NISSAN LEAVE

[Album56 0]

100 Miles per charge & thats when new, with any luck it wont make it down south from Sunderland, they'll be conking out all over the place with flat batteries. I want to see a proper green car, fuel cell technology or better.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah I was discussing that with the missus this morning and how you'd gone in traffic jams etc with that car.

 

I'm fairly sure electric motors, like petrol engines, are more efficient when moving at a constant speed, so 100mpc (miles per charge) could prove optimistic on the UK's heavily congested roads.

 

Maybe it'll end up being a "Nissan LEAVE it at home and take the petrol burner instead"

[Andy665 0]

Pure electric seems like a blind alley to me.

 

Hydron fuel cells are a realistic but longer-term better bet, biggest challenge is the infrastructure network required to provide refuelling points.

 

Best short-term option seems to be the range extender electric vehicle like the upcoming Chevrolet Volt / Vauxhall Ampera. Runs purely on electric power but has a small capacity petrol engine that recharges the batteries as and when required - absolutely no connection between the engine and driven wheels.

 

Renault / Nissan seem to have staked everything on pure electric - Renault have committed to a range of 4 pure electric vehicles within the next 5 years - I wish them well but fear the worst.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Best short-term option seems to be the range extender electric vehicle like the upcoming Chevrolet Volt / Vauxhall Ampera. Runs purely on electric power but has a small capacity petrol engine that recharges the batteries as and when required - absolutely no connection between the engine and driven wheels.

 

Completely agree with that. Until the public can get the same range out of an electric car as they can a diesel/petrol car, uptake and general interest will be next to zero. No one wants to pack their car for a short break and then have to plan every mile to save battery power and find the 'electric filling stations'.

 

At best you'd need a 20hp diesel engine to sustain the biggest demands alternators put on batteries, from electric PAS systems, complex climate control, heated seats, 10 speaker stereos etc etc.

 

Compared to even a 100hp engine, which is pretty much the minimum power you see in cars these days, that would be a massive saving on CO2 if everyone took it up.

 

At the moment it just feels like the car companies are asking "how high?" to the Tree hugger's request for them to jump. They're too focused on the bigger picture and skipping out the bit in the middle. We have to walk before we can run.

 

Early adopters of these cars could be part of a reward scheme and get really cheap fuel for the engine, and that would also free up more fuel for the late comers in the process, thereby keeping prices in check.

[cdem 0]

I was thinking when top gear made their electric car, would an alternator work to recharge the batteries while you drive? If so surely its a simple case of putting in an alternator and bobs your uncle :D

[vwdeviant 0]

Believe all this is down to the Terminator and the sandle eating Califorians?

 

Don't/ didn't all manufacturers have to produce something mad like 5% of total output as "Green cars" if they wanted to keep selling in Ca?

 

Which kind of explains why Aston are re-badging a Toyota-coffin-on-wheels...

[Dr. Robotnik 0]

I was thinking when top gear made their electric car, would an alternator work to recharge the batteries while you drive? If so surely its a simple case of putting in an alternator and bobs your uncle :D

Unfortunately perpetual energy is probably never going to be invented

[Jim 2]

I still think it has a future. Plenty of people who do short drives to work who'd be able to run something like this. Kudos for Nissan for at least attempting a relatively mass produced, affordable electric car.

[Dr. Robotnik 0]

I still think it has a future. Plenty of people who do short drives to work who'd be able to run something like this. Kudos for Nissan for at least attempting a relatively mass produced, affordable electric car.

 

Yeah, they're doing what they can!

I mean, I can't criticise, I'm not anywhere near to mass producing an electric car ;D

 

Or anything, for that matter, so, y'know :)

[davidwort 0]

Leave?

Leave electric motors to milk floats, wheelchairs and robot wars, they'll never catch on, there's plenty of oil in the ground and we can make it from sunflower seeds anyway, I'm still waiting for my climate to get warmer too :shrug:

[mrbeige 0]

Pure electric isn't the future. Get a diesel engine to run steady state for optimum efficiency as a generator to provide power for electric motors. That's where it's at.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

The Leaf is massively flawed, especially in European electric circuits.

Let me explain.

 

They promote "30 mins to charge 80% of the battery" but that uses a 50kW charger - something that would blow all the fuses in your house on a 240V circuit (generally 3kW is the max in the UK).

So Nissan also provide a 220V plug-in charger, however, presuming it uses the maximum 3kW from our electric circuits, the batteries in the Leaf at 24kW - so that's 8 hours to charge...

Then also think what 3kW is - that's 3000W. That's like leaving a fast-boil kettle on for a full 8 hours.

So, presuming you're in the higher-usage electricity charge at home, then 24kW @ 10p/kW = £2.40 to charge. If you're a light user, that will jump to £5.76. Not quite the €1.20 they quote.

Then how far does that get you? £2.40 for a maximum of 100 miles. At today's prices that's an equivalent of 50miles per litre of petrol: quite impressive.

Now, next week I take collection of an Audi which will do 70mpg. That's 18.4miles per litre.

Ok, not quite what the Leaf will do, but I can do that 70mpg in the wet, with wipers on, headlights on, stereo on, heater on, for nearly 900 miles before having to stop and refuel. I'm sure with the extra drain on the battery, you'd be nearer the same 'mpg' in the Leaf as a TDIe Audi - don't forget what country we live in. Wet, dark, cold.. lol And with no engine, the leaf would have to run heating elements to warm you up in the winter...

 

So, in the wet, dark, cold, UK winter - what do you reckon, 50 miles on a charge in the Leaf?

 

Yeah, sounds great..

[bcstudent 0]

It just cost me £1.25 per litre to fill my car up with V-Power. Pass me the Duracell!

[RaddoMan 0]

motors give off heat too , why not use that like in a normal car