2015 Nissan Leaf SL: A Global EV For The Masses
It's All Electric
The Leaf's main selling point is its all-electric powertrain that drives the front wheels. Unlike the Tesla Model S, which efficiently packs a motor into the back of the car, Nissan employs a traditional layout with the electric motor up front and easily accessible. The AC motor is combined with a 24 kWh DC battery pack mounted nice and low below the seats. Since the motor runs on AC and the battery pack is DC, the Leaf employs an inverter. Nissan rates the powertrain at 107hp with 187 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers don't sound like much. However, the instant torque provides a nice performance kick in city driving.
Inside the battery pack, you'll find 192 cells spread across 48 modules. The air-cooled power source is built in Japan by Automotive Energy Supply Corporation, a Nissan and NEC joint venture.
The 2015 Nissan Leaf sports a new battery pack with updated chemistry. It's nicknamed the “lizard” battery and supposedly handles high-temperature climates a lot better without rapid degradation. Since we only had the press car for two weeks, this isn't something we could test. And unfortunately, Nissan won't disclose details of its more modern battery design.
Since the Leaf was the first electric vehicle available to the masses, Nissan backs its battery pack with a fairly comprehensive warranty that protects the entire powertrain and EV system for the first five years or 60,000 miles. There’s a standard powertrain warranty of eight years or 100,000 miles that covers the battery pack in case of flaws or defects, too.
Similar to hybrid vehicles, the Leaf’s electric motor employs regenerative braking, harnessing energy that's otherwise lost. During this process, the electric motor functions as a generator to recharge the battery. Regenerative braking in the regular D mode isn’t too noticeable; it makes the Leaf drive like a normal car. Those who want to maximize the feature can put the Leaf into B mode, which slow the car down more quickly. Driving around in the city, B mode is nice in stop-and-go traffic. With enough practice, patience and discipline, you can drive the Leaf in B mode using only the accelerator.
Charging
Nissan equips the Leaf with the same SAE J1772-2009 connector for level 1 (120V) and level 2 (240V) charging that every other EV has. The standard Leaf has a 3.3 kW on-board charger with a faster 6.6 kW charger available. To be frank, the 3.3 kW charger is awfully slow; it takes about eight hours to fully charge at 240V. The optional 6.6 kW charger (standard on the SV and SL) takes half the time, which makes a big difference if you exceed the driving range often.
Also standard on the SL trim (and optional on the S and SV) is a CHAdeMO DC connector that can take advantage of 500V chargers. Purportedly, they'll get a completely depleted Leaf battery to 80 percent in only 30 minutes. If your city infrastructure has CHAdeMO quick-charging stations, the option is a must-have for getting back on the road quickly.
Charging At Home
The 2015 Nissan Leaf isn't our first experience with an electric vehicle. We tried to test a 2014 model, but found the included level 1 charger dreadfully slow. It just wouldn't work for anyone with a sizable commute. But that's not what EV ownership is supposed to be, and the level 1 charger is really only good for dire situations.
Before we received the 2015 Nissan Leaf, we reached out to Bosch for a level two charger installation. The company sent over its 30A model, and I tackled the install myself. Before you do the same, make sure you get the proper permits and follow your local laws for performing electrical work. All-told, the job only took about 30 minutes, involving a new breaker and three wires.
This simple addition drastically changed how we test EVs and plug-in hybrids. Instead of taking a day to charge the Leaf from empty, it's a four- or five-hour affair. That's enough time to run errands in the morning, get back home for a charge and have a full battery around dinner time.
Range
Range varies greatly depending on your driving style. The EPA rates the Leaf at 114 MPGe combined and 126/101 for city/highway. I tend to be aggressive, so I got about 60 miles from a charge. When I drove more conservatively, I was able to squeeze out 70+ miles. Most of my driving is on the highway, though. You can get a lot more range in stop-and-go traffic, since the car benefits from regenerative braking.
My only quibble with your review is that both 2015 SV and SL have the faster 6.6 charging as standard.
I own a 2014 chevy Volt and while it is not 100% electric, it is as close as you can get and still get a gas engine for the longer runs (best of both worlds imho). Winter is pretty much done now and I can say goodbye to the gas engine for about 6-7 months. We had a rough winter and my average MPG was close to 200 (the worst was at 75mpg when it was -30 Celcius). In my case, I am saving so much in fuel that it costs me LESS to own this car. You can check the stats here (links allowed?) http://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/4835
So, electric cars just rock. Check what type of driving you do, look for the right EV (in my case, EV with range extender) and you'll never regret it!!
#2017...Hopefully
The comment on regenerative braking is also wrong as not stopping is always supperior then having to stop and restart. It takes less energy to keep an object in motion then it does to accelerate it from a rest state.
