Nissan Leaf... the well thought out Volt killer

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by tumnasgt

I'm surprised they didn't use the airconditioner on reverse for heating, seems like an obvious way to reduce power consumption.

What is going to kill their range in the winter is not the heater but the lack of battery heating, you come out ahead even if you use energy from the batteries to heat the batteries so they are closer to their ideal working temperature, ideally you would have a battery heater that draws power from the charging station but when that is not an option you are going to get more range with batteries warmed using energy from that same pack then trying to drive on a cold set of batteries.
If you just run the heater, lights, radio, wipers and all that other stuff you will cut a few miles off your range but most people will never notice even a 1,000 watt load of an electric heater in a car who's drive motor is pulling 10,000 to 20,000 watts or more at times.
Nissan is one of the few car makers that does not believe in battery thermal management other then a single fan inside the sealed battery box.

[robchalmers]

chevy volt killer = time + GM

given the choice, Ampera(EU Volt) - Prius - Leaf. I'd go leaf

[NeilBlanchard]

The Leaf's battery is warmed when charging, and apparently it is well enough insulated to keep most of it's capacity for up to 3 days in sub zero temperatures.

BTW, the DOD allowed on the Leaf is 95% = 22.8kWh. They must have a very stable and robust chemistry and construction. This is at least 2.5X more usable capacity than the Volt; while the total capacity difference is 1.5X.

[RobertSmalls]

Wow, 95% is deeper than I'd want to go everyday. Is that in reduced performance mode, long after distance-to-empty has hit zero?

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

BTW, the DOD allowed on the Leaf is 95% = 22.8kWh. They must have a very stable and robust chemistry and construction. This is at least 2.5X more usable capacity than the Volt; while the total capacity difference is 1.5X.

Apparently the volt never charges above 80% or discharges below 20%, from what I was told at one of the Electric Auto Association meetings is that this can extend the life of the battery by many years as most of the damaged that shortens the life is done at the top and bottom of the charge in a lithium battery, you don't get as much out of it short term but long term you win.

[NeilBlanchard]

Here's an interesting discussion -- Nissan may be sandbagging a bit on the overall capacity of their pack:

My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Battery Design and Engineering Issues

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Ryland

What is going to kill their range in the winter is not the heater but the lack of battery heating...

Yet another reason to make it an APU-type hybrid. When it's cold, you fire up the APU and use the heat from that to warm the cabin & battery.

[tjts1]

0-60 in 7 seconds flat with 2 on board is pretty damn impressive.

[Cd]

( regarding range anxiety )

Whatever happened to the idea of having charging stations installed at Nissan dealerships ?
Almost every town in America has a Nissan dealership nearby.

[SentraSE-R]

Originally Posted by tjts1

0-60 in 7 seconds flat with 2 on board is pretty damn impressive.

It mocks the "sporty" CR-Z's performance specs.