Friday, November 26, 2010

Update: Nissan Leaf's Performance Statistics

A few weeks ago, I made a post about the Nissan Leaf. Just to quickly reiterate why this vehicle is important, it is a fully-electric, zero-emissions vehicle manufactured by Nissan. It is scheduled to go on sale next month along with Nissan's new 2011 vehicle line up. 

As it turns out, the Nissan Leaf's performance statistics aren't nearly as good as Nissan had previously claimed in their press release. Just to clear up any misconceptions or myths about these statistics, I found myself obligated to post these new figures which were released by the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday. I was slightly surprised to learn how different the actual statistics are compared to Nissan's original claims.

1) Nissan has been bragging about a driving range of 62 - 138 miles on a single charge. The EPA decided to correct Nissan's claim, and determined that the official range is only 73 miles. That's a huge difference! Come on Nissan, did you think no one was going to find out you were exaggerating?

2) Nissan also conveniently forgot to mention that if you neglect to purchase a $2000 240 Volt charging station, it will take approximately one hour of charging to obtain 5 miles of range. This means that to obtain the full estimated 73 mile range, a person would have to charge their Nissan Leaf for over 14 hours if starting their charge with a drained battery! (With the 240 Volt upgrade, it is said to take only 7 hours to obtain a full charge.)

3) Although Nissan did admit that exterior weather conditions will cause a change in the Leaf's range, they didn't go in depth about what else can cause variations.  For instance, the EPA tested the Leaf in conditions just above freezing. They blasted the heat and fan and lost 14 miles of range. Extra passengers and cargo will also reduce the range very noticeably, although specifics were not provided in the EPA's report.

Nissan will be providing 20,000 units to dealers during its first year in production, and they are surprisingly expected to completely sell out. Do these new statistics change anyone's view on the leaf? Personally, I'm disappointed with these new statistics. 

36 comments:

  1. I still have my 2007 Frontier, and honestly I wouldn't want anything better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, Nissan tried too hard and got busted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not sure how I feel about this. Good intentions though I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the warning about this one.
    I appreciate your visit and comment. Too bad the Reliant Robin is not a winner. Had they added a fourth tire and spelled RobYn correctly, they might've gotten it right.
    Cheers,
    xoRobyn

    ReplyDelete
  5. seems good for city driving, but you'd be screwed if you wanted to take a road trip. And 14 hours for a full charge is just ridiculous

    ReplyDelete
  6. What were they thinking, they should have made it a three wheeler :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well that's certainly an interesting little vehicle.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Still, that's a nice looking car

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kind of a strange design. I like the name though.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bad car haha. The only downfall to electric.

    ReplyDelete
  11. weird design but it's looks attractive

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah, they make me feel stupid about liking Nissan.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yeah, they make me feel stupid about liking Nissan.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Car looks cool, too bad it isn't.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Lovely post, very interesting, i follow your blog...

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm actually surprised that Nissan would differ in their claims. Usually for new technology companies are very careful about what they can and can't say.

    ReplyDelete
  17. i would probably rather have a hybrid, that charge time is rediculous

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm interested in electric cars, but they need a little improvement on those stats

    ReplyDelete
  19. The gub'mint will be suckered/bribed into taking them off Nissan's hands.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I don't want a leaf, but I think they're going to sell like crazy when they're available

    ReplyDelete
  21. bet this car wont make the playoffs

    ReplyDelete
  22. you put a nice post today!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I would purchase a car that uses electricity, but it seems it's going to be a while to make good ones

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I wish I could afford a more eco-friendly car, but unfortunately, I'm broke.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I would drive this sucker if I could afford it.

    ReplyDelete