New Electric Vehicle Announced by Nissan
August 4, 2009
Nissan just announced their first mass market EV, called the Leaf. It is a 4-door and is said to take you 100 miles between complete charges. Probably you will need to to buy or lease the battery separately, but Nissan appears to be focused on keeping the total cost more reasonable than the other announced EVs of similar quality level, such as the Mitsubishi i MiEV. Some of the reports indicate that the car itself may only be available via a lease. It is planned for introduction to selected areas of the US market late 2010.
Overall, it looks a bit better than the Versa upon which it is based.
Also, Nissan is planning some nice features like a web-based control of car functions, and text alerts for state of charge. The navigation system will show graphically how far you can reach on your charge, and where the charging stations are.
Power is 107 HP, torque is 208 ft-lbs, and top speed is 87 MPH. Battery capacity is 24 kWh.
According to Autobloggreen, “More impressive is the battery pack’s 50 kW DC fast-charge capability, which is capable of accepting an 80% charge in less than 30 minutes, or an extra 50 km (31 miles) worth of range in about 10 minutes.” These fast chargers will be special 3-phase units that will not be priced for individual car owners. Using 200V in-home charging will require about 8 hours, and since we use 240V here in the USA for electric dryers, the rate will be 8 hours or less.
Here are some links:
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