Most will remember the moment one of their peers took the plunge and bought an early touchscreen smartphone. Although their fumbling attempts to text and having to frequently charge the thing may have seemed off-putting, they still made calls like we did and when we saw them taking photos and browsing web pages while the only other thing we could do was play Tetris, we saw the future.
The local introduction of the Nissan Leaf is a similar case in point. This unconventional newcomer’s mixture of innovations and operational challenges will test the motoring waters of a petrol-headed society, but is it a workable alternative?
There’s a distinctive V-shaped motif to the Leaf’s exterior design, from the manner in which the nose sweeps up into those aerodynamically sculpted blue-tinted headlamps to the rear, where a concave hatch surrounded by a rear valance sweeps up into the stacked LED taillamps. It’s a neat, unfussy design with a practical edge; it affords the Leaf a slippery drag coefficient of 0,29.
Where hybrid cars often sacrifice packaging practicality to bulky mechanicals and boot space-devouring batteries, the Leaf suffers from no such issues. Locating the battery amidships means that the cabin space on offer rivals that of the classleading VW Golf 7, with plentiful leg- and headroom and a generous 304 dm3 of boot space expanding to 832 dm3 with the rear seatbacks folded.
Highlights of the Leaf’s solidly constructed cabin have to be the large infographic screen showing energy consumption status and driving-efficiency characteristics, as well as the tiered instrument-binnacle display. The latter initially garners
almost as much of the driver’s attention as the road ahead. A digital speedometer crowns an arched digital array, with the all-important battery charge reading in the middle, a brightly coloured bow of orbs showing acceleration and regenerative braking and range to the right.
Pop open the flap on the nose and you’re confronted with a pair of charging ports, one for charging via a 230 V domestic electrical feed using either a standard plug outlet into which you connect the charging cable or Nissan’s directly wired home charge unit, or a three-phase 500 V connection. Charging the Leaf’s mid-mounted, 24 kWh lithium-ion battery from empty using the 230 V feed takes around eight hours, while threephase charging can produce an 80% charge in the space of 30 minutes. A flashing trio of dash-mounted charge indication LEDs à la smartphones accompanies both actions.
There’s also a small photovoltaic solar panel located on top of the hatch spoiler that aids in charging the car’s conventional 12 V battery to alleviate the draw that ancillaries such as the audio system would otherwise place on the main battery.
Nissan claims that the battery can retain as much as 80% of its capacity at the end of its 10-year lifecycle, but it must be noted that regular fast charging will bring that figure down by a further 10%.
The Leaf’s powertrain comprises a front-mounted synchronous electric motor driving the front wheels via a single-speed transmission with a constant ratio of 7,94:1. The 80 kW it develops is pretty much on par with most equivalent petrol units, but it’s the 254 N.m available the moment you press on the accelerator that’s the real eye opener.
Driving the Leaf is initially an eerie experience. At low speeds, there’s a barely audible whine accompanied by the scrunch of gravel beneath the tyres, but give the accelerator a dig and the car surges forward with an alacrity that’s initially disarming, although perfect for cut ‘n thrust, town gap-taking. Your progress, meanwhile, is accompanied by a low, spaceship-like hum. We managed to come within 0,3 seconds of Nissan’s claimed zero-to-100 km/h sprint time and the brakes garnered an “good” rating during our 100-tozero km/h tests.
In addition to the transmission’s default drive setting, there’s an eco module that bolsters the car’s regenerative braking in a bid to claw back a per cent or two of charge. It’s handy, but the manner in which it seems to grind off momentum jars with the Leaf’s otherwise fluid driving experience.
The steering is a little indirect but usefully light, while the low centre of gravity afforded by the 300 kg battery’s mid-mounted siting means that the car ably carries off its softly sprung suspension while feeling planted at speed.
The burning question regarding an EV such as the Leaf has to be whether its costs and energy consumption actually better those of equivalent petrol and diesel. The running costs table on this page shows there’s a big gap between initial outlay and running costs between the two combustion-engined cars and the Leaf. The only greater gap would be that of their respective CO2 outputs – the Leaf hasn’t any. At point of use, it’s the cleanest car on our roads.
Our 797 km thus far spent with the Leaf cost us R253,80 and saw the car returning around 21 kWh/100 km, considerably more than the claimed consumption but likely due to some heavy-footed handling from a CAR team still revelling in the novelty of instantaneous torque.
There are definite parallels and polarities between efficient driving in the Leaf and a conventional car. In both cases, smooth, measured acceleration and braking – in other words, maintaining momentum – are key, especially if you want to get the best out of the Leaf’s regenerative braking.
The operating range aside, the biggest diference between the two has to be efficiency at higher speeds. Where most conventional cars are at their most effective at around 110 km/h, these speeds, along with their accompanying drag penalties, will place greater strain on the Leaf’s battery – between 70-90 km/h is the Leaf’s sweet spot.
Perhaps the greatest concern that can be levelled at running an EV is our present lack of “fuelling” infrastructure, especially given the Leaf’s claimed, but unrealistic, 195 km operating range. Nissan has gone some way to addressing this concern with the implementation of 500 V quick charge stations at nine of its Gautengbased Leaf dealers. is service will roll out to its EV dealers in Durban and Cape Town before year-end.
TEST SUMMARY
Given our country’s longer average travel distances and limited EV fuelling infrastructure, especially when compared with the more city-centred European, Japanese and US markets that account for the majority of Leaf sales, Nissan SA’s decision to bring the car here is laudable.
With its steep price and short operating range, the Leaf’s audience will largely be limited to technophiles and ecoconscious folk who already own a conventional car for longer trips. But it’s a polished product that performs well in its urban milieu and, as with that latest smartphone, you have to adopt a new routine to your working day: be a lot more calculating in its use and remember to plug it in every night.
Is it the future? The driving experience, lack of emissions and foreign nature of its propulsion and fuelling certainly feels as such, but it’s going to take some open-minded thinking and early adopters to determine if cars like the Leaf are the
way forward.