Maybe the 2016 Leaf will (finally) come with two battery pack sizes – 24 kWh and 30 kWh? And maybe Nissan will be selling upgraded battery packs to owners of existing Leaf’s? But maybe the people on a certain MyNissanLeaf forum are just smoking crazy stuff? Over on a MyNissanLeaf…
The whole car industry must be able to compete against a 200+ mile range $35,000 MSRP electric car from Tesla Motors, by 2017. That fact is probably what’s behind today’s news/rumors that Nissan may be shutting down its battery factories and switching to LG Chem as their battery supplier. In…
Is it a mistake if Nissan waits until 2017 to unveil better battery pack for the Nissan Leaf? A month ago I covered some rumors suggesting the “Hot Battery” and other battery improvements were just around the corner for Nissan, and that the company might even do a mid-year upgrade…
In a recent video stunt, Nissan held a Nissan Leaf “race” in the quietest village in Europe to demonstrate how electric vehicles can rid the world of noxious noise pollution problems. Most of the worry causing us to think about electric vehicles is fumes – greenhouse gases and other stuff…
Will Nissan launch, this year, a version of the Nissan Leaf that gives a 135 mile driving range? According to an article last week on TheStreet.com, that’s exactly what Nissan will do, by this fall. Unfortunately the article offers no solid proof, just a pile of weak guesswork. However, one…
Could Nissan be getting ready to offer multiple battery pack capacity options on the Nissan Leaf? According to a report on PlugInCars.com, that’s exactly the case, though it’s not clear WHEN this will occur. Reportedly, Pierre Loing, Nissan’s Vice President of Product and Advanced Planning and Strategy, said that Nissan…
Remember the Nissan Leaf sales figures in 2012? It was pretty dismal. While looking something else up I just came across this Time Magazine article from September 2012: Is It Time to Declare the Nissan Leaf a Flop? Well.. Looking back at that, Leaf (and Volt and Model S) sales…
Just how afraid of Tesla is GM? I’m asking this because of a pair of events, one where Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk laid out the company’s roadmap making it clear they can and will bring a 200+ mile range electric car to market in a couple years, and another…
While Ford and Toyota disappoint us in announcing they won’t collaborate on hybrid drive trains for full-capability SUV’s and light trucks, Nissan gladdens us with news they’ve sold their 100,000th electric vehicle. I frequently come across naysayer articles pointing out that electric car sales are 0.5% of all car sales. …
Can electric cars be successful as a Taxi? Taxi’s seem to drive lots of miles a day, which would be many more than the 70-100ish mile range of typical electric cars. Where New York City has launched use of Nissan Leaf as taxi’s ahead of deploying the electric e-NV200 minivan,…
A somewhat surprising is that fast charging (for electric cars) can reduce the cost of electric cars. Because electric car cost is a major factor delaying electric car adoption, if fast charging support would allow a cheaper electric car then it’s important to get fast charging infrastructure out there as…
It’s thought that DC Fast Chargers deployment is a crucial element to widespread electric car adoption. For example, the Japanese deployed a widespread CHAdeMO network in 2008 and immediately saw electric car utilization rates go up. My feeling is that fast charging is the way to implement the normal behavior…
It appears two things are at the top of Carlos Ghosns’ mind about the Nissan Leaf: China, and cost reduction. At appearances in Portugal and Japan recently, Ghosn talked about his intention for Nissan to take a leadership role in the Chinese electric car market, following the pattern which let…
While the Tesla Model S has all the appearances of a luxury sedan, under the covers is the power plant of a sports car, as was proved last weekend when four Model S’s took the top positions in a large electric car time trial race. Under the sleek luxury sedan facade of the Tesla Model…
Many are concerned about warranty coverage of the Nissan Leaf battery pack, it’s expected useful life-time, what sort of repairs are needed for the battery pack, and what about that factory in Smyrna that’s supposed to increase Nissan Leaf production. Nissan latest in their series of online videos about the…
