Nissan Electrifies Us with the 2011 Leaf

Nissan seems to have gained ground on being a pioneer of sorts when it comes to mainstream electric cars with the unveiling of its fully electric vehicle, Leaf during the opening formalities of the new headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, the city that's been touted as the city with almost zero emissions. Yes, it's certainly green technology and Nissan says the car cleanses the air just like leaves purifies it. It sounds like an advertising claim from the forties and fifties, but it certainly drives home the main selling point for the new car.

The compact hatchback will be launched next year in Japan and in the United States as a commercial vehicle, well ahead of some competitors' electric vehicles (EV). It's an effort through which the company hopes to gain an advantage of being a world leader in the EV industry. Nissan believes the more robust Leaf will best earlier releases of EVs by Mitsubishi and Subaru.

While the Leaf isn't really designed for long drives, it's pretty ideal for city driving with a maximum speed of 90 mph and a range of a100 miles per charge, which usually takes 30 minutes depending on the charging station used.

On a regular 220-volt-current outlet, the charging time is 6 hours, which is good enough for an overnight "juicing." This gives the Leaf enough power to its 170 hp electric engine for enough torque pep (207 pound-feet) to it's acceleration to best others out there - or at least according to reports.

The Leaf is a good start at making EVs more mainstream, but there's still the problem of the number of charging stations and the charging time. To compensate, Nissan has incorporated in the vehicle a communication system that informs the driver where to find stations and how fast the chargers are. That's a little bit of comfort, as long as you are in a city and there's no prolonged power outage just when you need electricity.

For now, the Leaf costs just a little bit more than your regular combustion compact of the same model, at $28,000 to $35,000, but it should appeal to environmentalists and the price is expected to drop with more competitors entering the EV market. The batteries are not included in the price of the Leaf. The batteries are leased, which is good since that would lead to efficient recovery for recycling when the batteries are no longer useful.



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