Never mentioned how much that level 2 charger costs retail... I mean, I could look it up, but it may be nice to add to the article.
1) Most of them have no guts. Its not that elecric cars are weak, power to weight ratio, electric utterly destroys gas/desel/etc. Its just that they usually put an underpowered battery and/or engine in them. Im a HUGE fan of electric, and the auto industry has done a huge injustice to electric by building such low performance electric cards.
2) Nearly all of them look so bad, id never buy them. Just god awful. Including this leaf, just butt ugly. It seems by and large they want to make a point that electric is different. So they get some art student to come out with some wacky/cutesy/fufu design. It looks like crap, and i dont want it. Another complete injustice to electric cars.
3) The only one that doesnt look absolutely horrible is the tesla. And one of the few that doesnt suck performance wise is the tesla. And i cant afford that. Its not that the tesla is overpriced, i think its a great value for its price.
So....oh welll....
What i see as minimum necessary for an electric car. ~200 hp of electric motors. Ideally 4x50 hp one in each wheel. Second to that 2x100hp, one front, 1 rear. Last choice would be 1 motor in the rear. If its pure electric id want at least 200 miles range, 300 would be a lot better.
I am also willing to accept only 50 miles of range with a range extension method. Be this a fuel generator, or a primary battery(non rechargable, ie 'air battery'), or something else. As long as its strictly for power and does not touch the drive train. The drive train needs to be 100% electric. I do not want a fuel engine connected to the drive train mechanically; it needs to be strictly a power generator. For instace, a non rechargeable battery that gives me another 500 miles of range and costs say $30 to replace, is completely acceptable. Thats about 50 miles/gallon(@$3/gal) equivilent. Or a gas generator that could do 500 miles on 10 gallons, would also be acceptable.
And it needs to not look like utter crap, ie it needs to look like a normal car. Not some different fufu piece of crap. And stay under $35k(possibly higher before tax breaks)
First realize that you can't possible compare EV to ICB in the realm of PtWR because EV's don't generate power, that's generated by a huge steam turbine powered a thermal reaction involving Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. Battery's just store power and then release it at a later date. Now the lower powered electric enginers are that way because of cost and weight. Making them more powerful requires the use of more rare earth elements (REE), 98% of which come from strip mines in China because China is the only country that doesn't care about the ecological consequnces of mining REE's cheaply. The electric engines inside an automobile can't be your standard electromagnet drive, they need to have extremely high torque with really low mass and that requires very special and very expensive materials. The battery also suffers from a similiar situation. Lots of capacity can be obtained cheaply from using lead acid batteries, they have a high reutilization rate but come at cost of mass. Going smaller to high density storage comes at a cost, NiMH works but it's still too bulky so we move on to LiB which has really good energy density but requires large amounts of expensive lithium. You can go even further but then your getting into expensive exotic stuff where the battery alone would be more expensive then any car on the market.
That's just the material science that forces you to accept certain preconditions to designing the rest of the vehicle. Your going to take a low power solution to keep costs down and still be functional, which forces you to design the vehicle to not waste energy. Thats why EV and cost-conscious hybrids always look they way they do, they are reducing the amount of forward facing surface area while also reducing drag and maximizing other aerodnamic effects to get the most out of their limited power.
At the end of the day, from a purely engineering stand point gasoline / CHO fuel is a far supperior mechanism to design around. It has over an order of mangitude higher energy density then anything possible with any known technology short of nuclear batteries. Most of the efficiency increases seen in hybrid / EV design's revolve around the use of a low power engine. Take the same 100~150HP engine and put it in a small, compact, light weight ICV and you get similiar results but at a drastically reduced production cost. Heck you can even syntheisize the fuel from bicarbonate and H2O (both freely available in Ocean water), just need a power station nearby and it still comes out cheaper.
Looks like a catfish with buck teeth.
And since when is a Nissan GTR considered a 'gas guzzler'?
It's as economical as a jeep wrangler, and while they don't sell it for super car prices, it certainly has super car performance.
Thanks! I'm going to work on getting more EV and alternative fuel content in the future.
I don't have the hair and all the hosts are old enough to be my dad
I'll double check that. I thought I mentioned the SV had it.
It depends on where you live. Some areas are a lot more practical than others.
I like the Volt but the size packaging wasn't great for a family car. The trunk couldn't fit our single or double strollers.
There's the dyno sheet on the engine page. Is that not enough?
Its a funky design. My wife wants to replace the Zero Emission badges with Pikachu shooting out thunderbolt stickers.
I'd say MY2018 vehicles in late 2017, hopefully.
I live in Washington State. My power company sources 90% power from hydroelectric dams and only 1.16% from Coal, so for the most part its clean.
I recommended my friend get a Leaf for his work commute. He has a 10 mile commute and charges for free at work every 2-3 days. He can go a week during the summer, but the cold winter and greater heater use takes away quite a bit of range.
