See the photo below.
Are you looking at the future of automobiles – and the end of gas/petrol stations?
Nissan is betting on it, and 38,000 people are on a waiting list to b
uy into this future.
This is a fully-electric car. No hybrid anything. No gas. And not a toy. It has a top speed not of 40 mph, but of about 90 mph, and can run 100 miles on a charge. Nissan is introducing it slowly and carefully into the US, making sure that there is infrastructure for charging the car available. The car can charge on your home power, but will be able to charge much faster (30 minutes versus overnight) at special charging stations based on 440Volts DC.
A couple of odd facts about the Leaf: it has a solar panel for daytime trickle-charging, and – get this – you buy the car, but you lease the batteries from Nissan. Yes, you do not own the batteries, Nissan does, which they claim is good for you because they will be working on new technology batteries and this will facilitate a changeout as these improve.
The most interesting environmental feature is the one that is NOT there. There is no tailpipe. No tailpipe, because there is no ignition of gasoline and therefore no need to pipe anything out of the tail.
Will people buy this car? AT US$30-35K, the price won’t be an issue – that’s not too bad. It’s our opinion that decision to buy this type of car is directly related to whether or not they think the manufacturer is serious. Here’s a quote from a review in Popular Science that covers that point:
“With any electric-car project, the most important question is: Are they serious about this? Based on what we’ve seen we’d say yes, they’re definitely serious. The company has been working for months now with various countries and municipalities to get the zoning changes necessary for building charging stations and goading electrical utilities into building them. They recognize that there’s no way this will work unless the infrastructure is there to support the cars. With electric cars, you can’t just sell the car—you’ve got to construct an entire operating environment that makes the vehicles practical.”
So as project managers, our ears perk up again, with the electricity of opportunity. Besides the development project itself – and the introduction of the car – and the marketing projects, there are infrastructure projects as well that should be – ahem- sparked, as well.
Below we provide a treasure-trove of links to videos and reviews about this new vehicle. Enjoy!
« Office paper meets its end – and … yours Green Car – Green Police »
