Top Five Improvements

[dgpcolorado]

...I personally think the 0-30 mph performance is fantastic for a little econobox family car, but merging onto the highway that is going 55-60 up a modest hill is fairly lackluster.

I disagree. I've been quite impressed with my passing power from 55-70 on the rare occasions I need to do it (no multi-lane highways here, so passing has to be done quickly and with considerable care). Might be an altitude thing though: there is a whole lot less aerodynamic drag where I live.

 

[finman100]

bummer about the hybrid thing. well, for me anyway. EV is all i need/want right now. And looking forward only my wife thinks we need to burn gas, ha, ha. I like the ideas about pack capacities versus type of cars and intended uses. Regardless of the intended use of an EV (drive less than 40 miles per day, etc), the public will always overbuy its needs (4WD SUV with 300 hp that NEVER sees off-road or 2 passengers??). Okay, I'm all for having choices based on some rationale...but joe and betty public aren't always rational. Better cupholders seem to sell, not adequate EV range.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

The Eolab is a concept car, and I am pretty sure they could make a BEV version. I agree that an EV is the way to go.

The point is that is what low drag can look like. A practical 4 seat hatchback, with a class leading Cd. Scale it up a bit, to gain the fifth seat. The Cd overcomes a larger frontal area - the Tesla Model S has the same CdA as the Prius.

 

[LeftieBiker]

...I personally think the 0-30 mph performance is fantastic for a little econobox family car, but merging onto the highway that is going 55-60 up a modest hill is fairly lackluster.

I disagree. I've been quite impressed with my passing power from 55-70 on the rare occasions I need to do it (no multi-lane highways here, so passing has to be done quickly and with considerable care). Might be an altitude thing though: there is a whole lot less aerodynamic drag where I live.

I live near sea level, and also find the passing power quite adequate. And I think my Leaf performs well climbing hills from a stop, especially compared with ICE cars with automatic transmissions.

 

[JeremyW]

The rear wheel track needs to be (slightly) narrower than the front

I have a car that has this (first gen Honda Insight) and I can tell you that this sucks. The car "hunts" around on the freeway when there are grooves or other features that make the front wheels and back wheels track slightly differently. Reportedly this is even worse in the snow since the back wheels don't follow the track of the fronts. I don't think it's worth it, in my opinion.

I also have an insight and drove it through last winter which was a pretty bad one for us. It was a GREAT car in the snow!

I think the problem with the rear isn't because it's narrow it's the suspension is so loose back there and it's pretty light weight, also I understand the alignment is set up for optimum efficiency without much or any toe in that gives high speed stability and resistance to pulling. Just like Porsche can make a rear engine car handle not just well but amazing a trait can be engineered out if they want to keep it bad enough.

Does anyone know what the leaf alignment is set up like? Are there any gains to be made by going to a 0 toe in the rear?

Hate to bring up a dying thread, but the Insight actually has quite a bit of toe in the rear! Just found the alignment specs:

Front Toe-in: 0 mm (+/- 2mm)
Front Camber: 0 degree 00' (+/- 1 degree)
Caster: 2 degree 00' (+/- 1 degree) - if not within that range, check for bent or damaged suspension components

Rear Toe-in: 3 mm (+/- 3mm)
Rear camber: -1 degree 00' (+/- 1 degree)