BESIDES MORE RANGE, what would you like to see in LEAF gen 2

[epic]

moon roof.green as a color

[donald]

I dont see why it would be bad idea - to other drivers its signal that you are slowing down and it doesnt matter if you are using brakes or regen braking....

I agree, though I would be a bit more subtle and there would be some 'rate detection' function on throttle position because you might be backing off in a normal flow of traffic downhill (maybe Model S already does this). You do need to avoid the highway situation where controlling speed on the pedal in traffic is met with a constant on-off of the brake light to those following you, as that would be confusing and distracting. (Of course, some people actually drive like that! Fortunately quite few!)

Ultimately, this could actually be a more informative signal than a regular ICE brake pedal because with an ICE you can be rolling downhill with the brake light lit yet accelerating on light braking, or rolling uphill off throttle and decelerating with no brake light lit.

[Rebel44]

I dont see why it would be bad idea - to other drivers its signal that you are slowing down and it doesnt matter if you are using brakes or regen braking....

I agree, though I would be a bit more subtle and there would be some 'rate detection' function on throttle position because you might be backing off in a normal flow of traffic downhill (maybe Model S already does this). You do need to avoid the highway situation where controlling speed on the pedal in traffic is met with a constant on-off of the brake light to those following you, as that would be confusing and distracting. (Of course, some people actually drive like that! Fortunately quite few!)

Ultimately, this could actually be a more informative signal than a regular ICE brake pedal because with an ICE you can be rolling downhill with the brake light lit yet accelerating on light braking, or rolling uphill off throttle and decelerating with no brake light lit.

It would take ages for most drivers to learn that such new light even exist. Current braking lights also dont show any difference between light and heavy braking.

IMO, making things more complicated than absolutely necessary is very bad idea.

[JeremyW]

AFAIK the Model S brings on the brake lights due to the rate of deceleration (at a certain threshold). There is no need for a different light. If they're stopping, they're stopping, and you should too.

[DNAinaGoodWay]

It's been done before, and is in the MB EV now I believe, but I would like a heated windshield. It would be worth paying for, even as an option. In certain weather conditions, I have to use defrost all the time.

It would be really useful to help melt off snow and ice when I've set a timer to preheat when it's unplugged in the parking lot, before I leave work.

[greengate]

An Italian designer married to a British wife.

[TickTock]

AFAIK the Model S brings on the brake lights due to the rate of deceleration (at a certain threshold). There is no need for a different light. If they're stopping, they're stopping, and you should too.

Some motorcycles and trucks have a similar feature when engine braking - makes sense for an EV, too.

[Moof]

If you are talking about 'environmental impacts' then give up on discussing having more range.

EVs have a lower lifetime CO2 emission because they 'only' have ~25kWh of battery. Double the emissions for producing a battery twice as large and you wipe out the lifetime CO2 savings compared with an equivalent ICE. If you have to replace a battery twice as large during its lifetime, then you've really destroyed the argument for EVs over ICE, on CO2 grounds.

Nice write-up:
http://environment.ucla.edu/media/files ... CA2012.pdf

Indeed, the battery carbon footprint of a Leaf sized battery is non-trivial. However you start with 2:1 head start over an ICE in life-cycle energy usage, and the battery itself (partial replacement was included in the study) takes about 10% of an ICE's lifetime energy usage to manufacture. A bigger battery is less likely to be replaced over the life of a car (a 30% drop in a Leaf's already short range is crippling, a 30% drop in a 150 mile battery would still be quite usable).

Probably the better takeaway is that a BEV is only modestly better than a hybrid in life cycle footprint, and with a bigger battery that advantage would be nullified. There is plenty of room to point out that fossil fuels and electricity are not fully equivalent from an environmental impact point of view, but that is a separate debate.

[NasGoreList]

looks makeover, this would be a good start:

[RonDawg]

It's been done before, and is in the MB EV now I believe, but I would like a heated windshield. It would be worth paying for, even as an option. In certain weather conditions, I have to use defrost all the time.

It would be really useful to help melt off snow and ice when I've set a timer to preheat when it's unplugged in the parking lot, before I leave work.

Ford tried to do that back in the mid 80's when the Taurus/Sable was first introduced. It was called an "InstaClear" windshield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickclear" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However it did not seem to be popular, as Ford has not offered it here in some time that I am aware of (at least not for Ford and Mercury brands). I've driven European Fords that had it as late as 2004, but I don't know if it's still offered over there (where it's called "QuickClear"). The windshields themselves are quite expensive and in many parts of the country, cracked windshields are quite common, so insurance rates could be a reason why it hasn't been implemented here, especially in states where no-cost windshield replacement by your insurance is a requirement.