Sorry, You're Unfit To Drive A Nissan

[hamiltonau]

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/car-maker-turns-down-buyers-20120523-1z3u0.html

Electric cars eh?

not normally fodder for SAU but i found the SMH headline amusing, wouldnt mind one as a daily to be honest if the price was a little lower and i had a power point in my garage..that was actually using my evil neighbor/ex wifes power supply.

imagine not having to fuel up until you need to take your track beast out on the wknd?

Noice.

[Duncan]

I'm going through that process at the moment. Still haven't driven the damn car yet, and I sure as hell won't buy it if it doesn't drive well....

While its a bit over the top, I don't have an issue with the idea that they are checking suitability.

[GTR-N1]

In that "Drive" article, James Staveley is heading up the screening process about whether or not a prospective buyer is going to be "approved" or "not approved"

James used to be the Marketing Manager of Nissan Eastern Aust., and as such, one wonders as to whether his thought processes Patty are along the lines of 'reverse psychology'; that people will want to try the "Leaf" to prove that they can be "approved".

He's a canny bugger.

[hamiltonau]

i venture he also wants to avoid the awesome publicity they would get from a dozen or so of their new halo cars being stranded all over the country when the owners decide to take them on a 'road trip' ala the Mercedes fail with their G wagen convoy which got stuck in the desert.

The internet would make that kind of phenomenom very embarrassing for Nissan, much like the slow take up on ethanol due to misleading rumours, its not always the truth which is important, perception would be all James is worried about.

good luck with the application Duncan, is it going to get SAU stickers as soon as you drive it off the lot? Be a good back up car for the texi too..

[Duncan]

haha silent skids will be funny.

I'm not worried about the approval, more whether the car is any good or not. They have not made any available for a drive yet, and like the GTR will only be available from "special" nissan dealers

I really can't see heaps of people buying these and then getting stuck without a charge? Everyone understands not to run out of petrol, I'm sure electric car drivers will remember to charge them first.

[Hank Scorpio]

I really can't see heaps of people buying these and then getting stuck without a charge? Everyone understands not to run out of petrol, I'm sure electric car drivers will remember to charge them first.

Difference is I drive to work with my fuel light on, the electric gauge might be dangerously accurate - lol!

[iseekool]

haha silent skids will be funny.

I'm not worried about the approval, more whether the car is any good or not. They have not made any available for a drive yet, and like the GTR will only be available from "special" nissan dealers

I really can't see heaps of people buying these and then getting stuck without a charge? Everyone understands not to run out of petrol, I'm sure electric car drivers will remember to charge them first.

I think the problem would be finding a charging point when the do run low and the time it actually takes to charge

[iamhe77]

Surely charging an electric car would cost more that filling up current cars with petrol?

[mad082]

I think the problem would be finding a charging point when the do run low and the time it actually takes to charge

this is the biggest issue with electric cars. that and their poor range. you drive a few hundred kms, then have to charge it up for a few hours before you can set off again.

Surely charging an electric car would cost more that filling up current cars with petrol?

no, they generally charge up for a fraction of the cost of filling a car with petrol. but they cost a lot more to start with, so this alone makes them a poor choice if you are buying one to save money on a day to day basis. to put it into perspective, with that nissan costing 51k, for 30k you could buy a nice 4 cylinder hatch and then put $60 worth of fuel a week (basing it off fuel being $1.50/L and using about 40L a week) into it for 6.7 years with what you would save on the purchase price. or in the case of my missus, where we fill her car up once a month for about $60, it would take over 29 years to make up the difference (obviously not taking into account inflation, rising fuel costs, etc). and i'm sure the batteries in these electric cars would need to be replaced well before that, at a very high cost i would imagine.

i think more cars will end up going the diesel generator route like (i think) honda did. i saw it on topgear a while back so i'm a bit hazy on the details (such as make/model, etc) but it was a good design. you have batteries, etc, but the car also had a diesel engine that doesn't drive the wheels, but simply acts as a generator. that is how diesel/electric trains work.

[Dobz]

this is the biggest issue with electric cars. that and their poor range. you drive a few hundred kms, then have to charge it up for a few hours before you can set off again.

I drove the LEAF earlier this year in Japan and it has a range of 180km off one charge city driving and it goes down to about 150km when using headlights and/or air con. Not sure about highway driving though. It takes 8 hours to fully charge from a normal power outlet but nissan have special units that can charge it in just over 30mins.

I think it's a balancing act with trying to maintain car space and not fill the thing with batteries to get more range out of it, you can understand this car is aimed at city folk only and would rarely if ever leave the city the people live in.

Driving it is weird though, not having an engine to hear and feel how fast you're going wothout looking at the speedo makes it hard to find and maintain speeds unless you're constantly looking at the dash.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Dobz

[GTR-N1]

Driving it is weird though, not having an engine to hear and feel how fast you're going wothout looking at the speedo makes it hard to find and maintain speeds unless you're constantly looking at the dash.

Isn't it more precarious Dobz for pedestrians who would normally rely mainly on sound? Lol

A few sight impaired pedestrians are going to get bowled over, right? Gulp

[Duncan]

They apparently have an annoying external beep so that the sight imparied can tell which car hit them

Range is absolutely a non-issue. You go to the garage in the morning, unplug the charger, drive your 10-50klm to work in crap traffic, park it, drive 10-50klm back home in crap traffic, put it back in the garage and charge it over night.

That is what 80% of people do with their petrol cars every day.

The occasional longer or more complex trip just says you should have another car, eg a rb25/30 Stagea. Or, if that is not an option join Goget or similar or just hire a car if required.

Thanks for the experience Dobz, I was wondering how that would be. I had enough trouble maintaining speed with the CVT cube - it is amazing how much we rely unconciously on sound to maintain speed.

[Duncan]

test drove one the other day, it was hilarious. It is probably the quickest car I've driven to respond to the throttle.....if you mash it in traffic nothing will keep up. Has no top end or handling of course but it's response was excellent.

It is not quick from a standing start, clearly the good people at nissan decided to put some additional throttle mapping. TC can be turned off but the initial response from a standing start is still limited some other way.

BTW we were talking about the fact an electric car with 1 gear would go as fast in reverse as it would forward...and sure enough: http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/nissans-reverse-world-record-20120626-20zad.html

[iamhe77]

Sounds interesting if nothing else.

Thankful I live where I do... no chance of the wife even contemplating an electric car when there is over 60km to work each day

Curious though, does the range account for sitting/crawling along in peak hour traffic for 1-2 hours?

[Marcus89]

Sounds interesting if nothing else.

Thankful I live where I do... no chance of the wife even contemplating an electric car when there is over 60km to work each day

Curious though, does the range account for sitting/crawling along in peak hour traffic for 1-2 hours?

Funny thing is with a commute of that distance an electric car would probably be very good for you. The more you use the car the better if it's range is 150-180 and your using it daily for 120k trips then it'd be really good fit