Nissan Leaf News
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Have a few minutes to kill this Friday? Enjoy online games? Then you might like a walkthrough of Nissan's newest project, a "game-style promotion website" called "The Planet Zero". Nissan's website envisions a planet where everything runs on electricity generated by the sun and wind, and thus, there are no emissions generated from fossil fuels. You play the character of Plug, and by clicking on the planet's surface, you can learn more about the thoroughly green utopia in which he lives. Of course, this is all a branding exercise for Nissan, likely meant to cement the automaker's green...
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BYD e6 Electric Crossover Won’t Be Here Until Mid-2012We’ve known about Chinese firm BYD for some time now. In fact, its all-electric e6 was unveiled before the word Leaf became the name of an electric car. But despite unveiling a car long before many of its rivals, BYD won’t be bringing the e6 to the U.S. until the middle of next year. If...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan Gives First Charging Station To City Visited By Top Gear (BREAKING)If you’ve been following the story of what happened when popular British entertainment show Top Gear took a 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Peugeot iOn (nee Mitsubishi i) for a drive to the rural eastern U.K. city of Lincoln, you’ll know that Nissan wasn’t exactly happy with the way its...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan: “Leaf’s Battery Pack Should Last As Long As The Car”Nissan’s all-electric Leaf isn’t having a great time of it this week in the mainstream media. Firstly, Nissan had to defend itself against popular British motoring entertainment program Top Gear after it showed the electric hatchback in a less-than favorable light, quoting a battery...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Say Hello To Electric Car Battery Swaps, Chinese StyleWe all know that one of the biggest challenges facing electric cars is the fact that recharging a battery pack is orders of magnitude slower than filling a gasoline car’s fuel tank. As battery packs have become more advanced, we’ve seen an increased use of rapid charging technologies...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric Car Sales: Leaf Trounces Volt, But Don't Take It SeriouslyIt was a slow month for electric-car sales, with just over 1,000 Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt vehicles together delivered during July. Nissan delivered 931 Leaf battery-electric cars, a decline from June's 1,708, and Chevrolet--which is suffering from a now-ended four-week summer shutdown for...
John Voelcker -
Ever since the launch of the 2011 Nissan Leaf, owners have been able to remotely access information about their car’s state of charge, estimated range and even pre-heat or cool the cabin using Nissan’s built-in telematics service - Carwings. But unless you happened to own an iPhone in addition to your Nissan Leaf, the only way you could control your car remotely was via Nissan’s clunky -- and sometimes buggy -- website. Now anyone with an Android smartphone can join in the party, with the newly released Nissan Leaf app for Android OS devices. Listed on various Android...
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5,000 Hydrogen Stations By 2020, For Forklifts, UPSes & CarsWe don't hear so much about hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles these days. Just five years ago, before the announcement of either the 2011 Nissan Leaf battery electric car or the 2011 Chevy Volt range-extended electric, several auto companies were in the process of developing test fleets of...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Turns Us On With ESFlow In TV Ad; Will They Build It?Has Nissan subtly told us that the ESFlow is just over the horizon for actual production?
George Parrott -
Nissan Leaf Scores 5-Star NHTSA Crash Safety RatingThe Nissan Leaf is the first and only electric car to be crash tested by the NHTSA and it has passed with flying colors.
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Bankrupt Norwegian Electric-Car Maker Think Gets Russian OwnerWell, it's official: After its fourth bankruptcy in two decades, the Norwegian electric-car maker Think Global has a new owner. As rumored last week, he's lumber baron Boris G. Zingarevich, of St. Petersburg. Zingarevich also happens to be the largest shareholder in Ener1, the lithium-ion cell...
John Voelcker -
French Charging Laws Could Leave Electric Car Adoption in FlamesEarlier this week we told you about the Danish town refusing to allow charging station and battery provider Better Place from installing charging points unless it painted them green. Now the electric car craziness has headed south to France, where officials at the French Ministry for the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As we reported back in December last year and again last month, California’s $4.1 million Clean Vehicle Rebate Project has now run out of money. If you’re one of the early adopters who has been lucky enough to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf, or 2011 Tesla Roadster in the state since 2010 you should already have had a $5,000 rebate check through the mail to go with your $7,500 federal tax credit. But for those who haven’t yet purchased an electric car or are one of the unlucky 500 who purchased a car as the funds were running out, today is the day you find out if you will get that...
