Nissan Leaf! What are your thoughts?

[Murder after Midnight]

The main competitor to the volt and it's cheaper........your thoughts.....

[Zinergy]

The main competitor to the volt and it's cheaper........your thoughts.....

They both suck ass. 40,000 for a car you can only drive 250miles before needing a 8 hour recharge. And that 250mile range is with new batteries. Once those things are 5 years old who knows how long they will hold a charge for. The real future in electirc are cars that dont use batteries. Cars that use hydrogen or some other fuel to create electricity and power the car. That way you can just stop and refill hydrogen and keep driving on electric power and you dont have to worry about batteries craping out.

[310stanger]

They both suck ass. 40,000 for a car you can only drive 250miles before needing a 8 hour recharge. And that 250mile range is with new batteries. Once those things are 5 years old who knows how long they will hold a charge for. The real future in electirc are cars that dont use batteries. Cars that use hydrogen or some other fuel to create electricity and power the car. That way you can just stop and refill hydrogen and keep driving on electric power and you dont have to worry about batteries craping out.

The whole point is to not burn ANY fuel SMH

[310stanger]

I got a question, how many of you really ever drive over 250 miles in one clip and how often does this happen? THe leaf isnt designed for that, it strikes me as a more urban type commuter vehicle. For people that drive like 10 miles to work every day

[Zinergy]

I got a question, how many of you really ever drive over 250 miles in one clip and how often does this happen? THe leaf isnt designed for that, it strikes me as a more urban type commuter vehicle. For people that drive like 10 miles to work every day

Yes that is what it is supposed to be. But then you have to have a second vehicle for any type of long driving you do. And when the leaf costs 40k to begin with not everyone can afford two nice cars when one costs 40k. So people will either need to A buy a 40k leaf and cheap car for any long drives or B what most people will do buy a car that is good on gas and use it for both in town commutes and long distance. And as I said who knows how long those batteries will last before they cant hold a 250mile charge. Does a 5 year old laptop or cell phone hold as good of a charge as it did new? Probably not

Living in WI a crap ton of people own land up north and drive there many weekends out of the year. Hell even people from IL own land in WI and drive up everyweekend.

[310stanger]

Yes that is what it is supposed to be. But then you have to have a second vehicle for any type of long driving you do. And when the leaf costs 40k to begin with not everyone can afford two nice cars when one costs 40k. So people will either need to A buy a 40k leaf and cheap car for any long drives or B what most people will do buy a car that is good on gas and use it for both in town commutes and long distance. And as I said who knows how long those batteries will last before they cant hold a 250mile charge. Does a 5 year old laptop or cell phone hold as good of a charge as it did new? Probably not

Living in WI a crap ton of people own land up north and drive there many weekends out of the year. Hell even people from IL own land in WI and drive up everyweekend.

The Leaf is around 25k after tax credits. Where are you getting 40k from? From what you are saying, you just arent the target market for the car.

The laptop and cellphone battery technology isnt even remotely similar to electric vehicles. Thats apples and oranges.

[Zinergy]

The Leaf is around 25k after tax credits. Where are you getting 40k from? From what you are saying, you just arent the target market for the car.

The laptop and cellphone battery technology isnt even remotely similar to electric vehicles. Thats apples and oranges.

msrp of a leaf is 33-34k minus 7500 rebate 26,500. The volt is the 40k car. I personally can't justify paying 26,500 for a low end compact car that I cant take more than 2 hours away from home.

How do you know how the batteries will act after years of use? Do we have a 5 year old electric car out there that is meant to be a mass produced daily driver? No so we do not know how long the batteries will be able to hold full charges.

I would prefer eveyone to drive these cars so gas prices drop and we can have more fun for less cost but for alot of americans these low range electric cars wont cut it.

[310stanger]

SO your assesment is that Nissan missed the mark overall with the Leaf. Thats fair enough. I think all these cars are more novelty then anything, the technology is worth developing and maybe there will be a good change if they pick up in city enviroments, but I agree that the Leaf isnt all things for all people and thats what all the naysayers and skeptics are picking it apart for.

I still dont understand the baseless fear on battery life though. If you go on nissans website they EXPECTING 10 yrs out of the batter. Go to any toyota dealer, there just isnt a lot of cases of battery failure. I saw 1 replaced in a year and a half of working at a toyota dealer and the car was 10 yrs old.

[310stanger]

The bottom line is that they have to start with these cars to develop this technology. If everybody just says, oh fuck this, and the development stops, you arent gonna see the electric sedan that seats 5 and has a 400 mile range.

[bigrondownhiller]

It is a great start to get the technology out there and get people more comfortable with it. The Volt having a engine makes it better for an all around car. Both are great commuter cars though. Most city areas allow cars like this in HOV lanes regardless of how many people in the car. As battery technology gets better range will increase.

[310stanger]

It is a great start to get the technology out there and get people more comfortable with it. The Volt having a engine makes it better for an all around car. Both are great commuter cars though. Most city areas allow cars like this in HOV lanes regardless of how many people in the car. As battery technology gets better range will increase.

precisely.

[StuntmanMike]

Seems like it would be a great car for someone that just putts around the city. I can see it actually being a great choice for the area where I live. Most people who live here very rarely leave the island (there are 3 bridges leading off it, but you'd think it was in the middle of the ocean they way some people who live here act), and basically anywhere you'd need to go here isn't anymore than a 25 mile round trip, so the electric's range would be fine.

I think people just like the freedom to be able to go on a 300 mile trip if they wanted to. I know I don'tdo it often, but it's nice to have that ability. Nobody wants to feel that they are restricted or limited in any way.

If these things really caught on though, I wonder how the current power grid would be able to cope with the much increased demand? And with all these caol fired plants working to meet the demand, how much extra polution is it creating? And as the demand for coal rises, how much polution does the additional mining and transport of the coal produce?

[Red97GTP]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the Volt has a gas powered engine that generates power for the electric motor. The Leaf is the only truly electric zero emission vehicle.

[StuntmanMike]

^^^ That's what's great about the Volt. You'll never be stuck by the side of the road with a depleted battery.

[310stanger]

Lets say for the sake of argument that this leaf does take off and nissan sells every single on they make. THey better be working on the infrastructure to charge these things in public like RIGHT now.

[bigrondownhiller]

Lets say for the sake of argument that this leaf does take off and nissan sells every single on they make. THey better be working on the infrastructure to charge these things in public like RIGHT now.

Saw an article that Obama wants to give money to help build and infrastructure for them. Here is one talking about it a little. Most can go into a regular 110v outlet. If you do a 220 you can charge quicker. http://blogs.physicstoday.org/politi...-spur-ele.html.

[Smittro]

Saw an article that Obama wants to give money to help build and infrastructure for them. Here is one talking about it a little. Most can go into a regular 110v outlet. If you do a 220 you can charge quicker. http://blogs.physicstoday.org/politi...-spur-ele.html.

Out of his pocket or ours?..

Leaf,, I hate raking..

[justinmc978]

What are your thoughts?

it looks like a japanese anime bear-eel with braces.

[Hot head]

The Leaf is around 25k after tax credits. Where are you getting 40k from? From what you are saying, you just arent the target market for the car.

The laptop and cellphone battery technology isnt even remotely similar to electric vehicles. Thats apples and oranges.

The tesla car uses laptop batteries and another poster said it can give a gt500 a run for its money.

[Hot head]

Leaf,, I hate raking..

Don't forget to mulch