The Nissan Leaf was not the Worlds first “Electric car”. This accolade went to the Nissan Altro, this car was introduced at the 1997 Los-Angeles car show. Nissan only sold about 200 of these cars and turned their efforts to other models.
One of their next models was the “Nissan Leaf”. This car came out with many fuel saving features, to give the car as minimum a drag as possible. Nissan designers created things like split headlights to deflect the airflow from around the mirrors. They also developed more efficient head light bulbs that reduced the electric use by as much as 50%. Underneath the car was protected by special panelling that gave the car much less drag and therefore more dynamic, all these added up to a much more air dynamic car with low drag levels.
The car is powered by Lithuim-ion battery, each battery costing about £11500.00 (price at 2010) not a cheap battery???. This gives the car a top speed of about 90mph with a top speed of 0 to 60 in around 10seconds. Nissan guarantee the battery for 100000.0 miles or 8 years, but certain temperature criteria apply to the warranty conditions.
The “leaf” is also fitted with a second battery. This battery is a standard lead acid battery giving 12volts.This battery controls the standard equipment such as wipers, washers, radio and other accessories. In some countries the car is fitted with a small solar panel located in the rear spoiler, this helps charge the the secondary battery.
As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, Nissan owners have to comply with certain stipulations regarding the temperature conditions that the battery must adhere to, in order to prolong the life of their batteries. They must avoid standing their cars for more than a 24hr period in temperatures of over 120f or 49c. Also they must avoid leaving their cars for more than 7days at a temperature of -13f or -25c. The battery must be bellow 80% charged before battery is presented for charging.
The Nissan Leaf is expected to do about 100ml or 160km in the city mode before the battery needs re-charging, or about 75ml or119km in mixed driving conditions, this is known as the 5 cycle test. It takes about 8hrs to charge a battery from zero to fully charged and the car is charged from a 240volt 30amp charging source. Please send me any feed back or experience you have had regarding the batteries on the Nissan Leaf. To www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk
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