Leaf Test Drives in the US

[mwalsh]

wow...that translogic piece was killer for Nissan...and it was presented by Chevy Volt?? That dude just lost his sponsor

LOL! He even says in the video "....brought to you by Chevrolet." :lol:

Did you see that comment below the video

Aug 2nd 2010 by Axel Foley
"Nissan Leaf drivers ain't gonna fall for no banana in the tail pipe" :lol: ROFLMAO

 

[mwalsh]

http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/smart-takes/nissan-leaf-gets-solid-marks-from-cnet/9507/

 

[evnow]

LOL! He even says in the video "....brought to you by Chevrolet." :lol:

Shouldn't be surprising. Nissan has been advertising on gm-volt.com for ever. I guess Nissan & GM are bidding on EV related terms in various online advertising platforms (like google, bing, yahoo etc). So, expect to see them advertised wherever we read about Leaf or Volt.

 

[jhm614]

Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged Leaf review : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFu0-zZ6HQk&feature=youtube_gdata

 

[mwalsh]

Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged Leaf review : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFu0-zZ6HQk&feature=youtube_gdata

Interesting...to go the UK speed limit (75mph) he's using 5kw of power.

 

[Gavin]

Nice video...is there too much headroom?. As in, could they have had a lower roofline?


Gavin

 

[LEAFer]

Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged Leaf review : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFu0-zZ6HQk&feature=youtube_gdata

Interesting...to go the UK speed limit (75mph) he's using 5kw of power.

I could be wrong ... but the car he's driving is EU spec, not UK spec (and LHD instead of UK RHD), and on the touch screen I saw some "km" units. So ... by extension of all that info ... I think the speed display was also metric, i.e. km/h, not mph. So, 75km/h=47mph (approx).

 

[mwalsh]

I could be wrong ... but the car he's driving is EU spec, not UK spec (and LHD instead of UK RHD), and on the touch screen I saw some "km" units. So ... by extension of all that info ... I think the speed display was also metric, i.e. km/h, not mph. So, 75km/h=47mph (approx).

True. But he says that he's doing the UK speed limit (which is actually 70mph, not 75mph). Of course, I'm assuming he was on a road allowing the National Speed Limit and that was what he was referring to. Though that stretch of road didn't look like a motorway.

 

[mwalsh]

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/1007_2011_nissan_leaf_vs_2012_mitsubishi_i_mie/index.html

Motor Trend compares Leaf and I-MiEV.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1047829_2011-nissan-leaf-our-experts-talk-electric-cars

Car Connection dudes/dudettes talk electric cars.

 

[garygid]

At the end of the Fully Charged video, just before turning off the LEAF, they mention "hand brake" and do something at the center console.

Is there a hand brake, or just the electronic "Park" mode button?

 

[LEAFer]

I could be wrong ... but the car he's driving is EU spec, not UK spec (and LHD instead of UK RHD), and on the touch screen I saw some "km" units. So ... by extension of all that info ... I think the speed display was also metric, i.e. km/h, not mph. So, 75km/h=47mph (approx).

True. But he says that he's doing the UK speed limit (which is actually 70mph, not 75mph). Of course, I'm assuming he was on a road allowing the National Speed Limit and that was what he was referring to. Though that stretch of road didn't look like a motorway.

Another reason I was tripped up by the 5kW ... is this. If he drives for an hour he's using 5kWh per 75 miles or 67Wh/mile (15 miles/kW). "Exceedingly" efficient. Although at 75mph the LEAF probably has less aero drag than a Tesla Roadster (yes, hard to believe, but it looks better than it performs aerodynamically) ... the Roadster uses 24kW (52% due to aero drag). At 46mph the Roadster uses 9kW (33% due to aero drag).

Reference: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/roadster-efficiency-and-range

 

[mwalsh]

Is there a hand brake, or just the electronic "Park" mode button?

There's a lever. But it's only a switch from what I understand. I don't think it's mechanical.

 

[mwalsh]

Another reason I was tripped up by the 5kW ... is this. If he drives for an hour he's using 5kWh per 75 miles or 67Wh/mile (15 miles/kW). "Exceedingly" efficient.

