The green Nissan Leaf
Nissan has unveiled a all-electric vehicle, which is a four-door hatchback called the Leaf. It will be going on sale in Japan, Europe, and the United States next year. This is a midsize car that can “comfortably seat five adults.” The Nissan Leaf will be able to go 100 miles between chargings, and take about 8 hours to fully charge at home, and just a half hour at a special charging facility. Nissan has not announced the price yet, but according to the CEO it will be “affordable and not priced out of reach of most consumers.” The Leaf will also be about to qualify for the special tax breaks and incentives for zero-emission vehicles.
The Leaf has an 80-kilowatt electric motor, which gets its power from a lithium-ion battery pack. There is no tailpipe or gas tank, which makes it a zero-emission vehicle. My only problem with the electric vehicle is that the automakers HAVE to figure out a way to get the Leaf and other electric cars to last longer than 100 miles. That just isn’t long enough between chargings, especially since there are limited charging facilities currently in the U.S., so most people that would own these cars will need to charge them at home for 8 hours. 100 miles is not a lot of miles whether you are driving around your town let alone travelling. Just my thought….