Nissan didn't hesitate to gloat about its ability to book
8,000 Leaf pre-orders in just nine days during a
pre-pre-order for those who specifically requested early access to the automobile, and now the outfit's looking to make good on plans to have 25,000 orders in place by December. If all goes well, the all-electric car will be "widely available" in 2012, with a semi-wide release slated for next Spring. Naturally, the buzz is already fueling demand, and the automaker has today opened up a public reservation system online for those unwilling to take chances on availability come 2011. If you're interested, you can actually reserve your
Leaf right now with precisely zero clothing on -- you heard right, there's no need to even visit a local dealer. Simply hand over a $99 refundable deposit and wait, but you best get your story in line before being pinged by Nissan. The
Wall Street Journal has it that pre-orderers will have to "convince Nissan they are up to the task of owning an electric vehicle based on their driving patterns, living arrangements and other factors," and if you call Nunapitchuk, Alaska home, you can bet you'll be shoved to the rear of the line. But hey, we always heard it was best to pull the trigger now and ask questions later.
[Thanks, Jim]
posted May 16th 2010 9:12AM
@acedrums
They certainly are making a great effort to put an end to the electric vehicle. After GM ended the lease on EV1, they sold the battery patent to chevron.
I love how the pic on the Nissan website says zero emission. As if to state that the power to charge the batteries comes from secret magical electric gnomes. That's even more magical than Apple! lol
@dicobalt Bravo! well stated. VW TDI FTW!
@dicobalt Emossions are still created for generating the petroleum into gas + while driving the car so its double what this nissan would make
@dicobalt There's nothing magical for the few of us with solar panels on our roofs.
I like the look of the Volt better, plus I'm not ready to fully commit to no gasoline.
For those who are thinking of buying LEAF, please pay a little attention.
I have been riding an Electric Bike for the past 11 months. It, too, runs on 4 cells of Li-On battery. Power in the first 3-5 months was impressive. However, once battery life decay kicks in, you will not be able to travel as far on a single charge as you initially did. Power will also be somewhat decrease, acceleration will be most noticeable, even on full throttle. You will notice an increased need to charge the battery every time you successfully complete one/two trip.
A change of the batteries will improve things tremendously, especially if the batteries have improved.
Overall electric vehicles are good for short range travel, and/or daily commute. Otherwise don't bother looking for a place to charge unless you plan way ahead.
@darkmax You can't compare the batteries used in an electric bike to the ones used in a electric car...
@Passarinhuu
Why not? Are the electric car batteries memory proof?
@fhlh No, they aren't memory proof. You can't compare the batteries used in a car with those used in a bike when bearing in mind the price of each battery pack.
The batteries meant to be used in cars should be much more expensive and, therefore, reliable, than those destined to be used in bikes...
@darkmax
It's not the batteries, it's your ass growing fatter riding an electric bicycle. LMAO.
@darkmax he's right. They are using lithium ion batteries and even if they figured out some new chemical makeup to get more cycles out of them. Eventually they will degrade. The average li ion battery gets 250 charges. That would mean the battery would be replaced at 25000 miles and so significant losses way before that.
@darkmax
Your bike has less than 5 kWh of batteries in it. The nissan leaf has 24 kWh. Larger array, greater life. Also, your bike probably doesnt even have a battery management system. The BMS in the leaf is highly advanced, and takes much better care of the cells than your bike does. This BMS makes sure that the battery is never over/under charged.
@Passarinhuu Actually, they are memory proof. Lithium cells do not have memory effect. They are not the perfect battery, but memory effect is not one of their problems.
@sandwich2 Check out Lithium Iron Phosphate cells (from A123 corp and others). over 1500 recharge cycles. These are real batteries that are sold today - not a science project.
Wow! Could they make it any more Fugly?
I don't know if i trust Nissan to make an all electric vehicle. Over the years i've known many many nissan owners, and almost every single one has had some sort of electrical problems with their cars. I'd trust it more if it was Honda.
I like what these companies are doing. In terms of makin' better cars for the future. I just hate the design of the Eco-Friendly/Concept Cars. They look horrible to me.
@EagleyeSmith
I agree. Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to make them look normal.
@EagleyeSmith You obviously haven't heard of the ugloefficiencity factor. The more hideous a car looks the less power it consumes - this is mainly because people don't like to drive them in public and are mainly driven around after dark when people can't identify the driver as easily.
