2011 Nissan LEAF
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If you think that manufacturers have a hard time making EVs appeal to consumers who have got used to over a hundred years of fossil fuels, then feel grateful you aren't in Carlos Ghosn's shoes. The Renault and Nissan chief is visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the hope of establishing a partnership with the country's governments to open the door to selling the 2011 Nissan Leaf. The tricky part? The UAE's main export, in common with many Middle Eastern nations, is oil. So how do you wean a nation whose fortune is invested in oil onto a car that doesn't use a single drop of the stuff?...
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Ten Things We'd Like To Tell Automakers About EV Publicity
Automakers have had it tough over the past few years. An economic downturn, consumers looking for ever-fuel efficient vehicles and everyone clambering to make it to marketplace first. But just what do automakers need to keep in mind when advertising their first electric vehicle. We assume that any...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan And Coda Work To Make Hawaii Electric Car Paradise
It’s not a secret that Hawaii is keen to become the most electric car-friendly state in the whole of the U.S. And now two more electric car companies are laying a claim to the electric vehicle market in the island state. Earlier this week at the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo, the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan Limits Initial Leaf Rollout To 200 Cars In Five States
Nissan is taking orders today for the Leaf, the first mass-produced, all-electric vehicle, but it’s only offering up 200 cars for December delivery. Those Leafs will go to five states in the initial rollout market – California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee — which...
John Voelcker -
Coda Automotive Aims For Perfect Sales Cadence To End 2010
The end of 2010 is seen by many in the automotive industry as the first hurdle for many budding electric car companies. By the end of 2010 both Chevrolet and Nissan will have plug in vehicles on the market, both at prices that will outcompete much of the competition. For the smaller automakers...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
AutoNation Promises 2011 Volt, Leaf To Sell For Sticker Price
Just as dealers have to discount unpopular cars, they often add "surcharges" to models where demand outstrips supply. It's auto dealership yin and yang, or something. Now mega-dealer chain AutoNation has drawn a line in the sand, flatly stating that its dealers will sell their limited allocation of...
John Voelcker -
Despite initial purchase prices higher than those for gasoline cars of equivalent performance (before incentives, anyway), electric cars undisputably cost less to run. Not only does the grid electricity to drive a mile cost just half to one-fifth the cost of the gasoline to go the same distance, but electric cars have far fewer maintenance items. What's missing? A 2011 Nissan Leaf requires no: oil changes spark plugs air filter transmission fluid muffler radiator hoses or flushes It has no check-engine light, and its brake pads are likely to last much longer than those in conventional cars...
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What Do Nissan Dealers Really Know About The 2011 Leaf?
It's hardly a secret that the 2011 Nissan Leaf is one of the most anticipated electric cars this year. Nissan now has over 20,000 customers who have paid $99 to be placed on the waiting list, securing a place in electric car history. But as with any new car roll-out, those who eagerly sign up for a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Comes First, The Car Or The Charger? Portland, Oregon Answers
Are electric cars being held back by a lack of convenient charging points? Or do more electric cars need to be produced in order for a demand for electric vehicle charging points to be large enough to justify installing them? And should charging stations be ones offering a 240V, 30A top-off charge...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric Car Buying Guide
We've been watching it roll closer for years, and now it's all but here: A new era of electric cars. Just three or four months from now, the first highway-capable electric vehicles sold in volume by global automakers will appear in showrooms in California and other regions. By the end of 2011...
John Voelcker -
After The Auto X-Prize, What Next For Aptera's Electric Car?
Will video and time kill the Aptera star? Will Detroit? Or will the Auto X-Prize pull the final punch? As the field has been whittled down from 136 to just 9 contenders for the chance to win part of the elusive $10 million prize fund, we've watched electric vehicles dominate the event. For one...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Nissan Leaf Drive Review: A Real Electric Car for Real People
Just days after Nissan announced its 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty option for the 2011 Leaf, we've had a chance to do our second test-drive of the week in Nissan's $33,750 electric baby. Earlier this week, Nissan gave us some time behind the wheel of the Leaf in San Jose, California. We had a great...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
It was surely no mistake that on the same day that General Motors unveiled pricing for its 2011 Chevrolet Volt, Nissan tried to grab at least some of the plug-in limelight and revealed new details about exactly where it will first roll out the Leaf.
