Metro Jacksonville

Test drive the new Nissan LEAF at the Avenues Mall near Belk today until 5 pm, Saturday 7 am-5pm and Sunday 8am-4pm.  You even have a chance to win one.  After your test drive, you can record a video explaining why you deserve to win a LEAF at the event. Share your video via Facebook and twitter to get votes. The video with the most votes wins. Visit https://www.drivenissanleaf.com/Win/ for event details and contest rules.

Who's going?  Share your test drive experience on the North Florida Clean Cities Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Florida-Clean-Cities/145488672134134

(fixed links OCK)

I saw them setting up yesterday and was curious what it was. Thank you for posting this.

I went to the test drive yesterday and it was amazing - the car is incredibly quiet and smooth.  There were quite of few folks from local gov. agencies there checking it out too.  Nissan exec said we should get them here in Jax by the end of this year.   

QuoteWatt's up? New Nissan Leaf test drives seem to electrify potential customers
Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/business/2011-01-22/story/watts-new-nissan-leaf-test-drives-seem-electrify-potential-customers


By Dan Scanlan
It looks like a lot of Jacksonville folks are willing to turn over a new leaf - a Nissan Leaf electric car, that is.

A steady stream of people showed up at The Avenues mall Friday for the first day of Nissan's weekend "Drive Electric Tour" with what it calls an "affordable, mass-market, all-electric car."

After a test drive, Florida State College at Jacksonville student Adriane Hines said a Leaf would be perfect for her.

"It's awesome and fantastic, and it drives amazing," Hines said. "It's very quiet and the handling is great. ... I'm fine with charging that at home, and most of my driving is to campus and around town."

Westside resident Carly Wainwright said she wants one.

"It's eco-friendly, and I need a new car," she said. "You get in, punch a button and you don't even hear it. It has a very nice ride."

Almost 30,000 people have tested a Leaf since a 23-market tour began in the fall. Jacksonville is its 15th stop. And 20,000 people made refundable $99 deposits to buy one during a fall online reservation period. But despite announcements that Leafs would start shipping to those customers this month, only a few have been delivered. Nissan spokesman Steve Parrett said that's because there was so much interest in the car that reservations filled up two months early, and production hasn't caught up.

"We had a higher pickup than we expected, and a ramp-up of production was slower," Parrett said. "We will start seeing more of them coming through the pipeline in the springtime, and we should be able to fulfill all of the reservations by spring or early summer."

The Leaf is an all-electric car, with no gas engine driving the wheels like most cars, or a gasoline engine working in-line with a battery and electric motor, like a hybrid. Its mass market competition includes Chevrolet's new Volt, an electric car with an on-board gas engine charging system coming out soon, and Ford's just-announced all-electric Focus.

The five-passenger Leaf plants its 48 lithium-ion battery modules under the floor. Nissan estimates a fully charged Leaf has a 100-mile range, or Jacksonville-to-Daytona Beach depending on the driver, weather, road conditions and battery age. A small hatch on its nose hides a 220-volt charging port. A full charge takes about eight hours. A second port for a household 110 volts lets it charge fully in 20 hours. An optional 440-watt Quick Charge system can zap a dead battery to 80 percent in a half hour, those to be sited mostly at shopping centers or downtowns.

Fourteen Leafs are set up in the mall parking lot between Belk and Southside Boulevard, available for drives in a coned-off course. Visitors can do a 1.8-mile test drive on nearby roads. One was David Byrne, the city of Tallahassee's energy services director, who came to see how its new smart-grid energy management system would complement electric cars, which are usually recharged at home at night.

"Our electric customers could take advantage of a lower nighttime pricing scheme to charge the car at night, even lower than the regular cost," Byrne said. "Gasoline doesn't have to get too much higher to make a real compelling case for lots of people to switch over to a car like this."

Tallahassee is also trying to get a Leaf to evaluate, he said.

Jan Meier lives in a Minneapolis suburb, but stays on Amelia Island in January. After her test drive, she said a Leaf would be a good car for either home.

"It's a peppy little car, and smooth," Meier said. "We pretty much stay on Amelia Island and would drive 10 to 20 miles a day, if we drove that much. It could be easily charged overnight for that use."

The Leaf's base price is $32,780. Get the $7,500 federal tax credit, and the Leaf starts at $25,280. With many states offering incentives, like a $5,000 tax credit in Georgia, the price of a Leaf drops. Nissan said it is lobbying for a similar tax credit in Florida, as online reservations resume this summer.

dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

This is long, long overdue. Had GM not snuffed out the electric auto industry prior to buying up the streetcar lines and replacing them all with buses, we might be much more advanced in electric technology. The car will still need lubricants and only time will tell what alternative and renewable sources we have for those. In any case the only downside is even electric cars promote an ever expanding highway-road-parking infrastructure. Well levels are falling, ground water is becoming more polluted, but the industry sees no relationship between that and destruction of our environment.

The United States, with its 214 million motor vehicles, has paved 3.9 million miles of roads, enough to circle the Earth at the equator 157 times. In addition to roads, cars require parking space. Imagine a parking lot for 214 million cars and trucks. If that is too difficult, try visualizing a parking lot for 1,000 cars and then imagine what 214,000 of these would look like. Consider too that 61,000 square miles is about the area of New England.

However we visualize it, the U.S. area devoted to roads and parking lots covers an estimated 61,000 square miles.

Happy driving...

OCKLAWAHA

the Leaf, Volt,the eFocus are steps in the right direction.

The major concern people bring up on Leaf, you have to really watch your charge very closely.

Performance varies dramatically based on your speed and how many people you carry with you in the vehicle.

Taking a family of 4 on a trip down I-95 can be very tricky (if not a little unsafe). Your range declines because of the weight, but also the danger climbs as you cannot keep up with traffic and maintain a good charge level. If you discharge too quickly, you will find yourself on the shoulder in limp mode at 15mph to reach the next exit, then you must find a place to plug back in for several hours.

If you really want to go electric, but want to take long trips, go Volt. If you are mostly an urban driver, go Leaf.

I understand that the new electrics are designed NOT to lose performance all the way to the end of the battery's charge for this exact reason. Time will tell if they really achieved that yet. But keep you eye on the newest batteries coming soon including nuclear and chlorine, ion and gold...

Here's just one of the blurbs I've been following from MIT or ST. ANDREWS.

Quote
The researchers, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have already made a small prototype cell that charges fully in 10 to 20 seconds, compared with six minutes for cells made in the standard way. The researchers are of the view that this technology will be available commercially within two to three years, because they are not using some new material. They have also nicknamed this technology as the “beltway battery”, after the orbital motorway in Washington DC. His lithium-ion battery utilizes a bypass system that allows the lithium-ions to enter and leave the battery speedily. The scientists discovered that by coating particles of lithium iron phosphate in a glassy material called lithium pyrophosphate, ions behave differently. These ions can bypass the channels and move more quickly. As we are acquainted with the fact that rechargeable batteries store up and discharge energy as charged atoms, known as ions, from between two electrodes called the anode and the cathode. Their charge and discharge rate are restricted by the speed with which these ions move.

If MIT scientists successfully complete this project for commercial use, we can charge electric car batteries in less than one hour. Till now recharging is one of the greatest hurdles for mass production of electric
cars.
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/new-battery-technology-charges-in-seconds/

Quote
A normal fossil fuel car (using an internal combustion engine) only needs the battery to start the engine as well as run the air conditioning system and the car stereo. But the scene is quite different with electric cars. Batteries run everything. So when one tries to buy an electric car his/her prime concern is battery. Electric car owners are still grappling with the quality and reliability of the electric car battery. The main concern is how long the battery will last before it needs recharging. Researchers are continuously trying to devise new ways for the battery to last longer and recharge easily. Imagine your phones, mp3 players, computers and laptops running for days without recharging, or for that matter your car running far longer on one charge than it presently can with a tank or two of gas. Using air power, it might be possible in as early as 5 years.

Researchers at the Scotland’s University of St. Andrews are working on a project on the air-powered battery. If successful they will replace the lithium cobalt oxide electrode in the fuel cell. The “STAIR” (St. Andres Air) battery will be compatible on all renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, and oxygen. Professor Peter Bruce who is leading his team for this project, is of the opinion, “Our target is to get a five to ten fold increase in storage capacity, which is beyond the horizon of current lithium batteries. The key is to use oxygen in the air as a re-agent, rather than carry the necessary chemicals around inside the battery.”

