Leaf Thread: 2016 Model Adds Bigger Battery, 107 Mile Range

[a6m5]

You make a good point, but you also make the same old mistake of assuming:

a) Battery technology will always be the same.
b) Charging technology will always be the same.

I'm not arguing anybody here, I've already stated my case. But the R&D in these two departments, they must be beneficial to people outside the automotive industry as well. Even if hybrids & EV's end up being a waste of time.

 

[homeforsummer]

I'm not arguing anybody here, I've already stated my case. But the R&D in these two departments, they must be beneficial to people outside the automotive industry as well. Even if hybrids & EV's end up being a waste of time.

Of course. Just as technology outside of the automotive industry often finds its way into the auto industry eventually and proves beneficial. Li-Ion battery tech used in laptops and the like, for example, eventually found its way into powering EVs.

 

[Jim Prower]

I wonder if we could run some kind of a powerplant using the heat coming off an internal combustion engine... If we could hook up some high efficiency generator using steam power from water running through the engine, I bet we could make some sort of usable electricity for a hybrid. And then combine that with regen brakes and you might have something kinda cool. And the cooling requirements of the engine would be lower.

Well, Compounding is one way of using heat from the exhaust to make more power: You expand the hot gases, put them in another (bigger) cylinder, and expand them again. In theory, this should increase the amount of heat converted into power...no-one's figured out a practical way to do so, yet.

However, I might use something other than water to boil if we use the coolant-power method...a gas that doesn't have to heat up to 210F/100C to vaporize or pressurize. (Imagines engines with "Steam Domes")

another thing could be to run a Stirling Hot Air engine off the exhaust. Those work off of temperature differences: You simply need to figure out how to make said difference quite great...

 

[Philly]

Well, Compounding is one way of using heat from the exhaust to make more power: You expand the hot gases, put them in another (bigger) cylinder, and expand them again. In theory, this should increase the amount of heat converted into power...no-one's figured out a practical way to do so, yet.

I found a pretty cool thing called the six stroke cycle where there actually is that cycle of hot gases expanding in the cylinder to utilize the heat of the engine as an extra power stroke to the standard Otto cycle.

 

[YSSMAN]

Nissan has Promised 1,000 Leafs to US by Next Year - Exclusive Market Distribution

Where exactly?

• Tennessee
• Oregon
• Seattle
• San Diego
• Phoenix
• Tuscon

Interesting... Strange that they wouldn't offer the cars for use in NYC, Boston or Miami, I'd have thought those to be key markets as well.

 

[Northstar]

That is odd, you would think they would go for the bigger markets for hybrids.

 

[a6m5]

Sometimes, Prius can look like the best selling car where I live. When we drove up to Seattle couple of months ago, we couldn't believe how many Prius we saw on the way out of the Portland area, on the way up north, and in Seattle. It's pretty unbelievable.

 

[Northstar]

Sometimes, Prius can look like the best selling car where I live. When we drove up to Seattle couple of months ago, we couldn't believe how many Prius we saw on the way out of the Portland area, on the way up north, and in Seattle. It's pretty unbelievable.

I can understand those two location, however I would have swapped one of the 2 Arizona locations for NYC and probably the Tennessee one for San Francisco.


BTW, I was born in Portland. However I only liver there for a couple months after that.

 

[Philly]

Sometimes, Prius can look like the best selling car where I live. When we drove up to Seattle couple of months ago, we couldn't believe how many Prius we saw on the way out of the Portland area, on the way up north, and in Seattle. It's pretty unbelievable.

Eh, you get used to it. There are a lot of Ecocars all over the place here. I already see probably about 5 new Priuses daily. I remember getting excited about the new one once and seeing several every day from then on.

My guess with the random locations is that they're testing the waters in different cultural regions of the country. Arizona and Tennessee are probably testing the reception of the car to a typical Southern/Midwest American and then Seattle would be seeing just how well this thing does in a city that is known for a "green" atmosphere.

 

[Jim Prower]

Oh, and the Nissan Versa? God no, people seem to rave about them in the States but they're like the automotive equivalent of drizzle. I'm hugely thankful we don't get them in the UK...

Oh, you get them....They're Called Tiida.

EDIT: Well, research reveals that you get them as Irish Imports...((FACT CHECK NEXT TIME!!!))

 

[Keef]

Nissan has Promised 1,000 Leafs to US by Next Year - Exclusive Market Distribution

Where exactly?

• Tennessee
• Oregon
• Seattle
• San Diego
• Phoenix
• Tuscon

Interesting... Strange that they wouldn't offer the cars for use in NYC, Boston or Miami, I'd have thought those to be key markets as well.

Totally weird. I'm curious why they included the entire states of Tennessee and Oregon. Especially Oregon. People live there?

 

[Sage]

Oregon is mostly for hippies who turn so liberal that they move out of California. Ergo, good target market.

 

[YSSMAN]

I think they picked Tennessee because that's where their North American Corporate Headquarters are. Well, that's my best guess anyway.

