Nissan charges into an all-electric future
Nashville, Tenn. - The future of driving is upon us, and yes, it has a scary side.
The ground-breaking 2012 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle features no engine, no tailpipe, no transmission, and a strict fossil fuel-free diet.
Its futuristic silence, comfort, refinement and ambitious global production plans appear set to make it the first mainstream all-electric vehicle in the world, the four-wheeled prophet of EVs for the 21st century.
And on the long ladder to a sustainable zero-emissions heaven, it is the logical next rung above plug-in hybrids.
In our first sampling of the fully fledged production Leaf, we completed two carefully planned routes, one 30-km city loop, the other a 50-km rural run, which was the extent of Leaf seat time planned for journalists.
Nissan says the Leaf has a range of 160 km, when fully charged. Indeed, most of our colleagues had already left to pound out prose, despite the availability of a potentially era-shifting EV for another hour or so.
Not us. After about 80 km of heavy-footed driving in 26C sunshine, our particular test Leaf had 45 km worth of juice left, its prominent distance-to-empty number next to a needle warning us we were but one "bar" away from the red reserve tank zone.
We wanted to try the Leaf once more on the 30-km city route.
"Should we switch to another car?" inquired my co-test driver innocently, who did not appear to be anything resembling a gambling man. "Nah, let's just see what happens."
We knew it'd be tight, but it's a decision that all Leaf buyers will be faced with at some point, and many will also opt to chance it.
Of course, my response meant that should we get stranded, car stuck on the side of the road gasping for its last electrons, we would miss our flight home. And the whole episode would unquestionably be my fault.
It may be a year away, but the education process starts now
The very first five-seat electric car of the modern era sold in Canada is not slated to arrive in consumer hands until the fall of 2011, as a 2012 model.
Yet here we were at Nissan's U.S. headquarters near Nashville not only to experience how the production version of the Leaf drives, just a month or so before the car arrives in the U.S. in December, but also to discover exactly what electric car ownership will entail north of the border.
Much of the process will be done online. Nissan Canada has just launched a site for "hand-raisers" (think of it a sort of reservation) at Nissan.ca/leaf, that gives details about the process involved with living electrically, including installing a 240 V charger and outlet in the garage.
It's not necessary, but the faster charger is a highly recommended option, otherwise a full charge from empty would take about 20 hours, versus a much more overnight-friendly eight hours.
A 40-amp circuit board is also needed, bringing the average cost of charger, installation and electrical upgrades to about $2,000 in the U.S., according to Nissan.
Battery warranty for eight years/160,000 km, but performance will degrade
The hand-raising process will become more formal soon after the Leaf's Canadian price is announced this winter, which one company rep confirmed will be higher than the US$32,780 starting price south of the border.
There are tax incentives of $8,000 and $8,500 in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, respectively, that will help lower its cost, with other provinces - notably British Columbia - and the federal government also pondering (to various degrees of ambition) their own measures.
In early spring, small deposits will be taken, and home/garage assessments started. No garage means no Leaf, at least at first, with the limited supply of vehicles coming here before its 2012 mass market launch.
Dealer orders and the first charging station installations will be undertaken in the summer, when customers can choose to either finance or lease the Leaf, like any other new car.
Just keep in mind that the battery performance will degrade over time, Nissan admits, reducing the overall range and likely the car's power as well.
There was talk last year by Nissan of leasing the battery while buying the car, but the firm now says the battery life is expected to be 10 years, and warranties it for eight years or 160,000 km.
The key question here will be how much range degradation will be deemed acceptable before the warranty kicks in.
Interior a familiar welcome to the future
The Leaf looks good from the outside, the protruding headlights only noticeable from certain angles - they jut out from the hood to actually cut airflow to the exterior mirrors, a patent-pending design intended to make the car quieter.
Its five-door hatchback body is sleeker than the hybrid hatches from Honda and Toyota, and while an inverter wall at the back of the cargo area hurts the hatch's flexibility, the actual cargo well is deeper than normal, due to its lack of a fuel tank.
Its interior is a surprisingly refined yet futuristic place to play, a two-tiered speedo and instrument layout similar to the current Honda Civic.
The car will come nicely loaded with high-end options such as navi, heated seats and steering wheel, with options including 240 V charging cables, fog lights, a rear view monitor and a solar panel on the rear wing to trickle charge (top off) the battery.
A blue mouse-like controller replaces the traditional gearshift lever. A blue button near the touch screen brings up EV-only toys and tricks, such as a special map that instantly calculates your safe range with a dark circle, your outer range with a lighter circle, thereby specifying the "don't even try it" range from wherever you are.
An energy screen that tells you how much juice your A/C, radio and accessories are using.
Plus you can adjust here your charging timer, so you can charge when cheapest, as well as your climate control timer, so you can automatically warm up or cool down the car using grid juice instead of battery juice before you hop in.
Silence, zero emissions and super low running costs its main attractions
Back behind the wheel of our Leaf, it's difficult not to marvel at how silent it is. Only a slight high-pitched whine can be heard when applying the gas, er, electron pedal.
There's not much dynamic appeal here: it's not painfully slow (outside of power-limiting Eco mode at least) but lethargic, and has considerable lean in turns, which is made more noticeable by a lack of bolstering in the seats.
As quiet as the Leaf is, this silence was broken often by a barrage of four different low-energy lights and chimes, which kick in at about 30-km to empty, and more urgently when there's just 15 km left.
Understandable, perhaps, as your local CAA tech with a gas can can't help you on the side of a road with a dead Leaf, even if you're only a kilometre or two away from home, unless he happens to have a generator on board.
Despite the raised heartbeat and sweaty palms, we eventually made it back to Nissan HQ, the distance-to-empty figure reading dashes, and very happy we engaged the power-reserving Eco mode right at the start.
Yet even with this up close and personal brush with range anxiety, for tech-savvy folks who want a comfortable commuter or a gas-free second car, the Nissan Leaf presents an intriguing step up the environmentally evolving ladder.
2012 Nissan Leaf
Price: $TBA
Type of vehicle: FWD compact electric vehicle
Engine: 80 kW electric motor with 24 kWh lithium-ion battery
Power/Torque: 107 hp/207 lb.-ft.
0-100 km/h: (est.) 11.0 seconds
Transmission: Direct drive
Fuel consumption: Approximately $180 of electricity to travel 20,000 km, at an average $0.06 per kWh
Competition: Chevrolet Volt, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Smart fortwo electric drive, Toyota Prius PHV
PREVIEW SUMMARY
PROS
Incredibly, eerily, futuristically quiet
Remarkably comfortable and refined, with a practical and attractive hatchback body
$180 for a year's worth (20,000 km) of electric "fuel" is a screaming bargain, even if optimistic
CONS
Anxiety range - it has the potential to be seriously stressful
Even with tax incentives, the Leaf is a big investment for a small-size vehicle
Little dynamic fun: acceleration, braking, cornering won't appeal to enthusiasts
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