Update 28´th May: Nissan fast charger in front of the Headquaters in Yokohama:
When I first started to studying electric vehicles two years ago I did not expect that family cars would start to come in the first 5 years, but now both Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence are almost here.
Today I had an opportunity to get a ride in a prototype of the Nissan Leaf. Because it was a prototype I was not allowed to drive myself. But I must say – being in the passenger seat was an amazing experience.
It has a 80 kW motor that gives a VERY powerful acceleration. The regeneration is only very little when you take the foot of the accelerator and it goes to maximum when you apply the brake. As I always say – I wish the regenerative braking was only controlled by the accelerator, like on the Tesla.
The cabin has a nice size fitting 5 persons – it looks a bit wider that the Renault Fluence.
The trunk is a lot larger than the Renault Fluence.
The car will not be able to battery switch.
Conclusion:
It is fantastic to test a family size car that has a powerful motor and is so fun to drive. Congratulation Nissan!!!
13 Comments
I wanna know how about the charging ability. Is it easy to use both AC and DC to charge the Leaf by infrastructure or power station?
Very pleasant to drive… easy. Will be curious if the production car drives as easily as the prototype we were shown last winter.
Notice Cape Wind’s approval. Likely Boston should sell a few!
Hey MMT,
We’d love to hear some additional details…How was the factory car stereo? What was your impression of the GPS and other management tools? How about the interior fabric and the seats? We need more info!!!
Thanks….
What charging receptacles does it have? In the USA the Leaf has SAE J1772 for up to 240V AC and some cars (maybe only SL, maybe an option) also have a bigger CHAdeMO socket for 500 V DC quick charge. I’ve seen photos of the Renault Fluence Z.E. with what looks like the Mennekes 240V AC connector.
Inquiring minds want to know!
The car I tested was a prototype. There was no stereo, A/C or GPS. The ABS and ESP was not installed, so the purpus of that car was to test the drive train.
I do not have detailed information on chargin of the Leaf.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the people to be included as a test driver when the prototype came to Seattle. Having driven a few of the fastest EVs in the world, I was reasonably impressed with the overall handling, acceleration, and braking. So much so that I have made sure that I have one of the first ones reserved for my family.
Martin. Did you notice if the dash display was fully functional?
One thing I had noticed is that every Leaf picture we’ve seen where the display set to kmph has the same readout – 85km driven, 132km remaining, 2:38 elapsed time, 12:23pm clock time – and I’ve got a feeling that’s not a fully functional demo display.
Now, I probably don’t have to tell you that 217km exceeds the 100 mile range we’ve been told to expect, and we are wondering if the car is actually capable of 134 miles total, when carefully driven. Could you shed any more light?
Dear Michael
The dashboard did not work it did show “Range 650 km”. I look forward till this will be possible – in 10 years? I really hope.
As I were only having a small drive I do not know if it can do more than 200 km in range, but I think it will if you do not drive faster than 80 km/h and do not run any power consumer like hear or A/C. But only time will tell…
Hello Martin,
as the Leaf will be one of the first vehicles with “steer by wire” technology (no mechanical steering column) I am especially interested how your feeling was about the steering in the prototype. Is there a good feedback from the street into the steering wheel. Did you recognize while steering something which is different compared to a car with mechanical/servo steering wheel ? If this aspect of the car is also implemented “rock solid” I’m sure that the Leaf will be a great success.
Thanks for your report about the test drive.
Regards
@net_worker, the Leaf has a solid steering shaft with electric power assist… the same as a hybrid. http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/faq/list/technology#/leaf-electric-car/faq/list/technology
@Washington Greene
Thanks for clarification. This is very important and it’s a relief to me that there is a mechanical connection in the steering setup. This was my last concern regarding the Leaf.
Did Nissan change their mind or was this planned from the beginning?
I’m sure that I’ve seen the “steer by wire” answer to the question some time ago on the Nissan-USA website. But maybe this answer was somehow misleading.
I know that automakers are looking into “steer by wire” but the required security and redundancy for such a system might be to expensive to make it into a large volume production car.
So thanks again for you post.
Why didn’t anyone seem to notice or care about the the one line in your report that mentions that the batteries are not removable and thus not renewable. Is this planned obsolescence? Thanks for your sincere efforts. I to, plan on ordering the Leaf but I am waiting until the second model year.
Apologies MMT!
During further exam I came to the the conclusion that you likely meant “battery swap” as in the battery pack swap stations that are/were being planned to mimic a ‘gas’ station for EVs.
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