# Took a test drive in a Leaf



## major (Apr 4, 2008)

I was at the SAE Congress Expo in Detroit yesterday and took a ride and drive in a Nissan Leaf. Attached are photos of the one I drove and the battery pack from the both inside the expo.

I thought it was a very nice drive. Well done Nissan


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## Guest (Apr 15, 2011)

Major,

I was pleasantly surprised with the Leaf. Nice fit and ride and pretty quick too. A very nice utilitarian vehicle that will cover most of the needs of most people. Mine should be in at the Dealer before the end of May. Can't wait. Still building some electric vehicles too.

Pete 






















http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE6cmX0smgc


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## Coulomb (Apr 22, 2009)

major said:


>



Wow. I hadn't looked at the Leaf's battery placement in detail before. It's not all that obvious from the photo above, but the big hump goes under the rear seat, there are two pairs of "trays" of cells (each side, passenger and driver) under the rear seat foot well, and 3+4 "trays" (also each side) under the front seats.

That's a pretty good place to put batteries, and still have room in the trunk and hood (or make the hood pretty small). So half the battery placement would be impossible with prismatic cells that are mounted vertically. In other words, horizontally positioned cells (prismatic or pouch style) are one of the keys to efficient battery placement, it seems to me.


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

Coulomb said:


> Wow. I hadn't looked at the Leaf's battery placement in detail before............That's a pretty good place to put batteries, and still have room in the trunk and hood


Yeah Coul,

That's a nice thing about being an OEM. You can put things where they belong as opposed to conversion jobs where you're working around existing obstacles. I think "under the floor" battery trays will be the norm for production EV.

major


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2011)

Bummer, they sold the car last night without telling my salesman. Got the bad news today. Someone is a happy camper today. Not me. 

Well I am still on the list for the end of May when mine is to arrive. I can wait. Just hoped for an early present. 

Pete


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

We picked up a leaf for my company last week. The CEO drove it 86 miles from an Escondido dealership back here, it still showed 19 available miles on dash, not sure I'd believe that. Its a very well designed vehicle and would suit just about anyone out buying a car today. Very unelectric like feels comforable, smooth speed, lots of room they even put a valve cover looking thing on the engine which makes it look ICE like with the 12 volt aux lead battery right next to it. It drives great, although the steering feels detached from road and IMHO there is way too much info on that dash and tv, and I'd much prefer it showing SOC not how far it thinks I can go based on my driving pattern. Basically a solid car especially for the price. They set a high mark for future EV manufactures. I really liked the ability to control the amount of regen, that was pretty slick!! and having AC run whenever your parked, even in the garage without the traction motor running since it runs on an auxilary Denso motor sitting on top of the water cooled main traction motor. Oh and the controller has its own radiator and cooling system separate from the motor cooling system. 

Steve


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