One or two hour video overview of the leaf

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

veramis

Member
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
17
I just recently leased a leaf, and my experience is that it felt quite haphazard. The functioning of the car, features, limitations, charging station installation, and other things were not thoroughly explained by the salesperson. It would have taken an hour for all the novelty of an electric car to be explained, and I admit would have been very tiring for the salesperson and non-techsavvy customers. I believe this shortcoming can be dealt with for the most part by making an introduction video and a leaf owner video and letting people visit the site and peruse it at their own leisure, and let salespeople tell customers that if there was anything the salesperson forgot to go over with the owner that they could also refer to the videos online if they prefer.

Operating an electric car can be very similar to operating an ICE car, but there are some significant differences and things to consider. Someone who doesn't know much about electric cars is naturally hesitant about it because he doesn't understand it yet. If Nissan made a 1 hour introduction of the operation and advantages/disadvantages of an electric car and posted it on the main Nissan website, it could allow many people to become more familiar with electric cars and alleviate their fears about the new car technologies. Then there could be an additional hour-long video that gives Leaf owner instructions like how to protect battery longevity, techniques for maximizing range, navigation system, maintenance overview, and charging options and garage/parking lot charging station installation process, etc.
 
while the differences between driving an ICE and an EV are not insignificant, I think it is incumbent upon the new owner to seek out sources like this forum to learn about their new vehicle. While a SHORT video could help some I don't think that an hour long video would ever get looked at.
 
What were the issues you had problem with?

Keyless entry? (took me a while to find out how it worked from the door handle)
Google map pairing? (still not working for me)
How to get 6 miles per kWh or more? (don't know how that is possible if you are not going downhill or having a tailwind bet for me was 4.3)
where to put gas and how to change the oil?

Posting what you encountered will help make this forum better. I've found answers to my items in this MNL forum.... just been lazy to implement...
 
My salesman gave me his cell number and insisted that I call him first for any issue. I used it the first day when I confused myself over the keyless starting sequence. (Thanks James!) That served me so much better than an hour long video.

While I like your idea for a video, it could be a sales tool as well, I don't think it would replace a knowledgeable salesman. The video can't adjust to my current level of knowledge and runs the risk of boring or confusing the audience.
 
That may be true for some people who are inclined to surf the net and connect all the tidbits of information they need to be knowledgeable about electric cars, but I believe the videos I describe would benefit not just owners, but those people who are shopping for new cars because it would be a one-stop (or one video) place to learn more about electric cars, and possibly encourage them to jump on the bandwagon. I am in the solar industry and I know how difficult it is for people to understand the advantages and disadvantages of having a solar installation, because they almost never have the knowledge of the ever-changing field to make their own educated decision and have to rely on preconceived notions which a salesperson has to slowly review with the customer and help them understand how solar actually does affect the environment, their electric bills, and their wallets. The same thing I think is true to a lesser extend to the Nissan leaf, most people aren't going to research electric cars on a dozen websites for hours, look up federal and state incentives, understand the past, present, and future of electric cars, then after doing financial and electric usage calculations decide to purchase. Most people simply don't have the time or inclination to understand the field to the extent necessary to make an educated choice, and if there's no easy informational like a 1-hour introduction, I think most people would just choose to stay with ICE cars until electric cars become so overwhelmingly superior that their ignorance won't keep them from going electric, but that time may be 10-20 years from now.

But the leaf's range is already suitable for a good percentage of people's driving habits, yet the majority of people polled on it don't feel comfortable with 75 mile range. Some of them might not even be comfortable with 150, 200, or 300 mile range, especially if they are ignorant of quick charging and how commonplace it will be in the future. This is just one example of people hesitating on electric cars due to lack of information, and there are many other issues I think a 1 hour introduction to electric cars could help alleviate people's fears about.

