A production Nismo may be offered in for sale in 2012. The street version offers a modified body kit and 18-inch alloy wheels The car can accelerate to 62mph in less than 7 seconds with stock Leaf running gear.
Two other notable achievements by modified Leaf Electric Cars:
1. A Leaf has successfully completed the Pikes Peak international Hill Climb. Pikes Peak Colorado is a 14,100 foot mountain. The Leaf made it to the top in in 14 minutes and 33 seconds.
2. Another Leaf has completed the "Cannonball Run" in Ireland. The 900 kilometer race was also attended by Porsche Cayman's, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentley and Aston Martin gas burners.
Nissan Sales
As of the end of 2011, over 20,000 LEAF EVs have been sold worldwide. By Feb. 2012, the numbers had climbed to include some 26,000 Leaf Reservations. The cars are selling at a steady rate.
Next, the Leaf will be heading to the track. The NISMO RC is shorter by 4" than the street car, and sits just 2.5" off the ground. The racer weighs in close to 2,100 pounds.
Performance will not match NASCAR, but the NISMO RC will hit 60 mph in about 6.9 seconds, and top out at 93 mph. The car will run at track speeds for around 20 minutes.
The Nissan Leaf holds the promise of reaching thousands or more electric car buyers. The Leaf is one of a few well engineered real world electric cars with real potential to reach a lot of consumers. Measuring that potential is an educated guess that likely depends on factors like the price of gasoline.
Whatever, the Nissan Leaf is one cool car.
The leaf has been all in the EV news lately, having just been rolled out
for a USA tour. Part of the emphasis by Nissan is charging facilities. Nissan correctly realizes that the last electric vehicle acceleration 30 years ago was in
part stalled out by the lack of places to charge up. This was our experience
too. It's a lot easier to use your EV if there is a nearby place to charge it up.
So, Leaf owners may be able to quietly pull up to the plugs at local charging spots. Nissan has plans for charging stations in major cities in the USA and other countries. If you are located in one of these areas, charging the Leaf
could become practical depending on the number and placement of the stations.
Should you forget to recharge your Leaf, the car can be programmed to send you an email message requesting a charge. The car can also be remotely heated.
A few test drive impressions have been recorded. Of all those tests checked, the results have been very positive so far.
In the news: The Hertz Company will add the Leaf to its rental car fleet in unspecified cities in the US and Europe.
Availability: You can order up a Leaf for around $33,000 US.
Here are some of the Specs on the Leaf:
Range - 100 miles/160 km average
Top Speed - 90 mph/145 kph
Electric Motor - 80 kW/107 hp
Energy Storage - 24 kWh - around 3 quarts/liters gasoline equivalent
Kerb Weight - 3400 lbs/1545 kg
Wt/HP - 32 lbs/1 hp
Charge at home 220V - 8 hours
80% quick charge at Nissan/3-phase charger - 30 minutes
As for sales, Nissan plans to produce 50,000 Leafs (leaves?) in 2011. People can pay $99 US to reserve a Leaf now. So far, people have placed 19,000 reservations, filling the baseline quota for the year.
To supply the Leaf, a lithium battery plant is under construction at Smyrna, Tennessee. The plant will have the capacity to supply up to 150,000 Leaf battery packs annually. The goal is to produce 500,000 Nissan electric cars by 2013.
Interestingly, the Leaf onboard battery management system now restricts battery charge input to the pack at 3.3 kW. This limits Level 2 charge time to about 8 hours for the 24 kWh pack.
The Leaf has recently completed the tough 12.4 mile Pikes Peak hill climb. The car made the 4,700 foot course in EV record time.
