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Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Any plans to mod yours (to any extent)?
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Not yet. The car's ugly enough, I don't need any coroplast or cardboard hanging off it.
Probably eventually will end up lowering it to tuck the wheels into the wells a bit more - though primarily to stiffen up the ride a bit and not efficiency. If someone makes some decent looking, light and aero wheels in 16" I might consider them, but the cost would never make it worth while. The underbody is already basically flat - nothing to do there. Maybe some sort of grill block, but I suspect that keeping the motor/inverter as cool as possible also improves efficiency.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Audi's ICE-powered A2 had the same form factor (a "functional", conventional looking four door hatchback) yet scored Cd 0.25.
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The A2 is not quite the same. It's roofline is basically the same as the Prius, complete with split rear window. No wonder they got a similar Cd.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
I think Nissan did a lousy job in the aero department! For one thing: if they'd extended the roof line, they would have INCREASED cargo volume and improved Cd. The hatch opening, however, would have been slightly smaller.
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Yes, by extending the top of the roof a bit they could have easily increased storage space a bit and perhaps picked up a few points of aero, but nothing significant without going to a split rear window.
I had a Subaru wagon before the LEAF and it was very similar in functional interior space, but it had a horrendous Cd.
As far as overall efficiency compared to other plug-ins, the LEAF barely beats the Volt (primarily because the Volt weighs nearly 2 TONs), the iMiEV slightly beats the LEAF (primarily because it has a small frontal area and is light) and the Tesla Roadster also beats the LEAF (also because it has a small frontal area and is light).
But the iMiEV and Roadster are not all that different than the LEAF so I'd say that Nissan did OK on it's first production EV.
Compared to the Fisker Karma (a hungry pig of a plug-in which uses nearly double the energy per mile of the other plug-ins) it's awesome. It's expected that the Tesla Model S will be a bit less efficient than the LEAF despite the far superior aerodynamics of it's body - I'd guess primarily because of weight and the HUGE wheels they are fitting it standard.