A five-door hatchback electric car, produced by Nissan, Nissan Leaf has an All-electric range of 100 miles (160 Km). According to the sales schedule Nissan leaf is going to launch in United States, Japan. Netherlands and Portugal in December 2010 and in Ireland and United Kingdom in February 2011. According to the manufacturer the car will be available in global market by 2010. A limited number of cars will be available in the market at the beginning and the car can be purchased by online reservation only.
Exterior:
Nissan Leaf is a BEV (compact battery electric car) and ZEV (zero-emission Vehicle) class car with a FF layout. The car has 16" alloy wheels with p205/55R16 tires. The wheelbase of this car is 106.3 in (2700 mm). The exterior dimension of this car consists of 175.0 in (4445 mm) in length, 69.7 in (1770 mm) in width and 61.0 in (1549.4 mm) in height. The aerodynamic under body of Nissan Leaf looks very elegant. The chrome door handles and dual power outside mirrors add a special appeal on the car's look.
Interior:
The frontal styling of Nissan Leaf includes a sharp V-shaped design with large up slanting light emitting diode (LED) headlights. This headlight constructs a unique blue internal reflective design. Only that this headlight also split and redirect airflow away from the door mirrors in order to reduce wind noise and drag. The interior room of the car is same as a midsized traditional car and can accommodate 5 passengers at a time. This car ha Nissan Navigation System and Nissan Connection powered by CARWINGS- allowing remote connection to vehicle monitor battery state for charging status. It also provides facilities like turn on automatic temperature control system, auto dimming rearview mirror, Bluetooth and hands-free phone system.
Engine:
Nissan Leaf has a synchronous 80 kW AC electric motor along with a 24 KWH lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery. The top speed produced by this engine is over 140 km/h (87 mph). The maximum rotation of the motor occurs at 80 kW (110 hp) and 280 N-m (210 lf-ft). Like all other electric car Nissan Leaf can produce the peak torque at 0 rpm, the top speed of the car is about 90 miles per hour.
Nissan Leaf has two recharging connectors. They are- SAE J1772-2009 connector for level 1 and 2 recharging and TEPCO connector for high voltage level 3 charging. From a standard household 110/120 volt 20 Amp outlets can be used to charge the battery of Nissan Leaf by using a 7.5 miter trickle charger cable. The battery can be charged up to 80% in only 30 minutes by using level 3 quick charging. To reduce the load on the battery the car has pre-heat and pre-cool technology.
Safety Features:
Safety Features of Nissan Leaf includes power-assisted vented front disc/rear disc brakes, coasting regenerative brakes, 4-wheel antilock braking system (ABS), electronic brake force distribution (EBD) and brake assist (BA), electronic parking brake, front and rear stabilizer bars, vehicle speed-sensitive power-assisted steering and so on.
Price:
The approximate price of this car in US market will be $32,780 and $40,000 in Japan.
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