Due out this spring in selected areas, the Nissan Leaf was a definite crowd-pleaser at a Phoenix area mall this afternoon. The fully electric car has a top speed of 90 mph, holds five passengers and has a 100-mile range on a single charge.
A close up of the plug-in area shows multiple outlets. Using an adapter, the Leaf can be plugged into a normal wall outlet for 110-volt charging, or a faster 220-volt line, or the less-than-an-hour service from a charging station.
Charging stations are being built in Phoenix and in other test markets. They’ll also be located at intervals along the Interstate between Phoenix and Tucson.
Inside View
The interior looked comfortable and surprisingly roomy, with a dashboard made of recycled plastic and the kind of touchscreen instrument panel that fits with the EV’s modern form and function.
One of the car’s high-tech features is its cellphone compatibility. You can program the car to send you a text message when it’s fully charged. Or, when it’s sitting in the garage, battery half-empty and not plugged in, it can text you a reminder to “feed” it.
All this and solar, too?
Yes, the Leaf comes equipped with a small solar panel built into the roof at the back of the car. Not large enough to power the car’s main battery, the panel does keep all electrical accessories charged (lights, radio, etc.)
They weren’t allowing test drives this afternoon, but I may be able to take it on the road this Monday morning. If that happens, I’ll be sure to post about it here.
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Filed under: All, CO2, Renewables, Southwest
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by nan fischer, Gayle Fleming and topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en. topsy_top20k_en said: First Look | The Nissan Leaf, electric car | The Phoenix Sun http://ow.ly/Satt [...]
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Osha Gray Davidson, Miles Grant and topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en. topsy_top20k_en said: The Nissan Leaf, a first look at the 100-mile/charge fully electric car. http://bit.ly/7P8jss #solar #news #EV #car [...]
Wow I hadn’t heard of this vehicle before. It looks sharp. I don’t quite understand the push to making cars electric. My electric bill averages $350 a month, I’m WAY over the amount of electricity my electric company allows my household so I can’t image adding to that bill by charging my vehicle. On the flip side my husband does work in renewable energy so I can understand this could be considered green.