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The Nissan Leaf: Test Driving the Nissan ELectric CarThe one brilliant thing about electric cars being made by the major manufacturers is that you don’t have to travel cross country just to find one. They’re now just down the road in your local dealerships. That’s one HUGE advantage to publicising electric cars to the masses and hopefully it makes most people think twice about electric when they go to buy a car. 
So on the first day we showed up to test the car, unfortunately by the time we got there it had already run out of charge!
There are so many people looking for a test drive that by the time we got there it was finished for the day.
There is a fast charger in most Nissan dealerships with the Leaf now but when we were there it had yet to be set up.
A quick charger can charge the batteries to 80% in 30 minutes but a normal charger of 220/240V would take about seven hours.
So we went home and came back the next day to a fully charged Nissan Leaf ready to test. One of the first things you notice is the big touch screen where the radio should be. It is packed with features such as sat nav, energy use statistics, battery range left, and a pretty cool rear camera which comes on when you’re reversing. It can also show you where all the nearest charge stations are on a map which can be quite handy when you’re running low on juice in an unfamiliar area. 
The leaf uses an electronic handbrake and once that’s off you just pull the little knob where the gear stick usually is back into drive and off you go.
Straight away you can feel the difference in acceleration.
As I took off down a straight stretch of road I could feel such a smooth instant acceleration that you really don’t get from an ICE (Internal Combustion engine) car.
The 80kW electric motor in the Nissan Leaf produces 280Nm of torque to give you that great acceleration.
What I could also feel was how the Nissan electric car is so much like any other regular car. When you’re cruising along at a steady pace you start to forget about the fact that you’re in a state of the art electric car and it feels like just any other automatic Nissan. This can have its advantages and disadvantages too. In the back seats you may notice that your feet rest a little higher than in the front. This is because the batteries are kept under your the seats and the footrest. There are 48 modules of laminated li-ion batteries which can output more than 90kW of power. The low position of the batteries gives the car a lower centre of gravity and helps the ride of the car. Nissan claims that these batteries will still have 70-80% capacity after 10 years. There is only one version of the Nissan Leaf available in Ireland. Along with the sat nav and rear parking camera, it has 16” alloy wheels, cruise control, climate control and of course LED headlamps to save on the energy used up by all those extras! 
I think that overall Nissan have done a brilliant job of bringing electric cars to the mainstream.
It remains to be seen how well they will do with the Nissan Leaf.
Unfortunately most people around seem to see it either as a novelty or else as a risk at the moment with many people fearing it will become obsolete in a year or two like an extremely expensive old iPhone.
This will always be a fear that people will have to get around if they are truly serious about a cleaner, more environmentally friendly future and many other manufacturers will find this a big challenge to tackle. From Nissan Leaf Test Drive to Nissan Electric Car Other Electric Cars ArticlesTesla Electric Car The electric sports car that everybody wants, but not everybody can afford! BMW i BMW has a new electric brand and two new cars to go with it! Zenn Electric Car A nice practical NEV from Canada. GEM Electric Car An NEV with doors as an option! Mainly used for getting around a resort clean and fast. Zap Electric Car Three-wheeler cars, mini trucks and minivans are whats on offer from Zap electric cars. Nissan Leaf The 2011 world car of the year. What more can I say? Tango T600 A zippy two seater that can beat any sports car off the line. George Clooney has one too! Think Electric Car Norways answer to an electric car. Electric Cars Available Now Electric cars for sale right now nad also a glimpse of what's coming up in the next few years. Solar Electric Cars Electric cars that are powered cleanly and safely by the sun! Ford Focus Electric Car The electric version of the popular Ford Focus, as seen on the Jay Leno show. Electric Car Design What does it take to design a great electric car? Is it any different from a regular one? Electric Car Conversion You can always just convert the car you already know and love to run off clean electricity instead of the engine it already has. How Electric Vehicles Work Have you ever wondered what is actually inside an electric car? Well this is your chance to find out! Back from Nissan Leaf to Electric Cars Back from Nissan Leaf to Electric Vehicles Home |
New!Leave a CommentI have been writing my opinions here on the site since 2008 trying to find the perfect electric vehicle. However I would always like to read your thoughts on all-electric vehicles and comments about the site so........ You can also leave comments about any page at the bottom of each page. |
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