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Chinese Electric Bus Catches Fire On Road, Not The First OneChinese media are reporting that an electric bus caught fire in Shanghai at noon on Monday. And this is apparently not the first such incident. A Reuters report indicates that at least one earlier incident has been reported in the Chinese press within the last three months. A local Shanghai blog...
John Voelcker -
Feeling Flat? The AAA Will Soon Be Able To Charge You UpWhat happens when your electric car runs out of charge? It’s a question we regularly get asked by readers and its one that for a while, there’s only been one real solution. Just like a gasoline car, you need to make sure you have enough fuel to make your trip. But everyone makes...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Seattle Loves 2011 Nissan Leaf So Much, It Buys 35Last week we told you how the City of New York had just taken ownership of 50, 2011 Chevrolet Volts in an attempt to green up everything from the NYPD to official departments few will have heard of. Now Seattle has followed suit, with the announcement that the city will be buying 35 all-electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Nissan Leaf: More Standard Equipment, Higher PriceThe 2012 Nissan Leaf electric car will include more standard equipment, but it will carry a higher price tag as well. Announcing the updates for the second Leaf model year, Nissan said today it will expand U.S. sales of the Leaf into several Southeastern states plus Illinois. The 2012 model of the...
John Voelcker -
Aptera Answers Our Questions, Shares No New InformationLast week we told you that Aptera Motors had temporarily halted its online reservation system for its three-wheeled, two seat, ultra-efficient 2e electric car. Unusually quiet since its failure to win the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize, we contacted Aptera to check everything was okay and...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ever wonder how it feels to travel the famous Pikes Peak hill-climb circuit in Colorado in an electric car? While an AC Propulsion powered full-spec race car sponsored by tire firm Yokohama may have set a new electric car hill climb record of 12 minutes and 20 seconds, Nissan was sending one of its production Nissan Leafs up the 12.42 mile course. And while Nissan’s Chad Hord - normally found behind the wheel of a race-spec Nissan Titan - completed the course in 14 minutes and 33 seconds, he did so in a car that was essentially the same vehicle you see on Nissan dealer lots everywhere...
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Leviton Announces $1,049 DIY Install Electric Car Charging StationElectrical supply firm Leviton Manufacturing announced yesterday that it was now accepting orders for its $1,049 EVB22-3PM Level 2 charging station. Designed to provide up to 3.8 kilowatts to charge electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the Leviton unit can be installed...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Range Anxiety Antidote: You Don't Drive As Far As You ThinkIt's been known among electric-car advocates for years that so-called "range anxiety" is somewhat overblown. That's despite, we might add, advertisements by a large U.S. company that sells a range-extended plug-in car that highlight its ability to let you drive it across the country on the spur of...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Leaf News: Electric-Car Updates Coming For 2012, 2013The 2011 Nissan Leaf, the world's first modern battery-electric car built in volume by a major automaker, is starting to hit its stride. Now the evolution of the Leaf is getting clearer, as Nissan officials confirmed changes and updates to the car for the 2012 and 2013 model years. More than 4,000...
John Voelcker -
2012 Renault Fluence Z.E.: First Drive ReportWe don’t normally cover French automaker Renault, but when we were invited to drive its its first all-electric production car - the 2012 Fluence Z.E., we jumped at the chance. And we’re glad we did. Unlike its geeky cousin the 2011 Nissan Leaf, the Renault Fluence Z.E. is full of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan: U.S. Built Nissan Leafs Will Be On Time For 2013 LaunchThe devastating earthquake and Tsunami which hit Japan back in March not only caused billions of dollars of damage, killed thousands and made many more homeless, but it also crippled a large part of the auto industry, both in Japan and around the world. With everything from parts to paint becoming...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield