2011 Nissan Leaf

It seems like we had to wait forever to get our new car, the all electric Nissan Leaf.   In Summer 2010, we had put in a reservation for a Nissan Leaf with the expectation that it would arrive in January 2011.  Well, the waited ended a couple of weeks ago (early April) when we got our new Nissan Leaf!

My first impression was, it’s a fun car.  It drives well and is peppy going up hills and through the streets.   Since you can get the specs of the car elsewhere on the web, I would like to give more of my qualitative impressions of the Leaf.

The Leaf's Dashboard

Because it is a little different from a gas or hybrid car, we are still getting used to it and figuring out how to best use the car each week.  For example, you do need to be concerned with how far you are going to drive the car and how much battery power it has left.  This is not unlike a gas car except there is NOT a ready supply of charging stations and you can’t just fill it up in a few minutes.  The Leaf comes with a system that estimates the distance you can travel on the remaining charge.  The model we got also has a GPS system that will tell you if you have enough battery to reach your desired destination.  It also can tell you where the nearest charging station is but at this point there are not many of these (or at least not known by the GPS system). 

We normally charge the car at night at home.  Depending on how much the car was driven during the day, the range of time to charge the car has been two to 12 hours.  On a full charge, the Leaf is able to go about 100 miles (however, it is recommended that you only charge the batteries to 80% to prolong its life).  The distance is dependent on number factors such as terrain, city vs. freeway driving and whether the air conditioning system is being used. 

The GPS

The car has two forward modes: a normal drive mode and an economy mode.  The economy mode throttles the amount of power used when you accelerate the car and therefore increases the distance per charge.  Economy mode also increases the amount of regeneration when you are not accelerating.  In the normal drive mode, the regeneration occurs when you step on the brake. Regeneration charges the battery with some of what normally would be wasted power in the form of heat on the car brakes.  Hawaii, due to its size, would seem to be a fairly ideal place for the Leaf's driving distance capabilities.  Also with all the bumper to bumper traffic, the Leaf is very efficient since the main motor only runs when you are moving and should save money wasted on idling.

Under the Hood

Another aspect that is different for the Leaf from a gasoline car is how quiet the car runs.  There is minimal motor noise when you are moving.  If you don't have the stereo or the air conditioner on, you can hear a faint high pitch wine of the motor.  Other than that, you only hear the tire or wind noise as you drive along.  There is an artificial sound that the car emits if you are traveling forward at less than 20 miles an hour or you are in reverse.  This is a safety feature to warn pedestrians that you are near.  There is a switch to turn off the warning tone if you need (e.g. traveling in stop and go traffic).

Nissan Leaf Rides like a Mid Size 

In general the Leaf drives like a mid-size car even though it is a compact.  This is probably due to the extra weight of the lithium-ion batteries (approximately 650 pounds).  The car is well insulated keeping out road and wind noise.  The Leaf steering, brakes and air conditioning work like a normal gas car even though the main electric motor is not running when the car is not moving.  This is something that was not true of the earliest electric vehicles.  The electric motor provides a fair amount of power to start up fast from a standing position, so there is no problem getting on a busy road or freeway. Even driving up a fairly steep hill presents little problem for the Leaf, although it does use up more battery power than on flat land.

I will write additional articles on other aspects of the use of the Leaf as we learn more about driving an electrical vehicle (EV).  Also charging the car's battery is a main issue with any EV and so I definitely cover that aspect.