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2011 Nissan Leaf Matches Volt: 8 Year, 100,000 Mile Warranty
A few hours after Chevrolet announced its pricing structure for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, Nissan have responded with details of the warranty it will offer on its 2011 all-electric Leaf. At the Plugin 2010 Conference in San Jose, California, Carlos Tavares, Nissan's executive vice president and head...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Five Things Consumers Want To Know About Electric Cars
According to a recent report by Nissan, most consumers signed up to buy the 2011 Nissan Leaf are already electric vehicle owners or hybrid drivers. In short, early adopters are mainly enthusiasts who already know the ins and outs of driving electric. But what about the general public? We've sat...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Most 2011 Nissan Leaf Drivers Plan to Lease Rather Than Buy
Are you buying a 2011 Nissan Leaf? If you're one of the 16,064 lucky people who has already placed a $99 deposit down on one of the most eagerly anticipated cars of the year, Nissan thinks it knows how you'll finance the $32,780 cost of purchase. Nissan expects most people to lease. And it turns...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Honda To Launch Plug-In Hybrid Car in 2013, A Year After Toyota
It's been a time of turmoil for Honda lately, with the company doubling down on hybrids and pulling back on its clean-diesel efforts. Now, according to a Reuters report, the company will introduce both a plug-in hybrid and a fully electric car for the 2013 model year. The electric car will be...
John Voelcker -
Sports Cars, City Runabouts Electrify 2010 Bridgestone Eco-Rally
The small, seaside town of Brighton UK, some 50 miles south of London, has often been the destination for many a weary Londoner keen to take in its pebbled beaches, kitsch souvenir shops and traditional fish and chip suppers. But today it wasn't sticks of sweet sugary ‘seaside rock' candy cane or...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As we count down the months before the first 2011 Chevrolet Volts arrive at dealers in California, New York, Michigan, and Washington, D.C., it's time for the latest reboot of the Chevy marketing machine to kick into action. Chevrolet said in a press conference last week it would start running ads for the 2011 Volt extended-range electric vehicle this week. Right on schedule, a variety of ads has now hit the New York market. The company ran a full-page ad in NYC-market copies of The New York Times on Independence Day, when its Freedom Drive Austin-to-New York City road trip wound up at the...
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Japanese Firm Lets EVs Refill Faster Than a Gas Car
What can you do in three minutes? Boil a egg? Buy a Coffee? Check your Mail? Visit the bathroom? Thanks to Japanese based JFE Engineering, you can now add half-charging your EV to the list, courtesy of its ultra-fast charge station. Designed to comply with the CHAdeMo standard developed by Tokyo...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As Governments Worldwide Tighten Fiscal Wallets, Are EV Programs at Risk?
The U.K. coalition government has warned auto industry that it cannot continue to offer financial assistance to enable it to fully recover from the global recession. In addition, concern has been raised that even purchase grants for plug-in vehicles may be at risk if the government is unable to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Mitsubishi to slash 30% from 2011 i-Miev price, closes price gap on Nissan and Chevrolet.
What happens when you're the first mainstream automaker to bring an EV to market after an eight-year absence of highway-capable, mass-produced EVs? Accolades a-plenty, lots of media attention and test-programmes worldwide. But what do you do when rival companies bring out a more versatile, more...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Does BYD’s Ultimate Taxi Roadtest Hold Company’s Future?
What does a pizza delivery teen, a taxi driver and a courier have to do with EVs? Not much right now, but could these and other professional drivers hold the key to truly prove that EVs have what it takes to hit the big time, or do they risk condemning EVs to the history books forever? Chinese auto...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Nissan Leaf Spied Testing on Arizona Roads
As far as we know, no one has yet done a road test on the 2011 Nissan Leaf, which will go on sale in certain markets this December. We've driven the Leaf powertrain mounted in a Cube mule, and our colleague Bengt Halvorson has driven it in a Versa mule--but never the completed car. Still, we know...
John Voelcker