Fully Charged - Test Drive of the Nissan Leaf
 

...uh, which was "fully charged"? the car or the driver?

...maybe I'm jaded, but that was a rather bland, pabulum-laced, ingratiating, review from my perspective.

Agreed. Plus i simply could not believe my eyes at the sight of a piece of junk cheap STARTING BATTERY!!! I mean for crissake would 4 headways have blown the r&d budget

That wasn't a starting battery... that was a lead-acid 12V accessory battery. Just a buffer for the DC/DC converter. If the final version of the car ships with one, I'd replace it with one of these little guys:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/...c53c37d9_z.jpg

Also, while the EV1 was a new car from the ground up, the Leaf rides on a modified Versa platform. There's nothing wrong with platform sharing, just things wrong with Llewellyn's facts, as usual.

I appreciate it wasnt there to start an engine but unless my eyesight is totally shot it was a starting type battery. ie cheap paste plates not deep cycle. Not even agm.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1281277062
Rectangular plates, six service ports... you're right, it's a floodie. And it looks like it's the same size as a Honda Civic's battery. :confused:

Nice to know i'm not totally mad:) I have no problem with them using an accessory battery as with the key off the traction pack will (should) be offline so it picks up housekeeping loads. But why not a deep cycle gel or agm at the very least?? Or ideally a small lithium pack? Even my ultra budget conversion uses an odyssey pc1500!!!

One of those little critters from that pic is only 7.2 Ah. Might be a wee bit too tiny...

Patrick -

Pretty neat. Definitely a friendly interviewer as others have said, but I still learned some leafy details. I want to see some commuter studies with the Leaf to see if its driving range holds up under real-world conditions.

CarloSW2

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