http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/09/nissan-leaf-clean-set-of-wheels Nissan Leaf review: a clean set of wheels Lucy Rock 9 March 2015
[images / Richard Saker http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-1430/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/5/1425559841227/6d1f3878-7d7e-4f41-8994-e3fc5e018160-1020x612.jpeg The Nissan Leaf ‘glow in the dark car’ photographed in Blackheath, London UK http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-1430/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/2/1425310312901/f6874d44-63d5-4136-ac86-43c819e59866-2060x1236.jpeg Lucy Rock at the wheel http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-1430/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/5/1425560462928/8a5ed610-c1cc-4b44-bc95-314083c304b5-2060x1236.jpeg The Nissan Leaf ] The luminous paintwork on an all-electric Nissan Leaf turned heads, while its nippy performance and zero emissions are ideal for the city It’s 20 years since a car I was driving turned heads (a fire-engine red, turbo-charged Audi Quattro à la Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes). My current clapped-out people carrier is a metal workhorse that drinks diesel and plods around anonymously, dropping off and picking up children, carrying loads of shopping and taking stuff to the dump. But here I am in a glow-in-the-dark electric car that glides along in near silence, surprising and intriguing those I encounter. I didn’t mean to scare the twentysomething lad swaying slightly on his way home after pub closing, texting intently. He wouldn’t have heard me coming so when he looked up, there I was – whoosh! – a large, luminous green object right in front of him. His eyes widened momentarily as he stumbled, grazing the elbow of an elderly man walking two bull terriers who looked equally flummoxed to see me in the dimly lit suburban street. I’ve not driven an electric car before. But this Nissan Leaf is so relaxing to drive, it practically does it for you. Press a button (keys are so last week), put your foot down and you purr off. There’s every mod con: heated seats; cameras that generate a 360-degree overhead image on a dashboard screen to show how badly you’re reverse parking; a voice telling you there’s a speed camera in 200 yards. My children are impressed. “It’s so clean Mum,” shouts my four-year-old. She wasn’t referring to the car’s zero emissions, rather the lack of crumbs, old wrappers and half-done sticker books that litter the back seats of the workhorse. They think the car is “cool”, particularly the paintwork. Despite the Leaf not being a particularly cool shape in an E-type Jag kind of way, I agree. And it feels good knowing you’re not belching gunk out of the exhaust. It’s also nippy. Other drivers who think it’s a weedy competitor on the road are surprised at the speed it can take off from traffic lights (0-60mph in 11.5 seconds, with a top speed of 90mph). The paint absorbs UV energy during the day so that it glows for 10 hours when the sun goes down. It was created for Nissan from organic materials – sadly it’s not yet commercially available but maybe one day hi-vis cars will be a useful option for remote areas without much street lighting. I had worried about how long the battery would last. Fully charged, you can go for 120 miles, according to Nissan. And when you’re running low, the dashboard tells you where the nearest charging station is and how to get there. It’s perfect for city driving. For longer trips, I’d plan a coffee stop at a service station with a quick charger, which delivers 50KW of current to the battery, replenishing 80% of its capacity in 30 minutes. I think once the workhorse has gone to the knacker’s yard, I’ll switch to electric. SHOT IN THE DARK Finding a suitable location in south-east London was difficult as I couldn’t shoot on a street because any ambient lights would negate the glow of the car. So I plumped for the wide expanses of Blackheath in southeast London; no barriers and large enough to avoid light pollution. The camera was on a tripod and we did a time exposure of about 10 seconds at an aperture of f/8 at ISO 250. In some shots, two flashguns were positioned to light the grass behind the car to emphasise a sense of place but we did not want to have any of this light aimed at the car. The main obstacle was that the wheels do not glow in the dark, so during a normal time exposure they would just appear black and the car would look like it was floating. So I got around this by aiming a torchlight at the alloy wheels for five seconds each during the 10-second time exposure – effectively we were painting in light on the wheel with a torch. [© theguardian.com] http://insideevs.com/nissan-officially-welcomes-e-nv200-combi-electric-vans-electric-car-stable-headed-leaf/ Nissan Officially Welcomes e-NV200 & Combi Electric Vans To Electric Car Stable Headed By LEAF [20150312] by Eric Loveday ... http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=subject%3Aevln+subject%3Aleaf+NOT+subject%3Are&days=0&sort=date Read more Leaf EVLN items on evdl For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=subject%3Aevln+NOT+subject%3Are&days=0&sort=date http://nodawaynews.com/pages/?p=17723 Allen's EV in World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade @Maryville MO https://www.google.com/#q=St.+Patrick%27s+Day http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/news/295386391.html 2 “Green on Scene” leased Leaf EVs @Station76 kentfirerfa.org WA http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/16/3750334/merlene-davis-during-womens-history.html Windshield-wipers for EVs invented in 1903 by Mary Anderson http://www.google.com/patents/US743801 http://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/07/proterra-unveils-180-mile-electric-bus/ Proterra Unveils 180-Mile Electric Bus http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2015/03/07/westchester-county-electric-car-charging-stations-clustered-white-plains-bedford/24581953/ EVSE are an investment tool to make downtown a desirable destination http://www.ncnewspress.com/article/20150306/NEWS/150309919/-1/opinion 2 L2 EVSE installed @nebraskacity.com NE + EVLN: GM sez sleeker, more-aerodynamic 2016 Spark EV unveiling on 4/2 {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-From-plodding-ice-to-Leaf-encounter-surprising-intriguing-quiet-tp4674294.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
