Nissan's 'Drive Electric' tour!

[mark13]

For a small company they sure have a lot of work to do.. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ECOtality-Unveils-Plans-to-bw-3232315896.html?x=0&.v=1

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Cracker-Barrel-to-offer-apf-3270802952.html?x=0&.v=4

 

[Azrich]

Tucson Nissan Drive Electric Tour: Friday, Dec. 10 - 8 am

If anyone is going, here's some info: The electric drive tour stretches across 4th Avenue on 8th Street. The registration and tour actually begins in the large structure on the east side of 4th Avenue. After the tour and looking at the stationary LEAF, they walk you across 4th Avenue where the drive begins. The tour guides told me this is the most cramped place they have had so far. It is very different from the giant parking lot they used in Tempe. The tour guides know a lot, but the people riding with you know very little. The girl today did not know how to turn on the radio!! Today there was also an engineer from Tennessee that I spoke with for a while. Later, he saw me again and asked me if I had any more questions. He sort of followed the tour and interjected more facts and comments.

This test drive was a lot better than in Tempe last week - longer, faster, less traffic and people. After the drive I asked the tour guide if I could go back to the stationary LEAF and he said, "Sure, hang out with us as long you want." I spent about 20 minutes in and around the car until another tour came. I connected my iPhone via bluetooth to the audio and played some my music through the system while I tried out everything I could think of. I followed the next tour group back to the test drive location and did a second drive. This time I could really give it some pedal - whoa! I was pressed back into the seat. The brakes are very good too. The route zig zagged over to Stone Ave then we turned south. If you wait until the traffic has cleared this is where you can stomp on the pedal for a short spurt. Then there is more zig zagging back to the turn-around where you boarded.

This time I drove a ocean blue LEAF and in the sun I studied the paint and color. There are lots of turquoise and pink flakes in the metallic paint. I really liked it a lot. The red paint is non-metallic.

 

[dkhctryleaf]

Austin TX
We made the trip from Boerne friday afternoon. Very impressed with the overall fit /finish. Interior is easily navigatable ...controls were simple . Handled well ...I pushed it through the cone course kinda hard ...appreciable low center of gravity due to lith-I batts. Accelleration was decent, braking adequate. Although the TD was brief, I gained enough to predict this vehicle will grab the market in a HUGE way.

 

[LEAFfan]

Austin TX
We made the trip from Boerne friday afternoon. Very impressed with the overall fit /finish. Interior is easily navigatable ...controls were simple . Handled well ...I pushed it through the cone course kinda hard ...appreciable low center of gravity due to lith-I batts. Accelleration was decent, braking adequate. Although the TD was brief, I gained enough to predict this vehicle will grab the market in a HUGE way.

Braking just adequate? LOL, that's not what I learned when I had to put on the ABS to avoid hitting a car that went through a stop sign. I was going around 20, and it stopped on a dime, without that much effort actually!

 

[Yanquetino]

My test drive in Tempe: http://bit.ly/f4iRSV

 

[palmermd]

My test drive in Tempe: http://bit.ly/f4iRSV

Nice to see you were actually able to drive the car. I went to the event in San Jose 1.5 hours to get there and only got to go around the block (literally). Never got the car up to any speed, only a few minutes and did not get a good feel for the car in the short time. Then in San Francisco (another 1.5 hour drive to get there) it was a lap around the inside of a ballroom (literally indoors). Might be useful if I were Howard Hughes living inside a hotel, but for those of us who venture outside it was useless.

 

[tps]

Then in San Francisco (another 1.5 hour drive to get there) it was a lap around the inside of a ballroom (literally indoors).

The SF thing was a Zero Emission stunt, not a useful test drive IMHO.

 

[evnow]

Then in San Francisco (another 1.5 hour drive to get there) it was a lap around the inside of a ballroom (literally indoors).

The SF thing was a Zero Emission stunt, not a useful test drive IMHO.

Well the Seattle drive was around a block too. It was so fast, to use a Wodehouse metaphor, when I returned I almost bumped into myself starting the drive.

 

[garygid]

Michael,
VERY nicely done write-up, the BEST I have seen.
GOOD JOB!

Only one small error, I think: since the Power Steering is all-electric, there is no Power Steering fluid fill cap. Yes, there are two coolant fill-caps, brake, and window washer.

One "white" LEAF got dented (right side, I think) in the Anaheim test-drive event.

 

[hill]

Michael,
VERY nicely done write-up, the BEST I have seen.
GOOD JOB!

Only one small error, I think: since the Power Steering is all-electric, there is no Power Steering fluid fill cap. Yes, there are two coolant fill-caps, brake, and window washer.

One "white" LEAF got dented (right side, I think) in the Anaheim test-drive event.

Don't look at me! . . . I never got out of the slow lane, not got over 40mph. It must have happened after my drive ... right?

