Topic: Nissan Leaf

[sailor723]

Jeremy Cato raises some interesting questions about the Leaf (and EV's in general) in this article.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100512/autos-cato-leaf-100513/20100513?s_name=Autos

[tpl]

Cato's point about paying for roads. A red herring as car/truck/fuel taxes separated to pay for roads and their upkeep is one of those things that cause Ministers of Finance to be very unhappy and so has not been done for a long time.

That would be interesting... tax the electricity used to recharge electric cars at the same rate as gasoline.
Ignoring efficiency of the engines/motors.

1 litre of gas is about 9KwH    and about $1.    1KwH of domestic electricity is 10-12c             
so they cost about the same now except that about 33% of the $1 for gas is taxes and only 5% now or 13% soon is taxes.

A separate meter system for a home recharger is probably practical if the smart meters that are being installed already have the facility built in...which I bet they do not as nobody thought about it.

Cato's point about time to recharge.
50 litres of gasoline has a volume of just under 2 cu feet... a gas tank!  Holds 250 Kwh and can be recharged in under 5 minutes.  I wait for a battery that operates at room temperature that can do that.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Which question?
The Leaf may do if you never leave the city.
 I like the way the Volt & Prius are going since they have a gas engine also

[johngenx]

Cato has valid points, but the tone seems to suggest that EVs are not worth pursuing.  I think the Leaf and the various hybrid models, and plug-in hybrids are pointing to the future of the automobile.  We need to end up in a place where the high efficiency of the electric motor is combined with renewable energy sources to provide our need for transportation.

Battery efficiency will either get better with technological advances, or we'll find a different way to store energy.

I think many auto enthusiasts see the poor performance of the current EVs and wonder about fun.  Given firms like Tesla, I think the fun and performance models will come quickly as we move to EVs.

[safristi]

..until "free" electricity comes from sustainable sources..Hydro Elec (few and far between) OR NUKES...............coal fired Teslas are a wet nightmare...............the infrastructure costs are ENORMOUS and all you GREENIES are on aboot HYDROGEN.....WIND..SOLAR....switch GRASS...old FRIES and PIES GREASE POWERED WOMBATS et al.....

  why should any one neighbourhood spend $$$$'s fer a few "LEAF_FANS!!! " seriously WHY...when the tree hasn't been shaken out as to the "WINNERS!?" we've seen the fiasco of
 billions spent on ETHANOL B/S......locally..when ya coulda bought it cheaper from Brazil (I wondered wot 'appened to all that FUZZ that woz BUsted from PUBES!!!"............)....

  needless to say OIL is here fer a long time and a good time...and may the best new!!! tech win on it's MERITS ...horses for courses coulda been FORD taunting the nag drawn wagons of his day......did he get help from BIG GOV MOTORS...............Natural Gas has far more obvious and immediate potential.and much real life experience in vehicles....and is DARN CHEAP TOO................. ..use yer brains fellas   and come up with better than the latest Company HANDOUT over the INTERWEB_NET THINGY....

[Ice]

I think there are some good points in there but some of the tone is very misguided.  The Leaf isn't really meant to be a "vacation" or "trip car".  It's a battery powered city car with enough capability to get you to work and back...be it on the highway or in the city.

Most of the people that buy these will either have a second car or don't typically go further than the range.

But give it 3 or 4 iterations of the car and it will go further and faster.  You can almost guarantee it.