After personally driving each one of these vehicles and doing much research I think the general public does not fully grasp the merits of these vehicles. Each has its own merits and anyone of the three is in a league of their own. I noticed that even sales people at their respective dealerships do not take time to fully understand their competitors brand, so I doubt that the public will get the most accurate information from some sales people.
I think the engineering and design and materials in these vehicles far surpasses even the msrp pricing that is asked for these vehicles. Take the volt for instance it uses a powerful 16kw (16.5kw for 20130 lithium battery pack to push a vehicle weighing
it utilizes an 18qt active thermal liquid cooling system for the power control electronics, generator,and battery pack systems.
Builtin ABS and regenerative braking system, 4 large disc brake system, all speed traction control with stabilink. This is just some
of the technology.
The Toyota Hybrid brand has a decade lead on its other competitors and even licenses out its technology. The Hybrid has gone from a novelty car or just for eco green folks to a more main stream car. Fortunately Toyota overdesigned this vehicle and I believe without its successful launch we would not have the renaissance in the hybrid and electric car market today. Nearly all manufacturers are
turning toward hybrid or electric technology.
The Leaf is in unchartered territory and may lead the way into the growth of new charging infrastructure with charging stations for the public to encourage us not to rely totally on fuel. It is an amazing experience to drive in total freedom from petro on the highway, even though the gps nav system with nearest charging station is interesting, it shows how advanced the car is versus the current or lack of infrastructure or maybe its using latest apple IOS without Google map function? Hopefully its not too far ahead of its time, Nissan should be applauded for committing to such an endeavor with a
well thought out design. Maybe this will create many jobs in updating the nations electrical grid to encourage more vehicles like this without worrying about range anxiety. I think if everyone could afford one and went out and bought one our electrical grid sytem would collapse, especially in the summer, this really needs some attention if we are serious about electrical technology.
So there is no one best car between the volt, toyota hybrid, and leaf. This all depends on each person’s situation such as commuting distance, miles driven daily, wether its a primary car or not, how is their current local infrastructure, enough down time to full charge car between usage.
Yes there are other electric hybrid cars just comparing these three brands as they are pretty much the leaders in their prospective group.
Tag: Nissan Leaf
Nissan Leaf
I recently had the opportunity to test drive a Nissan Leaf Electric Car. This automobile is a “true” electric vehicle in that it does not have a petro based engine like the Toyota Hybrid or General Motors Chevy Volt. Both of those are impressive technologies in their own right
as “green” vehicles. I found driving the Nissan Leaf made me feel that I was in a 21st century vehicle or in a “Back to the Future” movie. Since it has no engine, Nissan has a sound effect that sounds like a simulated low level jet engine whine sound that I think is pretty cool myself.
The first thing one notices is the style of the Nissan Leaf exterior. A lot of its design is to contribute as much toward minimum air drag so it has one of the lowest drag coefficients of any auto on the road today. Even the excessively sized LED headlight design was to minimize air drag and electrical efficiency with LED headlights and tail lights. All of this is needed when you are relying totally on electric power from the 24KW Lithium Battery pack.
It requires 20 hours for a full charge from 110/120 volts 20 amp charger and about 7.5 hours from 208/240 volts 40amp charger and only 30mins at a commercial 480 volt quick charger. Leaf has a CARWINGS system in place to locate charging stations which are displayed on screen
on ones route. Nissan has an estimated electric fill up cost of 2.40 based on about 10 cent/KW average electric utility rate.
The Leaf comes in two versions the SV with a list of 35,200 and the SL with a list of 37,250. I would recommend the SL option has it has the quick charge port that can charge the car in 30 minutes to 80 percent versus hours. Also the SL option includes a solar panel spoiler, rear view monitor,fog lamps and homelink Transciever makes it worth the additional two thousand dollar upgrade. It still qualifies for the 7500 tax incentive which brings the SL to around 29,750 and the SV to 27,700 after tax savings.
The car has an amazing amount of torque, it feels like a real car, very modern feel, lots of room. One has to be frugal and watch energy usage as all accessories take away battery power. One can pre warm or air condition the car before one leaves their garage to maximize their battery. It also recaptures energy during braking so energy can be stored back into battery while driving to maximize range as well.
With no petro engine to rely on as a backup it does give one a little range anxiety due to limitations of the current infrastructure with limited commercial charging stations, and not everyone can rely on being able to charge their car once they reach their work place, destination. This will only improve as well as the number of charging stations and battery capacity. Nissan does offer a 100,000 mile 96 month warranty on the battery.