Driving the Nissan Leaf
When we brought our broken down car to the Nissan repair shop in Kirkland, WA the dealer gave us a loaner of a Nissan Leaf, an all-electric vehicle. We drove it around town for a day before returning it to fly home for the week. I've been following news of the Leaf (and other EVs) for years, so it was interesting to drive one finally. Here are my impressions.
Still Looks Goofy
The Leaf looks... goofy. There's no other way to put it. (Well, there is, but it's NSFW.) It's got a bulbous nose and an odd hump sticking out in the rear. You can't see the rear hump well in this picture I took, but it's always reminded me of the bustle on a dress fashionable in the late 1800s. In modern fashion I think we'd say, "Baby got junk in the trunk."
Unusual styling has become the norm in the EV segment. This comes from the lesson learned (by industry execs) from the success of the second generation Toyota Prius in the mid 2000s. The previous gen Prius looked very similar to Toyota's low end car, the Yaris. It was a sales dud in the US. But then the next Prius looked like absolutely nothing else- except perhaps a salamander with its tail cut off. But that did nothing to hold back sales. Volumes in the US quadrupled. See "Historical Sales 199-2014" in this Wikipedia article.
The lesson learned was that the car's strange design helped differentiate it visually, which turned out to be important to the people who bought it. The buyers for hybrids and pure EVs are not econo-car buyers. They are generally the well heeled. Make an EV look just like an econo-car, and they'll stay away in droves. But make it clearly different- weird, even- and they'll wear it as a badge of pride. "I care more about the environment than you, and it's immediately obvious from this quirky-looking car I drive."
As another data point, consider the Honda Civic hybrid sold at the same. It looked exactly like every other Civic model, except for subtle badging. That wold be a good thing, right, because of the Civic is one of the top selling cars of all time? Nope. The Civic hybrid was a flop. By 2007 the Prius was outselling it 6-to-1. In recent years the gap has widened beyond 20:1 as Toyota sells hundreds of thousands of units per year in the US across different Prius sub-models while Honda sells only a few thousand Civic hybrids. [source: ibid]
"Do You Want To Play A Game?"
The Leaf's quirkiness does not end at the sheet metal. The controls inside look a bit futuristic. Instead of a stick for selecting gears, there's just a small paddle controller.
Primarily that would be because EVs don't have "gears". (Electric engines don't need transmissions with multiple gear ratios like internal combustion engines do.) With the paddle controller you just push the paddle forward to reverse and pull it backwards to go forward. Seriously.
The car makes lots of cutesy noises as you start it up and begin to work the controls. That's to signal that it's even on, as there's no internal combustion engine roaring to life or humming quietly at idle to let the driver know it's ready to go. But these sound effects are too cutesy. They sound like a child's video game.
As Hawk and I took in the futuristic interior for the first time, Hawk remarked, "I thought the future was supposed to have flying cars!"
"Apparently the future is more like Frogger than The Jetsons," I replied.
More Range, Less Anxiety
One of the challenges with selling- and owning- EVs is their limited range. Several years ago I noted in " Range Anxiety" (2013 blog) that initially the Leaf was rated for only 76 miles on a full charge. That short range not only makes it a no-go for lengthy trips but also makes it impractical even for many commuters. Consider a commuter with a 50-60 mile round trip. Add in a side trip for lunch or to pick up groceries on the way home, and you near's the car's max range. The max range. Issues like traffic, uphill ascents, and running major electrical accessories like air conditioning, all decrease the actual range.
Tesla had an interesting, two-fold solution to range problems. First, they designed a much larger battery into the car, providing a max range of around 250 miles. That put to bed all worries about commuting and around-town driving. Then, they built out a network of branded charging stations. These addressed the "not suitable for a long trip" problem. Owners going on long trips do need to plan carefully and may be limited in where they can go (with fewer limits every months as the station network has been built out) but at least it's feasible.