The major advantages will be the battery will be cheaper and lighter in weight too. Because they are not using expensive material but lightweight porous carbon. This carbon inhales oxygen from the atmosphere while the battery is discharging. We can see that there will be a regular round of charge and discharge. The oxygen will be sucked in through an exterior of the battery that is exposed to air. This oxygen will react within the pores of the carbon to discharge the battery. “Not only is this part of the process free, the carbon component is much cheaper than current technology,” Bruce says.

This research project was assigned on a four year basis. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of Great Britain (EPSRC) is sponsoring this project. The project has just completed two years but it has already achieved a battery lasting 8 times longer than a lithium cobalt oxide battery. The original aim was to achieve a battery with a 5 to 10 times more life than contemporary batteries. EPSRC explains, “By discharging batteries to provide electricity and recharging them when the wind blows or sun shines, renewables become a much more viable option.”

The air powered batteries might take five more years to be commercially produced. But they will be available for your cell phones, laptops and mp3 players first.
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/air-fueled-battery-for-electric-cars/

Damn, wonder what a trolley pole would do for one of those?

OCKLAWAHA

The Leaf is an answer to a problem that shouldn't have been. It still requires auto ownership (think cost to buy/insure/maintain, costs/resources to produce, etc), still requires more roads being built to accommodate, still requires the energy to come from somewhere (the grid instead of the pump), etc.

And no matter how you slice it, is still a TERRIBLY inefficient means of transportation (one single person per car instead of many people traveling in a single rail system).

It's better than what we have, but it's not an answer.

i tested the leaf yesterday. Its a big answer.... in a worst case scenario, its a second car. Which works for America because most americans (families) have more than 2 cars anyhow. it runs at 24kW full. at Jea s rate of .12 per kW that comes to $2.20 100% capacity. I agree with others concerning drivability it drives great.
i have to let time pass as i'm so excited about my experience with it. But so many americans have already committed to buying the leaf that its guaranteed a success.
I'm sick of the oil corporations, and our foreign dependence on oil.
Nissan has an on board computer that manages your capacity accurately. Power stations are being built to handle 440 volt supercharge ( 80% capacity in half an hour). They will be located around the major malls shopping centers, theres $200 million already committed towards the stations. And Florida is one of the first
targeted areas for electric car operations. Jacksonville was Nissans first exposition in Florida.
more importantly than the test drive was the presentation of the "ev". It quickly becomes apparent that the EV
is not a new gimmick. its been around for decades in other parts of the world and now several manufacturers
believe the time is right for the US. And theyre right!
The EV will work hand in hand with mass transit
Its my opinion that buying an electric car is a good thing one can do for america.
To answer all questions about the LEAF, you should go to the website and find out.

Quote from: hillary supporter on January 23, 2011, 02:27:25 PM
I'm sick of the oil corporations, and our foreign dependence on oil.

And replace that dependence on foreign oil with a dependence on foreign precious metals. (that the batteries need)

After their diplomatic spat with Japan over a fishing boat, China reduced exports of their supply of precious metals. In response, many suppliers have shifted mining of the metals to other countries, especially in the 2nd largest supplier, but largest consumer, the US. It will result in price increases across the board for some key items that rely on the metals from China.

We worship foreign oil because it is cheap to acquire, we worship foreign precious metals because they are cheap to mine. As long as we worship at the altar of the lowest price at all costs, we will always be dependent on some foreign material to meet our needs.

Quote from: spuwho on January 26, 2011, 07:28:15 AM

Quote from: hillary supporter on January 23, 2011, 02:27:25 PM
I'm sick of the oil corporations, and our foreign dependence on oil.

And replace that dependence on foreign oil with a dependence on foreign precious metals. (that the batteries need)


We worship foreign oil because it is cheap to acquire, we worship foreign precious metals because they are cheap to mine. As long as we worship at the altar of the lowest price at all costs, we will always be dependent on some foreign material to meet our needs.

you should not buy a nissan Leaf electric car!

No thanks, I'll stick with American. How would you say Leaf plurally, Leaves? "Two Nissan Leaves" Things that make you go Hmmmm....LOL