Is that how it works out? We have seen some people say that the battery pack is massively efficient from what displays in the car have told them - I've heard 13+ miles/kwH quoted before today. I'll see if I can find that again.

Edit: Found it:

When Nick Chambers, Zach McDonald, and Mark stepped into the car, the dashboard display indicated an average of 14.7 miles traveled per kilowatt-hour of energy used. A dozen or so miles later, we managed to reduce the efficiency to 13.6 miles per kilowatt-hour. Seeing those numbers shattered my expectation that EVs almost always travel 4 miles per kilowatt-hour.

From this one:

http://www.plugincars.com/first-drive-nissan-leaf-shatters-range-concerns-49788.html

 

[LEAFer]

... I've heard 13+ miles/kwH quoted before today.

I know ... I've seen that too. But there's no way you can sustain that efficiency, even over a few miles (5 to 10) unless downhill. The norm is 4-5 miles per kW. And take a look at the comments made at the end of that article (including the Tesla to Tahoe trip). (Yes I saw the 7/30 update and Nissan's "confirmation" ... still don't believe it.)

If the LEAF really can do 13 miles/kWh ... then its "best" range would be 13*24= 312 miles ! The best I've heard about is 140 mile range (140/24 = 5.8mpk) ... so the 13+ numbers just don't "jive".


EDIT: Ok ... here we go. I took the time to read thru more of the comments at the bottom. There's this in particular by the writer:

In fact, I just got an email from Mark Perry restating that on the LA4 cycle they get above 4 mpkWh, but that the mpkWh that we saw on our test drive was indeed accurate.

And Darell in response:

Nick -

Got it. Just confusion about "short-term" or "instantaneous" readings vs actual "range."

Here is a chart that shows the Leaf range results with a wide range of variables.
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/3036/rangenf.png

Of course none of them indicate anything surprising... or close to 14 miles per kWh!

 

[LEAFer]

Here's another great Darell comment on that article: (blue emphasis mine)

I just read the addition to the post regarding the ~14 mpkWh being *correct.*

I still can't buy it. Wouldn't Nissan make a huge deal out of their 300 mile range car instead of scaring people with the tiny 100 miles? 14 mpkWh would be huge news. HUGE. Since no other production car - even one with vastly superior aero - has ever come close. The question I would ask to clear this up: Has anybody ever driven the car "normally" from full to empty and achieved anything over 5 mpkWh? From all the tests and stats I've seen, the answer is a resounding NO. I think we all understand that huge mile per kWh numbers are easy to achieve at various points along a trip. But you can't keep going down hill and with the wind all the time! I'm still not convinced... even after they've officially said it is real. If it is real and common, let's call this a 300 mile car! The same way that my Prius is a 99 mpg car since hundreds of times on every trip I can show you that it is achieving just that.

 

[mwalsh]

EDIT: Ok ... here we go. I took the time to read thru more of the comments at the bottom. There's this in particular by the writer

Thanks for pointing me to those....that was the first time I'd read any of the comments. I generally just read the article once (usually when it first goes online) and then I'm gone.

 

[LEAFer]

I generally just read the article once (usually when it first goes online) and then I'm gone.

Same here; and I generally don't read past a page of comments. Most articles I scan don't usually have the general public chiming in with stuff worth spending time on. "plugincars" seems to have a more intelligent set of commenters. And if you see any "darell" stuff ... read it !

 

[LEAFfan]

The same way that my Prius is a 99 mpg car since hundreds of times on every trip I can show you that it is achieving just that.

ONLY 99 mpg?! My Honda GX can and has achieved 9,999 mpg! LOL

 

[Spies]

Is there a hand brake, or just the electronic "Park" mode button?

There's a lever. But it's only a switch from what I understand. I don't think it's mechanical.

I believe you are correct. I drove one of the Versa based Leaf test mules last year and it had the electronic parking break switch installed. I remember using the switch a few times and I could hear a whirring sound as the car engaged or disengaged the parking break. This was separate from putting the car in park buy pushing the button on the shifter.

 

[garygid]

So, this lever/switch might activate a hydraulic-lock type of "parking" brake system?

Pressurizes the hydraulics to "engage" the disc brakes, and then "locks" the hydraulic lines so the pressure will not (if there are no leaks) bleed off.