Nissan doesn't have either of Tesla's range solutions. Of course, the Leaf is not a $80,000+ car. It's designed to be affordable to anyone who buys an ordinary, volume market car.
Nissan has improved the Leaf in successive model years to increase its range. The SV and SL models are now rated at 106 miles (the base S gets only 80 due to a smaller battery). This is still a no-go for a road trip vehicle but the range is now sufficient to consider it as a vehicle for commuting and running errands around town.
Comfortable, Practical, and Slow
We found the Leaf to be a pleasant vehicle to drive. The ride is comfortable, the seats are comfortable, and the controls are easy to use- as long as you remember "push forward to go back, pull back to go forward". Based on the number of dings on this loaner car it's obvious people forget that occasionally.
The only drawback to driving the Leaf (assuming it has the range to get you wherever you need to go) is that it's slow. Getting up to speed even on city streets felt like pouring molasses. Turning out of driveways and side streets into traffic felt a little dangerous. Flooring the acclerator didn't help. In fact, the last 1/3 of the pedal's travel seems worthless as it makes no difference.
I considered that part of what makes a car seem fast are the sounds and vibrations of an engine revving up. These are notably absent in EVs, so I paid careful attention to the speed gauge. Nope, still slow. Official measurements are 0-60mph in 10.2 seconds, which is not only slow for all small cars but is also slow amongst EVs.
We didn't try driving the Leaf on the freeway. That was largely a coincidence, as we were visiting multiple sites around town and local streets offered good routes. I'd be worried about how well the Leaf could accelerate to freeway speeds- particularly with the short entrance ramps and merge lanes in the Bay Area.
Would We Buy One?
The short answer to the question "Would we buy a Leaf?" is "Yes, but."
Yes, it's a comfortable car. Yes, it's practical (for short distances). Yes, we like the environment aspects of its all-electric engine as well as the reduced costs to us of charging from the electrical grid instead of buying gas.
But it's only good for in-town driving. It's only practical for a multi-car family solution. We'd have to install a charger in our garage (totally doable). We wouldn't get the environmental or cost-saving advantages on longer trips. And we'd have to accept driving a car that accelerates frustratingly slowly.
Still Looks Goofy
The Leaf looks... goofy. There's no other way to put it. (Well, there is, but it's NSFW.) It's got a bulbous nose and an odd hump sticking out in the rear. You can't see the rear hump well in this picture I took, but it's always reminded me of the bustle on a dress fashionable in the late 1800s. In modern fashion I think we'd say, "Baby got junk in the trunk."
Unusual styling has become the norm in the EV segment. This comes from the lesson learned (by industry execs) from the success of the second generation Toyota Prius in the mid 2000s. The previous gen Prius looked very similar to Toyota's low end car, the Yaris. It was a sales dud in the US. But then the next Prius looked like absolutely nothing else- except perhaps a salamander with its tail cut off. But that did nothing to hold back sales. Volumes in the US quadrupled. See "Historical Sales 199-2014" in this Wikipedia article.
The lesson learned was that the car's strange design helped differentiate it visually, which turned out to be important to the people who bought it. The buyers for hybrids and pure EVs are not econo-car buyers. They are generally the well heeled. Make an EV look just like an econo-car, and they'll stay away in droves. But make it clearly different- weird, even- and they'll wear it as a badge of pride. "I care more about the environment than you, and it's immediately obvious from this quirky-looking car I drive."
As another data point, consider the Honda Civic hybrid sold at the same. It looked exactly like every other Civic model, except for subtle badging. That wold be a good thing, right, because of the Civic is one of the top selling cars of all time? Nope. The Civic hybrid was a flop. By 2007 the Prius was outselling it 6-to-1. In recent years the gap has widened beyond 20:1 as Toyota sells hundreds of thousands of units per year in the US across different Prius sub-models while Honda sells only a few thousand Civic hybrids. [source: ibid]
"Do You Want To Play A Game?"
