I went to see the Leaf today at the Museum of Science in Boston, a stop on their "Nissan LEAF Zero Emission Tour" chatted with several Nissan reps, as well as at least one Engineering guy.
It was interesting to discuss EV's with the several different types of people at the event. The 'greenies' who were one-upping each other with how far 'off-the grid' they were, discussing solar panel sizes and how to best charge an EV off solar. The techies (myself included) were talking kWh, charge times, and laws of physics. And the most interesting (to me) was the general public who had no clue what this car was, and seemed very surprised that an all electric car existed at all. The final type that was there were apparently Nissan dealers, who were getting their first look at the actual hardware. From them I overheard that the "word from on high" was that Nissan is trying to be associated with EV's the way Toyota is associated with hybrids today.
With regards to the battery pack, they say they've been working on batteries for 17 years--I'm not sure what they were using them for. When pressed, the engineer did get a bit defensive, claiming that Tesla's 18650 tech is "10 years behind" Nissan's Lithium Manganese prismatics, and he questioned Tesla's ability to mass manufacture as complicated a setup as the Tesla pack. He also dissed A123's chemistry saying the energy density wasn't up to snuff, which was interesting as A123 are the local darling of the Mass. politicos who were at the event to announce a new "Zero Emission Vehicle Alliance" with Nissan. I'm not sure he was aware who might have been listening! But he seemed to genuinely understand the issues, and was proudly defending Nissan's engineering trade offs.
One thing that became clear, Nissan is trying to reduce range anxiety by make sure level 3 fast charging is widely available. My take on this was that once the real range of an EV approaches 400 miles, no one will give a darn about Level 3--except perhaps for their own garage.
With regards to leasing the battery pack--according to the booth babes (not a great source, I admit, but nice to talk with!) Nissan is backing off on the "buy the car but lease the battery" idea, apparently due to some federal law that disallows selling a car without a complete power train. Sounds just crazy enough to be true. Instead, they are going to focus on leasing the whole package, and thus be able to apply some percentage of the $7500 tax credit up front as a cost basis reduction. In addition, initial sales will be pre-qualified with the ability to install 220V charging station at home or work. They admit they already know the price, but are not going to announce it until April. They are only saying "25-32K" at the moment. Not clear if that's with or without the $7500 tax credit. And it does not include the charging station ($500 with subsidy I think I heard them say) and it's installation.
Overall, I was rather impressed with the Leaf, even though I do feel it's not very pretty. The fact that a major name brand will be mass marketing a pure EV is great step forward. If they really can deliver on their time frame (they claim December for the initial markets, April 2011 for Boston) I will seriously consider one--at least until the Model S shows up on my door!
