Weather Or Not: Nissan's Leaf Range Influenced By Barometric Pressure

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan


While GM has problems trying to get the Volt price point to a point where customers won’t suffer a coronary (even with help from the DC sugar daddies), Nissan has a few problems of their own. Nissan is still reeling from the news that a Nissan Leaf would save you the princely sum of $361. Now, Automotive News [sub] reports another black eye on Nissan’s “Prius Killer”. Automotive News says that Nissan’s “100 miles range” may be slightly off in real world conditions. How far off?

How do 38 percent grab you? 38 percent? That leafs something to be desired! (I’m here all week.) As Automotive News puts it, “consider the following scenarios outlined during a recent Leaf test drive:

  • If your Leaf is stuck in stop-and-go traffic, doing 15 mph on a cold winter day with the heater on, you can count on a range of around 62 miles, said the car’s chief engineer, Hidetoshi Kadota.
  • If it’s a hot day, in the 90s, and you’re cruising down the road at 48 mph, your full-charge range would be about 70 miles before having to plug in again to juice up the lithium ion batteries.
  • If the weather’s perfect with no need for air conditioning, you can get 105 miles in normal city-highway driving. And when touring the countryside at a steady 38 mph, the range climbs to 138 miles.” (Will Nissan give you free earplugs, so that you can ignore the honking cars behind you?)

Wow. Who’d have thunk it? Driving conditions and use of air conditioning may vary ones fuel economy figures? What next will they tell us? That electric cars are zero emission? Oh hang on, they DID try that one. After this revelation, Nissan sought to maintain the validity of the Leaf. “Depending on the way you use the air conditioning and the driving mode, the autonomy varies largely,” said the car’s chief engineer, Hidetoshi Kadota. “This is a physical characteristic of electric vehicles.”. Well, that and the tax subsidies.

I see it coming: “Shall we drive over to grandma?” “The weather is glorious. We might not make it back home.”

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Kray007 Kray007 on Jun 25, 2010

    The problem is that, with my gasoline powered car, if I run out of gas, I can simply call someone and they'll bring me a gallon. If I run out of electricity, what then? Do I get towed to the nearest available charging station? What about all those morons out there who don't pay attention, who say to themselves, I only have to drive 20 miles, tomorrow, and ask themselves do I really have to charge it, tonight? What happens if you have a power outage at home and your car doesn't get charged? What happens if you get home late, plug in your car, go to bed, then the power goes off and you wake up in the morning with an uncharged battery? What if some kid in the neighborhood thinks it's funny to unplug your car? I could go on, but...

    • Patrickj Patrickj on Jun 26, 2010

      Once there's enough electric cars on the road, you call AAA and they bring you a big-ass truck-mounted generator as a quick charger.

  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Aug 27, 2010

    I thought about the "what if I run out of juice" scenario. There are going to be recharge points all over cities with time. EVs usually charge quite a bit quickly and then taper off for a slower charge. Stop for a coffee or a meal and you're back to 65% of charge perhaps on a fast charger. How much juice does that pull? Something like a 220V welder? No big deal. HVAC equipment uses similar circuit loads. We'll likely find those charge points on GPS gadgets easily. Especially if somebody is trying to make a profit from them. We have a couple of 35 and 45 year old aircooled VWs. I also do all my own repairs. Never go to a shop. If one of my newer or older cars breaks down or especially if I lived in a large metropolitan area where cars get stolen often - I'd simply invest in a collapsible towbar. Break down? Run out of charge? Call my wife and we'll tow it home. Fortunately my ownership of a towbar and towdolly has immunized me against breakdowns forever. (I hope) GRIN! Only my VW Cabrio has ever given me fits and that is only because it is sensitive to deep water. Once in 72K miles has it failed to start b/c of a wet distributor. I doesn't tolerate ankle deep water or worse very well. I think Nissan's range is pretty good. It would easily work for my family's needs and I could commute for 2-3 days on a single charge. I hope they sell a million of those cars. I'd still rather have a NiMH battery which is more proven and mature but I suppose GM and Chevron have ensured that won't happen until at least after 2015. On the flip side I suspect that the leaf could be upgraded to a NiMH after 2015 should the NiMH return to the consumer market. Am wondering if there would be a market for a EU2000i Honda style quiet ginny that clipped into a dedicated soundproofed compartment in the front or rear of the car with a proper exhaust hook up to charge a parked car in a pinch? Not sure how much juice the Leaf would consume rolling down the road and whether a small Honda style ginny would make any difference at all. I can imagine a few diehard people who really like their EVs buying additional battery modules that strapped to the floor of the luggage area to get an additional 100 miles of range so they didn't need an ICE powered car once battery prices come down in a few years. Would like to see solar incorporated into the roof as an option. Would like to hear how much that could contribute to the battery parked in the sun during an eight hour work day. Even 4-5 miles of additional range would be useful if a person's commute was only 15 miles each way.

  • Dave Holzman A design award for the Prius?!!! Yes, the Prius is a great looking car, but the visibility is terrible from what I've read, notably Consumer Reports. Bad visibility is a dangerous, and very annoying design flaw.
  • Wjtinfwb I've owned multiple Mustang's, none perfect, all an absolute riot. My '85 GT with a big Holley 4 barrel and factory tube header manifolds was a screaming deal in its day and loved to rev. I replaced it with an '88 5.0 Convertible and added a Supercharger. Speed for days, handling... present. Brakes, ummm. But I couldn't kill it and it embarrassed a lot of much more expensive machinery. A '13 Boss 302 in Gotta Have It Green was a subtle as a sledgehammer, open up the exhaust cut outs and every day was Days of Thunder. I miss them all. They've gotten too expensive and too plush, I think, wish they'd go back to a LX version, ditch all the digital crap, cloth interior and just the Handling package as an add on. Keep it under 40k and give todays kids an alternative to a Civic or WRX.
  • Jpolicke In a communist dictatorship, there isn't much export activity that the government isn't aware of. That being the case, if the PRC wanted to, they could cut the flow of fentanyl down to a trickle. Since that isn't happening, I therefore assume Xi Jinping doesn't want it cut. China needs to feel the consequences for knowingly poisoning other countries' citizens.
  • El scotto Oh, ye nattering nabobs of negativism! Think of countries like restaurants. Our neighbors to the north and south are almost as good and the service is fantastic. They're awfully close to being as good as the US. Oh the Europeans are interesting and quaint but you really only go there a few times a year. Gents, the US is simply the hottest restaurant in town. Have to stand in line to get in? Of course. Can you hand out bribes to get in quicker? Of course. Suppliers and employees? Only the best on a constant basis.Did I mention there is a dress code? We strictly enforce it. Don't like it? Suck it.
  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
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