 

[Keef]

That's the only reason I can come up with either. Even Nashville isn't all that big a city. Besides the couple notable cities there's nothing but nothing and huge hills between anything else, so it's not like you'll be able to take it anywhere interesting.

 

[YSSMAN]

What about...

???

 

[Keef]

That thing doesn't have the range to make it to Gatlinburg from anywhere else people may actually live. Sevierville is probably the only city within range, considering the hilly terrain outside that valley. There's less than 25,000 people between all three cities, including Pigeon Forge.

 

[a6m5]

Totally weird. I'm curious why they included the entire states of Tennessee and Oregon. Especially Oregon. People live there?

Oregon is mostly for hippies who turn so liberal that they move out of California. Ergo, good target market.

People live there?...... Whatever, Beef.

Oregon may not be a big state, but it's not considered small either. And yes, politically, Oregon is towards the extreme left. Also, Japanese imports thrive in this region, and Priuses....... scratch that. Hybrids are everywhere.

 

[Philly]

Totally weird. I'm curious why they included the entire states of Tennessee and Oregon. Especially Oregon. People live there?

I think Oregon is quite possibly even farther left than Washington. For a Seattleite, that's pretty hard to comprehend.

I'm curious as to why Los Angeles and San Fransisco aren't on there. I bet if they put this thing on sale nationally, 75% of the sales would come from the West Coast. And most of the rest in New York City.

 

[YSSMAN]

Especially San Francisco versus San Diego. What the hell is that? I mean, Sacramento would have made more sense than that. The lack of East Coast cities is what I find most-strange. No NYC, Boston or Washington D.C. hookups. Those would have seemed like much better ideas.

 

[Jim Prower]

maybe they don't want to ship the cars all the way cross-country or summat. Thing is, Tennesee is almost there...

 

[Philly]

If their NA HQ is in Tennessee, maybe they'll only have a few out there to use as company cars? And then naturally a few people will see them and want to buy them so perhaps they'd ship a few out to dealers.

 

[Keef]

Maybe they want to test the car in oddball markets, to see how it works out where you wouldn't expect it to.

 

[YSSMAN]

Nissan Would Like to Sell You a Leaf for $32,780 Without the $2,200 Charger

That's a bit odd, overall the price seems pretty affordable for the first totally legit EV car to be sold in the US. The Fed will give you a $7,500 tax credit for the car, making the total price just over $25,000... And they will apparently offer a $2,000 credit for the charger as well. So, I guess that makes things a little less-odd by days end.

Still, this sets a pricing standard for the Volt. A bit lower than what I had expected. It wouldn't surprise me to see Chevrolet price the Volt above $35,500 (at minimum) now, but still keep it short of the odd $40,000 psychological barrier.

 

[Jondot]

$2,500 for a charger?! Yikes, that's almost as much as a MagSafe...

Anyway, considering the Prius is $22k, that pricing seems about right.

 

[Eric.]

Just noticed, does that have blue headlight bulbs? That's totally legal...

And $35000 for an ugly little ego eco-hatch? The people who really need a four door commuter car aren't going to be the ones getting this. It'll be those getting it to look green. Which is fine I suppose if you want to argue this to be funding more R&D. It might've been better off as a sporty looking coupe instead to actually interest in the car so that they look it up and learn more. I know if any of my friends saw it drive down the road they'd say it looked gross, and probably laugh if they knew it was $35k. However if it was a really sleek coupe or hardtop convertible, they'd probably at least think it looked cool and then know something about it.

Apart from cities, this thing is useless as an only car as well. You can argue all day that you just go rent a car if you need something for a longer range than this, but that's really inconvenient. I mean, I've done over 100 miles round trip taking a girl out to the movies one night...I'm not going to go rent a car for that.

Edit: However, for $35k I expect something like the Volt. This thing should be no more than Insight/Prius priced.

 

[Omnis]

32 grand? Nissan can keep their mudkips for that price. I'll be driving a Mustang GT.

 

[Danoff]

That's not an electric car..... this is an electric car.

Seriously wth? Why do manufacturers insist on sucking all of the joy out of car ownership when they roll out electric cars. It's like they think people WANT to drive underpowered, ugly, boxy, overpriced plastic. Tesla gets it....

 

[Jim Prower]

Thing is, even the Tesla (and Fisker) are smugmobiles to some extent. Sure, looks great. Drives like a Camry. (or a Miata, in the Roadster's sense.)

 

[Danoff]

Thing is, even the Tesla (and Fisker) are smugmobiles to some extent. Sure, looks great. Drives like a Camry. (or a Miata, in the Roadster's sense.)

I've never heard of a Camry or Miata that can go like stink the way the Teslas do... and that's kinda my point. I don't want to drive a 100hp slow-mobile. I occasionally have to merge onto the freeway and don't want to get yardsale'd by an 18 wheeler.

 

[Interpol-007]

I really like the design of the car. Its a bit expensive for my budget.
They should make it more aggressive.