Nissan’s new all-electric Leaf is all set for a February launch in Australia, but don’t think you can just wander up to the counter and drop $51,500 on the new EV. Instead, Nissan are going to screen all potential buyers to determine their compatibility, and may turn away buyers if they don’t qualify.
According to Chris Harris over at Fairfax, Nissan will assess “whether the electric vehicle will meet buyers’ needs based on their home charging set-up and whether their daily commute is within the Leaf’s 140-kilometre operating range between recharges.”
I understand the logic behind the decision – the last thing you want is people bitching on Twitter because the EV they bought ran out of charge half way home, leaving them stranded in the rain. Given the lack of EV charging infrastructure here in Australia, that’s almost definitely going to happen more than once.
But turning away potential customers in this economy? Man, that just seems wrong…
[Drive]
Rattus
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 9:43 AMMore environmental crap! Wouldn’t pay $51500 if I did qualify…dreamers!
Dave
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 10:40 AMChange the spelling in the heading. Should be ‘compatibility’.
attila
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:28 PMI think the word you are actually looking for is “gullibility”…
Sam
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 10:49 AM“…the last thing you want is people bitching on Twitter because the EV they bought ran out of charge half way home, leaving them stranded in the rain. Given the lack of EV charging infrastructure…”
Seems they’re trying desperately to avoid a public consumer version of what Top Gear demonstrated these things are like to live with…
Sicarius123
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:10 AMYou could buy a good car for 50k!
Just This Guy ...
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:35 PMActually I think ALL potential buyers of ANYTHING should be screened first.
Just look at all the idiots who buy something based on unrealistic expectations, then pi$$ in everybody’s ear about how they feel ripped off or disappointed in some way or another.
Like say, people who spend $600 on a laptop then get apoplectic when they find that 2 years after they bought it, something in it dies.
The AVERAGE consumer expects far too much for far too little lately.
Just This Guy ...
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:37 PMAnd yes, 50 odd K for a car IS a lot of money (in average Joe terms), but not considering the advanced tech that these things actually represent.
It’s all about perspective. And lot’s of folks don’t got much.
by a dicshonarie
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:56 PMstopped next to one on Hoddle st yesterday, had my 15 year old son in the car with me. Explained that it was a new electric car.
he’s reply, “what’s the point! If I drove one of those my mates would bash me”
Exactly.
Abe
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 3:00 PMMy mate said that to me too, but i dont care what people say… maybe im used to it?
Anyway its going to take a longg time for change in this country and world wide. Might as well start now.
Puddiepants
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:59 PMI’m curious (and maybe I need to do my own research, but whatever), if you are compatible and have 51 and a half gorilla’s to drop on one of these, it’s going to need charging every night. How much is that going to bump up your electricity bill? (My current car costs about $60 for 600km) Most people who would get this would be for environmental reasons, but how much carbon emissions are produced for one of these to be charged up?
Are there really any significant savings either economically or environmentally?
Sam
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 1:26 PMFair question about running costs – it really comes down to Nissan reporting what kind of Wh you can expect to chew through running this thing. Another question is how much you would be looking at to the the car serviced. Servicing becomes a “specialist” task at Nissan dealers, no doubt at a primium price.
As far as environmental impact is concerned, it does have the potential to make a difference – though emissions used in manufacture, and desposal of your old vehicle etc aside; for most Australians, running an electric car means using electricity generated from burning coal; so many way’s you’re just transferring your emissions elsewhere.
david
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 2:16 PMIt would cost about $24 depending how efficient the battery is, which is not really worth it considering the $30k premium opver a smiliar sized car
Abe
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 2:57 PMUnless you have solar panels on your roof:) 2.8kw should offset a good amount. 4.1kw is the goal. Dodges coal plus will pay itself off. Will be free to drive once it pays off. Thats rewarding!!
To me this is a hobby, i don’t take money into factor compared to everyone else.
(expensive hobby)
Mark
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 3:06 PMAt this rate, after 500,000km the car has saved the $30k extra you payed.
That is assuming you don’t need to fork out to replace the battery pack.
As for saving the environment. I believe manufacturing the vehicle (and especially the Nickel based batteries) is rather a lot more damaging to the environment than driving your old gas guzzler for another few years and not buying another car would be. If you really want to be green, keep your old car, don’t buy new, and especially don’t buy electric/hybrid.
smurfydog
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:47 PMA mechanic friend of mine who is also a bit of a hippie told me that the favourite part of his job is when he can keep an older car on the road for a few more years. He’ll go to the wreckers to get parts in order to keep cars running that would otherwise be uneconomical to repair.
He does this partly out of generosity – he genuinly loves to help people – but mostly because he feels an “obligation to the planet” (his words) to reduce the environmental impact and drain on resources that are unavoidable in the manufacture of a new car.
AWM
Saturday, December 24, 2011 at 5:44 PMThere is very little servicing to be done. The most effective way to slow the car is reverse the electric motors drive to slow and stop (although it does have brake pads but they will get minimal work. There is no oil, far fewer movng parts. Once year safety check, tyre rotation, check the alignment of the wheels etc. I read the batteries have an eight year warranty.
dave
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:09 PMI think hydrogen is the answer to the fuel of the future. We just have to find a way to produce it more efficiently.
Phil
Friday, December 23, 2011 at 7:39 AMIn Australia, electricity is mostly generated by burning fossil fuel. How, then, is an electric vehicle environmentally friendly? I could see this making sense if the infrastructure for serving up the electricity was based on nukes, supplemented by wind, solar etc. But the Australian electorate has an irrational fear of nukes and the other techs can’t cope with baseload. So brown coal it is.