, which is what, 90% of miles driven?
  - harshavr 17y ago
    "gas tank is equivalent to ~0.5megawatts", just to be more clear, could you say how many hours of driving are you assuming the gas fill will last, since your measurement is in terms of power?
    - 17y ago
dschoon 17y ago
For me, the most important sentence was near the end: "The Leaf car battery can be charged to 80% capacity in about 20 minutes, compared with almost three and a half hours needed for the G-Wiz." Seems totally reasonable for an intra-city commuting vehicle. I can't see why something like this (even with a 100mi range) wouldn't be popular in NYC, LA, or Boston.
- coryrc 17y ago
  EVs can only charge that fast with a special high-power line or a dump pack. You can get at most 1440W from a 120V 15A outlet (80% max allowable according to NEC) or 5760W from 240V 30A. No matter what magical battery technology you have, you can't charge faster if you don't have a bigger input. You can get range/hour of charging by dividing the power by the wh/mi; the Nissan is probably 100-200wh/mi, so 7-14mi/hr from 120 or 28-56mi/hr from 240V
web3 17y ago
I'll bet all these hybrid and electric cars would be adopted by more people if they stopped assigning them fruity little names like "Leaf." You think any man wants to ride around in the Leaf?
- jimmybot 17y ago
  Is this some kind of mis-channeling of PG's last essay? Did you see the photo of the car? It's not targeted at the Hummer crowd. It's also being sold in Europe. I'm not saying it's a great name, but I can see the association between leaf and concern for the environment. And it's a small car. The name to me seems to go along with its design and purpose. I would also say names may not matter as much as we think they do, or at least that it is fluid and malleable over time. I.e., Nissan or Toyota probably didn't sound all that cool in the 70s or 80s either.
  - SwellJoe 17y ago
    I.e., Nissan or Toyota probably didn't sound all that cool in the 70s or 80s either. Speaking of names (and new Nissan models), I just watched the Top Gear coverage of the GT-R. It performed on par with some of the fastest supercars in the world (and faster than most of them), and also caused Jeremy Clarkson's back to give out while he was driving it. Richard Hammond joked about how of all the cars Clarkson has driven, he was crippled by a Datsun. I thought it interesting that he chose to use "Datsun" as the derogatory brand for the joke, rather than Nissan. I wonder if that name change and subsequent brand recognition loss was a net positive or a net loss, since it meant they could disassociate from the low end, low performance, and very small, autos of the Datsun years.
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  word association: leaf - green. Think about it. My own criteria for a car revolve around comfort, low maintenance costs, and ease of parking. It can be called Brian for all I care.
- dan_the_welder 17y ago
  Of course not, I want a manly name like for example some of the names used by the vehicles in the National Electric Drag Association. Peruse this list of manly electric car names. http://www.nedra.com/record_holders.html http://www.nedra.com/record_holders.html
pkulak 17y ago
The title is a bit misleading. Nissan just hopes it will be the first. Mitsubishi is planning to have their iMiev out at about that time or sooner as well. Actually, just about every car company is saying they'll have an electric out by 2011 these days.

23 points by newacc 17y ago

I've been half-heartedly shopping around for a car. I've been living for 2.5 years without one since selling my Nissan 350Z when moving to the valley from Austin. One of the reasons the shopping is half-hearted is that I think I kinda want an all-electric vehicle, and there aren't really any realistic electric vehicles available (my primary purpose would be for driving from Mountain View to San Francisco and back every week or so). The other reason is that I think that what I really want is another Z car. What I'm saying is that I've loved my Nissans in the past, and if this comes to the States at a reasonable price point, it could very well be my next car.

smokinn 17y ago
I'm in the same situation. I don't want a gas guzzler so I'm waiting around for the electrics. I might get an electric motorcycle first though since new car models tend to have problems in their first year so I imagine the first year of a completely different kind of car is going to be rife with headaches. Basically it's the same as my phone situation. I don't want an iPhone because of Apple's management of it. I prefer owning what I've paid for and having another company tell me what I can and can't do with my own property doesn't sit well with me. I'm waiting for a viable substitute to be available, something like the HTC Hero.

gojomo 17y ago

Wow, the Leaf has a strong 'face' with a smirk: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/nissan-leaf_hi_003.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/nissan... It's almost like one of the Pixar 'Cars' or the characters in the Chevron commercials from a ways back.

nickd 17y ago
http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/future_cars/mazda_3_2010.html http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/future_cars/mazda_3_2010.html The new Mazda's always crack me up when I see them for the same reason. I wonder if it's a conscious design decision.
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  This one really does it for me... http://epicponyz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/presidenheadlamp.jpg http://epicponyz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/presidenheadlam... Sorry :)
smhinsey 17y ago
When I was a real little kid, maybe 8 or 10 or so, my mother took me shopping for a new car and I distinctly recall bursting into tears at the sight of the first one she liked because I thought it looked mean. I've always wanted to hear the inside scoop on whether cars intentionally anthropomorphise so well or if that was just one of those happy accidents.
- chaosmachine 17y ago
  It's a pretty safe bet that designers take it into consideration, and intentionally play it up in some situations.
  - Timothee 17y ago
    The BMWs, I feel, are a good example of that with a pretty feline look (to me at least), or gaze maybe.
    - DTrejo 17y ago
      I mostly get that feeling from the headlights and front.
  - smhinsey 17y ago
    Yeah I agree that they do now, I am just curious about how it came to be that way.