I would take a Tesla roadster or a model S. PLZ
Both of those are much better than this shitty eco box and that ugly volt thing.
2010 is the year I've decided to stop buying gas burning cars. Any car made after this year that is not primarily electric will never see a penny of my money. Ever.
I think I'll stick with my 2005 Prius with the PHEV system (plug-in). I drive about 30 miles a day) and only have to go to a gas station once every couple of months. My only concern is the fuel in the tank going bad. I might have to start figuring the cost of Stabil.
Even without the PHEV system the Prius got 45 MPG (mostly city) and never failed. Toyota did a very nice job on this vehicle both with the technology and in creating a comfortable, nicely-sized, everyday utility vehicle.
I wouldn't be quick to jump on v1.0 of any new technology car...it's not like automakers really offer low cost upgrades when they finally work the bugs out.
@KenEsq Keep the cap on, and using a product like Stabil, a tankful should help preserve the fuel 12-15 months no problem (likely much longer). So that $3/year won't effect your budget much at all.
funny thing about nissan is that they copied toyotas box car andcalled it cube. when i first saw it this week, I LOL. i raelly dont know what ppl see w/ these cars.
Good! But Tesla is years ahead and I like their designs.
Has anybody heard of the Tesla brand of electric cars? Hmmm well they have been around for a few years producing nothing but electric cars and far more stylish than this, or the volt and have way better performance.
@an4rch Hey Bink, not everyone has $100,000+ to spend on a car. I'd hope something that costs $70,000+ more would look better.
http://www.motortrend.com/new_cars/04/tesla/roadster/index.html
@crescentdavid Try the Model S on for size.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/19/tesla-model-s-will-cost-57-400-just-49-900-after-tax-breaks/
If your anywhere in the Chicago area you really wont have to worry about running out of charge during your commute. There are a few companies here already making there presence known with EV chargers. The cool part is you can also DL an app for the iphone or Android that will tell you where the nearest charger is as well as if its in use. Most of these chargers are 240 and some will be 440 so it shouldnt take more than 30 minutes to recharge, depending on how much charge the batteries hold. The batteries in the Nissan leaf are rumored to cost around 9000 which is much less than what anyone else can get the batteries at. You figure after 10 years of use and you need to replace them the batteries will already be much much cheaper and provide possibly 3 or 4 times the initial capacity of the original batteries.
You can pre-order cars now? I have to change my whole outlook on life now.
No thanks, i just spend my 25 grand on a 2010 Nissan 370z
@Jordus Spent*
Not referring to anyone on here, but I don't understand why people think the electric car is a 100% environmental decision.
I would not mind a car that is lighter, plugs into the wall, and costs me about $2.75 per 100 miles. Not to mention reducing reliance on foreign oil.
I look forward to a day where I can walk in and buy an electric car that costs the same (or less) as a gas car, that performs well and is more efficient than a gas car.
@cr8tive
"Under my plan of a Cap and Trade system, electricity rates would necessarily sky rocket" - Barack Obama (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4
If you have to plug it it, you blew it!
@camerafan I think plugging my car in at night in my own garage would be way more convenient than visiting the gas station.
What a piece of junk. When your battery dies, then what?
You better have another car in the garage if you buy this.
@kool1 What a piece of junk. When you run out of gas, then what? You better have another car in your garage if you get something other than the leaf.
@SlappySquirrel
Then you call someone to bring you some gas, put it in your car, drive to a station and fill it up. Can't do that with an electric car, it's tow truck time if you run out of juice.
@SlappySquirrel
Are you paid to be that stupid?
@kool1
Yeah i gotta call stupid on this one. Almost all of the car companies have been running trials with electric cars. BMW has been leasing out electric minis and their owners love them. One of them even put up over 20000 miles in one year. I would be willing to bet that in 10 years time, there are more plug in cars offered than solely gasoline cars.
@Boyprodigy1
I'll take that bet.
I like the front of the leaf but I don't like the back. It has a really big ass.
Got my pre-order in on April 20th. This will obviously change some driving habits for myself, but I'm willing to make those adjustments. As someone that lives outside of one of the main cities Nissan is initially rolling this out to (Salt Lake City), I'm hoping that I'll be able to be one of the first to get this car in my area.
This car is a paper weight when the batteries run out.. dumb.
I hope they offer road side charging assistance with these things!