Foible, I'm not saying it should replace a salesperson. The primary target I see for the introduction video would be people who have the beginnings of feeling that it might be more environmentally friendly, more financially friendly, or more car performance friendly, or whatever rationale they may have for clicking play on the video. Such people want to absorb well-organized, easy to understand information on electric cars, so that they can have a more informed decision whether or not to get an electric car. There are things that you can show in a video that a salesperson at a car dealership cannot show, such as computer generated graphics that clearly and quickly describes the differences someone familiar with ICE cars would see in an electric car, for example graphics showing the reduced pollutants benefits of using electricity from power plants instead of burning gas, the much fewer moving parts and maintenance requirements, the method of calculating "fuel" costs, or the full torque at zero speed of electric motors and their potential to cheaply beat gas engines. The video should also be honest about batteries, its limitations, its future, its cost, and on the other hand also mention the expiration date of the federal electric vehicle tax credit etc, all so that people can make a more educated decision and know that the Leaf IS a viable product and Nissan isn't afraid to look at it honestly.
 
I watched several short videos Nissan posted about the 2013 Leaf on Youtube. They aren't in depth but I thought they were a good overview.

http://www.youtube.com/user/nissanusa/videos?query=leaf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
veramis said:
I just recently leased a leaf, and my experience is that it felt quite haphazard. The functioning of the car, features, limitations, charging station installation, and other things were not thoroughly explained by the salesperson. It would have taken an hour for all the novelty of an electric car to be explained

The vehicle walk through was typically 45 minutes to an hour when LEAF deliveries first started taking place in 2011. I personally hated it, and thought it was a complete waste of my time simply because I WAS a member of this forum and HAD taken the time to learn as much as I could about the LEAF prior to ever sitting in one. But I could see the value for someone who didn't want to prepare themselves likewise. Are you saying that this walk through is no longer as thorough?
 
My parents' 07 Altima Hybrid came w/some sort of overview video DVD. They never bothered playing it even though they bought the car in early 08 (was a leftover 07). :roll: For them, a DVD player is "complicated". :roll:

Anyhow, I took a quick look at it a few months ago and IIRC, it wasn't even the right DVD. It looked like it was intended for a previous gen of Altima (07 marked the beginning of a new generation) which didn't have the Intelligent Key System.
 
mwalsh said:
veramis said:
I just recently leased a leaf, and my experience is that it felt quite haphazard. The functioning of the car, features, limitations, charging station installation, and other things were not thoroughly explained by the salesperson. It would have taken an hour for all the novelty of an electric car to be explained

The vehicle walk through was typically 45 minutes to an hour when LEAF deliveries first started taking place in 2011. I personally hated it, and thought it was a complete waste of my time simply because I WAS a member of this forum and HAD taken the time to learn as much as I could about the LEAF prior to ever sitting in one. But I could see the value for someone who didn't want to prepare themselves likewise. Are you saying that this walk through is no longer as thorough?

What I got from my salesperson didn't give me some important information. For example, she only briefly touched upon the range limitation of the leaf by saying it had a range of 100 miles (true for the overly optimistic LA4 cycle but not EPA). There's many other things I might mention but what I'm suggesting are videos that methodologically go over the important aspects, allay common misconceptions or misgivings, and won't have to rely on the information being conveyed on the spot by a salesperson.

Each customer is unique in what they know and what they don't know about electric vehicles, and I admit, most Nissan Leaf customers probably have spent more time researching before pulling the trigger than is normal for the average car. But still, I think some videos put together by the actual designers and engineers who understand the car and not just its selling points, could be an invaluable reference for Nissan leaf customers and potential customers looking to learn more. If they are bored by it, they can skip to parts of the video they are interested in. Boredom is one reason I suggest two separate videos, one introducing electric cars, the other being leaf ownership specific.
 
veramis said:
What I got from my salesperson didn't give me some important information. For example, she only briefly touched upon the range limitation of the leaf by saying it had a range of 100 miles (true for the overly optimistic LA4 cycle but not EPA).
GAH!!!! NOO!!!!! :evil: Why?!?! Why is this crazy garbage still going on?

Why are dealers STILL telling people the Leaf has a 100 mile range? This is the wrong message to give to potential buyers, esp. those who aren't EV or Leaf enthusiasts who wouldn't know any better.

I posted http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=11201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; before ('11 and '12 Leaf had 73 mile EPA range rating, and '13 was unknown at time of that poll) and was pretty upset to hear about http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11867" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
 
Back
Top