TweedHeads 17y ago

I've always wondered if it wouldn't be easier to use the grid to power cars instead of thousands of tank trucks on a daily basis to fill our gas stations which at the same time consume more gasoline. From the practical point of view, we should use the oil to generate electricity, not to run our cars. Until we find a way to replace oil with nuclear, fision or whatever, then the grid remains intact we only change the source. And cars remain electric without any change. See? blame BigOil for stomping his boot on the head of progress...

smhinsey 17y ago
I'm sure you are aware of this, but just in case, there are good reasons why this hasn't taken place and most of them have to do with battery technology. The basic problem is that the current crop of batteries take too long to charge on residential current and don't hold charge long enough. Their weight is also a big issue.
Xichekolas 17y ago
We are just now at the point where battery technology makes this possible. It's not like 'BigOil' has been preventing this... liquid petroleum based fuels have so far offered the most practical solution for powering a vehicle, and this is only now starting to change.
coryrc 17y ago
Filling your gas tank is equivalent to ~0.5megawatts; your house is 50kilowatts (usually a 240V 200A service), so we can't use electric cars in the same way we use gasoline cars. They're only useful for trips around town, which is what, 90% of miles driven?
- harshavr 17y ago
  "gas tank is equivalent to ~0.5megawatts", just to be more clear, could you say how many hours of driving are you assuming the gas fill will last, since your measurement is in terms of power?
  - 17y ago

dschoon 17y ago

For me, the most important sentence was near the end: "The Leaf car battery can be charged to 80% capacity in about 20 minutes, compared with almost three and a half hours needed for the G-Wiz." Seems totally reasonable for an intra-city commuting vehicle. I can't see why something like this (even with a 100mi range) wouldn't be popular in NYC, LA, or Boston.

coryrc 17y ago
EVs can only charge that fast with a special high-power line or a dump pack. You can get at most 1440W from a 120V 15A outlet (80% max allowable according to NEC) or 5760W from 240V 30A. No matter what magical battery technology you have, you can't charge faster if you don't have a bigger input. You can get range/hour of charging by dividing the power by the wh/mi; the Nissan is probably 100-200wh/mi, so 7-14mi/hr from 120 or 28-56mi/hr from 240V

web3 17y ago

I'll bet all these hybrid and electric cars would be adopted by more people if they stopped assigning them fruity little names like "Leaf." You think any man wants to ride around in the Leaf?

jimmybot 17y ago
Is this some kind of mis-channeling of PG's last essay? Did you see the photo of the car? It's not targeted at the Hummer crowd. It's also being sold in Europe. I'm not saying it's a great name, but I can see the association between leaf and concern for the environment. And it's a small car. The name to me seems to go along with its design and purpose. I would also say names may not matter as much as we think they do, or at least that it is fluid and malleable over time. I.e., Nissan or Toyota probably didn't sound all that cool in the 70s or 80s either.
- SwellJoe 17y ago
  I.e., Nissan or Toyota probably didn't sound all that cool in the 70s or 80s either. Speaking of names (and new Nissan models), I just watched the Top Gear coverage of the GT-R. It performed on par with some of the fastest supercars in the world (and faster than most of them), and also caused Jeremy Clarkson's back to give out while he was driving it. Richard Hammond joked about how of all the cars Clarkson has driven, he was crippled by a Datsun. I thought it interesting that he chose to use "Datsun" as the derogatory brand for the joke, rather than Nissan. I wonder if that name change and subsequent brand recognition loss was a net positive or a net loss, since it meant they could disassociate from the low end, low performance, and very small, autos of the Datsun years.
anigbrowl 17y ago
word association: leaf - green. Think about it. My own criteria for a car revolve around comfort, low maintenance costs, and ease of parking. It can be called Brian for all I care.
dan_the_welder 17y ago
Of course not, I want a manly name like for example some of the names used by the vehicles in the National Electric Drag Association. Peruse this list of manly electric car names. http://www.nedra.com/record_holders.html http://www.nedra.com/record_holders.html

pkulak 17y ago

The title is a bit misleading. Nissan just hopes it will be the first. Mitsubishi is planning to have their iMiev out at about that time or sooner as well. Actually, just about every car company is saying they'll have an electric out by 2011 these days.