The Leaf's quirkiness does not end at the sheet metal. The controls inside look a bit futuristic. Instead of a stick for selecting gears, there's just a small paddle controller.
Primarily that would be because EVs don't have "gears". (Electric engines don't need transmissions with multiple gear ratios like internal combustion engines do.) With the paddle controller you just push the paddle forward to reverse and pull it backwards to go forward. Seriously.
The car makes lots of cutesy noises as you start it up and begin to work the controls. That's to signal that it's even on, as there's no internal combustion engine roaring to life or humming quietly at idle to let the driver know it's ready to go. But these sound effects are too cutesy. They sound like a child's video game.
As Hawk and I took in the futuristic interior for the first time, Hawk remarked, "I thought the future was supposed to have flying cars!"
"Apparently the future is more like Frogger than The Jetsons," I replied.
More Range, Less Anxiety
One of the challenges with selling- and owning- EVs is their limited range. Several years ago I noted in " Range Anxiety" (2013 blog) that initially the Leaf was rated for only 76 miles on a full charge. That short range not only makes it a no-go for lengthy trips but also makes it impractical even for many commuters. Consider a commuter with a 50-60 mile round trip. Add in a side trip for lunch or to pick up groceries on the way home, and you near's the car's max range. The max range. Issues like traffic, uphill ascents, and running major electrical accessories like air conditioning, all decrease the actual range.
Tesla had an interesting, two-fold solution to range problems. First, they designed a much larger battery into the car, providing a max range of around 250 miles. That put to bed all worries about commuting and around-town driving. Then, they built out a network of branded charging stations. These addressed the "not suitable for a long trip" problem. Owners going on long trips do need to plan carefully and may be limited in where they can go (with fewer limits every months as the station network has been built out) but at least it's feasible.
Nissan doesn't have either of Tesla's range solutions. Of course, the Leaf is not a $80,000+ car. It's designed to be affordable to anyone who buys an ordinary, volume market car.
Nissan has improved the Leaf in successive model years to increase its range. The SV and SL models are now rated at 106 miles (the base S gets only 80 due to a smaller battery). This is still a no-go for a road trip vehicle but the range is now sufficient to consider it as a vehicle for commuting and running errands around town.
Comfortable, Practical, and Slow
We found the Leaf to be a pleasant vehicle to drive. The ride is comfortable, the seats are comfortable, and the controls are easy to use- as long as you remember "push forward to go back, pull back to go forward". Based on the number of dings on this loaner car it's obvious people forget that occasionally.
The only drawback to driving the Leaf (assuming it has the range to get you wherever you need to go) is that it's slow. Getting up to speed even on city streets felt like pouring molasses. Turning out of driveways and side streets into traffic felt a little dangerous. Flooring the acclerator didn't help. In fact, the last 1/3 of the pedal's travel seems worthless as it makes no difference.
I considered that part of what makes a car seem fast are the sounds and vibrations of an engine revving up. These are notably absent in EVs, so I paid careful attention to the speed gauge. Nope, still slow. Official measurements are 0-60mph in 10.2 seconds, which is not only slow for all small cars but is also slow amongst EVs.
We didn't try driving the Leaf on the freeway. That was largely a coincidence, as we were visiting multiple sites around town and local streets offered good routes. I'd be worried about how well the Leaf could accelerate to freeway speeds- particularly with the short entrance ramps and merge lanes in the Bay Area.
Would We Buy One?
The short answer to the question "Would we buy a Leaf?" is "Yes, but."
Yes, it's a comfortable car. Yes, it's practical (for short distances). Yes, we like the environment aspects of its all-electric engine as well as the reduced costs to us of charging from the electrical grid instead of buying gas.
But it's only good for in-town driving. It's only practical for a multi-car family solution. We'd have to install a charger in our garage (totally doable). We wouldn't get the environmental or cost-saving advantages on longer trips. And we'd have to accept driving a car that accelerates frustratingly slowly.