A PEOPLES’ EV

The People's Electric, Ready to Claim Power
Jerry Garrett, January 23, 2011 (NY Times via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

"The Nissan Leaf, a mildly futuristic four-door hatchback, arrives as so much a pioneer that the systems necessary to keep it moving down the road are still being put in place…Here comes the people's electric car, America, ready or not…

"…[T]he lack of [a public charging infrastructure] is probably the most serious limitation of all purely electric cars. For owners whose trips are within 30 or 40 miles of home (or who can use a charging station at the workplace), this presents no problem…Fast-charging stations, a necessity for longer treks, are few and far between now, but a network of them are planned to begin operating within the next year or so. Leaf buyers who buy the optional $700 Quick Charge Port will be able to use a direct-current fast-charger to replenish their batteries to 80 percent of capacity within 30 minutes and continue on their way…"

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"The next quickest solution, Nissan's 220-volt home charging units, cost $2,200 installed and can give a full charge in eight hours…The majority of public charging stations planned will also use this so-called Level II charging protocol…With the battery topped off, the Leaf…has a range of 100 miles…[though with] charging overnight in my garage on a conventional 110-volt household circuit, the Leaf's meter never showed more than 88 miles of possible range…Nissan specifies a 21-hour recharge time using house current…

"At a starting price of $33,630, the Leaf is by far the least expensive battery-electric car produced in significant numbers; with a 24 kilowatt-hour battery, it qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit as well as incentives offered by various states. The Leaf will be sold initially in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington; by the end of 2011 it will be offered in all states."

click thru to follow the development of plug in vehicles

"…[T]he lithium-ion battery pack is a major part of the car's cost…Building in a battery pack big enough to drive 245 miles on a charge helps push the price of the two-seat Tesla Roadster past $100,000…[T]he Leaf was fascinating to drive…Without the usual sounds of a conventional car, you hear different things while driving a Leaf -- mainly the cacophony produced by other vehicles. At speeds under 16 m.p.h., a beeping sound alerts those outside the car; inside, the tone cannot be heard.

"…[T]he Leaf can be driven vigorously. Its electric motor -- just 107 horsepower, but with 207 pound-feet of torque -- accelerates the 3,400-pound car to 60 m.p.h. in 9.4 seconds…The range meter that created so much anxiety for me, it turns out, just takes some getting used to…Nissan calculates that the Leaf's battery pack, which carries an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty, will lose 20 percent (30 percent, if fast-charging is used often) of its power over the next decade of use…[T]he Leaf demonstrates how much the widespread acceptance of vehicles that produce zero tailpipe emissions will depend on external factors like a charging infrastructure."