Yes ... VERY nice write up. 8.2kw PV?!? Mighty huge! That must be DC, prior to converting to AC since the inverter is rated for 7Kw. On days where temps go over 100 degrees I find we have a loss of about 15% efficiency too. All those factors mean the 7Kw inverter shouldn't ever be over maxed. Still - that's a big system. Does Utah have a buy back program (like CA has) where they pay you cash for any surplus?

 

[LEAFfan]

One "white" LEAF got dented (right side, I think) in the Anaheim test-drive event.

It really doesn't matter, Nissan is going to crush all those test drive vehicles anyway.

 

[Yanquetino]

Only one small error, I think: since the Power Steering is all-electric, there is no Power Steering fluid fill cap. Yes, there are two coolant fill-caps, brake, and window washer.

One "white" LEAF got dented (right side, I think) in the Anaheim test-drive event.

Hi, Gary: Thanks! Uh... I counted three fill caps under the hood:

If the third one isn't for power steering, I am curious to know the answer. Liquid cooling the electric motor perhaps...? (I know that the battery pack itself is air cooled, so that can't be it.) If anyone knows, I will gladly make that correction in my report.

Da-yam! A white one was dented in Anaheim, huh? Ouch...! I guess the odds are inevitable: sooner or later. Sigh....

Hill: Yes, my 8,280 watt solar array is pretty big, but I'm hoping it will, on average, power our whole house --including the LEAF someday. The installers reassured me that the Sunny Boy 7000 could actually handle an array of 8,500 watts, so I'm not worried there. Besides, because of HOA restrictions, some of the panels are not at the optimal angle for our latitude, but they should be producing a lot of juice in the summer when air conditioning is running full blast. Rocky Mountain Power is supposed to reimburse us at the end of each year if we have produced more than we use. We'll see. The best news is that I secured an $8,500 rebate from the state's geological office; with the federal tax credit, I figure I'll end up paying about $3.12/watt for my system. Not bad! I wish I had my LEAF already to help pay off the investment instead of putting money into the gas pump.

 

[DarkStar]

One "white" LEAF got dented (right side, I think) in the Anaheim test-drive event.

That must be the same LEAF that Nissan brought to the Oregon #FirstLEAF event. My wife pointed out the small dent on the drivers side!

 

[Smidge204]

If the third one isn't for power steering, I am curious to know the answer. Liquid cooling the electric motor perhaps...? (I know that the battery pack itself is air cooled, so that can't be it.) If anyone knows, I will gladly make that correction in my report.

From the owner's manual:

Why it needs THREE coolant system caps is beyond me, but there it is. They're all visible in your picture, too.
=Smidge=

 

[AndyH]

There are two separate 'coolant' systems - one for the motor/inverter/charger, and one for the cabin heater. It looks like they use the same 'overflow' bottle.

edit...just scanned the service manual. Here's the deal... In an ICE car, the radiator has a tank and pressure cap as part of the radiator structure. Any coolant that vents from the radiator past the pressure cap is captured in an unpressurized 'overflow' bottle. When the radiator cools, a slight vacuum can be formed in the radiator - and that will suck coolant from the overflow bottle. As long as the overflow bottle has coolant, the radiator should stay full.

The LEAF has two separate cooling systems - one loop is for the traction motor, the power inverter, and charger. The second loop is for the cabin heater. Each of these loops has it's own 'degas bottle' with a pressure cap. Each of these 'degas bottles' has an overflow tube that feeds a common unpressurized overflow bottle.

The motor/inverter/charger loop uses degas bottle with pressure cap (number 1 in the owners manual picture - firewall/passenger side). The heater uses bottle/pressure cap number 1 (front of car, driver's side). Both feed to and draw from a common unpressurized reservoir bottle (number 7 in the picture).
/edit

 

[Yanquetino]

Thanks, Smidge! When in doubt, read the manual! I've made that change in my report.

I agree that it is really odd to have multiple "coolant" reservoirs. And I still don't understand what they "cool." The electric motor, I guess. Maybe also the climate control...?

 

[evnow]

I agree that it is really odd to have multiple "coolant" reservoirs. And I still don't understand what they "cool." The electric motor, I guess. Maybe also the climate control...?

Charger (and inverter ?) as well.

 

[garygid]

So, the motor, inverter, and charger are on one system, using coolant "M".

The Heater for the Passenger Cabin has a fluid to take heat from the high-voltage "resistive" element into the "heater radiator". That fluid is coolant "H".

Both fluids overflow into the same "overflow reservoir", where "the mix" can be (maybe not) drawn back into either system.

So, it is likely that "M" and "H" are the same fluid. Is it simple automotive coolant?

 

[AndyH]

So, the motor, inverter, and charger are on one system, using coolant "M".

The Heater for the Passenger Cabin has a fluid to take heat from the high-voltage "resistive" element into the "heater radiator". That fluid is coolant "H".

Both fluids overflow into the same "overflow reservoir", where "the mix" can be (maybe not) drawn back into either system.

So, it is likely that "M" and "H" are the same fluid. Is it simple automotive coolant?

Exactly, Gary - regular old 50/50 antifreeze/distilled water.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Not any, must be Nissan Blue.