Nissan sells out electric Leaf before it hits US showrooms

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

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DETROIT, Michigan — US consumers looking to get Nissan's all-electric Leaf will have to wait another year, after dealers sold this year's entire shipment before the zippy sedan even hit showrooms, the Japanese automaker said Monday.
Nissan dealers have collected more than 20,000 orders for the Leaf, and the bulk are wealthy "early adapters" on the west coast of the United States, said Carlos Tavares, chairman of Nissan's management committee for the Americas.
The next step will be to convince "pragmatists" that an electric vehicle will save them money, he said.
The Leaf will be introduced later this month and Nissan is in the midst of installing charging stations at more than 40 US dealers.
More than 90 percent of the customers who reserved the Leaf -- which has a suggested retail price of 32,780 dollars -- live within 10 miles of one of those dealers, Tavares said.
By January 2011, more than 150 dealers will have chargers installed in the targeted launch markets of California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee.
The next Leaf shipment is not scheduled to arrive, however, until October 2011.
Nissan's production capacity is currently limited to a single Japanese plant, but is set to expand dramatically in 2012 when a Tennessee plant capable of building 125,000 units comes online.
Nissan also plans to introduce an all-electric commercial van in 2014, Tavares told the Detroit Automotive Press Association.
The vehicles will help shape Nissan's image with US consumers, which Tavares said had become blurred in recent years.
"It's a flag demonstrating how innovative we are," Tavares said.
One drawback has been the appreciation of the Japanese yen, which is driving up the price of vehicles and batteries imported from Japan.
"We are very, very concerned," he said.
"This is actually going to increase the pressure for localization."
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...cId=CNG.aa064aec753e723fd36505d4adb65ada.1291

Aarg! Trying to get my hands on these is going to be a hard task. South African dealerships are so backwards they still mostly stock wagon wheels for the voortrekkers :(

Fantastic car.
 
Cool - I have only read this article, but how / where will you charge it if you get one ? From this article seems you have to be near one of their charging stations ?

Unless of course I am assuming you are in SA, and you arent :)
 
luxe said:
Cool - I have only read this article, but how / where will you charge it if you get one ? From this article seems you have to be near one of their charging stations ?

Unless of course I am assuming you are in SA, and you arent :)
Click to expand...

You buy the charger. Car with charger and import taxes etc are ganna cost you in the region of 350 000.
 
Why dont you get yourself a Joule then instead .It is proudly South African my bra! :-)

I have to say...did a search in google and the interior of the Leaf looks very nice.
 
ocleroux said:
Why dont you get yourself a Joule then instead .It is proudly South African my bra! :-)

I have to say...did a search in google and the interior of the Leaf looks very nice.
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The Joule is said to have its new plant built in Slummies, which is already where the biggest Merc C-class plant around is located.
 
Merc said about 3 years back it planned to drop all combustion cars by 2012. I wonder if they will keep to that time line.
 
... and some people say the Joule us ugly. Just look at this Nissan. Yuck!

Batteries, will there be exchange units at the dealer?

Lastly, I have never heard any range specs with lights on, sound system on, and aircon working away. I bet there will be nasty surprises.
 
markings said:
... and some people say the Joule us ugly. Just look at this Nissan. Yuck!

Batteries, will there be exchange units at the dealer?

Lastly, I have never heard any range specs with lights on, sound system on, and aircon working away. I bet there will be nasty surprises.
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I bet its ganna explode after 20 min and cause a nuclear explosion!
 
Great stuff!

Demand is what we need for the Leaf. Then maybe other car manufacturers will jump on the bandwagon
 
Do you guys think that Electric cars will battle for market share once biofuels becomes main stream? If algae fuels becomes viable, then surely that would be more environmentally friendly than charging your car with coal powered produced electricity?
 
ocleroux said:
Do you guys think that Electric cars will battle for market share once biofuels becomes main stream? If algae fuels becomes viable, then surely that would be more environmentally friendly than charging your car with coal powered produced electricity?
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I would prefer to tap into nuclear energy :D Hope we can build those half dozen nuke stations quickly enough. I feel biofuels use resources better used for producing food.
 
w1z4rd said:
I would prefer to tap into nuclear energy :D Hope we can build those half dozen nuke stations quickly enough. I feel biofuels use resources better used for producing food.
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I just had the funniest picture pop into my head. A twit that wants to show off his new Electric Ferrari at the robot revving his engine and all you can hear is "zzzzzzzmmmmm zzzzzzzzmmmmm zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzmmmmmmmm" lol mwhahahahahaha.

Anyway.....instead of charging our cars from the nuclear powered national grid....why cant we just have our cars powered by little miniature built in reactors!!! Now that would be cool! NEVER EVER HAVE TO STOP TO FILL UP OR RECHARGE! BLISS! *grin*
 
Should have the roof as one big solar panel, then the car would always be charging a little. I saw the leaf has a tiny solar panel at the rear but a bigger one would be better :p
 
Last edited:
jargon7 said:
http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/

There's the original link for those who want to look at detail in the leaf.
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This has some figures I was looking for, best to worst range:

Ideal driving conditions: 138 miles
Speed: Constant 38 mph
Temperature: 68 degrees F
Climate control: Off

Highway driving in the summer: 70 miles
Speed: Average 55 mph
Temperature: 95 degrees
Climate control: On

Winter, urban stop-and-go, traffic jam: 62 miles
Speed: Average 15 mph
Temperature: 14 degrees F
Climate control: On

Hardly good enough for commuting between Paarl and Cape Town.
 
What is the real carbon footprint of these cars:

a) For Manufacture
b) After you've charged it by burning fossil fuels
c) After you've replaced the batteries a few time
d) after disposing of said batteries.
 
alloytoo said:
What is the real carbon footprint of these cars:

a) For Manufacture
b) After you've charged it by burning fossil fuels
c) After you've replaced the batteries a few time
d) after disposing of said batteries.
Click to expand...

exactly!
 
I don't understand why with the amount of money and developement spent, the battery life and range is still so limited?
So its looks sort of fine for inner city driving, but then you still need a second car...or a decent high speed network of trains as an alternative for long distance.

I hope our electric car shapes up, I wonder if they can compete with the muscle of the big boys.
 
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