The Car Exam Examines Electric Cars, Part 2: The 2011 Nissan Leaf

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The Nissan Leaf

Nissan has pushed a full commitment into the electric car foray with its 2011 Leaf. Nissan truly thinks there is a market for an all-electric car in the U.S. auto market, and it’s betting on the Leaf to help prove its point. What does the Leaf have to offer consumers?

Mechanically speaking, the Nissan Leaf offers a 80 kW AC synchronous electric motor (which equals about 107.28 horsepower), a regenerative, 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes with Electronic Brake force Distribution and Brake Assist, traction control, and a 24 kWh lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery with an 3.3 kW on-board charger and a Palm-shift drive selector for the transmission.

The Leaf should have a travel range of about 100 miles on a full charge, but that can be seriously limited by driving conditions, the use of accessories (a/c, stereo, etc.) which may discharge the batteries much faster. Fully charging the Nissan Leaf on a 220/240 volt home charging station will take about 8 hours. Nissan rates the Leaf’s top speed at about 90 mph. The leaf also qualifies as a Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV).



The five-passenger Leaf is a four-door hatchback, and it has the versatility of 60/40–split fold-down rear seat backs to help increase cargo space (exact capacity numbers are not available yet). The Leaf also has modern niceties like a navigation system, an XM Satellite Radio, an auxiliary audio input jack (for ipods or mp3 players), cruise control, a push button ignition, power door locks, a full array of airbags for safety, and much more. Exterior styling is decent overall; not especially flashy, but not terribly dull either.

How much will the 2011 Nissan Leaf cost consumers? The base price is $32,780--but the federal government tax savings credit can bring the price down to about $25, 280, depending upon the model. Will the public embrace the Nissan Leaf? Will Nissan’s gamble pay off? The Leaf will definitely face an uphill battle on several fronts, which will be discussed in part 4 of The Car Exam’s series on electric cars.

What’s next in the series? The plug-in electric car that has a technical element the Tesla Roadster and the Nissan Leaf both lack—-an element that may give it a distinct advantage over the Tesla and the Nissan. What car is it? The 2011 Chevrolet Volt.

Source: Nissan U.S.A. (http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index) 9-5-10

P. Scott