Leaf motor compartment.

I'm just looking and compare Leaf motor compartment to Chevy volt and C--max energy. Those plug in hybrids have more powerful electric motors then Leaf and on the top of that they managed to fit gasoline engines with all extra junk like radiator, exhaust system another motor acting as starter ,etc. My point is -the Nissan engineers did not really bother to make leaf motor/inverter very compact unit if compare to above cars. Tesla S did excellent job, result is having two trunks -front and back.

tszukow said:

I'm just looking and compare Leaf motor compartment to Chevy volt and C--max energy. Those plug in hybrids have more powerful electric motors then Leaf and on the top of that they managed to fit gasoline engines with all extra junk like radiator, exhaust system another motor acting as starter ,etc. My point is -the Nissan engineers did not really bother to make leaf motor/inverter very compact unit if compare to above cars. Tesla S did excellent job, result is having two trunks -front and back.

Click to expand...

Really? Then how come those other hybrids need a drive-train "assist" from the ICE when accelerating and/or maintaining high speeds (the Leaf tops out >90 mph). Also, it's easy to have more "trunk room" when the car is bigger to begin with! The Tesla S platform occupies >> square footage than the Leaf.

Stanton said:

Really? Then how come those other hybrids need a drive-train "assist" from the ICE when accelerating and/or maintaining high speeds (the Leaf tops out >90 mph). Also, it's easy to have more "trunk room" when the car is bigger to begin with! The Tesla S platform occupies >> square footage than the Leaf.

Click to expand...

^^^ What He Said!!! ^^^

Oh, don't be so defensive.

I do wish Nissan had done a better job with packaging. The inverter could have been crammed off to one side, leaving room for a little frunk.

garsh said:

I do wish Nissan had done a better job with packaging. The inverter could have been crammed off to one side, leaving room for a little frunk.

Click to expand...

very true. Nothing explains how different an electric car is like a frunk

The Tesla drive is larger than you think and not noticed because it is in the rear but it is compact. The Nissan drive contains the drive train, motor, inverter and the charger. Putting it off to the side would not make for more usable space, putting in the rear would. Take a look at the cut away of the entire drive system, the motor is a fractional part.

the i3 has a little tiny frunk and a trunk half the size of the Leaf

Volt and C-max (EV now mode) does not need ICE assist when accelerating,Tesla has 3 to 4 times bigger battery then Leaf yet has small trunk at front. Stanton is thinking about Prius plug in.

EVDRIVER said:

The Nissan drive contains the drive train, motor, inverter and the charger.

Click to expand...

The motor & drive train are fairly low in the front.
The charger is in the back.
That leaves the inverter up front, sitting above the motor and trying it's best to look like a conventional engine.
There's no real good reason why it couldn't have been a more compact design, and fit into a smaller space.

tszukow said:

Volt and C-max (EV now mode) does not need ICE assist when accelerating,Tesla has 3 to 4 times bigger battery then Leaf yet has small trunk at front. Stanton is thinking about Prius plug in.

Click to expand...

The Volt has a more powerful electric motor than the Leaf, but it also has a lot more weight to move.

The CMax has a much smaller electric motor than the Leaf and the argument of whether or not it "needs" ICE assist is a matter of opinion. Sure, you can put it into EV-Now mode if you don't mind acceleration times of 16 seconds for 0-60. The Volt and Leaf, on the other hand, can accelerate very nicely without using any gas.

C-max has actually slightly bigger motor then Leaf- 118Hp vs Leaf's 110Hp,but it's not the point. My original post was not about acceleration or Hp, but managing the vehicle space to accommodate just electric motor or both motor and gasoline engine with fuel tank, emission systems, cooling system in more or less similar size cars under the front hood. Except Tesla I had opportunity to have and use above cars for few days, each of them has pros and cons .Lost trunk space, carry gasoline engine as ballast in my case perhaps never to be used . C-max lack of standard back up camera and turning radius reminds me Yamato battleship make me to buy and really enjoy the Leaf.

tszukow said:

C-max has actually slightly bigger motor then Leaf- 118Hp vs Leaf's 110Hp,but it's not the point. .

Click to expand...

May not be the point.. but you have me curious. Where did you get that figure for the Cmax? According to Wikipedia, it has a 68 kW electric motor which would translate to roughly 91 Hp. The Leaf has an 80 kW motor rated at 110 Hp.

68 Kw is not electric motor Hp but electric drivetrain can produce a peak power of 68 kW, the same as Leaf 24Kw battery can not produce over 80kw continuous output. C-max energy info I got from the dealer Service manual but also online- http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2013-ford-c-max-energi-first-drive-review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
or
http://www.carmax.com/enus/expert-reviews/2013-Ford-C-MAX-1521.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
or just google c-max 118Hp