'The Leaf: Nissan's First All-Electric Car'

The Leaf: Nissan's First All-Electric Car

08/11/09 07:55

It would be easy to describe Nissan as a latecomer to the green movement when it comes to automobiles. After all, it only has the Altima Hybrid in its line-up of alternative fuel engines, and the Japanese company only borrowed the technology from Toyota. What's more is that these models are only sold in a few models in limited volumes. So what does the company have to contribute to green driving?

The trurth is that the company has been busily researching about electric cars (and their batteries) for around 17 years now. In fact, company officials even claim that they are most capable of producing a purely electric cars in the succeeding years, saying that they will be able to introduce their first pure-electric car to the US market next year.

The model I am talking about is the Nissan Leaf, a four-to-five seat, front-drive C-segment hatchback designed to become an everyday urban vehicle. Each charge of the car will enable a person to drive by around 160 km--terrible for someone who likes to go driving everywhere, but good enough for the ordinary American driver, who just typically drives around 100km everyday. The automobile runs on lithium ion batteries and has a top speed of 140 kph.

It is fair to say that Nissan, in recent years, focused on its performance image rather than its commitment to produce environmentally-friendly units. This is in contrast to its fellow Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda, which have successfully built images of eco-friendly corporations through their commitment to produce alternative-fuel and hybrid cars. This makes one wonder what Nissan's long-term outlook is. The company says that it has a lot of plans to develop a variety of energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicles, but right now, the Nissan Leaf is the only proof we have about this commitment.

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