For the record, the Nissan lead electric car will not be released until sometime in 2010.
Aesthetics: For an electric car it looks more mainstream than the Prius. Compared to the Altima/Max/Z/G/Sentra it looks rather plain from outside. Much better than the Versa though.
Usefulness: I believe this vehicle will be most appealing to people who do not work far from home, or live in urban environments.
Charging: Right now it is not a question of if United States will be able to support an electric car infrastructure, but when. We have a lot of different car companies producting cars that can be feilled up with a charger. I hope they can reach a unified standard, this way the technology gets adopted more quickly.
Mass appeal: the appeal of this product is quite widespread. For one, a completely electric vehicle appeals to Green enthusiasts. Then you have other people who are quite adamant that the United States getting off the foreign oil dependency. Lastly, you have trendsetters, generally younger people who want to be different from the status quo. Imagine never having to go to a gas station again. Over the course of a decade saving $10-$15,000 on fuel costs. It is quite mind blowing.
Technology: a built-in navigation system to help drivers locate the nearest charging stations, electronically assisted steering, LED lighting abound, etc.
Performance: A top speed target of 90 mph with V6-like acceleration and torque.
Price: I believe Nissan is targeting a potential market of buyers who are not willing to spend $40,000 on the Chevrolet Volt. I would assume the price would fall between 25 and $30,000, but that is a complete guess on my part.
Reliability: many people are unsure about switching from a gasoline powered to an electric powered vehicle. That being the case, automakers have put in place very thorough warranty programs to ease consumers minds. However, those wishing to mod their cars may be out of luck, especially with the vehicle's advanced electronic systems.
hmm, nissan says it will accelerate just like a regular v6 gas powered car.
but the max speed is approx. (or they say they are targeting) 90mph and its FWD
It is a well put together vehicle, and is very carefully planned out. We'll just have to wait and see how the market responds.I think it's a great advance however, personally I am not ready for that kind of a vehicle switch just yet. The market's hesitance to switch to electric vehicles is one of the big issues it has to overcome. A more well defined and solidified charging station infrastructure is really what this car needs to succeed as RealMac has said, and I agree. Consumers probably have worries about where they can charge their car, or even having to go out of their way to do so at the time of it's release. For example, with E85 Ethanol you have to search online to find E85 supporting gas stations if you have a Flex Fuel vehicle and wish to use E85 instead of gasoline. Down here in FL as it stands, there are only 8 public E85 supporting gas stations in the whole state, the other two belonging to the city of Jacksonville and NASA respectively. http://e85vehicles.com/e85-florida.htm Honestly not much of an infrastructure in place at all at this point in time. Expansion of E85 support is going slowly down here, as it is in other states, even California only has 7 public E85 stations. Back on topic, I look forward to seeing how the Leaf is embraced by the market, only 2010 will tell us what will truly happen.
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Last edited by AnglerfisH : 08-13-2009 at 08:05 PM.
I really don't see how this car is going to be successful in the urban environment that it is supposed to help.
Think about it for a minute:
You have an apartment building in NYC, with no parking lot, and no way to run a 240 volt outlet to the car. How are you going to recharge it at a reasonable rate, without having to spend a long period of time at some form of recharging station?
Now, if they built in a small electric generator into the car, say just a simple portable one, and have that activate after the car has been shut down, I can see it being useful.
As it is, the Volt is going to be a more useful vehicle for average city dwellers than the Leaf will, with the exception of the price.
I agree with you on the points mentioned. GM is saying the volt will cost 40k vs Leaf's 25k. That's 37.5% more. Nissan has also said they don't think hybrid cars are the way of the future, so it remains to be seen how much it and other multibillion dollar companies will want to invest in creating an infrastructure for people to utilize.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bladecutter
I really don't see how this car is going to be successful in the urban environment that it is supposed to help.
Think about it for a minute:
You have an apartment building in NYC, with no parking lot, and no way to run a 240 volt outlet to the car. How are you going to recharge it at a reasonable rate, without having to spend a long period of time at some form of recharging station?
Now, if they built in a small electric generator into the car, say just a simple portable one, and have that activate after the car has been shut down, I can see it being useful.
As it is, the Volt is going to be a more useful vehicle for average city dwellers than the Leaf will, with the exception of the price.
Im talking about current.... we'll see if theres better looking ones in the future the Volt is kinda like the Veyron, you just gotta wonder when it will be made.
the new insight looks like a honda prius. if i had to drive i hybrid it would be one of the incognito ones, not the full blown flaming yuppie driving look at me type hybrids lol.
i would only really look at camry hybrid, altima hybrid, edge hybrid
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the Volt is kinda like the Veyron, you just gotta wonder when it will be made.
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