The Bosche 30 Amp / 18ft charger is $575 right now from Amazon Prime - http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-EL-51253-Electric-Vehicle-Charging/dp/B00FM7B1AO
They're slow from a 0-60MPH standpoint. But once you get going and you need to pass, there's plenty of passing power as it doesn't need to kickdown and rev up, the power is instant. There's more usable power.
For normal looking EVs, there's the Kia Soul EV and VW Golf EV, which we will have reviews of in the future.
IMO they try to make it look different so it stands out so people know you're driving an EV.
I'd say 16/23MPG city/highway makes it a gas guzzler. I saw more 16MPG than anything when I drove it. It's a fantastic car though.
Double glazing and loft insulation are new technology here!
My previous 5.7L v8 averaged ~12/100 which is about what a GTR will do. That's about all they'd have in common though.
Current 2L turbo diesel averages ~8/100 with 1-2 hours off road a week.
I'd seriously consider a Tesla if they made a 4wd I could take off road. Stunning looking cars, that are even better inside. Different I understand, but there are plenty of 'different' looking small cheap cars that look fantastic.
http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/media/state-regs/pdf/Washington.pdf
70.7% Hydro
10.7% Natural Gas
7.1% Coal
6.3% Nuclear
3.4% Wind
1.2% Wood / Biomass
Washington state is also a very unique case and represents over 25% of the USA's total hydro power.
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3
This is the total US electricity generation as of 2013.
Coal 39%
Natural Gas 27%
Nuclear 19%
Hydropower 7%
Other Renewable 6%
Biomass 1.48%
Geothermal 0.41%
Solar 0.23%
Wind 4.13%
Petroleum 1%
Other Gases < 1%
Coal and NG account for 66% of electricity generation, add in nuclear and your looking at 85%. The important thing about Coal and Nuclear is that they are base load generators while gas and the rest as swing or peak load. At night, which is when your recharging, swing and peak generators are either turned off or idled down while base load are always on.
That is what I meant by coal powered car.
The Leaf, and others like it are $10~20k USD cars with an overly expensive drive train that results in an exploded production value. Because it's so expensive they can't target the majority of consumers like other economy cars do and so instead they need to focus on "style" and "ohh cool" things to justify it to the same people who frequently enjoy $8 USD coffee from Starbucks.
Seriously, a 10~15K economy car with a 100~150HP ICE would provide far more value to the consumer. At 35~40K USD your entering the luxury brand category as you can get a BMW 3 series or X1 for the same price. The BMW X1 sDrive 28i with premium package (includes all the same technology and then some) has MSRP of $38K USD. I'm just using these numbers for comparisons of what else is in that price range.
Only smart companies seems to be Ford and GM with the Focus electric and Volt. Though the volt does share some design features from the Prius.
I'm a huge fan of conversions. Though not everyone can implement this: Manual transmission car, plus motor, plus batteries equals whatever electric car you want. Or kit cars, but they aren't as fun.
My power company is slightly different (Tacoma Power)
Fuel Type Percentage Used
Hydro Power 90.55%
Nuclear 6.10%
Coal 1.16%
Natural Gas .45%
Other (biomass, gas, petroleum, waste, wind) 1.73%
Total (rounded) 100%
I'd say after rebates and everything its a low-to-mid-20s compact, and with all the features and amenities, you're equipped pretty well as a compact in that price bracket. I paid ~$32k out the door and when you factor in that $7500 tax credit, its at $24,500. It's not as fun or dynamic as say a Mazda 3, which also returns excellent gas mileage for the price but if you look at it in the grand scheme of things, the only maintenance I have to do is rotate the tires and change the cabin filter. There's a 60K service to check your brake fluid but that is really it. Paired with the regen in the city, the brakes shouldn't have to be replaced as often as a car either. No fluids to change or cooling systems to flush, water pumps or belts to replace.
If you just look at the cost of the vehicle, it doesn't make sense. However, I've saved about $150-300 in fuel costs with virtually no changes in my electricity consumption.
That reminds me of the one Nissan Leaf video / commercial that shows a guy running up a Hawaiin mountain in his Leaf, runs out of power and just regens all the way down every day. I want to try that with a run up to Mt. Rainier but its about 45minutes to the base of the mountain for me.
The problem with the Volt and Ford Energi's is the super slow charging times. The Volt takes 6 hours to charge and get 40 miles of EV range. The C-MAX / Fusion Energi take the same amount of time to get 20 miles of range. In the same amount of time it takes to get the low amount of range, you can fully charge a Leaf to 100%. So unless your daily commute is within the 20-40 mile EV range, its not very practical at all.
And on the Ford side, you lose half your trunk space so you're better off just getting the hybrid that already gets great gas mileage and similar maintenance intervals.